Fail Like A Billionaire

Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump and other wealthy entrepreneurs prove that failure is actually crucial to success.

Mark Zuckerberg is a freak. At least as success stories go. He created Facebook, now 500 million members strong. He has a net worth of $6.9 billion and can claim to be one of the most powerful people in the planet--No. 40 by Forbes' count. He's only 26 years old.

You're not supposed to be so successful, so young, especially not on your first try. Zuckerberg stands out even among the 272 self-made billionaires on the Forbes 400. For our Secrets of the Self-Made special report, Forbes surveyed some of America's richest about their paths to riches. Several cited one main ingredient for success: Failure.

Asked what one experience a successful entrepreneur should have, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban responded, "Coming home and having the lights turned off because you couldn't afford to pay the bills. It's incredibly motivating and humbling."

Mistakes are the classroom of entrepreneurs. In a column penned for this package, billionaire investor Ken Fisher points out that Sam Walton's first Arkansas store went bust. Walton learned from his first missteps and started a new operation. Today Wal-Mart Stores ( WMT - news - people ) is the world's largest retailer with 8,600 stores, 2 million employees and more than $405 billion in sales (and six Walton heirs are among the planet's richest people). The Forbes 400 is filled with hundreds of similar experiences.

This trial by fire is a vital experience for companies too. Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) launched its Newton tablet in 1993. It flopped. But in the Newton lies the DNA for the Steve Jobs' iPod, iPhone and the iPad. Those gadgets have changed how the world ingests media, and has helped Apple gain a larger market cap than Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) ($290 billion vs. $230 billion).

The world's wealthiest must not only grow from their mistakes, but learn to live with them. In dispensing advice for investors, Fisher says "Don't fuss if they've [your investments] had some bad years. Everyone has had them. Bill Miller. Buffett has had some doozies. Peter Lynch. Everyone. You know who didn't have bad years? Bernard Madoff--until he got caught."