The statement came during a session with Scottish born Entrepreneur, Duncan Logan, CEO and Founder of RocketSpace at EIE 2017. Over the last 7 years RocketSpace has established a reputation as one of the most successful technology accelerators on the planet. Its success stories include: UBER, Spotify and Zappos.

After a decade spent in Silicon Valley, Logan was asked to reflect on the core differences between the US and Scottish ecosystem, to break down what made the Americans so successful when it came to producing great tech companies. There were a number of important factors, but Logan said there was one that really made the difference, ‘blind optimism’.

It is often remarked that there is a fundamental difference in mentality that separates the UK from the US, something which undermines our competitive efforts and holds us back from achieving the same level of success attained across the pond. Logan scratched beneath the surface of this sentiment, and substantiated what this difference looks like in practical terms.

EIE 2017

One of the critical enablers of business growth is access to capital, and Logan said that something that really sets the Americans apart is that they truly understand the value of pace and urgency when it comes to funding. This gives them a huge business advantage when it comes to seizing global market opportunities.

He explained that the leading firm in any particular niche does not need to have the best underlying technology or solution, in fact they often don’t. In many instances, they simply achieved their position at the top by being first to hit a mass audience with a product, and thus the first to cement their reputation in the space. Once market dominance has been achieved it becomes an uphill struggle to displace the incumbent – even with a superior product.

But pace is not the only attribute which separates us. Logan said that the whole attitude to failure is different in the US. He shared his own story of the first business he created after arriving in The Valley, one which ultimately ended in failure. Upon wrapping-up the business he reached out to one of the VC’s he had been in contact with and told him he was pulling the plug. The response he received was: “Good – what are you doing next?”.

Failure is not an end in itself

This simple statement served as a poignant illustration of the fact that failure is not an end in itself, instead it represents a crucial component of the journey to success. In fact, when it comes to learning and progression, Logan argues that success is a poor teacher, as you learn so very little from it.

Cultural roots run deep, and there is not a quick fix. But this ability to embrace failure as a positive is a crucial benefit in the start-up world, where the success rate for first time entrepreneurs is barely 10%.

Given the rate of survival, Logan compared start-ups to lambs: “because they are always looking for a way to remove themselves from the gene pool”. While slightly tongue in cheek, it served as a perfect metaphor for a business that is inexperienced, vulnerable and statistically destined for a short life expectancy.

But this vulnerability and inherent tendency to falter is exactly why we must have an underlying cultural resilience which is not weighed down with negative stigma. In short, we need to embrace failure for the valued teaching resource that it is. While first time entrepreneurs have the odds of success stacked against them, these odds are flipped on their head when the same entrepreneur tries again second time around with a new business. This is what we need to ingrain into the collective psyche of our business ecosystem.

That’s not to say that it’s easy – and even in Silicon Valley you have to roll with the punches. Logan demonstrated his own resilience when he managed a smile while confessing that he didn’t invest in UBER when he had the chance. He had also refused a Bitcoin Exchange that wanted to pay him their entire rent in Bitcoins – which at the time were worth less than a dollar and have since risen to over $1800. But those same near misses that make the start-up game a tough business to stomach, are the same things that make it so compelling. And the key takeaway from this talk was that we need to refocus the lens a little and stop seeing failure as the end of the road.

While we may have our work cut out in redressing culture, the picture is by no means bleak, and Logan thinks there is enormous opportunity for Scotland to “steal a march”. As a small, affluent country Scotland is uniquely placed to re-frame its education system to embrace the digital revolution. This will require a coordinated effort which brings together the key stakeholders of government, education, corporates and start-ups. But for this ambition, Scotland’s size could prove an important competitive advantage, and a crucial enabler in making this strategy a reality.

The breadth of the pitches over the day showed the wealth of innovation, talent and entrepreneurial drive that we possess. So there are certainly the components in place to offer a promising future… But perhaps as a country we could also do with a little bit of blind optimism.