A few years ago, when I had a team of 30 employees, I occasionally had to tell an overly stressed or frustrated individual, to stop and look around. Look at your desk. Look at the computer. Look at your phone, the building around us...everything. This will all be dust one day. Stop stressing out and don’t take life too seriously.
But sometimes life just ain't that easy.
Sometimes you’ve got to vent about your frustrations. Sometimes you have to find and climb the highest mountain, so you can scream your frustrations to the world.
That being said, I think you know what’s about to come. A small, but epic rant. I've been in the startup world for quite a few years now, and the shit I see and experience never ceases to amaze me.
So, I’m hoping this post is somewhat therapeutic for me, and relieving to hear for others who feel the same annoying, startup struggles.
I know it’s a cliche to say this is an “emotional rollercoaster”, but it’s true. One day, you’re on top of the world, and the next day you question why the fuck you’re doing this. After all, what kind of insane monster would undergo such a torturous challenge, like a startup?
Entrepreneurs, we all have chips on our shoulders. We all want to be the best. We all have that anxiety to build something so valuable and useful that it puts a “dent in the universe”, as the great Steve Jobs would say.
Am I right?
The only other thing I’ve heard that’s as daunting of a challenge at launching and growing a startup is writing a book. I can’t say that for certainty, but knowing me, I’ll find out one day.
But even writing a book seems like a step down in stress, when compared to launching a startup. It’s like I’m in a never ending series of emotional high and lows.
The perseverance we go through is incredible. The fake bullshit around us is exhausting.
A startup is never finished.
The frustrations never end, and you have to accept that because you know one day the insane happiness and sense of accomplishment will grossly outweigh and completely overshadow the struggles of the startup.
On with my rant...
Over the past few years, I've noticed a few things that really irk the hell out of me. Please, please, please don’t get self righteous on me. There’s no way I’m alone on these frustrations. Comment or tell me your thoughts and experiences about what I'm about to share.
My twitter handle is @marvinrussell.
1. VCs just throw money at anything
Have you seen the amount of money that gets tossed in people’s laps? It’s fucking absurd. This startup lands a 50 million investment. That startup lands 100 million.
WTF?
Half of those companies will be out of business in two years.
On the flip side, I do a bit of consulting for a private equity firm, and the first thing I learned was the world of difference between venture capitalism and private equity.
A venture capitalist invests more in the entrepreneur, not the product. While a private equity firm does ruthless research and intel on the product, not the entrepreneur. They really crunch the numbers. They look at month over month growth, year over year, monthly recurring revenue, market size, growth patterns, etc.
So, while these insane figures get thrown around, I have to remind myself that many VC’s seem to just throw spaghetti at a wall, hoping something big sticks.
I'm really not hating. All I’m saying is that the VC investment noise is way to freaking loud.
2. The media ONLY talks about 100 million, bazilian investments
Last year I sold my second startup for 1.2 million. I had virtually zero overhead and incredible growth. My startup spread to 20 languages around the world before it was acquired. I had no investors, zero funding, and no help. It was just myself, my laptop, and a developer I hired, who later became my business partner.
When I reached out to the media to share my exciting acquisition news…nothing.
I spoke to reporters, but nobody cared. Nobody gave a shit because it wasn’t sold for a million, bazillion dollars.
Just a tiny “bullshit” 1.2 million.
I didn’t have an eight, or nine figure number to put in the headline, so it wasn’t interesting. I even played the minority card, knowing that an African American person like myself could inspire a thousand others to do the same thing I did.
Nothing.
I really thought my success story seemed like a more attainable and realistic goal for people. 100 million this, and 50 million that, intimidates people, in my opinion.
3. Content is becoming mindless and opinionated shit
Big content sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc, are constantly putting out bullshit articles. Ya, there’s some good ones squeezed in here and there. But it’s mostly shit.
- 4 Ways to Become a Millionaire! (BS)
- 5 Things You Need to be Unicorn! (Wow...that easy?)
- Mark Cuban says you need to do this thing to make millions! (Really?)
All crap! Written mostly by people who haven’t done shit themselves. It’s beyond frustrating to read these articles.
