I think Jon is completely missing the point of 'failure'.
Failure doesn't mean that you created something which lost money and completely disappeared.
We hear often about business which change their model from where they started. Therefore, the first 'idea' was a failure.
I believe the 'it's ok to fail' speaks more about 'it's ok for not everything to be a success, but don't give up'.
That is completely missed in this article.
John quotes Mark Pincus founder of Zynga and Tribe. Pincus himself has described Tribe as a failure. Perhaps failure is in the eye of the failer.