Every Great CEO Went Through It

When you're in The Struggle, the most corrosive thought is that you're uniquely failing, that real CEOs don't feel this. Horowitz kills that idea directly: every great entrepreneur, from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg, went through The Struggle, and struggle they did. When you read their stories, you're reading about people who spent years in exactly this place.

This is where greatness comes from. The Struggle isn't a detour from the path of great CEOs; it is the path. The ones who became great are the ones who didn't quit inside it and didn't let it wreck their decision-making.

So the feeling of being in over your head, of being a fraud surrounded by people who'd panic if they knew what you know, isn't a signal that you're the wrong person. It's a signal that you're a founder. You are not alone, even when it most feels like it.