[rdlecler1]

We suffer from strong survivor bias. Each day CrunchBase sends me a list of companies, most that I've never heard of and many that I can't understand how they're being backed, and it reinforces the idea that you can go out and build a great product and VCs will rain money down on you on your path to success. However these are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Some advice from someone in the trenches.

First, assume that you will never raise a dollar of outside Angel or VC money. Smart, great board, great product, it won't matter. An investor's null hypothesis is that you will fail and it is incredibly difficult to convince them otherwise. If you're the CEO and you don't have Brad Pitt like charisma and you're not a sociopath then it will be very very hard to raise capital.

Second, be prepared for the dreads. The worst part about it is that once these wounds are opened they will be there for life. You're going to wake up at 4:00 and won't be able to sleep because your mind is churning, trying to find some solution to your problem. This usually boils down to insipid growth rates and lack of capital to properly execute.

Third, there will always be 100 things to do and you get to pick 3. What you have will be imperfect. You won't have the metrics you need, and you'll be apologizing for everyhing. It also makes it that much harder to get others to see your vision.

Fourth, the longer it takes you to raise capital the more your team will doubt your competence.

Fifth, you will be rejected every day. VCs, customers, partners, potential employees. This takes a massive psychological toll even as you're get back up to put on that brave face. Unless you are a sociopath it is bound to chip away at your confidence and it may be that split second of doubt that hurts you in your next meeting.

[idlewords]

If you're awake at 4 AM because of anxiety about growth rate and lack of capital, make some hot cocoa and then thank God you don't have real problems.

I'm not saying this to be snide. Those problems feel real and scary enough. But as the other replies to this comment demonstrate, there is a vast spectrum of human misery that we live on the far end of.

Anything you can do to remain mindful of that will have the side effect of letting you sleep like a baby, even the night before the big investor meeting.

[feedjoelpie]

I don't disagree, but when you're growing and responsible for the economic livelihoods of several households, it's hard to write your anxieties off as first world. Because it's not really about you anymore, and a "whatever, I'll be fine in the end" attitude just feels, selfish? Irresponsible? I think a great many of us would sleep just fine if we only bore responsibility for ourselves. I'm not arguing that anyone should be destroying themselves over their startup, just that writing all the anxieties off as first world problems just isn't a reasonable ask for founders who care deeply about their teams.

[tptacek]

The kinds of people that start tech companies in this economy are among the most employable people in the entire world. If your company fails, you'll do the same thing a laid-off steelworker will do: get another job. But of course you'll succeed at doing that almost immediately.

[lmeyerov]

When I talk to other founders about the gut of steel, it's not about the money but the people.

'Real' founders are fine -- we have a lower expected salary anyways but are probably extra employable. (Imagine who knows the most about contributing to a business!)

The issue is that we were the ones who convinced the people we sat down with to put their eggs in our basket. Investors put in their hard-earned money, employees devote their precious personal hours and "one shot", and customers (in B2Bs) put their own businesses on the line. A company is a social bedrock and we're ultimately responsible.

This stuff can certainly be rationalized away. Professional investors spread their risk and angels are often in it for the fun, employees get a bundle of a paycheck, lottery ticket, and personal responsibility, customers make business decisions, and everyone is getting a seat on the rocket. However, founders are human and part of that means having empathy.

[tptacek]

You made tea shoot out of my nose when I read "Investors put their hard-earned money...".

[rdlecler1]

I think that's only true if the company has a decent sized win. As the CEO I actually feel pretty much unemployable. You're the ultimate generalist in a world where companies need specialists.

[davidiach]

This is entirely true, and it isn't only that you cannot find another job as a CEO, but you might have a really hard time finding any job at all even if it is lower status (non-executive).

[idlewords]

I find this really hard to believe. Sorry, you can't pick strawberries for us, you've been a CEO!

[7Figures2Commas]

I personally believe that founders have a moral obligation to do right by their employees, but ultimately it's important for founders to recognize that employees are responsible for their own economic livelihoods. Startups, particularly early-stage startups, come with a unique set of risks and prospective employees must evaluate those risks in the context of their own situations.

Ironically, a lot of the stress that some founders experience comes from their own lack of transparency with employees. I don't doubt that many founders care deeply about their teams, but many are also so mortified at the thought of not being able to recruit and retain that they try to paint the most favorable picture of the startup's current state, conveniently ignoring facts that aren't so favorable.

Obviously, the information that founders can reasonably share with employees changes over time as a company grows, but at an early-stage startup, there's really no excuse for anything less than full disclosure. As the founder of such a startup, you must accept that you can't guarantee your employees continued employment, but you can promise them that you'll be honest about the company's state.

[idlewords]

That's a weirdly paternalistic view to take. Your team is going to be just fine without you, if it comes to that.

[wuliwong]

Seriously, I worked at a startup for a year, I didn't like the direction it was going nor my roll there. I got a new job which was a step up from where I was before the startup. Honestly, in todays economy in the United States, I see very little risk for me joining a startup. I work for one of the top 5 largest software companies in the world but I'd certainly go work for another startup. It's not like they aren't giving me full benefits and a 401k. In fact, the perks are sometimes better at new startups!

