Just Go
1
Imagine a world where superintelligent AI builds a way to send a message back in time to your younger self—but you can only send one, and it has to fit into a tweet.
What would you write?
What single kernel of an idea would most improve the trajectory of your life?
Here’s what I would say:
Stop co-founder dating.
Stop worrying if you are a ‘real’ programmer, or designer or whatever. Labels don’t matter. You are capable of much more than you realize.
Just go!! Allow yourself to do the damn thing. And have fun :)
2
Here are some of the limiting beliefs I’ve held:
I thought it was bad to want to start a company “for its own sake.” Facebook was not meant to be a company, Zuckerberg told us. Founders were supposed to be reluctant heroes that were just trying to build nerdy fun things they were interested in, and the world was supposed to love it so much that it pulled the company out of you.
I had a “Disney princess” romantic notion of co-founder relationships. I thought if I didn’t have a co-founder, my odds would be worse and my heart would be empty. I went looking for co-founders, but felt bad that it wasn’t happening “organically.” I held myself back from going too far on my own, and I was too quick to enter into partnerships that weren’t a good enough fit for me (or them).
I was worried I didn’t fit in. Yeah, I can code, but do I want to be a programmer? Sure, I design things, but do I want to be a designer? In truth, I liked doing it all. From the inside, it felt natural to just keep building skills as needed. But I could have gone further, faster, if I was more comfortable not fitting neatly into a familiar box.
I thought I had to do everything perfectly. It felt like walking on a high wire. One wrong move and the whole thing was doomed. Shipped a bad feature? Users will abandon you and never come back. Write a boring blog post? No one will read you again. Every decision had to be agonized over.
I lost hope too easily. I paid too much attention to averages and not enough attention to the bright spots. Maybe most users or investors don’t get what you’re doing, but what about the ones who do? I missed opportunities by pivoting too early and too often.
Taken together, these form a pretty disastrous combination. I learned a lot in my 20s and early 30s, and built things I’m proud of. But I wasted a tremendous amount of time and stress on things that didn’t matter. I could have done much better.
It wasn’t until my mid-30s that I started feeling comfortable in my own skin as an entrepreneur.
3
So, what changed?
The main thing was, I quietly went through a crisis.
On the outside I seemed fine, I think. But really I was becoming increasingly exhausted and anxious. By the end I felt like I was stuck in first gear, operating at maybe 10-20% capacity. I made a lot of mistakes. My relationships suffered.
Eventually, it was obvious that I was cooked. My old paradigms had failed me.
And thus I became open to new ones.
4
If any of the above limiting beliefs resonated with you, here are some opposing ideas for your consideration, that I wish I could tell my 20-year-old self:
It’s completely normal and healthy to want to build a business. The vast majority of businesses in human history were started by people who wanted to build businesses. You don’t need to be a reluctant hero. Just go for it. People who say they “didn’t set out to build a business” usually do this because it makes them seem humble and selfless, yet at the same time formidable. There’s less incentive to say, “business is a game, and I want to get very good at it,” but I assure you this is how most people who build businesses think.
Co-founders can be great! But if you don’t have one, you’re better off building than co-founder dating. If you don’t already have an obvious co-founder, it’s probably best to just start making progress. Don’t let lack of a co-founder hold you back. The wrong co-founder is much, much worse than no co-founder. The honest truth, that few entrepreneurs talk about publicly, is that “co-founder” status is more often than not just a way to hire someone either A) before you can pay their salary, and/or B) who are otherwise unwilling to work with you. Consider carefully whether that’s a trade you actually want to make. It’s cool to see this idea gain more acceptance.
Don’t worry about where you fit in. Now more than ever, skills are things you can tactically acquire to accomplish your immediate goals. They do not need to define you. You are capable of so much more than you or anyone realizes. The lines between various specialities are more permeable than they seem. Plus, if your goal is to accomplish something unique, it’s a good sign to have an unconventional skill stack.
Nobody cares about your early failures. All of your heroes are guaranteed to have started their careers with a string of unremarkable performances that absolutely no one remembers. We’re defined by our ceilings, not our floors. Do your best, but never let perfectionism prevent you from shipping.
Great things can take time. Just because something isn’t working immediately, or not everyone gets it, doesn’t mean it is doomed. Focus on the bright spots where people do care, and figure out ways to expand from there. It’s OK if it takes time. Some things happen fast, other things happen slow. Just don’t die.
5
In two words: just go!
Entrepreneurship is hard and can be painful, but you don’t have to suffer. We create our own suffering with the ideas in our heads.