Hello to Canada’s SaaS Community,
Success stories dominate headlines, but failure is often the unspoken foundation of entrepreneurial growth. At SAAS NORTH, Marie Chevrier Schwartz, CEO of TechTO and Peerscale, took to the stage in a raw, honest and insightful discussion on all things failure—why it’s an inevitable part of the founder journey, how to navigate its emotional and professional fallout, and why setbacks often serve as stepping stones to greater success.
As the founder and former CEO of Sampler, Marie helped revolutionize product sampling for brands like L’Oréal and Kroger. Her experience—marked by both wins and hard lessons—now fuels her passion for supporting Canada’s tech community. Through her work at TechTO and Peerscale, she’s focused on encouraging a culture where founders can discuss challenges openly, learn from each other, and build the resilience needed for successful longevity.
Key takeaways:
- Failure is not the end—it’s an opportunity to learn, adapt, and move forward with experience.
- Founders will often tie their identity to their startups, but success or failure in business does not define your personal worth.
- The entire startup ecosystem benefits when failure is talked about openly, it reduces the stigma and encourages growth.
If you have your own story of “failure” – reach out to us. You may find that sharing it helps you process it.
Co-Founder/Producer, SAAS NORTH Conference Editor, SAAS NORTH NOW
Founders are often expected to put on a brave face—but the truth is, entrepreneurship is tough. The emotional toll of setbacks, financial strain, and even business closures can be overwhelming and hard to shoulder alone.
That’s why it’s so important to normalize open conversations about failure. When we create space for honesty and vulnerability, we help founders build resilience, gain perspective, and move forward stronger than before.
Today, inspired by Marie’s insights, we’re sharing a five-step pathway to help founders embrace failure and transform setbacks into future success.
Step 1: Normalize the Experience — You’re Not Alone
“I don’t want my legacy to be a failure without any lessons learned.”
When a startup hits turbulence—or worse crashes—the silence that follows can be deafening. Founders often opt to suffer in private, feeling isolated and ashamed. But the truth is, failure is far more common than we think and acknowledge.
Most startups don’t survive past their early years, and even seasoned founders experience tough market rejections, forced pivots and even burnout.
Marie’s message here is simple: failure is part of the path and when we keep it hidden, we only prolong the pain.
Step 2: Separate Your Identity from the Outcome
One of the hardest truths for founders is this: “You are so much more than your company.”
It’s incredibly easy to attach your sense of self to your company. After all, you built it from the ground up. You lived it. But when the business suffers, so too can your self-esteem—unless you make a conscious choice to detach your identity from your performance metrics.
Marie reminds us that there’s personal value beyond business. You’re more than your pitch deck, more than your balance sheet and your value goes far beyond a cap table.
Step 3: Learn from the Loss — Turn Pain into Insight
While failure can be painful, it provides invaluable insights that can lead to better decision-making in the future. Marie believes that “The lessons that you will have learned from your company will allow you to shine into new opportunities.”
Entrepreneurs who embrace these lessons can refine their strategies, improve their leadership skills, and build more resilient businesses in the future.
Step 4: Talk About It Openly — Build Community Through Vulnerability
“If I could be an example of someone who survived through failure, perhaps we as a community of founders could rebound faster. And our roster of Canadian companies that are led by second time, third time founders could get bigger quicker.”
Talking about failure is powerful—not just for you, but for the entire startup ecosystem. When founders share openly, they pave the way for others to feel safe doing the same. Vulnerability builds trust and transparency builds community.
Marie continuously challenged the myth of the lone genius founder by advocating for authenticity in sharing struggles. After all, you never know who might need to hear your story.
Step 5: Reframe the Closure — It’s a Transition, Not the End
“What happens in bankruptcy is that one day you have everybody there working together, and then the next day there’s nothing.”
The end of a business is a sudden loss—where your purpose, your schedule, your team, and your identity disappear all at once.
But Marie reminds us that even business closure isn’t the end—it’s just the end of that chapter. Your skills, your insight, your leadership—they’re all still there, waiting for what’s next.
It’s important to remember that every great founder you admire has been through something hard. The difference? They kept going.
Join 200+ founders and investors June 3rd for real conversations, impactful connections, and fresh opportunities in a relationship-driven space. Register now!
Marie Chevrier Schwartz’s call to action is clear: Let’s make space for failure in the founder narrative.
When we talk about the real stuff—the messy middles, the tough endings, the quiet rebuilding—we create a more honest, empathetic, and resilient startup culture.
“There is a lot of empathy out there for you, and if you can fail openly, people will be there to support you.”
And with that support, like Maire, you’ll find the strength to move forward. Opening up about your own experiences might be the first step — we’re here to listen.
SAAS NORTH is THE Canadian hub for rapidly-scaling SaaS founders and their teams. Learn, network, and grow with Canada’s largest in-person SaaS community at SAAS NORTH.