Summary highlights entrepreneur pain points and solutions for overcoming business failure
OTTAWA, CANADA – SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 – Today, Startup Canada in partnership with the TruShield Insurance Entrepreneur Success Advisory Council released Framing, Avoiding, and Overcoming Failure, a report that uncovers how Canadian entrepreneurs view failure while revealing insights into how organizations can improve communications and programming to help entrepreneurs avoid and overcome business challenges as they start and scale.
According to Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, 52 per cent of Canadian businesses do not survive past the ten year mark of operations. There are a number of reasons, many avoidable, that can be attributed to business failure.
There are 3.5 million entrepreneurs in Canada, each with a unique definition and experience in dealing with business failure. The report uncovered that failure is not always a bad word – more often than not, entrepreneurs applied phrases with positive connotations over negative, and that differing opinions on the word failure were a matter of mindset and attitude.
The most common failures experienced by entrepreneurs are a lack of finances and financial literacy, product or market fit, strategy, and marketing and sales. Knowledge gaps, management and HR mistakes, and a lack of mentorship were also determining factors when looking at the causes of entrepreneurship failures.
Entrepreneurs asked for a National Failure Conference or a nation-wide Failure Workshop Series to take place that provides mentorship, expertise, and education in order to help navigate and overcome business challenges as they experience them, in a judgement-free space.
“Entrepreneurs are some of the biggest risk-takers in the country, and it’s important that we as a nation provide them with continuous support as they wade through the challenges and failures they experience when starting and scaling businesses,” said Victoria Lennox, President and Co-Founder of Startup Canada. “We are proud to partner with TruShield Insurance and the Entrepreneur Success Advisory Council to present the insights found in the Failure Report that can be used industry-wide to revamp and launch meaningful programming designed to reduce business failure.”
“TruShield Insurance is proud to partner with Startup Canada to help entrepreneurs understand why businesses fail,” said Tony O’Brien, Executive Vice President, Small Business and Personal Lines, TruShield Insurance. “By sharing the statistics and insights, we trust this critical information will better prepare Canadian entrepreneurs to lead sustainable businesses.”
Download the report at startupcan.ca/failure-report today. Follow the online conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #FailureReport and by following @Startup_Canada on twitter.
For more information, to schedule interviews, please contact:
Rachelle DeSorcy
Media Relations, Startup Canada
1-613-627-0787 ext 109
rachelle.desorcy@startupcan.ca
About Startup Canada
Startup Canada is Canada’s entrepreneurship organization. Startup Canada promotes and supports the success and growth of Canada’s 3.5 million entrepreneurs, with a mandate to foster economic growth, competitiveness, and prosperity through entrepreneurship. Since launching, Startup Canada’s programming has directly supported more than 200,000 entrepreneurs and 50 grassroots Startup Community organizations. Working with over 750 ecosystem partners, including accelerators, incubators, research parks, educational institutions, economic development agencies, associations, and government programs, Startup Canada serves entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, industries, and stages of development, with a network reflective of Canada’s diverse population. Learn more at startupcan.ca.