"The last part of the quote above, that you need colleagues to cheer you up when things go wrong, hits home for me. When I started developing eBay software, PayPal’s recurring payment system had a bug that was skimping my payouts more and more each month. It took me three months to get them to fix it, and although they ended up reimbursing me, it was stressful watching my revenues erode while my user count increased. In addition to crises, it’s also hard just staying motivated sometimes. The best way to cope is to maintain low expectations and stay busy working on things you can control."
For the emotional aspects of business, you DO need people. I posted this on HN because of the incredible stimulation I get around the discussion from all you.