Foundry is a premium business intelligence publication featuring 551 articles from the best founders and investors. Topics cover leadership, strategy, fundraising, growth, AI, and more.

What topics does Foundry cover?

Foundry covers leadership, investing, AI and technology, product development, founder stories, mindset and career, marketing, hiring, fundraising, strategy, and more. Articles feature insights from founders like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang.

Can I submit a story to Foundry?

Yes. You can submit a story at thefoundrybrief.com/submit. Foundry publishes articles featuring insights from founders and investors across all industries.

Elon Musk on Failure: What Matters Is Your Batting Average

By Elon Musk · Mindset & Career · 2 min read

An interviewer told Musk that his failures would drive most people nuts. Musk said he thinks about it completely differently.

Key Points

There is a certain amount of time, and within that time you want the best net outcome
In baseball, they do not let you wait for the perfect pitch — they give you three shots
Failure is essentially irrelevant unless it is catastrophic

Failure is essentially irrelevant unless it is catastrophic.

The Mindset

The interviewer said those kinds of failures would drive a lot of us in this room nuts. But it does not seem to drive you nuts. You seem very comfortable with it. Can you talk about the mindset that requires?

Musk: There is a certain amount of time, and within that time you want the best net outcome. For all the set of actions that you can do, some will fail, some will succeed. You want the net useful output of your set of actions to be the highest.

The Baseball Analogy

Musk: I have to use a baseball analogy. In baseball, they do not let you just sit there and wait for the perfect pitch until you get a real easy one. They give you three shots, and the third one they say okay, put somebody else up there.

So what you are really looking for is the batting average. How are you doing on score. There is going to be some amount of failure. But you want your net useful output to be maximized.

In baseball, they don't let you just sit there and wait for the perfect pitch. They give you three shots.

The One Line

Failure is essentially irrelevant unless it is catastrophic.

Failure is essentially irrelevant unless it is catastrophic.