One Lesson I’ve Learned About Startups
Give a damn about what you’re working on

A lot of people ask me what are some lessons that I’ve learned over the past two years on my startup journey. The answers change often, but I think I finally found one that I can get behind for a long time.
The biggest lesson that I’ve learned on my journey is that you need to love what you’re working on.
You have to. If you don’t, you’re going to give up. Trust me, you will have high hopes for what you’re working on. You will have high hopes for that one customer that’s always “about to close.” You will have high hopes for your product launch. You will have high hopes that you are going to succeed.
You need these high hopes. You almost need hopes so high that the reality of life doesn’t get in the way of them. This is how startups like Airbnb or Snapchat are built.
But you also need the grit to keep moving forward when these hopes get obliterated by the market. The customer that never closes. The launch that doesn’t deliver. The lead investor that leaves the deal.
Startups deliver more dark times than positive ones, and the only thing that will keep you going isn’t the potential money you could make. It isn’t the fame that you will get if you succeed. The thing that will keep you going is the fact that you give a damn about what you’re working on.
You don’t need to love what you’re working on when things are going well.
You need to love what you’re working on for when things aren’t going well.

