I almost didn’t read this article, but I’m glad I did. It’s called Why I abandoned my startup.

It gets good towards the end. I liked these two quotes:

Any seasoned entrepreneur will tell you that if you want to make money, don’t start a company. You should start a company if you can’t sleep at night because there’s a problem you can’t stop thinking about. You should start a company if you’ve literally been brought to tears by talking to your customers. If you don’t have that level of empathy and commitment, why bother? How long do you expect to have energy to work on this problem?

And:

There’s a reason why many investment bankers hate their lives. They do their work for the money (I know from experience – I spent six months as a banker and it is literally the main reason why most people are there). Doing work for money, especially when you have passions and interests in something bigger, is the most soul-sucking and demoralizing thing you can do. As Gary Vaynerchuck says in his phenomenal talk, “Do what you love, no excuses.”

This also reminds me… I recently found out that someone I knew didn’t even have a clear idea of what a “startup” is, exactly. Mom, Dad, Amy, and Grace, do you guys know? How would you define “startup?” I’m curious…