Tough
Building any company is incredibly difficult.
Building a venture-scale company is so hard it gets towards “Why the hell would you even bother?” territory.
I think a lot of first time founders underestimate it. Big time. I hear them pitch that they “have always wanted to be a founder”. I see LinkedIn posts and status updates getting a bit punch-drunk on the glitz and glam of being “a builder”, “an operator”, “in the arena”, “in stealth”, “building something new”, etc.
The brutal reality is: it’s a fucking grind.
Every time I meet a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new founder a little too hyped up on their new WeWork subscription, I’m reminded of the probably-mythical job posting for Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic exhibition:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”
The clarity of this post is epic - not just for who it attracts, but for those it deters. There’s no hype. No Forbes X Under Y. No Startup of the Year trophy. Just an insanely tough but worthwhile mission for the willing maniacs who want to pursue it in the search of honour and recognition.
If we are to build global leaders in Europe, we need people drawn to the insane life of a founder despite the almost certain failure. The crazy ones. We need people to step forward, saddle up and crack on to build incredible businesses - even if it takes years in the shadows - because they have such burning desire to create something great.
It’s not easy - and that’s the point. To end with a quote form JFK (who actually did say it):
“We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Epic. Send me more people with that mindset and I’ll back them all day long.