This is even more heartbreaking in light the revelations of her IUD video. Thank you for your bravery, Xyla!

I've watched a bunch of her videos. As far as I'm concerned, she gets top marks across the board in...you name it...talent, skill, creativity, ingenuity, ambition, intelligence, sense of humour/whimsy, beauty, bravery...the woman is a force of nature! And after watching this I'm even more impressed -- her candour, wisdom and fortitude are remarkable.

She is literally my new favoritest internet person. I watched her channel, and she's awesome. Clever, hardworking, knowledgeable. Hats off.

Same here. My invention is a B2B product, and it's gone from an idea to 90+ employees and $35M in annual sales, with 20% profitability and zero debt. The only thing that has kept me sane and on-track is having an overriding spiritual basis for my thought processes. This spiritual base sets my mental and emotional guard rails. This, then, ultimately controls my actions (or inactions) and my perspective on both success and failure. And there have been many failures (including a Chapter 11) along the way. It also keeps reminding me of how small, in the big picture, I really am. By staying small, I'm never too far from the ground so falling is not so much a worry. Xyla Foxlin's KZfaq videos are absolutely the best and I can't recommend them enough! Encourage your pre-teen girls to watch them--she's definitely an inspiration. As for her neighbors complaining about "entrepreneurial noise" coming from her garage at night, they simply don't appreciate good music when they hear it!

She makes canoes now, and I think everyone should see that

Go Xyla, sorry to hear about your struggles but glad to see you coming out the other side stronger.

Bless you Xyla. You've learned so much. You are a shining light.

I'm glad you stuck around Xyla.

Yes. She is a beautiful and talented woman. She is so much more than what she discussed today. She is a boat builder, a model rocketeer, a pilot, and an inspiration to so many people. Xyla, you have come a long way and expect you will go so much further. You GO!

Patented a product for the military, presented it, chose a maker, that maker sold me out and even with a patent, a multi-billion dollar company infringed and then told me to sue them in court in NYC. patents mean nothing unless you have millions to go to court and protect them. I feel for her.

Brilliant. Thanks for being so vulnerable with your talk, Xyla!

Xyla as someone who never thought about entrepreneurship thank you for shining a light on the dark side of entrepreneurship. I teared up listening to your story as bar the entrepreneurial side it is all too close to home for me as well. You've definitely got another loyal supporter through whatever project you choose to pursue.

I remember meeting you at CES. Never put Xyla the you-tuber together with Beauty-and-The-Bolt, until now. My respect for you goes up with the telling of your story. Am sharing this video!

Xyla, fantastic talk. Very important message and it's great that you had the strength to share this with everyone. I didn't know hardly any of this. So sorry to hear of all your struggles. I know I never thought you, the person, failed when Parihug didn't make it. I was incredibly impressed you did what you did!

Yay Xyla ! College professors can say the worst things to a person during a very precious formative stage. They should be educated about their responsibility to all of their students.

Xyla, Though this presentation is from about two years ago, and you are in a far different place today. Exposing Your vulnerabilities to the world is amazing. I praise your ability to open up to the world and share your life story. I have been watching your newer videos and see the openness and vulnerability in these videos too!! You are a wonderful engineer, researcher, experimenter and so much more! Take time for your emotional health as you do for your physical health!

Bravo Xyla You are telling an incredible story. I hope you have many more great decades to come. I just signed up for Xyla's KZfaq and found a new one. You have a new fan. Keep doing great work and stay mentally and physically safe.

With every movie with her that I watch I just admire and love this girl more. She’s so inspiring. ❤️

Unbelievable how gifted someone can be. She's intelligent, creative, focused and good looking. She even has a pilot's license (worked extremely hard for it). One should think she's the happiest person on the planet. But she is not. Keep that in mind when in the future you are inclined to judge people...

Just wow girl. I have been in business (often plural) since my early childhood. You have said nothing but truth and 99% of the world will never really understand what you said. Your awareness will enhance your entire life. :)

Jeepus, I just thought ya made great canoes. That was bloody brilliant.

Remember this Lady...she will appear again in your future. She is very smart and highly motivated. Invest in her.

Thank you for sharing Xyla. Never give up. You are worth it.

Xyla, Your tribulations brought tears to my eyes. I truly pray for your future happiness as well as your, (virtually ensured) success in life. I intend to enroll my 15.5YO granddaughter in your Patreon in the hope that some of your spirit may inspire her to a future not dictated by the modern mediocre milieu. With love and best wishes, Godspeed.

Woaw Xyla! You took the words right out of my mouth. Bravo for coming out and showing light on what many of us secretly feel, deeply in our soul, behind the curtain of success. I wish you the best. You deserve it!

