High as F*&# on the Startup Drug
A college crisis triggered by the startup mirage
Here is what I learned believing I could easily build a startup company while being in college, going through endless frustration and compromising my health, to ultimately learning a valuable lesson the hard way.
I think it goes back to 2011, where I opened a door that unleashed the most fun and at the same time worst 2 years of my time in college.
At the time, I was still in college taking some of the courses required for the software engineering degree. That semester, I wanted to try something different, and replace one of these courses with a research project I would enjoy doing.
Around that year, the iPhone was quickly becoming one of the most popular platforms in which developers could build products for the mass market. As the big Apple fan I am, I was eager to get my hands on the iPhone SDK and start coding apps.
So, along with one of my best friends (who also loves Apple), we embarked on a 6-month journey of learning Obj-C from scratch (now Swift) to come up with a very interactive and useful app to search for buildings, classrooms and services inside the university campus.
We worked tirelessly, putting our souls in developing the app and spending way more time per week on this project than on any other course of that semester! We made of our app more than just a research project. We made a tool that everyone could use to better know the campus. Once we were done and the semester was over, we pushed the app to the App Store and began sharing it with friends on social media. The app got the attention of the public which resulted in getting it featured on a number of university papers and magazines. Long story short, our app was adopted by the university as the official app for all of its campuses. (We got a special spot on the university website ;) ).
Awesome!
This resulted in 2 very positive outcomes:
- We learned something totally new in 6 months, and built a product from scratch that became an official tool for the University.
- We got a reputation for doing great apps outside of school.
After we were done with our app, an interesting thing happened: We began receiving calls from startup companies that needed to build apps for their business. “This is great!” we said to ourselves. We realized there was an ever-growing demand for mobile developers that was not being satisfied.
So that same year, we got our first job at a startup company, building an app to upload synchronised videos, all in just 1 month.
Fast forward 2 years, by 2013 we had created our own software company that had made apps for all major startups in Santiago, as well as for the big companies in the country.
So far, you might be wondering why you’re still reading this success story. Keep on reading!
What I failed to realize was the big problem I was getting into with all of this, both personally and emotionally.
2012 and 2013 were some of the most fun and stressful years I ever had. On one hand, I was taking the most difficult and demanding classes of my curriculum, and on the other hand, I kept working on apps for other startup companies.
My days were packed, waking up at 6:30 in the morning, going to class with one bloodshot eye, leaving campus at 5pm to get back home and get all assignments done for the week, just to get started with the startup work at around 7pm to finally hit the sack at around 1am! And the next day was no different.
As you can imagine, I was not getting the best sleep of my life, and that really began to affect me.
In addition to the crazy schedule, I got deeply involved in the startup scene, as I worked more and more for tech companies building amazing app-based products. Products I was building. It was like discovering you have the power to what everybody else wanted! I have to say, it feels pretty damn good.
This made me think about the idea of building my own startup.
I began brainstorming everyday, for a possible startup of my own. I took additional time to apply to incubators and accelerators, working on the application forms over the weekend. Building landing pages, shooting and editing videos, writing up the descriptions, coming up with all of the graphic assets. Ufff, I’m already exhausted just talking about it! And may I remind you: All of this while taking my classes AND working for other startups!
Eventually, I ended up working 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 2 years. I didn’t have work/school — life balance at all.
The worst part was that this began to show. My friends and family noticed that I was under heavy stress, and despite the fact they urged me to take it slowly, I dismissed them…
So, what was the outcome of all of this? Well, those two years were the most interesting career-wise and emotionally painful I ever had.
On one hand, I expanded my engineering knowledge and iOS development skills to a great degree. This was a big learning experience for what I loved doing!
I also broadened my skills beyond engineering to public speaking, keynote presentations, overall design, and sophisticating my taste for greatly designed products, by making them over and over again. This was fantastic!
On the other hand, I became overly stressed about everything. I was always running out of time and felt I had to juggle with my time to get stuff done. So, of course, I had to compromise my weekends. It was frustrating.
I struggled to get a decent break from now and then, and this affected my mood as a consequence. I felt this need of not wasting any second doing anything else that wasn’t my work, which didn’t leave room for recreational stuff, or even exercising.
I increasingly began arguing with my family over the stupidest things, on a daily basis. My stress was also affecting other people, and I didn’t even know about it.
Stress can act as an energy boost in situations where you need to be sharp and stay productive. But sustained stress over a long period of time can cause damage to your body and wellbeing.
And who better than me to prove this point!
So just after finishing college by the end of 2013, my body exploded. I suffered from lower back pain, and also developed Crohn’s disease. Both conditions being closely related to stress.
I am the living proof that you have to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to perform at your best.
In the next few years, after having digested this occurrence, I kept thinking about the factors that played a huge role in letting myself fall into this spiral of chaos (besides the fact that I got carried away).
