How Should Founders Handle Near-Death Experiences

For tech founders, there will inevitably come a moment when it feels like the sky is falling. In fact, there is a good chance that there will be many moments like this. The question is how founders handle these serious challenges - or what we might call near-death experiences.

The first thing founders need to know is that these experiences are normal. Being the founder of a startup is not always going to be pleasant and comfortable. There are times when you might be on the verge of running out of money or dealing with an angry investor. There will be times when a key executive leaves or a co-founder decides to walk away. This is what you signed up for when you created a startup.

Founders must never forget that the odds are always going to be stacked against them. It’s always difficult to turn an idea that perhaps only a small group of people believe in and turn it into a company that serves customers all over the world and employs thousands of people. It’s akin to trying to climb Mount Everest; it’s an extreme journey and there are bound to be near-death experiences along the way. But the only way to get to the top is to get beyond those near-death experiences.

This doesn’t mean that you can ignore near-death experiences. If you are close to running out of money or have an important executive lead the company, those are challenges that must be met head on. The key is to use these intense challenges and near-death experiences as a learning experience because they can ultimately make your startup stronger in the end.

One thing that’s always a good idea is talking with successful founders about their near-death experiences. Any founder who has guided a startup to success will have gone through at least a handful of these grave challenges. The successful founders are the leaders who weren’t afraid of these near-death experiences and found a way to pull their company through challenging times and come out the other side. That’s why these founders are a great resource for younger founders who are dealing with near-death experiences for the first time.