Survivorship bias in action

17 Famous Failures Before They Succeeded

Inspiring? Yes. Useful as career advice? Probably not. Here's the list — and the part of the story most articles leave out.

5 min read

You've seen this list before. Lincoln lost eight elections. Disney was fired for "lack of imagination." Edison failed a thousand times before the lightbulb. The internet recycles these every January as motivation.

The list is true. The lesson it implies — "keep going and you'll make it" — is a textbook case of survivorship bias. We only know these names because they eventually succeeded. The millions who tried just as hard and ended up obscure aren't on the list, because there is no list of them.

Read it for the catharsis. Just don't read it as evidence.

  1. Abraham Lincoln
    Lost his job, was defeated for state legislature, failed in business, lost 8 elections. Became the 16th U.S. President.
    1832–1860
  2. Walt Disney
    Fired from a newspaper "for lack of imagination." His first animation studio went bankrupt.
    1919
  3. Thomas Edison
    His teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." Tried thousands of materials before the lightbulb worked.
    1879
  4. Henry Ford
    First five businesses failed, leaving him broke. He was 40 when Ford Motor Company finally took off.
    1899–1903
  5. J.K. Rowling
    Single mother on welfare, rejected by 12 publishers before Harry Potter sold.
    1995
  6. Steven Spielberg
    Rejected by USC School of Cinematic Arts twice.
    1965, 1968
  7. Oprah Winfrey
    Fired from her first TV job for being "unfit for television."
    1976
  8. Stephen King
    Carrie was rejected 30 times. He threw the manuscript in the trash; his wife pulled it out.
    1973
  9. Vera Wang
    Failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure skating team. Designed her first dress at 40.
    1968
  10. Vincent van Gogh
    Sold one painting in his lifetime — to a friend, for the equivalent of about $50.
    1888
  11. James Dyson
    5,127 prototype failures before the bagless vacuum worked.
    1979–1983
  12. Michael Jordan
    Cut from his high school basketball team. "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career."
    1978
  13. Albert Einstein
    Couldn't find a teaching job for 9 years after graduating. Worked as a patent clerk.
    1900–1909
  14. Sylvester Stallone
    Rejected 1,500 times pitching the Rocky script. Sold his dog because he was broke. (He bought it back.)
    1975
  15. Bill Gates
    Traf-O-Data, his first company, was a flop. The product barely worked.
    1972
  16. Arianna Huffington
    Her second book was rejected by 36 publishers.
    1973
  17. Elvis Presley
    Fired after one performance at the Grand Ole Opry. Manager told him to go back to driving trucks.
    1954

The honest version

Every name above is real. They failed and then succeeded. So did approximately zero percent of the people you've never heard of, who also failed. The famous-failures list isn't a roadmap; it's a beautiful collection of survivors.

The useful question isn't "what made these 17 different?" It's "how do I make decisions that are smart even if I'm not the survivor?" That requires looking at the failures that didn't become success stories — which is the whole reason Surbias exists.

Read real failure stories