Fuckup Nights: I messed up—and I'm proud of it

Whoever says in the job or the company's own signature on the wall, will not be able to do so. At the FuckUpNights, you can make a show out of your own headphones - with a Lerneffekt for others.

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Scheitern als Chance - a romantic slogan that Patrick Wagner doesn't want to hear. Er schreibt gerade an einem Buch mit dem Arbeitstitel "Scheitern als Scheitern". "Damit will ich dem Scheitern das zurückgeben, was ihm Veranstaltungen wie diese hier genommen haben", sagt er. Denn scheitern darf man auch mal so, ohne erbaulichen Zugewinn.

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In the 1990s, Wagner was a co-founder of the Berlin indie label Kitty-Yo and the frontman of the band Surrogat. Today, he’s performing at the third “ FuckUp Night ” in Düsseldorf and recounting his emotional story into a microphone—so loudly that the sound sometimes distorts.

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The concept behind “ FuckUp Night ” originated in Mexico. One evening, a few friends were talking about their entrepreneurial experiences—especially the mistakes they’d made. They realized just how valuable and impactful this exchange was. This led to the creation of a series of events that has since expanded to 33 cities and ten countries.

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Photo: Corbis

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Ben Teeuwsen, from Krefeld, brought the idea of a trip to Mexico back to Germany and, together with Yvonne Firdaus, managing director of the GarageBilk coworking space, and business coach Oliver Wüntsch, organized Germany’s first “ FuckUp Night ” in April 2014.

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Employees report on their own mistakes and misunderstandings. The motto: "If you lose, never lose the action."

In Düsseldorf, there are also free drinks for a couple of euros in addition to FuckUp vorträgen. In the first phase, the small cooker is located at the end of the room. Today, the water comes with the stove of the kitchen. More than a hundred people have heard of Wagner.

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Millionen in den Wind gehauen

"Mein Geschäftspartner und ich hatten damals in den Neunzigern keinen Businessplan, keine Anwälte, keine Verträge", erzählt er. A few years later, Kitty-Yo had 18 years of experience and a worldwide reputation. The label was a million-dollar mistake. "Aus dem Nichts", sagt der 44-Jährige, ballt die Faust und brüllt: "Geil! Die ganze Welt wollte uns." Doch die beiden wurden sich nicht einig. Wagner wanted to expand, his Geschäftspartner did not. "Ein schlauer Mensch hätte seine Anteile verkauft", meint er. Wagner ging - von seinem einstigen Erfolg blieb ihm nichts.

Later he founded with his wife the label "Louisville Records". 2010 was Schluss, the label insolvent. Four weeks later, Wagners Ehe was also at the end. Today, the Berliner is working as a musician, singer and football trainer for children.

Despite his mild criticism, he enjoys the show. He thinks * FuckUp Night * is “great,” he says, and isn’t ashamed of his failure. He sums up the core message of his story this way: “Everyone wants to see everyone else fail. It’s a sick world. If you fall flat on your face, get back up as quickly as possible. That’s the basic message. Don’t look back!”

This is exactly what the FuckUp-Conzept is all about. In addition to Wagner, the Düsseldorfer Christian Paul Stobbe also goes back to Wagner. Sein Vortragstitel: "Wir zielen nur, das Schicksal steuert." In 2006, he wanted to develop a transfer market and a social network for German amateur football fans with his friends. The name: trafema. The idea was born: "In the near future we had several players from North Rhine-Westphalia in our data bank. Sogar eine Fernsehsendung haben wir gemacht. The production costs per shipment were 150 Euro". The successes were there, and an investor was also involved. Stobbe: "Wir waren euphorisiert und nahmen den Erstbesten."

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Feiere deine FuckUps!

Dann kam die Lehman-Brothers-Pleite. "That has put us under the spotlight. Ultimately, our investor was able to put the financing in place. After we were just about half a year old, we had a healthy insolvency." Today, he is working in a senior management position at a German commercial agency. He is helping him today with what he has already learned. Sein FuckUp-Fazit: "Leere Taschen haben noch nie jemanden aufgehalten, nur leere Köpfe und leere Herzen können das."

Michael Gärtner is a craftsman at heart. He already had his own welding machine when he was just twelve years old. Fourteen years later, he’s an entrepreneur. And he makes his audience laugh: “We’re still working toward the big ‘FuckUp,’ but we celebrate our little ‘FuckUps’ every day.” His company is called Blitzbude, and it rents out homemade, mobile photo booths. Gärtner built the prototype in his own basement.

He and his Team are now represented at trade shows like Gamescom and company parties. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing. A printer that was too slow, a camera installed the wrong way around, and a five-figure investment that turned out to be questionable in hindsight—these are the stumbling blocks that have caused his company to falter, but not to fail.

"Scheißt auf euer Ego," ruft er und wird am Ende pathetisch: "Wir sollten jeden Morgen so offen angehen, dass wir am Ende des Tages eine neue Person sind."

To see the full article, visit Spiegel.de