Am I right?
4. Getting some recognition is mother fucker!
I made money. More than most in this game. Yet, I’m still unfulfilled. There’s this void way, way, way down inside me. According to Sigmund Freud, it’s my innate human desire to want to to feel important.
You can’t deny it. You feel it to. You just don’t talk about it.
Of course money is important. But the desire for money isn’t innate. But according to Freud, the desire for recognition is.
I support and help as many entrepreneurs as I can. I share their software. Praise them and encourage them online. But, I don’t see enough of that from other entrepreneurs.
A glimmer of hope.
I met Marcus Lemonis (The Profit) a year or two ago and he gave me a little hope and relived a bit of my cynicism.
His sense of giving back to other entrepreneurs was outstanding. He gave me his person email. He asked me questions, listened and responded. I documented our conversation in this video.
It’s a good lesson for all entrepreneurs on how to give back to people who haven’t yet reached your level.
[video:https://youtu.be/Kq_XL_TTRTs autoplay:0]
5. PR is bullshit
If you’re paying a PR agency, you’re insane. What, did they get a you a podcast or two? Maybe a spot on some bullshit AM radio show. You could’ve done that yourself, for free.
Do your own PR. if you want to get a hold of a reporter. Try Google, HARO, or hunter.io. Every reporter’s email is published somewhere.
6. Nobody gives a shit
Like my boy Gary Vaynerchuk always says, “Nobody cares”. Nobody cares about your struggles. Nobody cares about your problems. Nobody cares about your business. Unless of course, you make them care.
Everyone is so freaking scared you're going to steal their thunder!
The only way around this is to “be so good they can't ignore you”, like the famous Steve Martin said.
He should know, right? He wasn’t always famous.
- Make people money.
- Make people happy.
- Make people emotional.
Otherwise, your customers will just ignore you, because nobody cares.
7. Internet speed SUCKS…everywhere!
Is it just me or does the internet fucking suck everywhere? I love, love, love working out of coffee shops on my startup. It’s a all I do. But the internet fucking sucks everywhere I go. I'm always pinging in kilobytes no matter where I go.
Can we consistently stay in megabytes?
When will this “startup city” called Chicago get Google Fiber, or something the whole city can run on?
You want a better economy in Chicago? Start with the internet. Drive commerce. Drive growth. Drive innovation.
The internet should be free, fast, and everywhere!
8. We live in a headline society
Idiocracy is real and it’s getting worse. Nobody reads anything, except headlines. People only share content because of the headline. People only comment based on the headline. It’s nuts for content marketers like myself.
80% of our efforts need to go into the headline. It’s like our content doesn’t matter anymore.
Only sensation headlines get retweets, shares and comments.
9. It’s hard to find people who will listen
I’m lucky. My wife and my Mom let me vent. I bore them with all my struggles, all my pains, and all my frustrations, and they just let me.
They get it. I need to vent, and so do you.
If you don’t have anyone, find another entrepreneur. Hell, if there aren’t support groups, there should be. We’re only human. We need share our amazing news with someone, and we need to vent when we’re beyond frustrated or depressed for the day.
10. Startups are mentally fucking exhausting
As you can see, a startup is freaking exhausting. Please make sure you really want this? One minute you’re optimistic as hell, the next minute you're depressed, and later you’re ranting on BuiltIn.
It’s crazy.
As a remedy for the madness, lately I’ve started meditating, doing Tai Chi, and trying my hardest to live in the present.
After all, depression lives in the past and anxiety lives in the future, as the ancient Chinese proverb goes.
Some final thoughts….
Despite this insane rant about the struggles of startups, I’m actually happy as hell. I just need a reminder every now and again.
Every day...
- I do what I want,
- when I want,
- how I want,
- and from where I want.
That’s the goal. That’s why I do this. True freedom.
But freedom comes with a big price tag. There are frustrations. There are ups and downs. There are sacrifices. But, I wouldn’t trade any of this to wait at a bus stop, and go to my cushy corporate job downtown.
This is Marvin Russell.
Holla if you feel me @marvinrussell.
Rant done!
Over and out!
