No Room for the Negative

I sat down with a new friend recently and found ourselves, per the usual, talking through startups, building companies, and raising venture capital.

This was his first time putting a company together and he, unsurprisingly, has a lot of questions about how to go about “doing” all of this.

He’s talented and sharp and even since the last time we spoke he had made a ton of progress on his concept and was moving with obvious velocity.

To be honest, I have discovered that most motivated people need very little help putting things together as they find the discovery process of building a new company as exciting as putting it together.

What I can offer, though, is simply perspective and a ton of “war stories” — perhaps most importantly I can share with others what not to do.

And, I always “keep it real” and try and help folks stay positive — this stuff is so hard it’s almost too easy to get negative about it all. My friend shot me a note the next day and just thanked me for it. I love that.

It’s not that “negative talk” is bad — it’s just that there is very little reason for most of it, especially when it’s less about the situation and more about ourselves. We simply don’t need to beat ourselves up — there’s enough of that going around.

This isn’t about not talking about the challenges or the downsides of putting together a new project and all the ups and downs and all the shit that happens when you try… it’s simply about trying to stay more on the positive and hopeful side of the equation, most of the time.

I’m glad to have found a few folks that I can confide in, share, and who can deeply empathize with the challenges of startup life. It’s just not good to go it alone.

Just remember: Your greatest enemy, in many cases, is yourself. You’ll defeat yourself before you’re even out of the locker room. Just don’t let that happen.

There’s just no room for the negative.