--- title: 'Thinking about becoming a startup founder? Might want to read this first' date: '2020-07-21T12:14:27-07:00' type: post word_count: 309 char_count: 1903 tokens: 402 categories: - Founders - Startups tags: - Founder - PIE - piepdx - Startup --- # Thinking about becoming a startup founder? Might want to read this first I’ve heard it said that wanting to be a startup founder in this day and age is akin to wanting to be a rock star. It’s the kind thing that folks seem to perceive as exciting and fun. And so any number of folks wind up starting something only to find that it’s anything but fun. Exciting, yes. If you find anxiety exciting. But fun? No. So if you’re thinking about being a founder, you might want to read this [recent post that accurately captures some of that pervading founder ennui](https://carolchen.me/blog/founding-bad/). > This post definitely will not apply to everyone (I’d loosely say applicable to 80% of prospective startup founders), but I’d hope there’s some valuable thinking in here. Also, note that this is fairly oriented towards technical founders. > > Edit: This post also has a very limited scope as it’s based off the thinking from my decision to continue interning at Shopify or to go to YC. It’s very focused on the Silicon Valley “startup” where you get a VC to give you money and get big in a year, etc etc Still thinking about being a founder? Well, keep this tweet in mind, as well. > "No one tells you how shitty it is to be a founder. It's awful. And lonely. And soul crushing. Even if you have co-founders. It's just rough. And every founder is on this horrendous roller coaster of manic-depressive imposter syndrome." — [@turoczy](https://twitter.com/turoczy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > > — Brian Alvey (@brianalvey) [October 11, 2019](https://twitter.com/brianalvey/status/1182720565414518784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Still? Cool. Don’t forget [PIE applications are open](https://piepdx.com/prep). And there’s a [Q&A about PIE](https://siliconflorist.com/2020/07/21/reminder-considering-applying-to-a-startup-accelerator-like-pie-this-qa-session-is-for-you/) today.