The portrayal of startup life in the media often overlooks the harsh realities. Many successful companies have faced significant struggles, and it's important for early-stage founders to understand that the journey is often filled with challenges, not just success stories.

The reality is that most people won't care about your launch; often, no one is there to witness it, and you may need to show your product multiple times before it gains traction.

The startup journey often resembles a curve where you have an exciting launch, followed by a trough of sorrow, and then some wiggles of hope before reaching success.

Many founders mistakenly think that after a successful launch, their journey will be smooth sailing, but the reality is that setbacks are a constant in the startup world.

Founders often struggle with unrealistic expectations, believing that once they launch their product, it will immediately succeed, which can lead to disappointment.

Founders often envision their product launch as a grand event, similar to an Oscar ceremony, where they expect to be celebrated and recognized.

The startup ecosystem is mixed in identifying contrarian opportunities; sometimes it recognizes them, but often it struggles to see potential markets until they become popular.

Investors treating startup investments like stock investments led to unrealistic expectations, as they applied public market valuation metrics to early-stage companies, which have much higher failure rates.

Startups often prioritize superficial aspects like press and hiring over the fundamental work of getting the product into users' hands and iterating based on feedback.