When do you consider yourself a "failed" searcher?

To preface, I consider myself a failed startup founder. I co-founded a startup on which I worked for two years, earning $1mil+ in total revenue and a modest flow of passive income. This was unequivocally a failure to me because I did not meet my goal of achieving a multi-million dollar exit.

So no negativity from my end on failure. One of the things I value about this community is how authentic folks seem to be, particularly about failure. I often bring a hush over a group when I admit to failure among folks I know in the venture/Silicon Valley orbit.

I've seen some folks I respect on here identifying themselves as "failed searchers." If you identify that way, may you please tell me what benchmark you're measuring that against?

My assumption is that you accept failure when you are unable to close on a business that meets your financial goals in a reasonable amount of time. Is that the right standard? If so, what was it that drove you to end the search? Did you have a fixed timeline you set, were there other benchmarks, or was it mostly just life's intervention?

I'm asking so that I can get a sense for what a successful search will entail to me and more importantly, how to measure if I'm on track to meet my standard.

Thanks to all who share in advance.