10 Tips for Startup Founders

because startups are really fucking hard

Before I started my last company, a fellow founder friend asked me: “are you sure you want to start a company?” I lurched with word vomit, “of course! I’m ready for it.” In my head I thought, “how dare he question me?!”

Looking back at that conversation, what my friend was really asking was: “are you ready to go head first into the fire, pour your entire self and soul into your trenches of company building, cover yourself in mud, open yourself to scars, and push yourself and your team members to reach beyond their wildest dreams, to (hopefully) create something of 1) value and 2) that people love.”

If your answer is still yes, or you’re in the middle of the fiery trenches, the rest of this is for you:

1. Before jumping in, define your company’s True North

Your company’s True North should look beyond the problem that you are trying to solve and tie together your company’s vision, mission, and values. It should serve as a guiding force for yourself, your team, and your decisions to keep you focused as you move through the windy roads of building a company.

2. You know your company better than anyone else

You know your company better than any other person, founder, or investor. People will give you a ton of feedback, advice, and more, so take it all in like a sponge, but ultimately use your own intuition to guide you to see beyond the trees, troughs, and valleys. This is a lonely, gut wrenching process, but it is required to stay true to yourself and serve the company in the best possible way.

3. Check in with yourself at least every 30 days

I didn’t do this, and I wish I did. Give yourself the space to think through the decisions you’ve made and listen to what your inner voice is telling you. Set a recurring 30 minute slot on your calendar for once a month and hold yourself to that time with no distractions. Turn off your phone, close your eyes, and ask yourself: Are you on the path to your/the company’s True North? How could you have handled a situation better? What are the steps you need to take to grow and help others grow? How are you feeling? What is looping in your head?

This reflection time is important because it helps you avoid feeling like you’ve flipped the entire car sideways and wound up in the wrong forest. This process will help you stay more alert in your decisions, feel confidence in the forward direction you’re headed, and understand the forest around you, even if you can’t clear a path yet. This time will keep you honest and true to yourself.

4. Build a support system

Building a company is fucking hard. As a founder you are constantly thinking about hiring the right people for your team, building a team culture that supports those people, how much money is left in the bank, hitting (or missing) KPIs, and more. The small things feel enormous, the big picture is hard to hold on to, and your mind never stops working on solving problems, so you end up not making space to care for yourself. Your support network is there to pull your head out of the weeds and empower you to see above the trees again.

There is a famous quote that says “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” and this could not hold more true to your support system. While you’re busy taking care of your team and company, this group is here to help you think about you and be your champion. You should be able to be 100% open and honest to this group, to share your ups and downs, so they can genuinely help you succeed. The more truthful you can be, the more real and helpful they can be to you! Many of these people will become your life long allies, friends.. and even investors!

5. The problems only get harder, but you get smarter

What was once a strenuous battle, is now a paved path that you can look back on, smile, and feel accomplished. But when you look ahead, it’s inevitable that you’ll see new hills and mountains with unpaved paths that you’ll have to trudge through. Remember you’re stronger than you were before, and you will soon again look back at these problems as a paved path with more armor, depth, and wisdom.

6. If it’s not a “fuck yes” it’s a “fuck no”

Again, listen to your inner compass. If you have any doubts about a hire, an investor, a path, explore these thoughts to the deepest degree. The resistance in you is telling you something. If you can’t get to a “fuck yes”, it means it won’t be the right decision. Move on.

7. You are not perfect, no one is

You are only human. You will make mistakes. You will not hit all your goals (and you shouldn’t). Apologize when you need to. Push people when they need to be pushed. Listen. Learn. Grow.

8. You are not your company

You’ve poured your entire soul into your company to give birth to it, and are now inexplicably attached to its successes and failures. Repeat to yourself: I am not my company. Even though it feels like you are because you are so wound up in every detail, you are a separate person, with separate needs and desires. It’s OK to take a break, it’s OK to feel overwhelmed, it’s OK to take a vacation or a long weekend where you don’t check your phone or email. In fact, you need this time to center yourself and remind yourself of who you are and what you want and need. Embrace dualities.

9. It’s OK to let go

As founders, we hold ourselves to an undeniably high standard, where we strive for greatness at all times. Sometimes, despite how hard you and your team gave it your all, what you set out to do is not working in the way that you’d once hoped.

It’s OK to declare that what you are building is not working. It’s OK to hard pivot. It’s OK to shut it down. It’s OK to take the acquihire, or break up with your co-founder, or return the money and help your team find new jobs. These decisions are counter to the expectations of those around you and require courage, strength, and tenacity to change course when the upcoming hills look insurmountable. Sometimes the best way forward is to let go of expectations of what once was or what should have been. You are already resilient for daring to do something most would never even dream of.

10. You are not alone

The most important type of support you can get as a founder… is from other founders. Even though the journey feels lonely, there are so many founders who have once been (or are currently!) in your shoes and understand how you feel. The more founders you keep in your life, the more you’ll realize how frequently your path will have similar patterns to theirs. Their insights will help you understand how to best move forward on your company’s journey because…

“It is not the critic who counts; not the (wo)man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the (wo)man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself/herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he/she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his/her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt

❤,

A recovering founder

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