Starts are exciting, but finishes are what pays

[View this email in your browser]( • [Forward to a Friend]( We get paid for Finishes, not Starts TL;DR: "I'm running a startup now, but I'd really like to just back burner this thing and focus on this cool new idea I have. How should I be evaluating the costs of launching this new thing both financially and opportunistically?" There's no paycheck in starting companies. It's the finishing part that matters. I say this because many of us simply love the thrill and idea of starting another startup. There's always this thought — "Boy, if I could just launch this one idea that I can't stop thinking about (while forgoing my existing startup), it'll be amazing!" Here's where the logic in that breaks down over, and over, and over. Today’s Advice Sponsored by [Zendesk]( It's Gonna Cost Us 7-10 Years to be Right or Wrong Every single time we start something new, we reset the clock on how long it will take to make it successful. No matter how good we are, the maturation rate of a company will almost always take 7-10 years — if we're actually successful with it. That's the successful timeline, not the un-successful timeline. That means every time we hit reset, we're pushing our window out nearly a decade for fulfilling our destiny (said with a shaking fist in a Darth Vader voice). Depending on where we are in life, that can have some major consequences. It's easier to do when we're 22, a bit harder when we're 32, and starts to cost something real at 42. And oh by the way — that doesn't assume those 7+ years are successful. It takes a long time to be un-successful too! We Reset our Probability of Success — Again Let's say we're running a $1 million per year business doing just OK. So like every other Founder we're thinking "Well that wasn't what I wanted, and this new idea could be the next (insert company we'll never be as big as) so let me wind down my efforts here and start this new thing." (If you haven't figured this out by now, as a Founder who started 9 companies, I'm literally just writing out my own personal journal notes here...) But here's the problem. We often project the certainty of our success in the last endeavor to be the same path or certainty in our next endeavor. "I know way more now than I knew then, this is a better idea, yada-yada." It's all true on paper. In practice, however, every time we start a new business we reset the probability of success. I've done 9 startups — every single time they ended differently. In some cases, I was running multiple startups at the same time and watched their paths dramatically change in the same week. We have to assume that whatever success we've had to date is not a predictor of doing again. That means for as cool as this new idea is, there's a fairly good chance it's going to fail (the odds are not in our favor) so we have to seriously consider the cost of that outcome if we're not seeing it through. Starting isn't a Victory — Finishing is As glorious and exciting as starting companies is — and it really is awesome — that's not really how we get rewarded in this game. We get rewarded from all of the long, boring, monotonous crap that eventually turns into a viable enterprise. That's what gets taken to public markets, purchased by big companies, or converts into a corporate ATM for us personally. We get paid for our finishes — how we see things through — not the starts. If we really want to hang our entrepreneurial trophies on the wall, we should be 100% focused on how we get things past the finish line first. [View full article here.]( Founders: Zendesk wants to give your startup 6 Months of Support Tools for Free Zendesk’s service-first CRM makes it possible to create, handle, and track customer service tickets across phone, chat, email, social media, and any other channel you can imagine — and all from one place. Because it’s built to scale, it’s the perfect fit for startups and enterprises alike. [Right now, Zendesk is offering]( Startups.com users 6 months for free. Zendesk’s support, sales, and customer engagement software are quick to implement and easily scales to meet changing needs. With Zendesk, it takes hours—not weeks—to get up and running. Through Startups.com, Zendesk is offering the following to qualified startups: - Six months of access to Zendesk Support Suite, Explore, & Sunshine products at no cost* - Online office hours with Zendesk’s Startups customer success team - Access to Zendesk’s Startups Community including events, content, & resources What makes Zendesk so great (besides, ya know, [the free 6 months]( - More than just a help desk, Zendesk crosses over to CRM - Easy to set up and service your organizational needs - Turn your support data into a treasure trove of leads, opportunities and market insights Check out their offering to see if your startup [qualifies for this special deal](. There’s no reason not to -- unless you really love unhappy customers… in which case, you’ve got bigger problems on your hands. [6 Months for Free→]( In Case You Missed It [F*ck Big Announcements — Small Victories Drive Startups.]( If you’re waiting for home runs all day — you’re going to be waiting a long time. That’s not how this game is played. It’s a daily struggle, but in the end, it’s how big victories are won. [5 Tips to Boost Employee Morale in the Workplace.]( Using these five tips will aid you in creating a positive office culture where your employees will enjoy coming to work, feel taken care of, and in turn be more productive. [The 7 Culture Mistakes that Startups Make.]( If you want to be in business forever, you need to build a culture that sustains the business —  but there are seven common mistakes that startups make when creating their culture. Love this topic? Hate it? Let's chat on social media! Wil Schroter Founder & CEO @ Startups.com [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Copyright © 2020 Startups.com, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you joined Startups.com. Our mailing address is: Startups.com 1201 Dublin RoadColumbus, OH 43215 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? 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