Count It: How Many Times These Business Leaders Tried Before They Succeeded (Infographic)

The founder of Pandora reached out to investors 300 times before getting funding. And James Dyson invented 5,126 failed vacuum cleaner prototypes before getting one right.

By Catherine Clifford • Sep 23, 2013

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The only way to be sure you never fail is to never try. So, if you want to be an entrepreneur, buckle your seatbelt for a bumpy ride.

Epic inventor Thomas Edison generated 10,000 prototypes for electric light bulbs before getting it right, according to the infographic below, created by San Francisco-based startup organization Funders and Founders. And Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, was rejected 1,009 times when he tried to sell his fried chicken recipe.

How many times have you tried and failed so far? What's your secret to keep trying again? Leave us a note below and let us know.

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Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

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