The importance of staying focused #StartupLife

Us startuppers navigate through a system of venture capitalists, fellow startuppers, dreamers and a lot of clueless people that want part of whatever is going on. On top of that, we have to respond to many questions that revolve around the fact that we work all day in an environment that rarely looks like working, and that yes, we believe in what we do.

But every now and then all that questioning, all that routine that doesn't look like a routine, all the talking and calling and answering and trying and failing really makes you lose your focus. You start questioning if what you're doing really makes sense, if the decisions you're making are really going to take your precious startup where you want it to be.

That is a very dark stage in a startup, that's when a lot of us quit. People start giving you the unsolicited advise of changing this or that to make it more appealing, perhaps trying another vertical, perhaps re-designing your logo, maybe adding more of whatever element you don't have that many others do. And you wonder, maybe they're right.

And that's when you have to stay the strongest "morite con la tuya" (die with your idea) an Argentinean friend used to tell me. Whether right or wrong for the rest of the world, fight for your idea. You know it is right, you know it is strong. You believe in it, so fight for it. Never give up, don't listen to the advise that you know inside your heart is not right. And keep the good fight.

After all, every company was a startup at some point, and the difference between those successful companies and us, is that they stuck around.