And why seeing the big picture is the most important.
Elizabeth van Rooyen
For the third Saturday evening in a row, I lifted my eyes from my computer screen as I saw the last of the sunset outside my office window. I could have been watching that very sunset over a cold glass of wine with my friends like I used to.
But as my mind began to dream, the crippling anxiety and guilt over the thought of spending valuable time on something other than my startup was too consuming. I had people depending on me, my reputation to uphold, and a dwindling bank account balance.
So back to my computer I went, for another hot date with spreadsheets and powerpoints.
So congrats — you’re a founder! You’ve leapt into the unknown and done something most people will never have the guts to do. At first, it’s all excitement, and you’re full of juice. Then — slowly — customers start churning, deals fall through, people screw you over (because yes, that’s business). And gradually, your doe-eyed optimism fades, you find the weight of the world on your shoulders, and pressure rising while motivation diminishes.
As NFL player-turned-venture-capitalist, Ryan Nece, aptly said in one of my favourite podcasts with Notation Capital,
“I would much rather run down the field and hit a 300lb lineman over and over again than start a company from zero.”
As a founder, most of your time may seem spent running into linemen time and time again, weakening your physical and mental strength each time you get up to run towards the end zone.
I went to a talk by a FinTech entrepreneur not long ago, who was relaying his most vivid memory since founding his company. He recalls sitting at his desk years ago on the eve before his startup’s monthly pay run, with his three maxed credit cards beside him, and only enough runway for one more pay cycle after a recent funding round had collapsed. A week later, they landed their largest enterprise client at the time, who committed to a year’s subscription in advance. This led them to close several other high-value deals, which had investors banging their door down — and now the company is worth $500m+.
However exhausted you get, and — as tricky as it is to imagine — your next touchdown is just around the corner.
This is proven by many multi-billion dollar companies and their founders, who didn’t have the most natural starts to their now-empires. Here are some of my favourite stories of the greats that might make you feel better when clutching your next credit card bill:
Founders of Airbnb, Brian Chesky & Joe Gebbia
The accommodation booking platform we all know and love, Airbnb, initially started as a quick way for the struggling designers to earn enough money to pay rent in their San Franciscan loft. Brian and Joe began renting out air mattresses on their floor for $80/night. Now at a reported valuation of $31 billion, they are one of the most valuable startups in the world.
Co-Founder of Twitter, Evan Williams
Evan Williams first began with a startup called Odeo, a podcasting platform which was successful to the point of raising their Series A round before being made irrelevant by iTunes’ launch of Podcasts. Instead of claiming defeat, Williams and fellow Odeo creators began refocusing Odeo to centre on publishing 140 character ‘statuses’. Twitter was born — which is now one of the most successful social media platforms to date.
Founder of Apple, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs founded Apple out of his parent’s garage at age twenty and turned it into a $2bn company within ten years. He was subsequently fired from his own company by Apple’s Board. This led Jobs to create a competing company, NeXT, to sell high-end computers. Apple eventually bought NeXT for its operating system and Jobs was once again back at his baby, and built it to the Apple we all know and love today.
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
As the number of startups grows, so does the number of failures. Failure gives us the tools to learn and get better, and many of the most successful entrepreneurs ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶ learned several times before their time came.
Many issues new companies face evolve around money (or lack thereof). Marketing, development, rent, taking VCs out for coffee (and never hearing back… you know who you are) — it all adds up in the bank. If you want to read more about why startups fail, check out Why Startups Die and What You Can Learn From Them.
However dire the journey may feel, it is nothing compared to the incredible satisfaction that comes from coming into work every day for no one but you. Choosing this path is by no means easy — but it is one of the most rewarding ones when you take the time to appreciate the little wins and remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
You are making progress. 👊
Link: https://medium.com/startup-grind/why-being-a-founder-is-the-most-challenging-thing-youll-ever-do-638d9ee0896c