STEP 1: Have a great team. At an early stage, investors are taking a chance on how great the team is, not the market, not the product, or even your traction

STEP 2: Come up with a great idea. Figure out what problems you’ve had a lot of experience with, and try to fix that

STEP 3: Spend 10 years getting your soul CRUSHED

Year 1: you’re swimming in startup honeymoon bliss. The world needs changing, and your team is the one to do it. Your optimism is engaging, hell, it's magnetic, people, the press, and investors, want to be a part of the ‘next big thing’. But under the veneer of your enthusiasm, hides a series of faulty assumptions and forces, that you’re completely oblivious to. 

Year 2: You raised money from great investors. You hired great people. You’re on TechCrunch. You made it! Or so you think. Customer growth is flat. Your employees are nervous, your investors are nervous. Finally, it's time for the dreaded “p” word - pivot. No VC will fund you, so you need to cut costs. There goes half your team. These people left their jobs at real companies to join you. You failed them. So you set out a bold new vision to resuscitate enthusiasm for the brave souls who remain. But the worst is over, right?

Year 3 to 9: For six long years, you find yourself in a Sisyphean startup valley of death. One step forward and two steps back. Your personal life is sh#t. It's nearly impossible to sleep most nights. Holidays and weekends are meaningless. Time with your spouse is mostly spent with you doing strategy sessions in your head. It's tough to find balance when one side of the scale requires absolutely everything you got. You’re no longer depressed. You’re past that. You’re just a shell of the optimistic, jubilant person you once were. You question how it got this bad, and why you don't just quit. But every round of financing means more people (investors, employees, customers) are depending on you to take it to the promised land.

Year 10: In spite, and maybe because of, everything, the company is still growing. You lost track of pivots at this point. You keep pushing forward, getting ready for yet another round of financing.  Suddenly one of those talks shifts from investment to acquisition, your pessimistic brain ignores it. You’re so f#cking exhausted. But the acquisition talks become real, it goes slow, then fast, and slow all at once. Then one day, on a call with the lawyers, you hear the words you thought you never heard: “This concludes the acquisition of the company. Wires will be sent today”. Finally! It actually happened! What you don't feel is joy or relief, but gratitude. Gratitude to the team and investors, but mostly grateful for the journey. Because you finally realize that in life, only the luckiest people get a shot at being a part of something great and becoming the best version of themselves - entrepreneurship is one path that gives you both.

STEP 4: Launch fast. The faster you launch, the quicker you’ll learn