Why Not to Start a StartUp

by Jonathan Mena

(And by proxy, why you should)

Most people who should start startups don’t need to be told to. So, kind reader, perhaps you shouldn’t. Everyone else probably shouldn’t either.

I say this without ego. It’s just that the kind of delusional, narcissistic, borderline sadistic person who becomes obsessed with an idea or problem can’t stop thinking about it. So if you need to be convinced by an essay written by a 24-year-old at 7 p.m. on a random Friday night to start a startup, you probably shouldn’t. (Love you, though.)

The person who should start a startup can’t stop thinking about it, even when they try to talk themselves out of it. Everyone else, the ones who get inspired by pitch decks, podcasts, or essays, should save themselves the pain. Because if you do it for the wrong reasons, a startup will eat you alive.

It’s strange how society romanticizes something that’s mostly suffering disguised as progress. The world sees founders on magazine covers and press releases, but not the nights you’re lying awake staring at the ceiling because payroll hits in twelve hours and your pipeline doesn’t. You sit there wondering, “How the hell am I going to make payroll this month?” and telling yourself, “If I can just make payroll…”

Most founders start businesses thinking they’ll be free. Ha! You fool. You’re not free, you’re a servant. A servant to your employees, your customers, your investors, and every promise you’ve ever made. This isn’t freedom; it’s obligation with better branding.

If you think entrepreneurship will bring you freedom because some internet personality flexed his car and sold you a “non-refundable course,” you’re in it for the wrong reasons. The world doesn’t need another guru selling shortcuts; it needs founders willing to suffer for something real.

No one tells you how isolating it feels when everyone thinks you’re winning, but you know you’re one bad week away from bankruptcy. No one tells you how much time you’ll spend pretending to be calm while everything underneath you is on fire.

I’ve been there, rehearsing optimism before a meeting, reassuring stakeholders, trying to sound confident in front of a banker when deep down I wasn’t sure I’d even survive the quarter. You start to learn that the real work of being a founder isn’t raising money or building a product. It’s learning how to keep your mind from turning against you.

If you’re starting a company to get rich, there are far easier ways. The odds are terrible, the hours are worse, and the finish line constantly moves.

If you want recognition, don’t bother. The world doesn’t care about your startup. You’ll have to earn its attention one customer and one conversation at a time. And if you want validation, build something smaller, a personal project, a brand, a following, because this path will invalidate you over and over again.

The wrong motivation will collapse under its own weight.

So why do it?

Because sometimes you don’t have a choice.

Some ideas don’t let you sleep. They linger. They poke and prod at your brain. You start to see problems differently. Every walk, every conversation, every headline somehow leads back to your idea. That’s the kind of obsession you need. You don’t chase the idea...it chases you. Everywhere.

You start imagining two versions of the world: one where your idea exists, and one where it doesn’t. And you realize you’d rather fail building it a hundred times than live without trying.

That’s why you do it.

So why not start a startup?

Because it will consume you. It will stretch you past your limits, ruin your sense of time, make you grey, and blur the line between who you are and what you’re building. It will make you question your worth and your sanity. At times it will feel like you’ve made a mistake that everyone else can see but you.

But if reading that doesn’t scare you away...if it makes you sit up a little straighter, if part of you quietly says “I know”...then maybe this path already belongs to you.

Because the truth is, the best founders aren’t built by opportunity. They’re built by obsession. They’re the ones who hear every reason not to start a startup and do it anyway.

Not because they want to prove something.

But because they can’t help but build.

So, kind reader, if you still want to build. Build carefully. Build honestly. Build because you must. And if you decide not to, good. The world needs more sane people, too.