Running a startup is not easy, and it doesn’t get mentally easier when one sees peers and competitors fundraising at high valuations or growing ARR (if not revenue) faster than what seems possible.
This is not new, and my way to think about it (which I might have told some people from time to time) is:
“You see your own startup in the mirror, and all other startups through their press releases (or LinkedIn posts). Compare the difference between what you see in your mirror and what you write in your own press releases, and assume everyone else is doing the same.”
Therefore it is safe to assume that there’s a difference between the public picture a successful startup paints, and what is going on inside of it. Some real problems are likely left out what’s being highlighted, regardless how well it is supposedly going. So regardless of other people’s headlines, the best thing to do is usually to keep on building, selling and recruiting.
