TYPICAL ENTREPRENEURIAL FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS

There are hundreds of millions of guides on almost everything to do with entrepreneurship and setting up a new business, but most of them focus on the more "logical" aspects of the process: business, technology, marketing... etc. However, it is not easy to find information on how it will affect you as an entrepreneur, on the more emotional aspects of the journey of undertaking.

And these feelings and emotions will be decisive in the success or failure of your project, which as a founder will put you to the test every day... This does not mean that it will not be the greatest adventure you have ever experienced, and that you will not only learn a lot but also grow as a person... but it is important that you know what you are going to face.

And why is no one talking about it? Because it is difficult, it requires accepting and saying out loud that you are often lost, that you don't have all the answers and that you are having a hard time. Something that is risky and requires exposure in a world dominated by posturing, false projections of success (am I really the only one who feels this way?) and stereotypes?

THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) FEEL IF YOU ARE A START-UP FOUNDER

EVERYTHING IS GOING TOO SLOWLY

As an entrepreneur, you expect things to happen as soon as you think of them: "We have come up with..." and within 5 minutes the functionality is built and we can validate whether it is a good idea or a bad idea. However, the reality is that this idea has to be prioritised among the 1,000 others that will be available, and time and resources have to be devoted to it. (two things that are always in short supply in a new venture) and make it. 

And let's not talk about those investors who take so long to respond, that lawyer who seems to have been writing Don Quixote for three months?

FEELING OF VERTIGO

Paradoxical though it may be, you're also going to get vertigo from how fast everything is going. But not in the sense of how fast the product is going (I wish!), but of the tremendous amount of things happening at the same time, at the most inconvenient times of the day (users in the Philippines or Canada sleep at different hours!) and on completely different fronts... which makes you feel that you are unable to keep control, to keep the 7 balls you juggle in the air.

IMPOSTER SYNDROME (+)

Perhaps one of the most difficult to explain, but most important aspects: even though everyone trusts you, your A-team, and your vision... you feel like an imposter, you know that, even though you believe in your idea completely and you have put all your heart into it, your role is only a small part of the success of your new venture... but what if you are the problem?

You know that you are no guru and that there are 1,000 things in which you lack experience. And if on top of that there are colleagues, partners or investors who have put their trust in you... you're an imposter!!!!

(SOMETIMES) YOU FIND IT HARD TO SLEEP

If there is one word that defines what a startup founder feels, it is anxiety... something that keeps you awake at night wondering if you have made the best decision, reminding you of all the things you have pending, bringing to your mind the email you have received... and as if it were a loop, you repeat it over and over again.

AS BEN HOROWITZ SAID

"As a startup founder I slept like a baby: I woke up every few hours and cried".

YOU WILL DO THINGS YOU HATE

Because in a startup you can't have a designer, a salesperson, a specialist in international markets, an economist, a marketing specialist, security engineers... you will have to do many things that you not only don't know how to do but hate (e.g. selling ....)... but I am sorry to say that many of them, such as the first sales, have to be done by you.

YOU LIVE ON A ROLLERCOASTER

You feel like a cyclothymic, with days when you think you're going to take over the world, that you're going to make it big, that if everything that's been planted comes out it's going to be incredible... and other days when you're overcome with negativity, when you question everything, when you think that nothing works... and you can even feel really depressed (something very common among entrepreneurs). There's a reason why they call it the entrepreneurial rollercoaster (+) no?

YOU ARE LOST

There are days when you have the feeling that you have no idea where to go, that you have been behaving like a headless chicken for the last few days, going from one issue to another but not seeing progress.

Besides, between events, awards, competitors, suppliers, equipment and a thousand other tasks, you will often find it hard to prioritise... even though it is the most important thing to do.

VITAL" INSECURITY

Something that takes some getting used to, living in absolute uncertainty. Not only may you have given up (or not) a lot as a professional, but on top of that you start to see how your economic "cushion" starts to decrease, and you realise the risk you are taking... what if it doesn't work out? What if I don't even have enough to pay the rent? 

YOU ARE "SECOND RATE".

You work hard, but the competition always seems to do better, get more visibility and be more successful... and that makes you feel worse, although if you analyse it you will realise that what you see as "success" is probably not so much, as you have a certain cognitive bias regarding how you value yourself.

SOLEDAD

It's hard sometimes to share with others what you're going through, because they don't seem to understand... especially if you're an "only" founder or if the people around you don't understand how the hell you left your comfortable job/career/"usual" life to do this crazy thing.

THE SUMMIT IS GETTING FURTHER AWAY EVERY DAY

After months of hard work, sweat and a lot of passion you finally reach the milestone you have fought so hard for... and suddenly you realise, in the middle of the (obligatory) celebration, that it was just a small step, that the hard part really comes now, that it was actually easy... and once you reach the next milestone, it's back to square one.

SEE THE ENTREPRENEUR'S ROLLERCOASTER (+) TO UNDERSTAND MORE TYPICAL ENTREPRENEURIAL EMOTIONS