When you win, your company matters. Otherwise, it doesn’t.
Nobody else cares about your journey, they don’t give a shit about whether you slept under your desk or whether you took the lowest salary. They don’t care whether you ate Ramen noodles or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Nobody cares that you fucked up your relationship with your girlfriend. Nobody cares that you worked 20 hours a day for months.
Certainly, nobody cares if you “almost win.”
So do whatever it takes to win.
Don’t worry about what other people think about your startup.
Don’t feel sorry for yourself if things aren’t going according to plan.
You have a finite amount of time and energy so do only things that will help you win.
Nothing else.
And don’t be afraid to try new things that might help you win. Since nothing matters until you win, you should be willing to try anything.
The greatest thing about startups is that it is the only game in the world that lasts as long as YOU want it to. Imagine playing a basketball game where there is no clock… the ONLY way to lose is if you stop playing.
Don’t quit and it is impossible to lose.
You make sure that the game ends only when you win.
You can fuck up a million times because nobody cares. People don’t remember the losers (as much as the Winklevosses try to lodge themselves in your memory, you’ll forget them unless they win). So don’t spend any energy on thinking about times that you didn’t win.
Simply figure out what it takes to win and do it. And never stop until you’ve done it.
In the end, only the winners matter.
