How to start over

over food and drinks. The speakers at these eventsusuallyrangefromsuccessfulentrepreneurstothosewhomayhavefailedintheirventures.invitesforthesefuneralsaresentthrough startup accelerators, investors or popularised through social media, with some charging an entry fee ranging from Rs 700 to Rs 1,500.

The funeral in Bengaluru’s Koramangala washeldbytechhub,aglobalstart-upaccelerator. While Techhub has held several startup funeralsineurope,thekoramangalaeventwas its first in India. Adam Hawley, global projects directoratthefirm,saidtheyplantoholdasecond funeral in six months.

Whenwe held our first start-up funeral in London a couple of years ago, we found an awfullotofentrepreneurswhowantedtotelltheir storiessothatotherscouldlearnfromtheirmistakes,”saidhawley.hesaidsuchfuneralshelped support entrepreneurs and break the taboo around failures. “When a start-up fails, it is not the death of an entrepreneur but an idea. They need to be told that it is okay to fail,” he said.

In September 2016, Rahul Adap, an entrepreneurbasedindelhiwhofoundedopraahfx, an organisation that helps ‘social influencers’ connect with brands, held a funeral in south Mumbai that was attended by over 20 budding entrepreneurs. Rahul, 22, who has two failed start-ups to his account, said, “The idea came to me when I heard of a techie in Hyderabad committing suicide after his startup failed,” said Rahul. “We want to commemorate failure. Giving failed entrepreneurs a chancetospeakhelpsthemventouttheirfrustration,” he said, adding that at the funeral he held, those with failed start-ups were allowed to yell and curse investors from the dais.

Many who have attended such funerals say they leave inspired. “Seeing that people less prepared than me have done cool stuff and failed because of some mistakes gives me the confidence that I can do better,” said Luca Yesupatham Daniel, director of IT services company Jeetlab who has attended a funeral in Bengaluru.