Jennifer Alsever discusses the unexpected payoffs of failure in the March 29, 2016, issue of Fortune magazine:

In recent years the notion that failure brings rewards has become so venerated by business thinkers (and publications) that you could be forgiven for thinking yourself lacking if you haven’t suffered at least one calamitous, abject disaster in your career. In truth, people who have tried and failed at launching their own startup know that it incurs many unrecouped costs: time, sweat, emotion, and, most often, money.

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Former business owners often bring a broad set of skills gained from handling multiple problems, moving fast, and getting things done with limited resources. … “Big companies need that different way of thinking.”

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“A startup was a business education at warp speed every day.”

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“Big companies want that mix of startup and big-company experience,”