15 Comments
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Emmanuel PaulMaah's avatar

needed this. a sneak-peek at the hell i'm running into ...

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Edward Corona's avatar

The journey from pre-seed to IPO is often glamorized, but the reality is packed with challenges and unexpected twists. Thanks for shedding light on the often unseen struggles and successes in building a startup.

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Leader’s Lens's avatar

This hit the sweet spot—realistic, a bit confronting, and oddly comforting.

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Michael Spencer's avatar

That sounds truly exhausting. I love to read a piece that correlates the usual challenges faced at various periods of a startup's evolution.

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Rachel Maron's avatar

This piece is a mirror and a map: brutally honest, oddly reassuring, and refreshingly helpful. Founders often glamorize the early chaos or the IPO finish line, but this thread delivers the messy middle in full color. It’s not just a timeline; it’s a survival guide. The candid tone and hard-earned wisdom resonate deeply with anyone who’s ever questioned their sanity while chasing product-market fit at 2 am.

The takeaway? It’s not genius that separates success from failure; it’s endurance. Grit. The refusal to quit. Read this if you’re building, doubting, or just deep in the grind. Then keep going.

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Sky Walker's avatar

Great insights, and wow…this is going to a ride 🫣

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Meg Porter's avatar

Excited 🤣💕🤌🏻

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Anatoly Chikanov's avatar

Pretty much on point. Having worked in a few startups over the years you can definitely see the stages that founders go through.

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Hugo Rauch's avatar

Thank you for sharing !

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Gilles Cornelis's avatar

This is an exact timeline of all the feelings and hurdles of the past 10 years as a founder. Sprinting a marathon.

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Alan Schweber's avatar

This one sums it up beautifully: Founders Are Marathoners Disguised as Sprinters.

I did it for 4 years and it felt like one.

Thank you for writing this.

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Carlo's avatar

Great read.

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Emma Horsedick (don't laugh)'s avatar

I’m in agreement, that’s a noteworthy insight, exactly right.

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Martin's avatar

One of the most accurate founder timelines I’ve read raw, honest, and painfully familiar. Especially love the framing that product-market fit isn’t a finish line, it’s a flirtation. Every early-stage founder should pin this to their wall.

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Orkhan Hajiyev's avatar

Damn…this is so well crafted..thanks for sharing it. I am sure a lot of first time founders needed this👏👏🫶

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