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I read somewhere once that while 90% of startups fail, 80% of second time startup founders succeed.

While I think it's a totally made up statistic (there was no citation, IIRC, and there are all sorts of problems with measurement and bias), there's probably a grain of truth to it.

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If you had to guess, is it just that second-time founders have more experience, or is it that a lot of the first-time founders who aren't 'cut out' for startups try once and then give up? (Honest question!)

I'd say a little of both.

It would be hard not to get better at being an entrepreneur through the practice of starting a company and failing. There's no shame in failing at something that's really hard to begin with, so long as you learn a lot and act with integrity.

I can't imagine that 80% success rate for second time startups is anywhere near correct.

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