Watch her “IUDs almost killed me” video as a companion piece, really adds a whole other layer

Xyla is amazing, talented, and intelligent. She has so much wisdom. The information and insight that she brings in all that she does is beyond belief. Xyla Rocks!

Thanks for sharing. Good to hear stories from the startup community when things don't work so we don't have as much survivorship bias.

Wow, this was a really amazing talk and hit home for me! I'm a big fan of your channel Xyla! Thank you for the inspiration!

Thank you so much for this video. So recognizable as well. Thank you for being so strong to go up there and speak. I am doing a PhD myself and I recognize so much of this story with myself people in my surroundings. You become your project and as a result, critique on your work feels like critique on your person. The valuable lessons of this talk apply so much broader than just to entrepreneurship. So I cannot say thanks enough.

So brave, Xyla! Much appreciated. I am so grateful that you are still around.

I just discovered her KZfaq channel and it will be interesting to see what else she's doing.

Found your channel recently, and now youtube recommended this. Your seem to be even more amazing the as i watch your content. Keep your chin up and all the great work!

Learnt so much today about Mental Health from the PoV of an entrepreneur;... what all those 'Journals' and 'Annals' and 'Dictionaries' never did teach me. Even more enlightening is that atrociously unique naysayer culture around ; whether it be vaccines or lack of vaccines or healthcare or lack of it ....OR....... Humble thanks for bringing this to Us, TEDx and KZfaq.

The summation line is bloody brilliant.

Thank you so much, Xyla!

Xyla, Thank you for sharing your story with us, and congratulations for surviving. We will be praying that you continue to recover and to grow stronger.

this just popped in my feed. been watching her channel for a while now......but now i'm gonna help her out on patreaon as well.

It is difficult not to fall in love with this woman. Brilliant engineer, super-strong personality (yes overcoming difficulties makes you Strong!), a beautiful and amazing violin player, and recreational airplane pilot. That's achieving VERY HIGH! Inspiring really.

Great talk -- definitely highlights the roller coaster of choosing to walk the path less trod (because you feel the calling and/or obligation to do so) -- speaking from experience

Wow. Just wow.

you are awesome as long as you give things a try you will never fail, because everything you try is a lesson for the future. you just proved it in this video . Xyla Foxlin your you tube video's are awesome your passion and drive is intoxicating don't ever lose that

Thanks for sharing

Creating anything always has its ups and downs. Failure is part of the process when we try something new. I managed a creative group and often had to explain when we got criticised for our falures. My explanation always concluded that we don't acheive anything if we don't try and those who do not try will never fail.

Awesome!!

Thank you for sharing Xyla!

Thank you, Xyla - It resonates.

I need that hug... My company failed because I simply was overwhelmed. And the worst thing is that it happened just before the Covid crisis. Thankfully I live in France, where we can have a safety net if we fall hard (but some people are actively trying to destroy it). I can't imagine the added stress in a country that doesn't have that.

Lady, you are my 'Guru.' ! Keep going from strength to strength. A wish, a prayer, a blessing in disguise... that you continue to shine; happy, healthy and wise. Humble thanks for expression thus.

My take: "Entrepreneurs are so much more than the success in their company."

I think she will be very successful in her life soon, p.s. I was hooked to her new Xyla Foxlin youtube channel, keep going my friend !!

Good presentation and Xyla is amazingly intelligent, beautiful, talented, articulate and accomplished. The investing in people vs product is not a new concept. Most investors look at the people as much as the product. When looking at any investment, if it's success is heavily dependent on one person, that presents a risk. (Even a perfectly healthy and effective person can get hit by a bus crossing the street.) The startup culture of overworking is interesting. I think the belief that professional success requires effort and sacrifice at all costs is common (especially in the USA and especially in younger people). It takes experience and maturity to find the right balance between work and life. This talk is a great presentation of Xyla's experience and way to pass on the lesson to others.

I'm glad you're still here!. Remember, you can work to live or, live to work, which are you.? Also, there are no failures, only life lessons, now if you didn't learn anything from your lesson, then you are a failure. Never quit, never give up, there's always someone out there that has had a worse day than you. I'll keep watching. Tim.

It makes me happy to see successful people that worked for what they have. She isn’t perfect but she puts it all out there.

Absolutely captivating. I wish I had half the drive that she has.

So true....

Thank you for sharing an important aspect of the trade! This really is an underappreciated risk that every startup has. What I have trouble believing is the low number of views on the video. Let's change that!

i love you for this

Great Ted talk.

This young lady is quite the genius. You should all check out her tech videos.

Yes. If you think your value is connected to your achievements, you are at great risk. It's like building a house on sand: when failure comes, it is washed away. Each must find the rock that enables them to weather failures in achievement.

Damn, that Uni needs to have a long hard look at their faculty!!

