# Startup: Myth vs Reality By [Bayka](https://paragraph.com/@bayka) · 2023-01-04 --- There are a lot of myths & unmet expectations when building a startup, as well as the real things that matter, so I’d like to share some of them. Myths ----- ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/42bd504443740f87a5a6179a38c89d66a2dfaa7152f78d65aa8d8c6fc2cc3530.jpg) 1. **“I am CEO, Bitch”** - this was Mark’s business card according to the “Social Network” movie. Yeah, you will be the CEO and, sure, you can print something similar. But is it really worth to leave a big company for this? You can start a small business in parallel and have any card you want :) 2. **“I will have lots of money & success”** - probably. But not right away. As I am planning my next venture, I realize that I am making decision about the business I’m going to be completely occupied with for the next 7-10 years to become proud of it. For App in the Air, the liquidity event happened only 7 years after we started, I a sure it is more or less the same for other startups, discounting for some outliers, of course. 3. **“I will have lots of free time”** - you are not getting this one, I promise :) I remember, when I was just promoted to a Lead Developer role at EPAM Systems, big software outsourcing company I worked for before leaving to start my own business, how I was leaving the office late at night and met one the senior project managers. He immediately realized whats going on and told me: “Hey, I had the same thought I am gonna leave office early when I am promoted”. In startup, you dont have a set boundaries of work & life balance, you just always work, like a robot. I fully realized this only now, after 2 months of doing nothing, how interesting your night dreams can be :) These are, in my opinion, the most popular myths. But what about reality? Reality ------- So, what you will really get are: 1. **Growth, growth, growth** - you are permanently growing over yourself: every month you have new skills to learn, new things to try, new challenges to overcome. Even if this entails wearing panda costume and hugging visitors at TechCrunch conference (yep, thats me in panda costume on the cover image to this post). This is one of the best things I like about the startup: growth rates are incomparable to what you get in the corporate setting, so you are always learning. 2. **Network** - your social network grows exponentially with new employees, users and partners. It is so exciting to realize that, when you travel to Hong Kong, for example, you can meet your users in person, learn about their product experience & things product fails at, as well as some local recommendation on the best food spots ;-) If you like People, if you like diverse “energy exchange” - global startup is the right thing to do! 3. **Freedom -** a freedom to build your own culture, to work with the people you want, to feel agency for the future you are building with the team - this is priceless! This is why I no longer imagine myself in “for hire employment”. This is, for me, the most important emotion about the startup! Advice to my younger self ------------------------- 1. Do not try to combine employment & startup: you will most probably fail at both. 2. Be open to the support & help your family & friend are offering to you, but be firm in explaining them the decision to build something of your own, so they worry less. Out of love to you, they will try to convince to you go back or to combine - this wont work, will even make things worse because of the personal conflict you’ll experience trying to do this. > “When you lose your money, you lose nothing. > > When you lose your health, you lose something. > > When you lose your character, you lose everything!” > > “Lansky” movie --- *Originally published on [Bayka](https://paragraph.com/@bayka/startup-myth-vs-reality)*