Amazon Devices Chief Panay: Failure is Essential for Product Development

Amazon Devices chief Panos Panay has a clear message for startup founders: failure is an inevitable and even required part of building a successful product.

Panay, who serves as Amazon's SVP of Devices, Alexa, and Leo, shared his insights on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. He drew upon his own experience at Microsoft, where he spent over 19 years and weathered one particularly expensive failure.

"You have to be willing to fail, and actually, not just willing, you actually have to go fail," Panay said from the stage. "If you haven’t failed, you probably haven’t pushed the boundary. It’s literally about harvesting the lessons learned."

According to Panay, failures provide valuable lessons that are essential for innovation. He emphasized that it is possible to recover from and learn from even catastrophic failures, as long as one adopts a constructive mindset.

Panay previously had a long career at Microsoft, where he played a key role in several device projects. He believes that companies should encourage their employees to take risks and accept that not all endeavors will lead to success.