Learning To Fail
Entrepreneur|June 2019

What can adult founders learn from fearless teenagers? Plenty.

Stephanie Schomer
Learning To Fail

Koby Wheeler has launched and crashed three businesses. But he’s not embarrassed by any of it. “It gives me more confidence,” he says, “because I have those experiences. I know to ask better questions, I know to trust my gut, and I have a more long term way of thinking.”

It’s a good perspective to have at any age—and in Wheeler’s case, he’s starting young. He’s a freshman at the University of Texas at Dallas. His first three businesses failed while he was in high school. And he attributes his thick skin to a program he completed prior to graduation: It’s called Whatever It Takes (WIT), a San Diego–based program that helps high schoolers ideate and launch businesses for college credit, and it puts a heavy emphasis on learning to celebrate their failures.

This story is from the June 2019 edition of Entrepreneur.

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