the entrepreneur

I want to think about the toughest part of building companies -- the fact that we thought this would be easy, but instead, it's nothing other than advertiser, trials and tribulations, something that needs to be done but something that is also crushing pressure.

I remember being an early employee -- it felt easy, it felt fun, it was like college and immediately, the only thing I wanted was to be a founder myself. There were years of preparation, years of learning, years of trying to make it work, and saving and networking.

But when push comes to shove, knowing how to build companies is the wrong skill. The best founders need to not only know how to build companies, but also have a fanatical compulsion to actually embark on the mission. Nothing but fanaticism can help you get through the hardest challenges you'll face.

People are starting companies for the wrong reason, especially with the last decade of easy money and zero interest rates. The goal isn't to start a company. The goal is to scratch an itch. The goal is to figure out the life you want to live and realize that unlike anything else you've done before, this is going to be all consuming.

Genetically, evolution has prepared us to have children and adjust to the sleepless nights and the stress and the worries and the all consuming nature of having something in your life more important than anything else. Even society is accepting of the sacrifices you make.

But starting a company is lonely, misunderstood, done for the wrong reasons often and unfortunately, glamorized beyond all get out -- its supposed to look effortless, look fun, look glamourous.

And honestly, it is. But at the same time, when you take a giant step back, you can realize that the difficulties aren't shared. The challenges aren't discussed. It is 10 years of nothing but struggle and fighting and grit and determination and maybe, just maybe, you'll come out ahead.

But you probably won't.

I think entrenpeneurship is more than a calling. More than a set of ideas. I think it's an irrational fight to scratch an itch to make a dent in the world. It is selfish. It is painful.

It never gets easier -- it's a treadmill. You never get the chance to feel like it gets easier, you just wind up running faster or running for longer.

The worst part of all of this is that you cannot know until you try. You cannot know if it will break you or if you are cut out for it. You will not know until you try....which is why unfortunately, you have to try.

You have to know.

You have to scratch the itch even it will almost kill you.

Life is unfortunately very long and very short simultaneously. You need to be honest enough with yourself that unless you need to make it to your deathbed having scratch this itch that perhaps it'll never go away until it's all over.

So start the company. Don't ruin your life, but the only to know how it will go is to just do it.