Fuckup Nights Timișoara returned on 16 April 2026 with Vol. 14, The Comeback Edition, and for us it was the kind of evening that reminds us why we work in marketing: for people with real stories, not for perfection.
This time, vulnerability was not a concept. It was what we saw with our own eyes in the room.
We did not just put on another edition
We shone a light on the moments we usually hide: failures, wrong decisions, projects that went off the rails, situations where your ego knocks you down just when you thought you were ready for anything.
We saw how the energy in the room shifts when someone admits out loud that they got it wrong. There is no shame in it. It is a release. It is human.
For us, that was the essence of the evening: seeing how learning comes from exactly the places we never wanted to end up in, but ended up in anyway. And realising that you are not the only one.
On stage at FABER: three perspectives on failure
Three guests from the private sector and public administration, each with a personal take on failure and on the courage to keep going.
She spoke about the importance of allowing yourself to make mistakes and about having the courage to ask questions even when your emotions tell you to stay silent. Questions are never wrong: their job is to clarify. Progress begins the moment you get back up, choose to carry on and ask the next question.
He took the discussion to the place where ego can become the biggest hurdle. He talked about the moments when failure leaves you feeling you are not ‘good enough’, and about how self-sabotage can be more powerful than any external obstacle. His message: recognising these mechanisms is the first step towards growth.
He spoke about taking the initiative even when people tell you it is hard or that ‘that’s just the way things are’. He took apart the ‘we’ve talked about it, that’s that, it can’t be done’ mindset and showed that the impossible is often just an opinion. For him, perseverance is a mindset.
What we felt in the room
At Fuckup Nights Timișoara we felt once again how much it matters to have a community that does not stigmatise mistakes. People responded with empathy, with humour and with that ‘I’ve been there too’ which makes you realise that you were the one putting the pressure on yourself.
For us, it was the moment when vulnerability was seen, not theorised: relaxed faces, laughter and jokes, just us, present in the moment and listening, and stories that pulled the plug on perfectionism.
Vol. 14 was about coming back, but also about reconnecting with ourselves: with the bitter taste of failure, with the obstacles that made us stronger, with life that goes on even when it hurts.
In a world that parades perfection on social media, this evening reminded us how brave it is to be real. You free yourself from the pressure when you admit that you do not know it all, that you have days when nothing works out, that a project not going the way you hoped bruises your ego. It does not make you weak. It makes you human.
‘After a break of a few years, we brought Fuckup Nights back to Timișoara with the same conviction: the truth, told at the right time, can change people. We were pleasantly surprised to see that people had not forgotten us: the tickets sold out. Between 2017 and 2020 we grew a community here, and remarkable personalities from Timișoara chose to talk about failure before talking about success. Now we are reviving the story and building a safe space where vulnerability becomes a bridge, not a barrier.’
About Fuckup Nights
Fuckup Nights was born in 2012 in Mexico City. A few friends started telling each other about the rotten things that had happened to them. And they enjoyed it. They repeated the get-together with more friends, and everyone agreed that talking about failure was brilliant. Today, Fuckup Nights is an international movement that shares, questions and celebrates failure.
The first Fuckup Nights edition in Romania was brought to Timișoara by ATU Advertising in 2017: an event organised and grown by the ATU team. Fuckup Nights Timișoara are networking evenings that bring the community together around difficult, vulnerable conversations. No prejudice, no sugar-coating and no ego.
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