I’m ceo and cofounder of my startup. Currently going through techstars. The product is good, has really good traction, solving a big problem in an industry I don’t care about. I have deep passion for social issues and specially education.
The only thing that motivates ALOT me about my current company is that we can make a lot of money so I can just eventually leave and do something I’m passionate about with that money.
Am I doomed?
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Pretty sure that your in the “effective altruism” swim lane then.
Also, sometimes business has a bunch of different feels…
#Feelings are not facts
You can choose to do the next right thing without running on warm fuzzies. It’s discipline. Thats a thing.
Feelings are not facts, but it’s okay to feel your feelings. In fact, it’s mandatory. Either you confront your emotions or they’ll rule your life.
OP, I suggest taking some time to go on TalkSpace (or a traditional therapist, but an app like TalkSpace or any other is prob more convenient). Talk through what you’re feeling so you can confront it and move forward.
Education and social issues are important. There are effective ways to address them (like local elections and NGOs). A startup is probably not going to be the outlet to address racism or inequality.
Excel at your business, know that at some point it will slow down, and then you can dedicate time outside of work to causes that make a direct impact in your community.
Trying to fulfill all your values and goals through your business alone will leave you unfocused, short of the mark, and unsatisfied.
You’re not supposed to care about the product, you’re supposed to care about the problem. (And your people.)
Look at it from a different perspective. I’m the CEO and founder of a startup in an industry that I’m super passionate about, but I’m not in techstars, and I have a partner who has been funding the operation, but no real funding to really help me scale and/or pay my bills.
I feel stuck, with no end in sight, hoping to get tons of users and hopefully get a big round of funding so I can get a salary, and hopefully exit.
So just because you’re super passionate about something doesn’t mean it’s going to be great. I’m super passionate about my start up but without funding, it really doesn’t matter.
Then in the past I’ve had some successful passion projects in different industries, but they didn’t make me rich. Just successful enough to move onto the next project.
After this current startup either exits or closes shop, I plan on going back to that. Because that’s when I’m happiest.
Honestly, it just makes the lows lower and the highs higher because you don’t feel the wins to the core, unless you’re totally money motivated. I look for the pieces I like about the company beyond the product, as well as having the control that I do. The payoff is just in the exit in these cases and you have to focus on that destination as the journey won’t feel as rewarding.
Find passion in growing the company, being a great CEO, and being an outstanding operator. That’s how you’ll make the most impact with any startup you’re more passionate about in the future. You can cultivate passion in what you’re doing now. Be scrappy and win with this — beyond having a financial foundation to build something you’re more “passionate about” in the future once you kill it with this, you’d have cut your teeth in your current gig and come out of it with considerably more experience.
Plus if it goes well, which it sounds like it will, you’ll have a track record that attracts interesting people and opportunities your way for your next project.
Get out there and kill it! You got this.
Agreed. My current partner built and sold two digital companies I’m not sure how much he cared about. Now he’s in a completely different field but knowing his experience I have a lot more trust in his ability to follow through with our project.
Make money where it can be made so you have money to do thinks you care about.
Everyone doesn’t have the skill to earn big money, if you set of that path, it’s the best way for you to make large scale impact
Both your professional skills and your bank balance are growing exponentially , don’t leave it
What I think most folks here are overlooking is the concept of “Founder Market Fit”
Anybody can come up with an idea and start a company, but why are YOU the right person to build it? What’s your secret sauce? What do you know that the rest of us don’t?
The answer is never about the money.
Startups are incredibly hard. They take up all of your time and energy.
Paul Graham has famously said that you should only focus on eating healthy, working out and building your company.
If you’ve given up on your company during Tech Stars besides the potential to make a lot of money, the company is already dead.
Startups aren’t a job. Most people here have jobs they don’t like and can get away with doing it just for the money. You can’t.
I would strongly suggest you bring this up to your advisor and/or investors and find a way to cycle yourself out before you waste any more time, energy and people’s money on it.
What about finding a way to be passionate about the other things?
Make it the best place to work; 4 day work weeks, great staff development, hack weeks, remote work practices, etc.
If it is impacting your work then maybe step back and think why you started or do it for the sake of doing it well. If it isn’t then sometimes money is a worthwhile motivator at least until you get enough cash to work on something you really like
Think about everyone who hates their job. Like passionately hates it and has a shitty boss, doesn’t make much money and gets a 3% raise every year. Now think about your opportunity.
Every job has parts that suck about it. Most jobs mostly suck. Dig in, find what you like, focus on that and find a passion project.
Make your company an ethical startup. Put a % of your profits towards social issues/ speciality education. It can be part of your brand or separate from your business. Do your passion projects as you go, don’t wait until ‘after’ because life is too short to wait.
definitely do not think you are doomed, if you can build a product for an industry you do not care about you can definitely build one for one you do.
Interesting as I am at Techstars and work in Edtech. I can relate with my first company I founded, but have changed my perspective since. It’s really difficult to be in that position. I also don’t have a family to fall back on, and at least with the money you can transition if it’s a lucrative project based on its utility. I don’t know the number of employees in your organization, or the background as to the story, but I will say it’s also hard to to align your passions with a project that can support your life. I felt so confused when I was in the same position and criticism of the product went from me transmuting it into new features or pulling back on something as opposed to going through existential crisis as well as crisis of conscience. Arghhhhh so frustrating and difficult!!!
You don’t need to be passionate about your product
People constantly espouse this idea that you need to be passionate about your product to be a successful entrepreneur, but that’s not true
My father hates the medical field, but that didn’t stop him from successfully founding and exiting six medical technology firms
You need to be unwaveringly persistent and sufficiently competent, with competence being broadly defined and encapsulating a number of key traits
You seem to be that, so continue being that until the optimal moment, and exit
I’ve never had deep passion for any product, even the ones I came up with myself.
Were they good ideas? Sure. Did they help people? No doubt. But I’m not about to become an emotional Catherine wheel over a product. If the things I came up with and flogged disappeared overnight, the world would spin on.