What defines who you are?
I'm actually from Chicago so as a little kid I can remember my grandpa being an avid Chicago Bears fan. I watched football with him and I became a Bears fan as well. In my 30s I moved to Maryland. I eventually became a Ravens fan because I had just never seen someone like Ray Lewis. He was mesmerizing as a leader. I found myself starting to watch YouTube videos of his motivational speeches to his teammates.
Once Ray Lewis retired - the Ravens started losing a lot of games. Ray Lewis had become a sports broadcaster. Those were some really rough years as a Ravens fan after Ray retired from the game. The NFL season was only 16 games a year at the time and the Ravens were 1 and 6 at that point.
Ray Lewis was working the game as a broadcaster and trying to give an objective analysis. During halftime, he went to the Ravens locker room and lost his mind. He was screaming and yelling like he was still a player on the team.
There is a point in the locker room speech where Ray Lewis says "1 and 6 doesn't define who you are - what defines who you are is what you do when you are 1 and 6..."
Being in a startup is way more stress, heartache, and rejection than it is glamour. I love what Ray Lewis says about what defines you. People are going to look at your product and say "Why would I buy it - we already have ABC product", or "We're looking for something that is on the Gartner magic quadrant". Investors are going to blow you off, or tell you that you should pivot and make your product something that you are completely against - turn it into something that was the very reason that you started this journey to build a product in the first place.
Get used to it - this is just Tuesday. By this is just Tuesday I mean that it's a day like any other day as a startup. You're going to have way more than thick skin you're going to have to have short-term amnesia when you hear something negative about your company or your product. You're going to have to keep moving forward. Keep fixing bugs in the product, keep making calls to see investors, keep adding features, and keep talking to prospective clients trying to see if they will pilot your product.
Remember, "1 and 6 doesn't define who you are - what defines who you are is what you do when you are 1 and 6..."