What it is like to be a startup founder?
IT’s FUCKING TOUGH!!. That statement sums it up nicely but that is what you should expect when you are going to do a startup. It’s the toughest test you will ever take and this might be the test you will actually enjoy.
The toughest test
Doing a startup is the ultimate test. Test of your patience, emotions and skills. And this test never ends. It goes on and on every fucking day. Every day you will have a bunch of problems to solve and if you don’t complete them the same day they pile up for the next day. And it’s not like when you are finished with your problems for the day you can relax. NO NO NO. When you are done for the day, you will realize there are more problems to be solved or things those need to be figured out.
A little planning
It becomes easier(it is still hard) if you take it as a marathon and plan your checkpoints for each day. Planning and being focused is very important because it is very easy to get deviated from your path. And the thing about planning is you can’t over do it. Because planning is great but execution is greatest. A plan is your roadmap and execution are the wheels of your vehicle(idea) which will take you to your destination. And you need to be adaptive of all the things. Because things will not go according to your plan most of the times and you will be stuck in the middle of the road with only one thought in your mind: WHAT THE FUCK!. For such instances and I bet there will be many of them, you need to think clearly about where you want to be and what are your options. You need to revisit your plan quickly and resume your journey.
Keep Moving
One of the things I have learned is that you can’t remain stuck. You have to keep moving. This also goes with everything else we do in our lives. It’s really important to move fast for a startup. And it becomes really frustrating when you are not able do that. Change is the only constant and you have to deal with it.
The ride of your life
I saw this image in an article called The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship. I couldn't stop laughing for a minute at the guy’s expression. Then I realized it can’t be described better than this. It looks very brave to ride a lion but you really don’t know what’s really inside the guy’s head. Deep down you are very insecure and scared and there will be countless moments when you feel like giving up.
It’s all about being positive. If you are on the back of a lion you must have done something right. The next thing you have to figure out is how should I control it without letting him eat me alive? If you can figure that out it will surely be the ride of your life.
