In this monologue, the speaker reflects on his experience moving to San Francisco in 2012 and joining a tight‑knit community of early‑stage founders who met regularly to exchange advice. He observes that within this cohort there are essentially two trajectories: those who burn out after a few years and leave for conventional jobs, and those who stay in the startup game despite repeated failures. The latter group, he notes, eventually all achieve success—some within a couple of years, others after five, nine, or even a decade. He highlights the long‑term nature of this payoff, noting that the founders are now in their mid‑30s and have become wealthy. The core claim is that while most new businesses fail, the odds reverse for founders who love the grind enough to persist, turning a 90% failure rate into a 90% success rate for the committed.
