The downsides of startup life

I’ve never been shy to write about the downsides of working at a startup. I’ve been doing it for 4.5 years now and I do believe that the VC backed startup life is way too glorified often.

I started in 2018 when the SoftBank capital as a moat era was ending. I had thought that would be the end of the glitzy startup portrayal in media and social media, but then we went into the post-pandemic world of 2021.

Perhaps now is the time that the glorification of startups will end. This pullback and market situation is brutal enough that it’ll scare away most folks and leave behind the people actually dedicated to building.

Don’t get me wrong - I love working at a startup and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences. But anyone that has been through this before knows how brutal things can be. Someone told me years ago that working at a startup is like getting sucker punched in the face every other day and I can safely say that feels very fitting.

Many people I interview and outsiders have an unrealistic expectation of what it’s like working at a startup. The most common thing I hear from folks is that they want to work on everything rather than focus on one thing. That’s all fun and games until you have the work of 4-5 different people sitting on your plate.

For those that truly love building though, there’s nothing more rewarding than growing a startup. People just need to make sure their expectations are properly set.