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Within the framework of the most important entrepreneurship festival in Colombia, Fuckup Nights and the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá created an honest and powerful space: Mujeres Sin Filtro. An event that broke with the perfect success narrative to show what really builds innovative ideas and companies: their failures.

For five days, Gofest brought together more than 25 thousand attendees from multiple industries. Fuckup Nights turned the main stage of this festival into a space where vulnerability was the protagonist.

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Why talk about failures?

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The session was moderated by Karla FerreiraDirector of Global Operations for Fuckup Nightswho began by sharing that even Fuckup Nights almost disappeared in 2023. The company faced debt, layoffs and difficult decisions. Proving that we can all transform obstacles into powerful learnings. We are not here to talk about unicorns, but about survival, mistakes and resilience.

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"Failing hurts. But when we talk openly about what went wrong, we generate empathy and build trust." Shared Karla Ferreira

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Three women, three stories and one thing in common: failure transformed them.

Rosario B. Casas: Breaking the digital divide with humanity

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Rosario shared how a failed implementation on a legacy platform from 2 different developers almost cost him the relationship with a client and a project he had dreamed of for years for his company. BCPartners Tech. 

The digital platform he developed with his team was not only technically flawed: it was supported by outdated code, bad practices and an infrastructure that seemed on the verge of collapse.

For three days, while deploying a new version, the system completely collapsed. Rosario led his team in a technical battle against time, while managing the emotions of his client, who was suffering panic attacks due to the system crashes and all the affected users. 

At the most critical moment, it decided to go ahead with no guarantee of payment until the platform was up and running again, with the sole conviction of not abandoning those who trusted in it. 

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Among the key learnings shared by Rosario are:

• The importance of solving real problems: Developers often get fascinated with the latest and forget the common user. It is vital to create solutions that work naturally for them.
• Be where it adds up and learns: Understanding the client's purpose and what it brings to the end client is crucial.
• Prepare for the inevitable: Problems will come. Crises are inevitable. It is key to understand their magnitude, what you don't know and to have a team with experience in overcoming them.
• Top team: In a crisis, an excellent team and honest communication (internal and external) are essential. It is important not to take anything personally and to encourage open collaboration.
• Giving to bridge the gap: Frontier technology is great, but the ability to build bridges of trust and communication to make life easier for those just starting to use digital tools is a superpower. 

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‍"The true mastery of Rosario and the team was not in the code, but in bridging the digital divide, one conversation at a time," Rosario B. Casas shared with us. Casas

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Salua García Fakih: Failure is not always losing; sometimes, failure is saving what really matters.

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Saluaco-founder of Symplificaarrived in México with a dream of replicating the success of her Colombian startup in a market three times its size. The conditions seemed ideal: a new law professionalizing household employment and a proven model with social impact. 

When Salua planned to launch the operation in this expansion, it thought there would be immediate demand for the solution, but faced institutional slowness, cultural resistance and a global economic context that made the operation unfeasible. 

After years of effort and 1,500 clients in México, the hardest decision came in 2024: to close. For Salua, who led the company while raising her first child, the closure was emotionally devastating. But that choice allowed Symplifica to survive in Colombia, where it became profitable and grew.

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Key learnings shared by Salua:

• Market timing can be as important as the product.
• Sometimes failure is survival: knowing when to say "no" is also leadership.
• International expansion requires local talent and solid resources.
• Tough decisions must be made with the head, even if they hurt the heart.

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"It was a survival decision and it was a decision that had to be made at the time we made it," concluded Salua Garcia.

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Alexandra Mendoza: When accepting the "dream offer" turns into a bad move

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With more than 15 years of experience in factoring, Alexandra founded Liquitech to innovate from technology. After attracting the attention of international funds, she signed a million-dollar deal to issue a bond in the US. 

What seemed like the highlight of his career quickly turned into a nightmare: delays, unforeseen conditions and lack of financial control.

On a personal level, this collapse coincided with the end of her 23-year marriage. The emotional and financial pressure was extreme. However, he decided to move on, renegotiate, downsize the team and rebuild from scratch. 

Today, the company has a new, stronger investment model and a vision that is much more focused on the bottom line.

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The key conclusions shared by Alexandra were:

• There are no shortcuts. Unicorns are fantasy; in real life, growth is done step by step, without magic formulas or shortcuts.
• Trust your nose. It's fine to listen to investors and advisors, but never more so than your intuition and common sense as an entrepreneur.
• SOUL is what sustains you. Joy, Authentic Leadership, Resilient Mindset and Action → that's what makes it so that even after a fuckup, you can be reborn stronger.
• Each failure is just another chapter in our history.

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"I learned that everything must be done a few at a time, that there are no magic formulas or shortcuts. Everything is part of a process that we must go through to crawl, walk and then run," shared Alexandra Mendoza.

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Impact and reactions confirming why we do this

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Sharing the stories was a very valuable and healing process for both the audience and the speakers:

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"They made me vibrate with the joy of being able to tell my story so that others can learn and maybe not make the same mistakes." - Alexandra Mendoza

"They are a super team. impeccable everything!" - Rosario B. Casas

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Even other members of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce team, such as Jorge Mario Hurtado y Lina María Núñez highlighted the energy, authenticity and power of this event.

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Connecting from vulnerability to inspire leadership

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This event was an opportunity to speak without filters in spaces of entrepreneurship and innovation, sharing the times when things did not go according to plan, and how we are able to rebuild ourselves in the process. 

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Because at Fuckup Nights we know that talking about what didn't go well doesn't weaken us, it humanizes us.

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Would you like to bring this transformative experience to your company?

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Our events teach teams the "B-side" of success, and that real leadership is built on mistakes, tough decisions and a lot of resilience.

If you want to create a space where people can speak without fear, connect from vulnerability and learn from failure with honesty, let's make it happen together.

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Learn more about our private events here.‍

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