International Day for Failure is marked worldwide on October 13 to encourage people to talk openly about setbacks and to treat them as stepping stones to success.
The idea originated in Finland, where students at Aalto University launched “Failure Day” in 2010 to challenge a cultural taboo around admitting mistakes and to embolden young founders to try, learn, and try again.
How a student initiative became a global movement
The Aalto University entrepreneurship society (Aaltoes) created the day after recognising that fear of failure was holding back would be entrepreneurs.
Moreover, their premise was simple: companies cannot succeed unless founders acknowledge missteps and share lessons.
That campus experiment resonated far beyond Helsinki, inspiring workplaces and communities to host talks, publish failure essays, and normalise conversations that once felt risky.
Why destigmatizing failure fuels Finland’s startup boom
Finland’s startup landscape has expanded dramatically over the last 15 years.
The country now counts more than 3,800 startups with a combined enterprise value of about €48.2 billion (2022), almost 30,000 jobs, and a funding surge from €186 million in 2013 to €1.79 billion in 2022.
Entrepreneur hubs, incubators like Startup Sauna, and government support have reinforced the ecosystem.
Advocates argue that celebrating “smart failures” speeds iteration, reduces shame, and keeps teams experimenting. vital behaviours in high uncertainty environments.
As one Aaltoes leader put it, failure isn’t the opposite of success; it’s part of how you get there.
How to observe and learn from failure today
Use the day to reflect on one concrete setback and write what you learned, what you’d change, and who can help you improve.
Share your story with colleagues or on social media via #dayforfailure to model openness.
Read case studies to see how others rebounded.
For teams, host a “failure post-mortem” that highlights experiments, not blame, and identify one small pilot to run next week.
The point isn’t to glorify mistakes, it’s to lower the cost of learning so success becomes more likely.
