One last kick-in-the-arse post for the year: Don’t Be a Quitter
Let me explain, as this is one of the most disappointing changes in my opinion in “tech” and startups over the last 12-18 months.
Two things together have done many a disservice: the combination of a tougher year for many >>and<< the constant celebration of … quitting. It’s all over LinkedIn and TikTok. I Quit!
There are times when it makes sense to quit. If literally, you’ve given it 100% and have zero traction. If your boss is terrible. Or, on the flip side, if you are presented with such an amazing opportunity, you just have to take it. And look, no one needs to stay in a soulless entry level job longer than necessary.
Those are the times to quit.
But now, people seem to quit far, far earlier:
- Founders with millions in revenue quitting just because it’s harder
- Founders with any happy customers quitting because they’ve “given it a shot”
- Founders phoning it in because it’s harder, rather than doubling down and figuring it out
- VPs quitting because the job was harder than they thought
- Top ICs quitting because their job was a lot harder than last year
The common theme here? Very talented folks quitting when the going got tough — and they felt fine about it.
All across social media, we see stories of telling folks to quit these days. To take care of yourself, to focus on work-life balance, to just push on if things aren’t easy.
Maybe that’s good advice — for the medicore. But not for you.
Every startup I’ve joined or startup has almost failed. Heck, SaaStr itself has almost failed. We lost $10,000,000 in March 2020, and half the team then quit. Not fun.
I remember back in 2014, I was at an event with a CEO that was truly great.
But:
He couldn't raise any money from anyone. None.
He was struggling to find the next-level VPs
Growth had slowed. Quite a bit.Today, they are public and worth $20B
Just don't quit
— Jason ✨Be Kind✨ Lemkin 🇮🇱 (@jasonlk) July 23, 2021
You can quit. The good news now, is many folks will tell you that was the right call.
It seems to be part of the culture now. You won’t suffer any stigma for losing all your investors’ money, or dropping your customers, or abandoning the vision, or having the VP stint just not work out. No one will judge you these days.
But don’t. Don’t quit if you have even a handful of truly happy customers. Don’t quit if you can build something great. Don’t quit if you have a great boss. Don’t quit just because it’s harder.
As tough as it may seem, that moment of relief you may get for a week or month by quitting … probably won’t be worth it. If you left something real.
You’ll look back and see you that was rarer than you’d realized. And why we all do it, really.
A related post here, and a ton of comments on LinkedIn here.
(quit image from here)
The post We’re All Tempted at Times. But Don’t Be a Quitter. appeared first on SaaStr.
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Jason Lemkin, Khareem Sudlow
