Success Quote by Naveen Jain

In startup culture, failure is currency only when it can be cashed in as a story. Naveen Jain, the serial entrepreneur behind big-bet ventures like InfoSpace and Moon Express, is speaking to a world where leaders are expected to be part CEO, part motivational engine. His line isn’t a tender admission of vulnerability; it’s an operating instruction for building a risk-tolerant organization.

The intent is practical: normalize error so teams stop treating mistakes like career-ending stains and start treating them like data. “Don’t hide it” targets the oldest corporate reflex - spin, silence, blame-shifting - because those habits teach everyone else to play defense. When the top person narrates the miss in public, it lowers the social cost of experimentation. It signals that the company values learning velocity over perfect optics.

The subtext, though, is that transparency is also a leadership technology. Talking about failure can be a form of control: you frame the narrative before rumor does, you convert embarrassment into morale, you turn “we screwed up” into “we’re brave.” There’s a reason he says “missed opportunity,” not “mistake.” The phrasing keeps the leader’s identity intact - still ambitious, still forward-looking - while sidestepping culpability.

Context matters: in innovation-driven businesses, risk is unavoidable but fear is optional. Jain is arguing that the leader’s job is to manage fear at scale. If you want people to take swings, you have to model what happens when you miss - and make it survivable.