I’ve been a business founder for close to 30 years, and a business exec for more than two decades. As someone who has been on both ships, I wish more and more people spoke openly about two truths that haven’t changed over the years.
First: entrepreneurship is very difficult.
Second: raising money and making your start-up a success is even more difficult.
If you’re an entrepreneur, I’ll tell you this for free: entrepreneurship isn’t just driven by ambition or ideas; it demands survival. The unpredictability, the constant twists and turns, and the lessons you have to learn that can’t be learned any other way. If anyone tells you that the “survival phase is just in the early days”, they’re either lying, lucky, or haven’t been in business for long.
Entrepreneurship is a nice career path when you see the glamorous moments of successful CEOs, but in 80% of entrepreneurship careers, people fail. Products don’t work, ideas fail, and marketing campaigns fall flat, to the point that no one cares about what you built.
In those moments, you’ll question your talent. You’ll doubt your choices. You’ll wonder if choosing entrepreneurship is worth it.
And the sad part is that there’s no safety net. No breaks. No social security in entrepreneurship. Most entrepreneurs don’t stop because the idea didn’t work. They stopped because it got hard and stayed hard. A quiet week turns into self-doubt. Sales dip, and suddenly they’re questioning everything. Not because the plan was wrong… but because it didn’t work fast.
I’m not sharing this to scare you out of your business idea. I’m just telling you the harsh truth so you know what you’re jumping into. Entrepreneurship is reserved for those who have warrior minds, competitive egos, and an unstoppable keep-going mentality.
The ones who win aren’t always the smartest or the luckiest—they’re the ones who refuse to stop.
So, keep building, keep adapting, keep pivoting, keep innovating, and trust that the work will pay off.
