Founders, you’ll hate your own startup from time to time. It’s OK and here’s how to bounce back
I think it’s fair to say every parent has a moment where they dislike their own child, and it’s the same with your startup. You’ll start to question why you did it and if it’s even worthwhile. Remember, most startups that quit were not far from their success, so don’t give up just because you’re having a bad day.
It’s time to bounce back and here’s how.
Here’s what you’re probably saying to yourself. “My idea is rubbish” “I’m losing customers far too quickly” “This is costing me too much money” “I don’t have a life anymore” “This is stressing me out” “Is this even worth all the time I put in?” “I hate everything about what I do” “I wish I had a normal simple job” and “Everyone else’s startup is more successful than mine.”
Normal thoughts, every founder has had.
Look at the problem from your customer's POV
From an outsider's point of view, does everything look and work as expected? Are customers getting what they paid for? If the answer is yes, take a breather, your business can still function. If the answer is no, prioritize the issues from a user's perspective and look at time scales to resolve them. If it’s affecting your customers, offer them temporary upgrades, discounts, or rewards to keep them around.
Write down 5 things you want to improve
Start a document of 5 things you want to change within 3 months that you think would help make things better, it doesn’t have to be a new all singing all dancing feature, it might simply be an improvement in user experience or a development update to make things run smoother. Or that you need to cut some costs to put into something else. Having a vision of what the future could look like helps to remind you that things will get better, and help you plan out how to get there.
Change your space for a short time
If you’re a solo entrepreneur and you’re working from one place, change up your space for a short time. Get to a free co-working space, work in a coffee shop and you’ll find your surroundings can change how you feel about things.
Consider hiring a VA
If you’re starting to hate your own startup it might be because you’re not enjoying your day-to-day. A VA can take some of the admin or laborious tasks off of your plate and they aren’t expensive. As those smaller tasks seamlessly get done, your time can be freed up to think about the bigger picture and keep the train on track.
Ask yourself, what would drive things forward?
Depending on what stage you’re at, try to look ahead to what success looks like and what you need to do to get there. If it's regular revenue and more lifetime customers, spend some time on marketing plans, brainstorm what would make you sign up or buy your service, and come up with as many ideas as you can. If your product hasn’t been developed how you want, prioritize the features most important and resolve them to something you’re happy to launch. Take one of those things and focus on doing it.
Look for a co-founder
You may have come a really long way by yourself, but imagine if you suddenly doubled the output? Everything you’ve done could be 100% quicker, you'd half your workload and you’d always have someone to bounce ideas off of. Look at where you’re lacking or what you hate doing most and find someone to fill that gap.
Know this will pass
There’s a reason it’s called a rollercoaster, and every company no matter the size will have had days where they’re ready to throw in the towel. What’s most important is making sure what’s making you want to quit isn’t something small you could have resolved and if it is, be proactive in fixing it and start looking at the positives again. There’s a reason you did this.
