15 Reasons Why Start-ups are !@#$ing Hard

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15 Reasons Why Start-ups are !@#$ing Hard

Derrick Fung
Votes by Ron Gross, A Xoogler, Shalin Shah, Martin Stoyanov,
Christopher Own, Tom Li, and365 more.
Today I read an interesting article on LinkedIn on why start-ups
aren't all that glamorous and often run on fear (you can read it here:
Startups Are NOT Glamorous – They Run on Fear). It's true.
Having been a "start-up guy" for the last year and a half, I've
learned that although starting a company is fun and exhilarating, it's
also one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I've written a few
posts about the finer things of start-up life (see
http://startuplife.quora.com/Why...
orhttp://startuplife.quora.com/25-...) but often don't speak about
some of the challenges. Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg,David Karp
and Kevin Systrom make it seem like a piece of cake, but it's a lot
harder than it seems. Here are some reasons why starting a company can
be !@#$ing hard (but you should still do it). Some are things we've
faced, but many are things others I've met have faced as well:

Building a team of "A-team players" is difficult when you don't have
the financial resources to attract/retain them and when
Google/Facebook are knocking on their door every day offering them 2x
what you can offer
Everyone is motivated by different things and you need to cater to
everyone's (employees/investors/customers) unique and constantly
evolving needs. Not everyone is driven by money. Some people may love
recognition , but others valuehumbleness.
Investors want to see a product and traction before they invest, but
sometimes you need their money before you can create the
aforementioned product and traction ... say what? (this is especially
relevant for Non-Technical Co-Founders)
Starting a company means you should know everything about operating a
business (accounting, HR, legal, finance, operations, strategy,
marketing...the list goes on) [Full Disclosure: I am horrible at
accounting, so I let my co-founder take care of that - best decision
ever]
Although this isn't always necessarily the case, starting a company
often consumes your life. This might mean sometimes living like a
hobbit for quite some time. This takes a toll on all relationships
(friends, family, romantic). You need relationships to be happy, and
you need to be happy to succeed. You need to find balance.
When you raise financing, you should only raise just the right amount
- this often means that your company will have enough money to survive
for only 12-16 months. Entrepreneurs should be in the business of
creating something awesome - NOT in the business of constantly
pitching to investors.
The thought of knowing that you only have $X left in the bank, and
that this amount is depleting every...single...day
Waking up and finding out that Google or Facebook decided to replicate
your whole business overnight...as a FEATURE for one of their products
(didn't happen to us, but to many companies I've met). See Snapchat
(company)
Keeping calm, happy and optimistic even when you probably just had the
shittiest day of your life because someone quit, your biggest customer
left, your servers blew up, etc. :)
Keeping your spirits up when everyone is saying NO to you
Trying to convince a customer who has no money to spend money on your
product. Consumers are taught to notspend money; businesses are taught
to spend.
Making the right business decisions when you don't have any data to
back it up and basing everything on your "gut".
Many entrepreneurs will raise many rounds of venture capital. Every
round, they are giving away more and more (20-40% on average per
round) of their company. It's bloody hard sometimes to maintain your
motivation when you're giving away your baby. That's why it's very
important to properly setup the capital structure of your company from
the get-go.
Waking up and remembering the stat that 90%+ of start-ups will fail
and that you will probably be one of them and constantly telling
yourself that you will not be part of that statistic
Reciting the two infamous quotes "the most successful entrepreneurs
never give up" and "if you're going to fail, then fail fast" and
trying to figure out which one comes first


Still want to start a company? These are just some of the many things
that entrepreneurs face on a daily basis - but that's what makes it so
fun and exciting. It is indeed one of the most stressful "career
paths" to take on, but also one of the most fulfilling.

"So if you can't live with fear, don't ever go into the startup
business. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Just be
content to read all those glamorous stories of the billionaire
startups in Forbes magazine."