Metadata
- Author: Benn Stancil
- Full Title:: Why Are We Still Surprised That Startups Are Hard?
- Category:: 🗞️Articles
- URL:: https://benn.substack.com/p/why-are-we-still-surprised-that-startups
- Finished date:: 2023-11-03
Highlights
And at that time, if we realized the pain and suffering, and just how vulnerable you’re going to feel, and the challenges that you’re going to endure, the embarrassment and the shame, and the list of all the things that go wrong, I don’t think anyone would start a company. Nobody in their right mind would do it. (View Highlight)
big businesses aren’t built on gimmicks (View Highlight)
the reality is that doing a handstand “takes about six months of daily practice. If you think you should be able to do it in two weeks, you’re just going to end up quitting”—or, it seems, end up surprised by how hard you have to work.6 (View Highlight)
Eventually—as the company grows, as the market figures out our hacks, as more people copy what we’ve done—the work we’ve put in becomes our only competitive advantage. We can’t outwit it any more than an athlete can outwit their training. The only true shortcuts are lots of steroids or lots of crimes.7 (View Highlight)
The upside of all of this, however, is that we don’t actually need a clever idea to build a great company (View Highlight)
The better answer for how we’ll beat Mailchimp, then, is that we’ll line up with them, toe to toe, and build a better product and business. We’ll make Mailchimp, but faster; but better designed; but with more dedicated and relentless customer support. We’ll make Mailchimp without the rust.9 (View Highlight)