SeedBlink Blog

Cătălin Mester is the driving force behind "I Love Failure," an event series that has gained recognition for its candid and transformative approach to personal growth.

Launched in 2017, "I Love Failure" was born from Cătălin's desire to create a space where individuals could openly share their experiences with failure, learn from each other, and ultimately turn their setbacks into stepping stones for success.

His events have grown into a proper movement, inspiring thousands to redefine their relationship with failure and embrace it as a natural part of the growth process.

Building on the success of "I Love Failure," Cătălin is now venturing into the digital space with a new app focused on personal development and combating fear. This app aims to provide users with the tools and resources they need to face their fears head-on, set meaningful goals, and achieve personal and professional growth.

1. What motivated you to start "I Love Failure," and how has the concept evolved since its inception?

"I Love Failure" started at the lowest point in my life when fear had completely taken over, and I was too scared to make any moves. I was afraid to walk too far from home and was always in fight-or-flight mode. One night, I went to a business event where I was too afraid to ask questions for fear of being noticed. During the networking session, I met an entrepreneur who, for 15 minutes, was vulnerable and shared his failure story with me. He didn’t share it as a victim but more like a storyteller. This showed me that I was not the only one who hadn't found my way yet, and it gave me the courage I needed.

That night, an idea formed in my head: what if this guy had been on stage? I think he would have inspired the whole room. So, I went home and decided to create an event called "I Love Failure," where people get on stage and share their failure stories and the lessons they learned. Since that first event six years ago, our failure stories have touched ten thousand people in physical locations and millions online.

We have also started to reduce the fear of failure in companies.

2. In your opinion, why is it important for people to confront and understand their fears in the context of personal and professional development?

For any kind of growth to happen in personal or professional life, you need to have a good relationship with failure and setbacks. We are born with an "I Love Failure" mentality; we learn by doing, falling, and getting back up. However, along the way, we are told that we are wrong if we don't score well on a test or if we do things a certain way. As a result, our relationship with failure deteriorates, along with our ability to grow.

3. How does your new app intend to build on the principles of "I Love Failure" to help users overcome fear and achieve their goals?

First, users will start with a test to assess their fear of failure levels across various aspects of their lives, including professional and romantic. From there, they will be able to access failure stories categorized by topics such as romance, business, education, and many more. Users will also become part of a community that hosts numerous events where they can meet, network, and find inspiration. We will also offer masterclass courses on personal development from some of the most inspiring individuals, including CEOs, athletes, artists, and more. Courage is contagious; the more people are exposed to "I Love Failure" content and community, the better their fear levels should be.

4. How do you envision your app making a difference in the personal development space, especially in a market saturated with self-help tools?

Personal development means growth, and growth, as I said, comes from failure. Our app will be the first where you can measure your fear level and help you negotiate your relationship with failure. Another aspect is our events and community, which take personal growth to a whole new level.

5. What are some of the key features of your app that will set it apart from other personal development platforms?

First is our “fear measurement” feature, which helps people always know how exposure to "I Love Failure" impacts their growth mindset. Then there is the quality of our content and the quality of our speakers and mentors. I would also mention the online and physical community and events.

6. What challenges have you encountered in transitioning from event-based initiatives to developing a digital platform, and how have you addressed them?

We knew that this was the next logical step in having an impact on the world—the digital platform. So we planned this for some time, looking for the right timing and partners to build it and having enough content when we launch. The difficult parts are, of course, the content and development. For the content, we will launch our first studio at the beginning of next year, where we can take production to new levels. We are also expanding our conferences to more cities in Romania, as well as outside Romania in a franchise model to produce more content and grow our community. On the development side, we found the right partner who is also an "I Love Failure" conference organizer, so it’s a perfect match.

7. Who has been the most significant influence or mentor in your journey, and how have they impacted your approach to entrepreneurship?

This is a very hard question to answer because, at each step of the journey, you have different mentors who can guide you to the next level. If I had to choose one, it would be Dan Vidrascu from Litera and the current CEO of Voxa. Our interactions while building Voxa helped both of us grow. It was more like an exchange, not a mentorship.

8. How do you plan to attract users to your new app, and what strategies are you employing to ensure long-term engagement and value for your users?

Our first approach to user acquisition is, of course, our conferences and the companies we work with, where people will first see the speeches in our app. Also, our speakers and mentors are some of the biggest influencers in Romania, and soon the world. The value that they bring and their association with us will attract users and create long-term engagement.

9. Why should investors be interested in supporting your mission?

We are working on one of the biggest problems in the world, and our solution gives amazing, measurable results. The bigger the problem you solve, the higher the reward. I think we can become the go-to personal development app in the next few years—the "Netflix of failures."

Join the live pitch with Catalin Mester on September 9th, 4PM, to learn more about how she developed the ILoveFailure solution. Register here.