If this is your first time reading, I recommend you start with my 6-month challenge and table of contents of weekly posts for the past 20 weeks.
tl;dr It’s been 5 months since I first started my journey. Last month, I finally shipped Cusoy (November 8, to be exact) — and since then had experienced a crisis of sorts of what to do and where to go. After a lot of discussion, heartache and going back and forth, I’ve finally decided to split my time 50/50 with Cusoy and a B2B SaaS product (currently in the works) and to continue working on Cusoy until mid-July 2014 for a full 12 months, rather than just stop at my initial 6 months.
It’s been an incredible 5 months so far.
As 2013 is quickly drawing to a close, I reflect back on some things I wish I knew or did and what I’m grateful for because of Cusoy.
This is a bit of a long post, but it’s written in a quick, conversational tone.
I. What I wish I knew or did
A. Have a team. Recruit others.
B. Gain confidence through action; don’t wallow for days in depression and inertia.
C. Be determined and persistent through 20 mile march process.
D. Get an accountability partner or mechanism.
E. Prioritize your health and energy above all.
II. What I’m grateful for
1. Determination
This has turned out to be the most important quality in startup founders. We thought when we started Y Combinator that the most important quality would be intelligence. That’s the myth in the Valley. And certainly you don’t want founders to be stupid. But as long as you’re over a certain threshold of intelligence, what matters most is determination. You’re going to hit a lot of obstacles. You can’t be the sort of person who gets demoralized easily.
– Paul Graham, What We Look For in Founders
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