Fasten your seat belts

I’m running a startup. Today, at February 21, 2010 it’s almost 2 years since I started to work on it. No salary, no funding, ups and downs on hourly basis, work from home, thinking of impossible, disappointments and nerves, ignoring the facts and reasoning, and much more. There are probably millions of reasons why you should stop doing a startup. Yet, this is most revealing experience I ever had.

I still do not know when we will be funded and of course, have no idea whether my company will be a success story or not. Of course, I believe it will be a huge success (otherwise why doing this), but you know the statistics and odds. Without this belief you better not even start.

When you start a company, especially if this is your first time, you have no idea what to expect, not the obstacles you’ll have on your way, not the end result. You even do not know what the desired end result is. You want to succeed, but hell, no idea what does this mean.

It is very nice to read the stories of Google, Apple, Intel or Microsoft founders after their success happened. But what about learning the lessons when history did not happen yet? When you do not have a desired outcome and thus need to judge events and actions without knowing and understanding their long term impact on a venture?

So I decided to start writing a blog about my startup when it actually happens. I plan to provide my perspective on what we are doing, what are ups and downs, will try to analyze my industry and competitors, and try to share my thoughts on general topics that I deem relevant. All somehow will be connected to my startup.

I read somewhere that running a startup is that much fun as riding a rollercoaster. I would add that with rollercoaster your guts might fail you from time to time, but you will be successfully delivered to the finish line, while with a startup it’s not guaranteed. So a better comparison for me would be a rollercoaster where you are a driver and there is no safety there.

You might fasten your seat belts, but not sure it will help – this is my first ever drive. Hope to get there safely.