Having to do something you love and attracting customers to patronize the product or service you create is extremely rewarding. When you’re starting a startup from scratch, the realities hit harder than the motivational posts and success stories you find online. Growing a company and providing jobs to other people can be another great thrill. But running your own business is not easy. Working for yourself without the safety net of an employee can be a lonely, frustrating, and challenging experience.
To succeed when it comes to starting a business, you need to ignore the motivational quotes, the polished but unrealistic LinkedIn posts, and the probably AI-generated “I raised $5 million in 6 months” stories. The truth is that there are going to be challenges every step of the way, but you need to understand how to face and overcome these challenges, as this is what gives your business the chance of survival. This article will run you through what no one has probably told you about being a founder or starting from scratch. Let’s dive in
One thing people rarely mention when starting a startup from scratch is how much of the real struggle gets edited out of the public conversation.
I tell you for a fact that most of those articles you read online titled “How to launch a startup in 2025” are written by writers and not founders, and these people only make their living from it. So the authenticity of what they dish out is questionable because they are merely selling hope and not experiences of having workers to pay from a close-to-nothing account. You should be cautious when reading articles about things like “How to start a startup in 2025” or “30-step checklist for a successful business.” Someone who has experienced the same fear you are currently experiencing is the only source of advice that really matters.
Anyone starting a startup from scratch quickly learns that the first idea is rarely the winning idea and that’s perfectly normal. Every business owner falls in love with their first idea, mostly because it’s their first discovery. It’s completely normal, but the truth is, most successful companies look nothing like the founder’s original plan. What’s most important is your resilience, i.e., how many “no’s you receive, and you still keep forging ahead until people start believing in you. Don’t follow those who tell you to “validate your idea early.” Every founder I know who surpassed $1M in revenue looks back at their original pitch deck and laughs (or cries).
If you’re starting a startup from scratch, the right co-founder can make the difference between a company that survives and one that collapses early.
Google’s first employee, Craig Silverstein, played a key role in connecting the co-founders’ ideas to the reality of the product. On the other hand, many startups, including Quibi and Color Labs, have failed because of the wrong team, showing that even brilliant ideas can fail in the absence of the right team. According to a popular saying, two heads are better than one. Having a co-founder who understands your values and dreams and who has exactly the skills your company needs makes a big difference.
Just look at the big names: Sure, everyone thinks of Steve Jobs at Apple, Bill Gates at Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, or Jeff Bezos at Amazon. But none of them built those companies alone. In the early days, they all had co-founders whom they trusted and worked shoulder to shoulder with. Establishing a startup is challenging. There will be many difficult times. Having someone on your team who shares your perspective and offers support is really helpful when things get hard.
From sales, support, marketing, and cleaning of your office, that is, if you have one. You do all this by yourself. This phase is unavoidable when starting a startup from scratch, you become the entire company until traction appears. You’ll write code at 2 a.m., then wake up at 7 a.m. to answer customer emails. You’ll cold-call, cold-email, and beg for introductions, as there is no opportunity for you to delegate. You will receive little or no help, and no one is coming to save you at this phase. You have to put in the effort to get customers and investors.
Every founder I know, at some point in their entrepreneurship journey, has a story about staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m., wondering why they quit their 9 to 5 or if they made the best decision starting their business. The truth is that those who make it aren’t the smartest or the best-connected. They’re the ones who get comfortable being uncomfortable for years. You’ll practically see your friends buy houses and go on vacation while you’re eating noodles for dinner again because you’re working within a budget. You’ll see people younger than you raising millions and wonder what you’re doing wrong. That voice in your head that says, “You’re not good enough”? Every founder I respect still hears it. Those who made it at the end learnt to keep going irrespective of how they feel.
Prioritize hiring someone with experience from a slightly larger company who values their skills in order to create a strong team. Early excellent hires outweigh many average hires. Be wary of hiring mistakes: Avoid hiring out of frustration and guilt-tripping poor performers. Focus on candidates’ attitudes and willingness to learn more than skills, because you can teach skills but not intrinsic motivation. The first employee of Google, Craig Silverstein, played a crucial role in connecting the ideas of the co-founders with the actualization of the product.
Not many startups have made it; just look at Quibi or Color Labs. Both had big ideas, but their teams weren’t on the same page, and that sunk them. Even the best concepts need the right people behind them. Take Steve Jobs; he had the vision, but it was the technical prowess of Steve Wozniak that really brought the Apple I and II to life. Then there’s Travis Kalanick. He often credits Ryan Graves, one of Uber’s first employees and briefly its CEO, for building the company’s major operations from the ground up.
There is a possibility for your business as long as there’s cash flow. For anyone starting a startup from scratch, maintaining cash flow becomes the difference between staying alive and shutting down too soon. Even if you have the greatest product in the world, it won’t last if you run out of money. Like oxygen, cash flow is crucial to a company’s survival and is frequently overlooked until it disappears. Ideas can fail without cash flow, while steady cash flow enables flexibility, growth, and adaptability. It provides investment, innovation and strength options during a recession. Therefore, get a customer to patronize you as fast as possible, even if it’s just ₦50,000 or $100 a month. That first “yes” changes everything.
In a situation where you put your all into a pitch, practice it for weeks, and still get rejected or ghosted. Most of the rejection you receive has little or nothing to do with you or your company. The investor probably had a bad day, or their fund is low on cash, or it just doesn’t fit their narrow focus or expectation. Keep going.
And I will advise that you raise money only when you don’t need it. The best time to fundraise is when you have 12–18 months of runway and growing revenue.
Founder burnout is a significant issue in the startup sector, driven primarily by a lack of momentum rather than working long hours. One day, you’re full of energy, working 16-hour days and loving it. The next day, you can’t even open your laptop without feeling sick. Fatigue appears in two ways. Sometimes, you get tired after working hard, and a good rest recovers you from that. Other times, it’s even deeper when you’ve worked hard but don’t see results. That type of fatigue is more intense. Founders get busy with their startup, and it’s easy to let emotions cloud their judgment. You start doubling up when you should be moving around, and before you know it, you get tired.
What is the best way to avoid this? Treat your health like it’s your top investor. Adequate sleep. Eat real food, not just snacks at your desk. And take at least one full day off every week, no exceptions.
They die because the founder gave up. When you, as a founder, stop believing it could work. You stopped putting in more effort, sending one more email or call, and trying one more idea. The graveyard is full of “brilliant” ideas that died because the founder stopped believing. The difference between the founders who make it and the ones who don’t is usually just a few extra months of stubbornness.
If you’re truly starting a startup from scratch, the best advice is simple: begin small, stay stubborn, and keep moving even on the days you doubt yourself. Starting anything new hurts. It may also be lonely. But when you hear from a happy customer or hit your first revenue goal, all that struggle starts to make sense.
Do you have an idea that won’t leave you alone? Don’t wait for someone to give you the green light. There is never a right time. Just start with something small, anything, and move on. Trust yourself. Take a step. Forming a company? This is probably the hardest thing you’ve ever done and will ever do. It will shake everything: your marriage, your friendships, your health, and your faith. This is cruel. However, if you’re the type of person who can’t let go of an idea, who can’t sleep because of what might be possible, or who gets sick when you think about looking back ten years and wondering, “What if? Don’t wait; you already know what needs to be done.