28 Jul 2010

Working at a startup sucks

Ok, excuse the alluring post title. But it seems in this world we live in, that there are two types of entrepreneurship blog posts. People giving startup lessons to other people (we did it), and startups guys bragging about how well their startup is doing (we did it too).

That's cool. You need to give a positive image, satisfy or encourage your investors, motivate the crowd about your product, and the team behind it. But you rarely read about negative or difficult things. In clear, nobody rants about being a founder. 

So here it is: working on your startup is hard. Very hard. If you're considering it, you should know that ...

You'll spend your time looking for investors and/or clients, and you'll need to be heavily armed with patience and perseverance. "No" is the most common word people use - when they even answer. It lasts months, for a variable and unpredictable outcome. It can take months not to happen, and then happen in two weeks. Or it can be completed 95% in two weeks, and then take months not to close.
 
When you're not hunting for intros, you need to hire. It takes time. Lots of time. Tons of time. We're lucky to have a full team now, or at least the resources we planned for, but it took about two months to get there. Two months is long for the lifetime of an early product. And it can be a killer for motivation. Finding talent (your n+1 always need to bring something you don't have to the table) is a difficult equation: the spirit, the ambiance, the product, the fit, the money, to only name a few, are all variables of the problem. But moreover, it's like playing the roulette. 
 
When you have the talent, you need to build the product. You certainly have the long term vision, and that's cool. Congratulations, you manage to convince investors and employees to get on board with you on that quest for the holy grail (that link would have done it too). Now forget it and imagine starting from scratch every morning. And putting your assumptions to the test every evening. And keeping your team happy, while maintaining the general direction you've given to the product. 
 
If you're super rich, that's cool. If not, prepare to be poor. And not poor like in "hey, i'm working on Apple in a garage"-poor. Poor like in "hey, i'm on welfare, but i have a great idea, and my team is passionate and flexible enough to pull it off, and my banker chases me with a chainsaw"-poor. If you're 21, no big deal. If you're 30, well. Think about it twice.
 
You have a bit of genius and/or crazy in you? Cool, that's part of any great entrepreneur. Are you sure it's the good genius part, or the good crazy part? Can you manage this doubt on the long run?
 
All this is fine, and your amazing girlfriend is supporting you in your project. Oooh wait, you have a girlfriend? Does she know that for the next year and a half, you'll have no vacation, you'll see her about an hour a day max, she'll pay for the rent, have to cope with your stress? 
 
Voila. It's that simple, and I've only named a few.
 
I won't end this post with how we went through and how well we're dealing with all those issues, how we're leading an amazing ultra-motivating project and preparing a killer release for September. If I said things like that, it would kill the idea of the post. Ooh damn, I just did :)
 
So I'll just say this: heading SubMate with @bjonathan for the last 4 months has been the most rewarding experience in my life. But for aspiring young entrepreneurs, know it's *not* a long, quiet river.