Kevin Surace tells founders to stop measuring themselves against billion-dollar unicorns like OpenAI. Comparing your early-stage startup to those companies is demotivating and misleading because they had different timelines, skills, and market conditions. Focus on your own path instead of chasing unrealistic valuations.
Comparing your startup to billion-dollar companies isn't motivating you. It's costing you. Here's why. The stories that we read are of the massive successes. You know, 3 guys in a garage are valued at $20 billion and they don't have a product yet. I know those people, right? I know why they're valued at that. I know what they showed the VCs. I get that. You don't have that. One of the things we talk about in the book is don't be jealous of your neighbor, right? Jealousy is the thief of joy. So when you read these things and you go, well, I should be that good. Look, You came from a different background with a different set of skills, with a different product line, with a different idea. You're not those people and you can't be. So you can't be jealous of it. It's like, good for them. It's 3 guys in a garage that are somehow worth $20 billion today. That shouldn't be, but it is. And that's not gonna be you. Or you go, oh, OpenAI is already worth $1 trillion. Well, first of all, they are 10 years old now. They are not 1 year old. Let's just be clear, right? And they're heading to an IPO. Are they worth $1 trillion? You know, the market will tell us eventually. Nonetheless, The chance of you being worth a trillion dollars and still be in the private market is, let me think, zero.
