don’t be discouraged

I think a lot about the fluctuations of belief—the inevitable up and downs of maintaining engagement with something over long periods of time. Most people seem to think that love is unchanging versus merely enduring, that if you’re really passionate about something you wake up excited to do it every day. I don’t believe that’s true. In fact, it... See more

I tell a lot of entrepreneurs who don’t have traction, I miss those times. Yes, it’s exciting to have traction, to have a company that has huge scale. But the biggest leaps you ever get are when you’re small. Another way of saying it is: Your product changes less the bigger you get because there’s more customers, more blowback, more systems, more

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What YC taught me about how startups fail https://t.co/Rh3hvOPbOr

In 2008, Airbnb sought $150,000 in funding for 10% of the company. They emailed 7 big investors. 5 sent back rejections. 2 others didn’t respond. 10% of Airbnb is now worth $7 billion.

Rejection letter to U2’s Bono (1979):

The thing that no one ever tells you about your calling is that it’s boring. Oh, everything is interesting if you’re interested… shut up. Yes, it will be exhilarating and fun and fluid and and natural and meaningful. It will also be tedious. It will hurt. You will encounter obstacle after obstacle until you feel like you’re in a video game with... See more