The story goes like this: if you want to build something meaningful which makes you wealthy, you have to live on ramen noodles, sleep on floors, have little or no relationships, and survive on like $10 a day kind of budget. That's the supposed definition of struggle.
But in reality, the real struggle is in the head. Showing up every day. Making sure you put in the reps, irrespective of how you're feeling. Putting in the work frequently, as much as possible.
And I think we all see this hustle porn from people who have made it in life telling us "you have to be on ramen noodles." And then we all get discouraged because that's not the life we want to live, right? That's not something that makes me want to get out of bed.
And I think that's unfair to people who are still struggling to find something they love doing and probably want to leave their day jobs for.
I think there's a better way.
When building my 3rd startup, I'm showing up every day. I'm working about 12 hours every day and also on weekends since I've left my job. It's something I'm building that I'm very, very passionate about, and I just want to keep doing this.
But while I do this, I've made sure that I have proper runway. I'm not starving for money. I'm not living on ramen noodles. I eat very comfortably. We have a cook at home. I go and work from cafes and eat there, and everything is well taken care of.
I play football once a week. I sleep a good 8 to 9 hours every day. I meet my friends, meet new people, talk to people I care about almost every day.
I think people can do both. There's plenty of time to do all of it - to live healthy, peacefully, and also make sure you put in the deep work 8-12 hours a day.
The narrative of startup founders giving up everything in their initial years has to stop. And the funny part is that most startups i.e. 99% of the time, just fucking fail.
So in a nutshell, you became miserable. You chose this because somebody told you to choose this. And then after 1, 2, or 3 years of doing a startup, you shut down the company, you have to return the VC money, and you walk away with nothing.
You led a miserable life hoping there's light at the end of the tunnel, and you still walked away with nothing.
I think we can still walk away with something meaningful, but it has to be done in a sustainable way.
Every good leader knows this. Every good athlete knows this. If you're running for short term, you will burn out and die. If you're thinking long-term, the decisions you make, the choices you make, the way you do things - it changes completely.
And I think that's what we're missing in the ecosystem. The mindset of longevity of startups is what we're missing. The idea that a startup can go on for about 3 to 5 years and then become something really, really big in a sustainable way is missing from the ecosystem.
This is wrong. This must change.
We all just forget that the choice is always there.