Startups are not easy. You start a business that by the numbers has little chance of success (most fail). You work long hours for little (if any) pay. You play the role of sales, product, finance, marketing, engineering, and ops … all in the same hour. But you can’t beat the journey! A few of the recent conversations I have had highlighted three major reasons startups are hard … and yes there are many more!

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Finding the right idea/pivoting

There are plenty of great ideas out there, but what problem are you most passionate about solving? This can take time to get right. As you are moving early in the business and feeling the struggle to get customers, should you stay the course, pivot, or shut down and move on to the next idea? There are no clear answers here, but setting yourself up for success in the right market, with the right problem at the right time is critical.

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Fundraising

Inevitably, you will need money to help you build and scale the business. There are ways you can get money without raising formal capital. If you go down a formal fundraising path you will be told “No” a lot. In a perfect world you have multiple good offers to choose from, but that may not be the case. How do you weigh the tradeoff of dilution, terms, support and what that is worth? Hint - find the best partner for your business and make it work. Most founders who have gone through the fundraising process will tell you how draining it can be, not to mention the distraction from building your business. 

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Making tough team decisions

Building a great culture and team can provide a huge competitive advantage. But not all hires work out. Having to make the tough decisions on when to move on from an employee who is not the fit, how to align the team on a common goal, and how to handle a difficult internal/external situation can all be taxing on the founder.

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In spite of these challenges, the majority of founders I speak with look back and are glad they took the entrepreneurial journey, even if the startup did not work out. There is so much opportunity to solve a real problem that changes the world, be in control to do what needs to be done, and to learn all the ups and downs of building a business in a short period of time.  I highly recommend it!