A lesson on the importance of failure from a defeated NBA champion

I was watching a press conference with NBA basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo when he gave an unexpected lesson that every startup founder should remember: you don’t have to win all the time.

A reporter asked Giannis whether he considered the season to be a failure for his team, the Milwaukee Bucks, after they failed to live up to high expectations and flamed out in the first round of the NBA playoffs. What came next was a very raw and impassioned response; “Every year you work towards a goal. It’s not a failure, it’s [sic] steps towards success.”

Those words stuck with me long after I stopped watching the press conference and it’s something every entrepreneur should heed no matter what stage in their career they are at.