My impression is that among “startup people”, starting a company and having it fail is not “cringe”; it’s a rite of passage — and one that can be repeated.
There is no contradiction between something being “cringe” and “a rite of passage”. Actually, cringe things probably make good rites, because the signaling is (psychologically) costly.
I would guess that this is specific to start-up people. There is even a concept that is thought to people who are not start-up people to make the more … well creative.
My impression is that among “startup people”, starting a company and having it fail is not “cringe”; it’s a rite of passage — and one that can be repeated.
There is no contradiction between something being “cringe” and “a rite of passage”. Actually, cringe things probably make good rites, because the signaling is (psychologically) costly.
I would guess that this is specific to start-up people. There is even a concept that is thought to people who are not start-up people to make the more … well creative.