- The founders who win are not the ones who never fail. They are the ones who treat failure as a step instead of a stop.
- Kathleen King lost the cookie company that carried her own name at 40. She started over and built Tate's Bake Shop.
- Tate's sold a majority stake for a hundred million dollars, then sold again four years later for five hundred million.
- It is never too late to start. The compound effect of getting a little better every day is what actually builds something that lasts.
Nobody has it figured out all of the time.
That was what I walked away with after last Friday at Uncharted, the founder and funder community built by Michael Loeb. Loeb has built and backed companies for decades. He co-founded Synapse Group, incubated Priceline inside it, and now runs Loeb.nyc, a venture studio that has launched and scaled dozens of companies.
I was in a room full of people who have built real things. The honest takeaway was that none of them got there in a straight line.
One story stuck with me.
Kathleen King spent decades building a cookie brand with her own name on it. To grow it, she brought on two partners. Instead of growing with her, they pushed her out and kept the company. The brand still carried her name. She no longer owned any of it.
She was 40 years old. She had lost her company.
She Started Over
So she started over. New company. New name. Tate's Bake Shop. This time it was a business, not her baby, and she ran it like one. At 55, she sold a majority stake in Tate's to a private equity firm for a hundred million dollars. Four years later, the company sold again for five hundred million.
She rebuilt all of that after a very public failure.
That was the pattern all night. Failure is not fatal. It is not permanent. It is the next move in whatever you are actually building.
It Is Never Too Late to Start
Here is what gives me energy about that. It is never too late to start.
Kathleen King proved it at 40. You can decide today to get a little better, and then keep deciding it. Do that long enough and it becomes almost impossible to not succeed. If you are relentlessly committed to improving, you are bound to win.
It is never too late to start. Get a little better every day. Do not quit. That is the whole game.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Uncharted event?
Who is Kathleen King?
Is failure necessary for success?
Building Something That Compounds?
If you are rebuilding, starting over, or just trying to get a little better every day, let's talk about the systems that make it stick.
Book a Free GTM Assessment →