Lunenburg entrepreneur says failure shouldn't be scary

When it comes to failure, Nova Scotia's resource-based industries, like technology start-ups, can learn from mistakes, says one Lunenburg entrepreneur.

In a presentation called the Audacity to Fail at the Walrus Talks on Innovation in Halifax on Wednesday evening, Alistair Jarvis said Nova Scotians should tackle big problems despite the risk of failing. 

"Start-ups are inherently risky and they won't all be successful" and people should feel comfortable to "dust themselves off and try again, rather than just bailing on the whole enterprise and going to another place where it might feel less risky to take bigger risks," Jarvis said.

That means if something does fail, try again — and community should support that, he said. 

He admits the consequences of failing in more rural areas, such as Nova Scotia are more severe than in, say, a big city where people can just "walk across the street" and find another job.

But, said Jarvis, the trick is to start with small "experiments" and scale up success, rather than launching a major project and then finding out the market isn't there. The risk is lowered and the question tested, he said.

He said people learn from failures and take those lessons onto the next project.

"These are problems that can be solved," Jarvis said. "They're worth trying and going through and trying and failing and trying again. That is a worthwhile pursuit."

Jarvis, a former video game developer with Lunenburg's HB Studios, is taking lessons he's learned from his success at failure and launching a start-up to help forestry-related companies manage logistics, administration and communications.

Bowater's demise motivation for business

His motivation first came from a major failure. His region's major pulp mill, Bowater Mersey, shut down in 2012, throwing more than 300 people out of work and affecting related companies. 

"Our communities around us were imploding with the consequences of the shutting down of that mill," Jarvis told CBC Radio's Mainstreet. 

"It was crazy to be making video games knowing that this long standing mill was imploding because people were choosing to read their news on devices that we're building games from," he said.

"It takes certain amount of hubris to think a video game guy can sprinkle a little bit of technology on a primary resource industry and solve all their problems.

"But it is going to happen in time and we may as well do it here."