What The Struggle Is

Every founder starts with a clear vision: a beautiful company where you hire the best, build a great product, and delight customers. Then reality arrives. The product has issues that are hard to fix, the market isn't where you thought, employees lose confidence and some quit. The gap between that original dream and where you actually are, that gap is The Struggle.

Horowitz defines it by its symptoms. The Struggle is when you wonder why you started the company in the first place. When people ask why you don't quit, and you don't know the answer. When you don't believe you should be CEO of your own company. When you are surrounded by people and you are all alone.

It's physical too. The Struggle is a cold sweat. It's when food loses its taste. It's when your guts boil so much you feel like you're going to spit blood. It's not a bad quarter or a rough week. It's the extended stretch where the whole thing feels like it's coming apart, and you along with it.