Thurs., Oct. 27: Learning from the Epic (Business) Fail

Learning From the Epic (Business) Fail

Steve Jobs embodied the great American success story, starting Apple computers in a garage and working his way up to global dominance. But even Jobs knew that some great ideas never get out of the garage: killer products built on ambition and adrenaline are still subject to whimsical consumers and fickle markets. Things fail, and sometimes spectacularly.

Talking about business flame-outs can be a touchy subject. Entrepreneurs work fast and fix things on the fly, but when a business comes to a halt - full stop - sometimes the only way to learn is with a thorough and painful post-mortem.

Today we talk with Greg Gomer, a founding member and writer for Bostinnovation - a news service covering technology, startups and entrepreneurship in the Boston area - and entrepreneur Cortland Johnson, one of the founders of web app developer Terrible Labs. They'll tell us about the tricky business of being a self-starter, the prospect of failing publicly, and the possibility of full redemption.

We want to hear from you if you’ve launched a start-up. Is Boston a good place to start a business? Is it hard to advance your operation in this town? If you’ve made it we want to know what it took. If you failed, what have you learned? Leave a comment at our Facebook page.