“It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. You only have to be right once and then everyone can tell you that you are an overnight success.” — Mark Cuban

The Road To Success … Perception vs. Reality

Because the media mostly cover startups after they become successful, many people tend automatically associate startup life with glamour, fame and fortune.

There are those who think that startup success is basically broken down into 4 few quick steps as follows:

Come up with an idea Build a product that you think everyone wants … Or if you can’t code, get someone to build it for you Get millions of users immediately after you launch Get rich from a huge exit i.e. get acquired by one of the tech giants (Google, Facebook, Microsoft etc.) or IPO

5 years ago, I probably thought that this was true. The thing is that if startup success were that easy, literally everyone would be a successful entrepreneur.

Of the 4 steps listed above, step 1 is usually the easiest. We have all been there; You are just there minding you own business when it hits you, many people have problem x that could be solved with application y, but application y either does not exist or you have never heard about it. If you could build application y, you would easily make a million dollars in the absolute worst case (at least that is what you think).

For starters, many people get so obsessed with their idea that they never actually make it to step 2. The people who actually arrive at step 2 are usually somewhat more interesting, because it takes a certain level of commitment to actually get there. The caveat is that many people who get to step 2 do one of the following (I have been very guilty of both in the past):

Build a product without doing adequate market validation to ensure that the need for the standalone product envisioned actually exists Underestimate the effort it takes to get to step 3

“Overnight success” in the startup world is almost always preceded by years of constant failure and disappointment. Below I have highlighted a few obstacles that a number of successful entrepreneurs had to go through on the road to success. The goal is not to discourage hopeful entrepreneurs, rather it is to show entrepreneurs that “The Social Network” story is not necessarily the typical path to startup success and to encourage them to keep pushing and to be open to making pivots whenever they are required, because someday it might get better.