I've often found myself trying to rationalize the reasons for my failures instead of honestly acknowledging my ownership of them.

I like what BradNickel said in the comments:
"Ultimately you have decide whether it is you or your ego and perceptions that are in control of how you feel. I realize this sounds overly simplified, but if you really look at yourself and the chatter in your brain, it's the simplest truth you will ever know."

Ultimately though, how do you define the instant of failure? When was the exact moment that you failed? Was it layoff number 1, number 20, number 800? Was it when the stock price hit 20 cents or was it when it dropped to $30?

In what moment were you a success? Where does success end and failure begin? When you created a brilliant piece of earth changing software were you a success? Did you become a failure after 6 months of miserable sales or were you a failure when you hired the wrong marketing guy?

Ultimately you have decide whether it is you or your ego and perceptions that are in control of how you feel. I realize this sounds overly simplified, but if you really look at yourself and the chatter in your brain, it's the simplest truth you will ever know.

You can never fail at this moment and it is the only moment you have.

Funny thing about black holes is that you are completely lost, without hope, all momentum turned inertia, no friction to get anywhere, flailing helplessly in oily, suffocating, darkness and then…

…click…

the light switch flips and there you are you are standing in your room, unshaven, out of shape, but otherwise completely health and capable, just wondering why you are still in your PJs at 1130am. and then you get moving.

I left a lucrative career in investment banking to pursue a life long dream of opening up a restaurant lounge in Manhattan. Suffice to say, the business eventually failed and it completely wiped me out personally – and I mean completely. Though my failure has been an extraordinarily painful and embarrassing process, I've learned a hell of a lot. I'm very thankful as it has made me a stronger, wiser, more humble person. Going forward, in my future business endeavors, I'd much rather go into business with a partner who has experienced their own failure at some point and learned from it, rather than team up with someone who is green on the failure front. You gotta have that notch on the belt.

Thanks again!

The obvious answer is to select the one that was successful. However, there are so many situations where the other one may indeed be more qualified. Why did his/her startup fail? What did he/she learn from it? Why did the other one succeed? What did he/she learn from their success? The fact is many startups have to bet everything at least once or twice a year – sometimes you get it wrong.

It is a great conversation and one similar to the one living in this thread. The point is experience is critical to success – sometimes that experience comes at a great cost. Sometimes that experience is wasted on fools. Generally speaking, the more experience the better the candidate – or he/she is fool and will kill your company. Can you tell the difference in a few hours of conversation?