FuckUp Nights Melbourne, the popular storytelling event inviting startup and tech sector leaders to reflect on their professional missteps, is coming to an end — but not every ending is a failure, says co-founder and co-host Garry Williams.
Kicked off by Williams, an engagement director at startup capital provider Tractor Ventures, and Josh Lipscombe, today a community projects lead at LaunchVic, FuckUp Nights Melbourne has given Victorian founders, entrepreneurs, and other startup operators the chance to publicly reminisce since 2016.
Speakers have included high-profile figures like Dom Pym of Up Bank fame, and Alex Zaccaria, co-founder and CEO of Linktree, through to next-generation innovators like Phoebe Gardner of Bardee, who have shared their insights in plush event spaces and bars alike.
Taking to LinkedIn on Friday, Williams said it’s almost time to put the local version of the global event to rest.
Barring a final few nights in 2023, FuckUp Nights Melbourne will be no more.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to know when to let go, & we’d prefer to go out on top, whilst it’s still been fun,” he said.
“It has been a hell of a lot of fun.”
Despite Williams celebrating FuckUp Nights Melbourne as a safe space for “very heavy themes & some overwhelmingly joyous ones”, a changing perception of failure in the startup community contributed to the decision to call time on the event series.
“I personally got incredibly tired of the narrative around failure in recent times, ie people prophesising that ‘failure rules’ and ‘hail failure!’ and ‘isn’t failure fun?’” he wrote.
“Fuck off. It’s soul destroying for the most part and the only reason most people were happy to have a laugh about it in a whimsical nature in our events, was that it was in retrospect and they’d gained some newfound perspective off the back of it.
“But, they did connect with plenty of people in the audience that really needed it right then, and that’s meaningful.”
The choice to end the series also comes at an inflection point for the local startup scene.
Australian entrepreneurs are now operating in a vastly different VC funding environment than they did even twelve months ago, meaning startup hardships are a matter for the here and now — and not necessarily fodder for confessional anecdotes, shared years after the fact.
Speaking to SmartCompany on Friday, Williams said he and Lipscombe never wanted to turn the events into a self-help workshop, making it clear that those experiencing significant professional and personal hardships should seek advice from qualified mental health experts.
Williams feels largely stoic about the end of FuckUp Nights Melbourne, but the startup founders and community members flooding his LinkedIn announcement with praise and fond recollections may give him reason to reflect yet.
Senior Business Journalist
Focused on the small business sector, David’s work covers the political, regulatory, and economic issues facing Australian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining SmartCompany, he was a reporter for Business Insider Australia. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
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