The Golden Rule of Startup Success

Over the past week, much has been written about what it takes to build and run a successful startup. It started with a post from Jason Calacanis where he suggested 17 tips to save money while running a startup. In the article, Jason suggested that you should fire anyone who is not a “workaholic” (update: Jason has written more about what he meant to say). The original post caused quite a stir: first TechCrunch responded to Jason’s post by suggesting that Calacanis fires people who have a life. 37 Signals weighed in with their take on work/life balance. Then Allen at Center Networks provided his own perspective.

I’ve spent some time chewing over this bru-ha-ha this week. Although the controversy revolved around work/life balance, I sensed there was something deeper that was at the root of all of this dicussion– specifically, what does it take to build a successful startup? The reality is that startups are like snowflakes. No two are the same. Products are different, teams are different, market conditions are different, competitors are different, challenges are different. So what does it take to be successful building a startup?

Much has been written about this too: Arrington says that hiring is the thing that matters most. Dave Winer says it’s mostly about building a hot product. Tony Wright weighs in with a post that probably rings the most true to me: it’s different in every case.

As I digested all of these great points of view, and reflected on my own experience with MyPunchbowl.com I wondered if there was one piece of startup advice that was universal– something that everyone could agree on. Something more important than saving money, or working hard, or building a product that people really wanted. Is there some piece of advice that could trump all of these very important things?

I think there is. And it’s a pretty simple concept that is much, much harder in practice than could possibly be described in a blog: DON’T GIVE UP.

Don’t give up: when you’re all alone at the beginning, trying to figure out if there is a market for your product

Don’t give up: when all you have is a Powerpoint presentation and a vision.

Don’t give up: when you struggle to explain what exactly it is you are working on (chances are you’re not even really sure yet yourself)

Don’t give up: when you can’t find people to take a risk with you, to join you at the infancy stage of your startup

Don’t give up: when every VC you meet with says that the “market is too small” or “the competitive space is too crowded” or “they don’t see how it can become a 100M company. (Read Mike Feinstein’s post)

Don’t give up: when product development is going slower than you would like, when big bad bugs slow you down, and when the user interface still isn’t quite right.

Don’t give up: when your early beta customers tell you the 50 other things the product needs before they would actually use it.

Don’t give up: when the press (or bloggers) won’t cover your product or write about your latest development

Don’t give up: when potential partners don’t return your phone calls and show a mediocre interest in actually closing a deal

Don’t give up: when individual angel investors get cold feet before they write the check

Don’t give up: when you can’t find GREAT people to hire to round out your team

Don’t give up: when they tell you it can’t be done or it’s already been done — when they tell you to pick another market.

Don’t give up: when the competition heats up

Don’t give up: when others can’t see the potential that you do

Don’t give up: when others around you do.

To all of those who wrote about what it takes to build a successful startup, I challenge you: is there another golden rule of startup success that trumps my Golden Rule?

Whether you save money, build a hot product, hire the right people or fire the workaholics, I believe that the only thing that matters is that you don’t give up. This is something that can’t be taught: it’s like the Gatorade commercials: do you have IT in you?

If you’re trying to build a startup– or maybe you’re struggling to get it off of the ground I hope you’ll re-read this post when you feel like giving up. Then pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to it. Little by little everyday. Just don’t give up, and the rest will take care of itself.

As we build MyPunchbowl.com, I remind myself everyday not to give up. That’s the only thing that really matters.

This article was contributed by Matt Douglas, the CEO of MyPunchbowl, the party planning and online invitations site.