The business failed. The skills you learned building it just got transferred to the next one.

A closed business is an outcome, not a deletion. Everything you learned about pricing, about customers, about your own limits and how you handle pressure, stayed with you when the doors shut. That inventory does not appear on any balance sheet, which is why it is easy to overlook while you are counting the losses.

Write the postmortem while it is fresh, in plain language, including the parts that are uncomfortable. List what you can now do that you could not eighteen months ago. Keep that list for the next attempt, because it is the actual return.