founder's mentality

When you’re focused on something few others are thinking about, you find yourself constantly making the case to yourself and others that your vision is worth pursuing and worthy of other people’s attention. This ongoing need to justify your work creates a significant emotional overhead.

In an interview with Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs claimed that his greatest product was Apple the organization. I [Walter Isaacson] once asked Steve Jobs, you know, what product are you proudest of? And I thought he might say the iPod or the iPhone or the iPad, whatever, the Mac. He said, “You know, making a product is hard but making a team that... See more

As a new founder, it’s tempting and often discouraging to compare your inside to another’s outside. Every other founder and company looks so well put together, whereas you are of course all too aware of your shortcomings and insecurities.

Because of how much we deify the great entrepreneurs of our time, we end up inevitably comparing our new company

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“At both Viaweb and YC, every minute I spent thinking about competitors was, in retrospect, a minute wasted... It's exceptionally rare for startups to be killed by competitors — so rare that you can almost discount the possibility... Inexperienced founders usually give competitors more credit than they deserve. Whether you succeed depends far more

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