There are many operational and technical challenges that come with building any successful business or project.
“How do I build the backend infrastructure for this app?”
“How do I increase conversion?”
“How do I make this look prettier”
Most of these are very tactical, yet answerable obstacles — meaning that someone, somewhere out there has solved this problem before. They are not new territory to society and are fairly mundane acts of work. Chances are you can find someone, either from your network or on that thing called the internet, who can help you work through your problem.
Again emphasizing that these are tactical problems with tactical solutions: answers you can find simply by asking the right questions.
Asking the right questions is deceivingly simple. Practice this!
The hardest thing about building a company enters as you begin to explore the unknown. The gray area. The things outside of the textbook and not available as a detailed quora answer.
These are mainly internal challenges that most people feel uncomfortable talking about.
These are the things that will always keep you up at night.
These are how you handle your internal expectations and mindset as you go on building (learning how to set your expectations from day one).
I think most people quit because their expectations were way off. Most people give up when they think their product will be an overnight success, and five months later they are just starting to break even.
The truth is that the overnight success story is a fantasy.
It is really hard to empathize with the struggle of being a founder.
My one wish, for founders, is to simply spend a bit more time, early on, thinking about themselves and their team. Thinking about what they truly want out of their project, defining their goals, and creating metrics for our success.
I think the best advice out there is to think for a bit, and then just start. Have the hard conversations up front — but then get going.
Building anything is really hard. Everyone you ask has an opinion on what is best for you and your product. They will tell you it is dumb and hopeless. They will tell you it is awesome and going to be a winner. Neither is likely true.
At the end of the day, it comes down to you and your team executing on your assumptions and learning from your customers. There are lots of reasons why you should not build a project. Look for one reason to just go for it.