Success is fun. But it’s the lessons from setbacks that keep you humble and realistic, not the success moments.
Entrepreneurship is all about growth.
Entrepreneurship is all about creating something out of nothing.
But contrary to popular belief, a successful entrepreneur’s path is ridden with lowlights, setbacks, and hardships. From my own experience, it’s those rather unpleasant events that keep you humble and realistic.
Let’s look at a few real-life examples from my journey as the Founder & CEO of Yonder, a B2B SaaS company.
1. Sales
In the first half of this year, we had a streak of wins in Southeast Asia. We were ahead of the H1 budget and thought we would even reach our annual sales budget before the end of Q3.
Boom.
And then we lost a large RFP which we thought we would win. And suddenly there was a possibility that we would miss our annual sales budget.
Keep calm and carry on. It’s still only Q3, and many other deals in the pipeline could materialize before the year is out.
2. Tech
A couple of weeks ago, we removed a large chunk of tech debt after months of preparation and dependency removal. Post-release troubleshooting took until 1 am and involved some of our customers, but eventually, we were getting there.
At the same time, our next major feature is on the finish line, and our sales team showcased the new feature in a vendor presentation at one of the most important trade shows in our industry. Interest was huge, our booth was stormed after the vendor presentation.
Boom.
Literally at the same time, our sales team pitched a continent away, some leftovers from the mentioned tech debt removal popped up and required an immediate fix. Plus a file size limit created problems with one of our new customers, requiring another immediate fix.
Keep calm and carry on. If you have a responsive and communicative dev team, you can ship an occasional hotfix.
3. Financing
In the crazy days of March 2020, our government set up a loan program to support companies affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns. Long before digital signatures were widely used, it helped us and thousands of other companies safeguard their business without much formalities.
Came different times, came recovery. At the same time, the government announced that the validity of those COVID credits was extended from 2025 to 2028.
Boom.
Keep calm and carry on. There are multiple ways to find funds to repay a credit.
Conclusion
None of those examples is made up. None of these situations were fun. But they all are a fact of entrepreneurial life. And none of them killed us.
Always remember that you grow when you venture out of your comfort zone.
Always remember that the universe is bigger than your comfort zone and that you will be forced to step outside of your comfort zone now and then, even if you don’t want to step outside of your comfort zone.
And finally, always stay humble.
