Doors Close and Doors Open

I dove headlong into a great idea, suspended fear of failure and just worked daily to grind it out. The stack of filled notebooks on the side of my desk grew, signaling progression of the idea and the business. The pitch deck was re-worked, improved upon and given 1000 times. We built a beautiful product and were 24 weeks of coding from launch.

And still, the doubt grew. There was something off. We were never going to get the money. But, I had crossed the rubicon, turning back or stepping off did not seem like an option.

Until it became the only option. Something happened and I just had to call the time of death on that start up. It sucked. All.of.that.work….just down the toilet.

In an miserable moment, I admitted out loud to one partner that I had made the same mistake three times — falling in love with the idea and compartmentalizing doubts about a partner, which is a recipe for failure. A mistake that I kept repeating.

Until now. A new door opened, the idea scares me. I am in an area of zero expertise, working with people who are scary smart, intimidatingly smart. But, the team is good. The flow is good and I have zero doubts about the people and that is new, that is good.

One more time, roll those startup dice.