Here are some of my learnings:
Healthy Comparison
During those years, I made a terrible assumption. As I worked on my projects, I sought inspiration from the great entrepreneurs that had created great companies and products that impacted millions of people, like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, you name it.
I began studying their early and humble beginnings; how (some of them) started out as engineers who were passionate about what they did with technology. It’s weird how sometimes we look for these kind of references to learn how similar they are to you.
So as this kept going, I said to myself “well, if they could make it, I can make it too”. And that’s true! If you work really really REALLY hard, then there’re chances that you’ll make it. The problem with the assumption is that you forget about all the other gazillion variables that come into play for a successful outcome!
But as I said before, I was high on the startup drug. So this feeling of “I can make it too” mutated into an “I deserve it too” kind of thing. And this is where the vortex of insanity begins. Thinking that you’re entitled to the same level of success because you followed a similar path to the other guy is not only wrong, but also crazy.
I link the previous concept to the fact of being studying at one of the best universities in Latin America. Why? Because you’re constantly reminded by your surroundings that you’re among the best of the best. And it feels good to hear that. And yes, it takes a lot of effort to get in! But once you’re thrown into the real world, especially the startup world, things happen because of the hard work you put in, not because you deserve it.
Carol Dweck beautifully exemplifies this deserve vs earn paradigm in one of her talks.
Success is (not) around the corner
Usually, our main sources for inspiration are success stories. The guy who sold his company for billions of dollars, the hot musician that’s just 24 years old and is already touring around world, etc…
The media is constantly bombarding us with this distorted reality, rubbing celebrities and the successful constantly on our faces. And when we compare upwards, we do it with these people. It’s ok to have these role models, but we need to remember that most of us have yet to work hard to get there, and that not everyone will get to that point.
When you only look at the top performers, success appears to be easily achievable. Something common, that “everyone has achieved” (I’m not digging deep in what success actually means for someone). And here’s where it’s important to keep a foot on the ground, and realize that no matter how talented we are, it doesn’t mean that we’ll become successful, or even that we’re entitled to it. We’re only entitled of giving it a try, and build our way to the path of success. No guarantees.
College is in your way. Finish it!
University also played a role in this. Since 2011, the startup scene began to hit the classroom with courses like Technological Entrepreneurship, How to Build a Startup, and Workshop on Technology & Entrepreneurship. These courses were made to give students a closer look at the startup scene, and how to build a company using the lean approach.
I took these courses and they were very good. They offered a hands-on approach, which I loved and was hard to find on other courses.
The problem was that some of them expected students to actually launch companies by the end of the semester. Yes, actually reaching out to customers, close deals and build a product.
I even remember one course in which, by the end of the semester, the professor asked each student, almost in a threatening tone, “So, what will you do after the course?”. It almost sounded like “So, are you brave enough to carry on with your startup?”.
It is clear to me now that the whole concept was misunderstood! Of course the answer is NO. Why? Well, because we had to carry on with, hehe, COLLEGE!!
We still had to study for exams, attend to classes, finish assignments, etc… It was pretty demanding as it already was.
In addition to these courses, the university deployed a startup incubator and a few kick-off-your-startup kind of programs for students. These programs were startup competitions for students, giving actual funding to the winners for the startup.
Of course, I applied to all of these programs, and competed against some of my classmates. Since I had been in the startup scene for quite some time, I had developed skills that played in my advantage. I thought I was among the best people qualified to win one of these things. Wrong again.
After winning NONE of them, I really felt down, watching my other classmates win and making their dreams a reality. This had also an impact in my self confidence.
I began focusing more and more in the results and not in the process. I enjoyed what I did, but I began to feel frustrated and stopped having fun at it, which it was the whole point from the beginning.
Many people, including entrepreneurs, began talking about how college was the best time to start a company. Well, think it twice before jumping into the startup whirlwind. College is demanding enough to add building a startup on top of it. Yes, work on side projects, work part-time, build software for other companies, play at a concert, etc… But building an actual company is a totally different story.
Put things in perspective. You are in COLLEGE. Building a startup is like having a kid. So, would you have a kid while being in college?
Jumping to the present day, I finished school about a year ago, and just got a seed round of funding to start my own company on the healthcare sector.
I have a much more centered and calmed view on how to take forward a project like this, and have worked on keeping a constant work/life balance to avoid burning out.
We are all different people, and I know some fellows that can work twice as much, or twice as fast, and still keep going. I have my own pace and everybody’s got their own. I learned this the hard way.
Don’t compare yourself to others, because our journeys are radically different, and we can all achieve our goals in our own unique way. Only compare yourself to others when there’s something you can take away and apply to your daily operations.
Leave the weekend to decompress. Let new ideas inhabit your brain, and enjoy quality time with the family.
And most importantly, whatever it is that you do, enjoy doing it.
If you stop having fun, then… what’s really the point?
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