To Do a Startup You Need to Become Rocky Balboa (or Wolverine)

Mike Tyson once said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”.

The life of a startup includes a heavy dose of repeatedly getting punched in the face: you’re Rocky Balboa.

The out of shape Rocky (who can’t jump rope), slogging around the streets of Philly, and pounding raw bags of meat.

You are taking the punches: the thanks-for-your-application punch, the need-to-see-some-metrics punch, the this-is-shitty-idea-look punch, the punch of self-doubt, and the-all-your-bugs-are-belong-to-you punch.

Most people don’t get punched in the face much - so they quit early in the fight.

You need to realize that startup life involves going 1500 rounds with Ivan ‘I Will Crush You’ Drago. Oh, and Ivan is tag-teaming you with the whole roster of Street Fighter II. So when Drago gets tired of bashing your face in, he just steps aside and lets his crew do his thing.

Yoga Flame, punk.

Hadoken, motherfucker.

Punch after punch. Round after round. Whack. Bash. Thud. Bruised as fuck. You and Rocky are dazed, bleeding, and doubting yourself.

You know what Rocky does? He perseveres. He takes it. He is down, but not out. Hurt, but not broken. Takes a knee, but gets up at ‘9’. Then, somewhere deep down in the foggy mist of brain cells evaporating, he figures it out, he levels up and gets into a groove. He does his Absorbing Man shtick and transforms all those punches into power, takes the blood and bruises and welds them into a stronger self, and gets up and goes after it. #killingit

Kabam. That’s a straight right, Drago.

Kapow! How do you like my haymaker, Zangief?

HOW DO YA LIKE THEM APPLES!, you shout.

And suddenly everyone else, except you, is reeling. The crowd is chanting. Victory is so near you can smell it.

Now, stop for a minute, freeze frame and wonder:

How easy would have it been to give up in round 3? Comfortable. Super-easy. Sit back and relax.

Never do it.

Take the punches. Get up. No knees on the canvas. Wipe the blood from your eyes. Don’t whine. Get it done.

Do Your Job. (h/t Bill Belichick)

Become the Rocky that dishes it out; that scrappy, get-shit-done, hard as nails SOB that wins in the end.

Become the Rocky startup.

And if that fails- become Wolverine.

Snikt, motherfucker.