I recently spoke with a college aged entrepreneur and we were talking about what has changed since the first startup I was involved in 25+ years ago. Obviously a lot on the tech and business side, but it also got me thinking about founder principles and how those have changed or evolved. Here were three principles I reflected on and how they have changed over time.

Be patient

Patience is really hard for humans. I grew up in a world of be patient and wait your turn (in line, in sports, at work). Even with startups it takes patience iterating through an idea, finding product-market fit, building revenue, and growing to a scaling stage. Now with technology and resources, the time it takes to go from idea to scaling company continues to shrink which makes people less patient. While this rapid growth is possible, it can create a knee jerk reaction to not have the patience to work through ideas that are on the right path but just need some tweaking. Stay patient, trust the process, keep learning, and if you build the right foundation on a must-have problem good things can come (it just may take 10+ years for overnight success).

Be humble

I was taught that if you are good you don’t need to tell people, they will see it. Many of the best founders I know are heads down building and working with customers. They are confident and focused on what they are doing and don’t need to constantly show off to everyone how great they are for approval. But there is another world of going to events, winning “awards”, posting on LinkedIn every day, and generating lots of followers. Don’t get me wrong, there can be business value in those things. But remember that alone does not mean you can build a great business. Remember to stay focused on your customers and humbly listen and iterate with their feedback.

Earned vs. expected

I learned early on that life is not fair. Everything you do must be earned and even if you do the right things, that doesn’t mean you get what you deserve (especially in the short term; things even out more over the longer term). Startups are hard, but you have to fight the notion to just expect it to happen: you shouldn’t expect customers to signup just because you have a great idea/tech. You shouldn’t expect to raise money from investors just because you are fundraising and went to an elite school. Keep earning the trust of your customers, investors, and team every day.

The good news is there are many core principles around customer discovery, must-have problems, authentic demand, doing things early that don’t scale, etc. that have and will stand the test of time. But as the old adage goes, the only thing constant in life is change.