It’s the day before we launch our product on Kickstarter. One year of labor and risk and fear will culminate in tomorrow. One year of wondering whether we were stupid, putting so much money, so many resources, so much time, into a single dream with a 90% chance of failure.
Startup culture dictates that we fail frequently, and fail fast. I get it — no use in wasting time and money building something no one wants. Learn from your failures, then move on to the next idea.
But there’s only one drawback to that strategy. How can you build a great product without loving it, without putting every ounce of yourself into it? Without the passion, all Opter would have are some pieces of plastic and wood that do things. With it, we have something we genuinely hope can change the world…in its own small way.
Building a product is like falling in love. There’s the constant, niggling wonder — is this the right one? No it’s not… Yes it is. There are the heart-racing, chest-bursting moments where the future seems precariously balanced on the brink of disaster…
And then there are the emotional highs that turn the world into a kaleidoscope of saturated hues. Those moments are so incredible, so intoxicating, that you can’t help but become addicted.
It’s love, there’s no denying, because that person, that idea, has lodged itself in your future in a beautiful, perfect dream that you can’t shake off.
So when the time comes to admit it, you place your heart in its hands. Your heart beats so strongly now. Will it still do that tomorrow? Or will it be left weak and unsteady, reeling from the excruciating pain of heartbreak?
I guess I’ll find out.
