You’ll fit right in 
Hello Mischa, good to meet you. My name is Alberto and this is my story, since you were so generous as to share your own. I think you win the prize for the most unusual way to find your way to Edgeryders!
I resonate with your emphasis on collaboration and community building – most of us do. In fact, we are redirecting our attention to stewardship – how can communities take care of physical assets (like buildings and parks), immaterial assets (like software, or data, or culture) and of communities themselves to avoid burnout and self-exploitation. We will gather in late October to compare notes and teach each other how to do this ever better. You are very welcome to join us: for info start here.
As for failure, the consensus that I seem to be picking up in Edgeryders space is this: it’s not pretty, but it turns out to be not as big a deal as they make it to be. So many of us have failed, and yet here we are.