Startups: take some time to celebrate small successes

Sometimes, success can seem very very far away for a young entrepreneur. You know exactly where you want to go, you see the big picture but the road to get there is still so very long and nothing moves as fast as you’d like.

While this situation is quite normal for young startups at the beginning of their journey, some entrepreneurs are so focused on the long-term goal that don’t actually feel their progress (since the goal is so far away). And, as an entrepreneur, if you don’t feel progress, desperation and depression are around the corner.

To fight that instinct, I’ve instaurated at StartUp42 a mandatory weekly event (called the weekly review) where the teams share their challenge, failure and success of the week. If they don’t have a success, they have to find one (even the slighest one) and when they do, the whole team cheers them (very support group, I know).

While this might seem useless, I believe cheering and celebration are very important moments as they help foster an event in one’s memory. After several weeks/months, when the entrepreneur starts to feel depressed again because the long-term goal is still far away, I hope he/she will remember these small successes and that their addition makes already some hell of a progress.

So entrepreneurs, wether you’re part of an accelerator or not, don’t be so obsessed by your long-term goal that you forget to see the road covered so far. Celebrate small successes!