Jul

17

Why startups are hard (part 3 of many)

Filed Under management styles 

Had a funny and honest conversation with Tristan the other day. We talked about the stress we were feeling, what were the plans for the next few days, and how we were going to handle some investment questions.

Over the course of the conversation, we came to an interesting epiphany. No one else we know gets this. No one has any understanding of how freaking hard this stuff is. Sure we’ve now met a variety of entrepreneurs who can understand, but most of them are on their 4th or 5th venture, and have a hard time remembering just how difficult the first go was.

At any given moment of any given day, I’m worried about the progress of our product, whether we can meet client expectations, if we’ll make rent and payroll this month, what was that email I was supposed to respond to?, how many promises can I make and how many do I have to keep?, should we hire another person?, can we hire another person?, what do I know about sales?, what do I know about being CEO?, is this still a good idea?, is this now a bad idea?, can I do this?, can my team do this?, how did it already become 11pm? You know what they say, you can only keep seven individual thoughts in your head at any given time. What does that mean? It means I lose my keys and wallet a lot.

And if you think that isn’t tough enough, remember that you have to put on a great face for everyone, and I mean everyone. Investors, potential investors, friends, family, employees, advisors, and everyone else. This is why having a co-founder is so important. This is the only person in the world who understands your problems and feels your pain. They’re like your mom, your best friend, and your psychiatrist all rolled into one.

Someday this little business of ours will be chugging along running itself as they say. Until then we’re responsible for all of it.

One last thought to leave you with because you’re probably wondering why anyone would do this: while the lows are tough and often long, the highs are absolutely incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Posted by: Connor Fee

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