Ms. Foxlin, you _are_ what 99.99% of humanity wishes they could be. You've won life.

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear dresses and kevlar/carbon fiber corsets, and dance with lightning.

Love you girl

2 years later, imagine how successful Parihug would have been during Covid

Effective

she is my crush now still my insperation on dreaming success or to craw out of poverty.

Emotional capital/spiritual capital... good thoughts to live by.

well said :)

Good video. Nassim Taleb made the insightful suggestion that entrepreneurs are the front line foot soldiers of capitalism. For every success story hundreds of them are mowed down trying to clime out of the trench. Yet, without that colossal effort we would never have the great achievements of capitalism. In war however, we celebrate and raise monuments to the fallen heroes and unknown soldiers. But in capitalism, we only celebrate the successes. Sadly there are no celebrations and monuments to the unknown entrepreneur.

super

Love you. I used to pray to not wake up in the morning.

I’m only ten years old... but man I felt that

multi talented person , full package

Geez, a lot of wisdom here

wow, i'm from australia and i never knew the meaning of that saying , tall poppy syndrome ,,,and it seems to me similar to tiny man itis syndrome , its just hitting a different group of people,which is very interesting to know ,

"The key to happiness is having low expectations" That is the truth to why startups fail, the ambitions are almost always much greater than reality, so even if something succeeds, it doesn't succeed nearly as much as people thought it would, and you'll end up with a bunch of angry investors - that just happened to me.

Oh, brother. Next you'll be telling me she builds canoes.

It’s all a journey. You never know what your gonna get (Forest Gump). I watched her canoe 🛶 videos first. Seems like she found her calling or another talent? I think we all have many talents we are all not singular and we all have the ability to change and grow if we choose. Especially young adults. From the age of 13 or so to about 28 our prefrontal cortex is still growing or developing. Just go out there set a direction and go. Try something for a while you might like it or it may have a negative affect but the whole idea is growth and understanding it’s always a challenge that makes you grow. In her case she started this business and failed and now has success in her KZfaq channel where she says she’s an engineer building canoes 🛶 and other projects. Also some people can do things which come easier for them to do than others... but we all can do whatever we want if we put in enough time and practice or consistency.

Xyla, thank you. Thank you for being brave enough to tell the truth. You have helped me understand yet another peice of the puzzle that is my life and my journey. Now, from me to you... always be willing to examine yourself, and you're motives... be forgiving of yourself, but also keep you're motives on a pedestal. .. and always be ready to laugh at yourself. Enjoy the journey that is you're life!

🤯

I really do wonder if there's anything healthy about being-or at any rate, wanting to be-a leader at all. Certainly “success” is a lottery with very expensive tickets, and playing the lottery is a warning sign, given that realistically you will _not_ get out as much as you put in. And do I say this as someone who's also been there, also done that, and also had the meltdowns.

It takes a lot of bravery to show vulnerability, what a role model, what a strong message

Brilliant, and painful.

Pretty, smart, courageous, creative, genuine, extroverted, etc., etc. How much more appealing can a person be? I met her once in person, she is just as impressive. Wasn't really comfortable with fame though. Needed a front man like Richey had Mixon.

You are amazing, thanks for being so badass

🤔🤔

One thing you can't tell from her videos, unless you hear her explicitly saying it, but what you can tell instantly from her performance here is that she must have had done a lot of stage theater at an earlier point in time. So much drama in her voice. Just amazing.

its like,,, z is a double ss... Z is an X

It’s too bad the cameras viewing her were not used with good, fluid head tripods. A “sticky” head can make camera operators look bad.

plus we are at the same age hahahahahahaha.I have the guts to make one company and the mental power to start it. but I'm crawling in poverty can start one without monney still I cant make it. plus covid hit now College and support from my Scholarship stop, still positivly waitung

If you think you're an entrepreneur, and brag about hours, then you've confused "entrepreneur" with "freelancer". Common mistake, but a dangerous one.

It's the human capital. You have to work it out for yourself, learning by doing Intuition, watching and waiting for appropriate information to "inspire" if it lasts. Engineering operates on "just right enough". It's tempting to retaliate against the low minded players of Tall Poppy cutting, but the Australian way is supposed to be balanced humour not Nuclear Annihilation. (Too easy, pointless, and absolutely no ROI, because this is what is actually destroying the Planet)

Bravo! Sincerely. …and please ignore the bounty of idiotic, know-it-all and misogynistic comments to your illuminating talk.

I didn't know. This Ted talk w Xyla made my eyes water almost cry like baby. You go girly whatever you do, virtual hug. The vocal fry please work on that tho ;)

you had me at the "the Obama White House" :) !

Obama Whitehouse? I’m pretty sure I would have passed.

Market = Demand not your passion

Reason it failed is there was no market simple as that