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Don't start a company to chase a trend
The warning
Jensen Huang has a blunt warning for would-be founders: if people knew how hard it was, they wouldn't do it. Founders describe a daily routine of stress, with a zillion things happening at once and sleep that doesn't come until 5:30 in the morning.
Brian Chesky wakes every morning with his heart pounding out of his chest and spends the whole day calming himself down, reminding himself that the company is on the right path. Then he goes to bed, wakes up, and finds everything on fire again, like Groundhog Day.
Who it suits
Taking that on makes sense for people who know something others don't, hold a conviction others lack, and will work harder than others will. It is a hard, thankless, grueling job, and it is not the dot-com bubble, where jumping on a wave made a zillion dollars.
Testing it cheaply
One way to test it without the risk is a residency where no money is taken up front and incorporating isn't required. A founder can come, build, and see whether they can handle the culture, cadence, and intensity that Silicon Valley demands before deciding to go further.
Why do gold rushes pull in so many founders?
Visible fortunes make a field look like easy money, and capital flows toward whatever is rising. During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, thousands of internet companies were funded, and many failed after the Nasdaq peaked in March 2000. The same pattern appeared around cryptocurrency in the 2017 and 2021 booms. In the original California gold rush, historians note that merchants selling supplies often did better than the miners.
Why is founder stress so well documented?
A 2015 study by psychiatrist Michael Freeman and colleagues surveyed 242 entrepreneurs and found higher rates of self-reported depression, ADHD, and substance use conditions than in a comparison group. Founders carry personal financial exposure and responsibility for employees at once. Their outcomes are also volatile, so good and bad news arrive in swings. Researchers continue to study whether the stress comes from the role or from traits of the people who choose it.
How does a residency lower the cost of trying?
Starting a company usually means quitting a job, incorporating, and sometimes giving up equity. A program that asks for none of those up front lets a person test the work before committing. It resembles a trial period in hiring, where both sides learn about fit at low cost. Antler, Entrepreneur First, and similar programs use this idea to attract people who have not yet started companies.
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