Startup Winter & the missionaries 1 min read

I just love when people talk about startup winter.

you know, how:

• “VCs don’t invest anymore,”
• or “startups aren’t hot like they used to be.”

that’s when you see the real founders separated from the founder-wannabes.

mercenaries

as Brian Chesky once said it:

there are missionaries and there are mercenaries.

mercenaries enter because the market looks hot.
missionaries stay because they just can’t not do it.

missionaries

investors would want to invest in missionaries, and just skip the mercenaries.
because they just don’t quit when things become hard.

but mercenaries? they vanished.

missionaries adapt.
missionaries endure.
missionaries still execute.

so watch what the people say:
it often reveals who they really are,
their true identities.

the filter

therefore, startup winter is not a curse for a true founder.
it’s a filter.

and you know, winter just doesn’t last forever.
but missionaries do.