TheRodinhoods

What is your survival mantra for dealing with startup life?

Hello everybody. I’m the resident writer at a sexy little startup called CrowdStudio. I also do a bit of marketing on the side.

I saw this question on Quora recently –  “Are there any phrases that go through your head each day when dealing with startup life?”

Yep! Mine is “Get over yourself and do your job.”

Life in a startup is an emotional roller-coaster. It can shrink and inflate your ego by turns. You feel excited at every victory, every small step forward, feeling such a glow of pride whenever your founder tells you you’ve done a good job, whenever a customer gushes about your product. That feeling can sometimes swell dangerously close to arrogance, because hey, you’re a contributing member and you’re incredibly busy in fact, and there is so much to get done. It’s the arrogance of busyness.

Then your bubble gets punctured by a dose of harsh criticism, and you realize that you’re not such a hotshot after all. 

I guess that’s why they say that humility is a hallmark of good startup founders. I’m lucky to work under two such people – Vivek Raghavan and Jaseem Thayal Shareef

Do you have a survival mantra? Tell me about it. 🙂