The Founder's Journey

Starting a business is never easy, the challenges and difficulties seem insurmountable. From finding the right idea, to securing funding, to building a team, to bringing a product or service to market, there are countless obstacles that must be overcome. Constantly having to wear multiple hats (including the hat of "Executive Assistance" and "Janitor")

Embraces the 3 principals of reality:

1. Pain

2. Uncertainty

3. Constant work

These three things will always be there, they are what make life visceral. Don't avoid them, accept them and leverage them to find success.

Through this suffering you will achieve an affinity to the problem you're solving. Or you won't and that will indicate you are in this for the wrong reason.

You may face:

• Limited resources (including time, money, and sanity)
• Having to constantly explain to your family and friends what it is you do (and why you're not making any money yet)
• Trying to compete with bigger, more established companies (while simultaneously trying to avoid getting crushed by them)
• Dealing with the emotional rollercoaster of being a start-up founder (one minute you're on top of the world, the next minute you're wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea)
• The never-ending search for the perfect team (and praying that they don't all quit on the same day)
• The pressure to constantly innovate and stay ahead of the competition (while simultaneously trying not to burn out)

But despite all of these challenges, the power of not giving up is crucial.

Remember:

• Every failure is an opportunity to learn and grow, you just discovered another way NOT to do something
• Surround yourself with a supportive network of advisors, mentors, and colleagues (and beer)
• Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Communicate your needs to your community. Only then will they know how they can help
• Celebrate your successes, no matter how small (because seriously, you deserve it)
• Stay focused on your vision and remember why you started this crazy journey in the first place
• Maintain personal relationships, they require work, without investment into the relationship, you won't receive a dividend out.
• Find a form of vigorous exercise that you enjoy (or at the very least don't hate) and incorporate it into your new lifestyle as a founder.

In the end, all of the challenges and difficulties faced as a start-up founder will be worth it when you finally achieve success. And if not, at least you'll have a really cool story to tell at parties.

Ill leave you with this parting quote of inspiration.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” (T. Roosevelt, 1912)