Meet 'How I Failed in Business': The Podcast That Celebrates the Mess Behind the Success

There is no shortage of business podcasts. There are podcasts about winning. Podcasts about scaling. Podcasts where confident founders sit in front of ring lights and explain — with suspiciously perfect hindsight — exactly how they built their empire. They are fine. Some of them are even good.

But here is the problem. Most business content is highlights reel stuff. The LinkedIn post that went viral. The record-breaking quarter. The pivotal decision that 'just felt right.' What you rarely hear about is the year before all of that. The pitch that bombed. The client from hell. The Monday morning where everything fell apart at once and you genuinely considered packing it all in.

That is exactly the gap How I Failed in Business exists to fill — and honestly, we think it might be the most useful business podcast you can listen to right now.

So what is 'How I Failed in Business', exactly?

How I Failed in Business is a podcast hosted by Rob Spence, Managing Director of Paragon Sales Solutions, that does exactly what it says on the tin. Every episode, Rob sits down with a real business owner — sometimes well-known, sometimes not, always interesting — and asks them to get honest about the failures, disasters, and near-misses that shaped them.

The conversations are candid. Sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're surprisingly moving. Always, they're useful — because there is more genuine business wisdom in one honest story about what went wrong than in a hundred polished LinkedIn posts about what went right.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all the other usual places. If you have never listened, the back catalogue is a goldmine — and we suggest starting anywhere, because every episode stands alone.

Why failure? Why not just... success?

Because everyone is already talking about success. And because — if you have ever run a business, started one, or tried to grow one — you know that failure is actually doing most of the teaching.

The first time you lose a major client. The product launch that landed with a thud. The hire who turned out to be completely wrong for the team. The business partnership that dissolved messily. These are the experiences that genuinely change how you operate, how you lead, and how you make decisions under pressure.

And yet almost nobody talks about them publicly. There is still enormous stigma around business failure — a sense that admitting a mistake somehow undermines your credibility. How I Failed in Business exists to challenge that idea head-on. Our guests are not sharing their failures because they are losers. They are sharing them because they are wise enough to know that honesty is a far more powerful tool than a carefully curated reputation.

Who listens to How I Failed in Business?

Entrepreneurs and business owners at every stage, mostly. People who are in the thick of building something and want to hear from others who have been through it. People who have just had a really tough month and need the reminder that they are not alone. People who are thinking about starting a business and want to know what they are actually getting into.

Also — we hear this a lot — people who are successful and thriving but find the endless highlight-reel content on social media a bit exhausting. Our audience values honesty. They are tired of the performative positivity. They want the real stuff. And that is what we give them.

Where to find us

You can find How I Failed in Business on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all major streaming platforms — just search 'How I Failed in Business.' You can also head to www.howifailedinbusiness.co.uk for more information.

If you are already a listener, thank you. If you have a mate who runs a business and could use something honest in their ears, send them this post. And if you have a story of your own — a failure, a disaster, a moment that nearly broke you but ultimately made you — we would absolutely love to hear from you.

Want to know more?

Subscribe, listen, share — and if you fancy coming on the show yourself, we have a blog post for that too. Spoiler: it is easier than you think, and we promise to be kind.

Find us at www.howifailedinbusiness.co.uk or search 'How I Failed in Business' wherever you get your podcasts.