I’ve had the great fortune to know successful founders, some of whom I’m now good friends with.
Now, among these people, I cannot think of one person — ONE person — who hasn’t experienced some sort of absolute rock bottom.
Company running out of money. Personal finance at huge risk, as they took personal loans to plug their company’s financial holes. Insomnia, panic attacks, and many other health problems. Strained family relationships.
One of my founder friends once reminisced about his hard times and joked, “I was totally lying on the ground. I thought that was the absolute bottom. Well, it turned out, there was a basement.”
But they took a deep breath and gave it one more push every time they were down. Somehow, they turned things around and achieved success — in some cases, even greater success than they had imagined.
More importantly, throughout the process, their maturity level increased, and they became more compassionate. Honestly, founders who hit rock bottom and came back are some of the best people I know. Every single one of them wants to help other people.
So, to the founders who are chewing glass right now, I hope you’ll hang in there. Turns out, it really is darkest before the dawn. One day you’ll joke about the f*ing basement.