[decentrality]

The mind-churn is not anxiety always, but consciousness of the sheer gravity of what you are doing.

The "vast spectrum of human misery" exists unless or until someone's mind-churn waking them up at night results in viable solutions and real growth.

It's not one or the other, both are linked situations. There is a seriousness about all the "preoccupation" ... it's even natural and organic in the sense that it is how one hand washes the other in the grand scheme of it all.

[tptacek]

"Sheer gravity"? You're doing something that an enormous number of Americans do every year. Small business employment is a gigantic fraction of the economy. The difference between you and the owner of a barbershop is that the barber doesn't work in an industry that tricks him into believing he might be a millionaire in 4 years. The consequences of failure, on the other hand? Pretty much the same.

[wuliwong]

Honestly, the consequences of the failing Barbershop are probably worse. He will probably lose a good amount of personal capital (unless he somehow got investors?) and his employment prospects will be to cut hair at someone else's barbershop.

[throwitzawayz]

Entrepreneurship is hard and I know it from experience, but have you ever taken care of someone 24 hours a day? An alzheimers patient or a developmentally disabled child?

My dad has AD and I'm his primary caregiver and compared to caregiving, entrepreneurship with all its pain is literally a fucking joy. Happiest part of my day even when making $0. I've failed at entprenreurship badly for a 2+ years but psychologically I have none of the pain associated with it because I know how much harder life can be.

Don't get me wrong, if I had the chance I would walk away from both but once you've experienced the toll of careigvng, you quit complaining about how hard entrepreneurship is.

I sometimes think that all wannabe entrepreneurs should work as a fulltime caregiver at an old age home or childrens ward at a hospital for 2 weeks. It would lessen the "pain" of entrepreneurship 10 fold.

That would reframe a lot of the pain away and help you focus on what needs to be done to market/sell a product and build it.

The truth is that the "pain" is 100% psychological and most children bought up in middle class and above families have never experienced what it means to have nothing.

Entrepreneurs who have grown up poor don't even understand what I'm talking about when I try to explain this concept.

So volunteer in the peace corps and it'll take away 100% of the pain of entrepreneurship and help you focus on executing.

[honzzz]

I used to work as a care assistant. I basically agree with the parent but while reading about massive psychological toll of being rejected I could not help but think "try to observe a half-conscious guy in terminal stadium of cancer moan and scream from pain for hours before he finally dies" - I was working night shifts and after THAT I could not believe that sun was still rising.

And working as a minimum wage 'robo-slave' in a pen factory for one week when I was at high school made me realize that this kind of work is no cake either.

Entrepreneurship, however hard, is still one of the easiest methods how to make a living.

[icebraining]

Frankly, your post sounds like a piece of dialog from the Four Yorkshiremen sketch.

The point, from my interpretation, is not that entrepreneurship is mind-numbingly painful but that it is deceitfully painful, while care-giving for an Alzheimer's patient is expected to be painful.

[tptacek]

Did you really mean to write a comment that implies that entrepreneurship might be harder than caring for someone dying of Alzheimers?

[icebraining]

Sorry, you'll have to point it out to me. Sometimes my grasp of English isn't good enough, I'm afraid.

[7Figures2Commas]

So basically you can't be successful as an entrepreneur unless you're a sociopath? That's a disappointingly cynical view.

Some advice from someone who has also been in the trenches:

First, you don't need to waste time thinking or complaining about angels and VCs when you start a business you can fund yourself.

Second, if you're expecting growth to come easily and quickly, and you don't have the capital necessary to execute a realistic plan in a realistic amount of time, you're setting yourself up for unnecessary disappointment before you even begin.

Third, if you can't identify the primary drivers of your success and truly believe that you have 100 things to do, you don't have a good understanding of your business.

Fourth, fundraising won't impact your team when you don't need to raise capital.

Fifth, rejection, while hard, is a part of life. Even the most successful salespeople hear "no" far more often than they hear "yes." If you have unrealistic expectations about this and can't maintain a positive attitude unless you close the majority of the people you sell to, you might want to reconsider entrepreneurship.

[rdlecler1]

I forgot to add, you're always going to run into smug people who haven't walked in your shoes.

[7Figures2Commas]

I have started several companies that have failed. One of them cost me my life savings and left me no choice but to take an entry-level job to make ends meet. I learned a lot from that experience, a small portion of which was incorporated into my response to your comment.

It might be convenient for you to believe that anybody who disagrees with your negative perspective hasn't been in the trenches, but that doesn't make it reality.

Failure is part of the game. Very few successful entrepreneurs have no losses. If you truly believe that VCs or a lack of sociopathic tendencies are to blame for the failure of a new business, I would humbly suggest that you reconsider. Such a cynical attitude is far more likely to be a detriment to one's efforts than any external force.