Ask HN: Best business advice for entrepreneurs
For those of you who made the jump to entrepreneurship, what is the one thing you wish you knew before starting out ?
2. If you truly want something, you can probably accomplish it. The human will is stronger than almost anything else
3. It will be harder than it looks, so if you feel like quitting or giving up, just know you're not the only one and that when you do not, if you do ever "make it" then people (including you) will not fully appreciate some of what you put yourself through.
4. Be honest with yourself and those around you. If you're not careful you can fall into a reality distortion field and that can be very dangerous. Be honest about where you are in the business vs where you want to be.
5. Have three sets of goals, The ones you tell investors should be goals you know that you can hit and hopefully blow past. The ones you tell yourself should be goals you think are achievable and the ones you tell your team should be goals that you know are a stretch but can keep everyone motivated for a stretch goal and keep rallying the troops as time goes on.
6. No one owes you anything. Some people tend to feel like they are owed something from employees, investors, etc. when starting a company and this is just not true.
7. It's going to be much harder than you thought, I used to tell people that starting a company is willfully becoming manic. Some days you'll wake up and feel like you can float out of the room, other days you'll wonder if you jumped off your balcony if you could feel it, it's a crazy ride.