Stay the Course

Why persistence trumps cash and a great idea when it comes to startup success

Someone on Quora asked, “What’s more important when building a startup: idea or funding?” My answer was this: neither. Persistence is more important than your idea or your funding.

Good ideas are worthless.

Everyone has good ideas. Most of us, at one point or another, have said, “Shucks, I thought that up long before those guys built it. I should’a could’a…” There’s a world of difference between having a good idea and implementing one. There’s also a vast chasm littered with failed startups that had a cool idea, implemented a cool product, but couldn’t get people to use it or pay for it.

Wads of cash don’t buy success.

There are also plenty of startups with plenty of money that have failed spectacularly and lost millions, and sometimes billions of dollars.

Startups take surprising amounts of cash to get off the ground. If you look at most startups that went on to IPO or were acquired, they went through 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 rounds of funding. That suggests that no matter how much money you start with, you’ll likely need more.

Persistence wins the day.

Persistence is the missing piece that keeps us up late at night finishing the next new feature that makes the idea, real. Persistence pulls us through the sweat-soaked sheets when it’s unclear how we’ll meet the next payroll. Persistence forces us to get in front of that fourth VC today when the first three said, “No.”

Calvin Coolidge said:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

Stay the course.

This piece was originally published as part of my weekly email series for entrepreneurs. Sign up for the full series here.