You have to believe in the idea more than anything.

You need skin in the game or a good ESOP deal.

You need to be prepared to work more hours than are healthy

You need to be prepared for the idea to fail or for the company to pivot

You have to trust your co-founders

You need to understand the revenue model and understand the path to growth

You need to have very thick skin

You need to balance foolish optimism and catastrophe preventing pragmatism

You need to make decisions quickly, a lot of them.

You need to find pockets to sleep and refresh your body

Building a startup is rejecting the status quo. It is hard because economic, political, cultural and social forces are set up to force you down safer paths.

Startups are ugly thrashing caterpillars struggling to weave protective cocoons to transform them into beautiful butterflies that attract bloated beasts to eat them.

Believe in the change you want to create