If success is the only valid entrepreneurial outcome, then if you're not successful, you're by definition a failure. That raises the bar. Makes the non-success into a personal defeat. What if we thought of it as "perosnal development through entrepreneurship"? Or "entrepreneurship as self-expression"? Or even "entrepreneurship as soul expression"? Then when you experience "failure", it's not really a failure at all. It's just another step on the path of personal development or self-expression or expressing your soul. The "failure" just means you've learned something about yourself and the world, and you're now one step closer to coming up with a true expression of yourself. Makes sense? Update: Or you could define the entrepreneurial outcome as simply having fun, making a difference in other people's lives, learning, doing things you love, doing things with people you love, creating a place you like to be, creating something you'd like to see in the world, or a bunch of other things. Lots of possibilities beside big profits or a big acquisition.