The startup as a path to self-discovery
“We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why even be here?”
We build startups in the hope that we can impact the world.
To leave our mark.
To solve a problem.
To change some way in which the outside world works.
Sometimes, our motivations are to make money. To achieve status.
Those have been true for me at different points in the Equals journey. None of them are wrong. They’re all great reasons to build a company.
Yet recently, something new emerged: a different purpose for building Equals: to change how my inside world works.
Any founder can tell you that building a company is a full-frontal, head-on confrontation with yourself—your fears, doubts, and insecurities—many things you naturally resist.
There is no guaranteed success. You can raise billions of dollars and “fail” overnight. You can thrive for ten years and die in an instant. Peloton, WeWork, Bird…
The more I’ve attached myself to any outcome, the more I’ve suffered.
Instead, I’ve found that the journey's most beautiful and rewarding parts have come from how it has changed me—how Equals has been a vehicle for my own growth and development.
Learning to sit in the unknown and be okay.
Learning to talk to the world and be okay.
Learning to fail and be okay.
Learning to win and be okay.
Learning to embrace mistakes and turn them into lessons.
Learning to be still long enough until the right decision arises.
I’ve found a lot of peace and joy in knowing that the most fun and beautiful part of it all is not in winning and losing but in the daily encounters and the ways they push you to evolve.
So, I offer this advice to anyone building or considering starting a company: Use your journey to discover where and how you need to evolve and lean into it.
For me, I’ve only found magic.