Your first year as a founder is going to be harder than you expect. Not in the ways you’re preparing for.

I’ve now started three companies. The first year is always brutal. Here’s what nobody told me.

Nothing Will Go According to Plan

Your business plan? Irrelevant within 90 days. Your timeline? Double it. Your budget? Triple it.

This isn’t pessimism. It’s pattern recognition. Every founder I know significantly underestimated how long things take.

Prepare for the plan to be wrong. The skill isn’t planning—it’s adapting.

You’ll Want to Quit Multiple Times

Sometime around month 4-6, you’ll seriously consider quitting. Business isn’t working. Money is tight. The opportunity cost feels enormous.

This is normal. Every founder goes through this.

The ones who succeed push through this period. Not because they’re special—because they’re stubborn.

If you’re in this phase right now: it gets better. Usually around month 9-12, things start clicking. If they don’t, then reconsider. But not before you’ve given it a real shot.

Cash Flow is Everything

Revenue is not cash flow. Profitability is not cash flow.

I’ve seen profitable companies die because cash came in 90 days after expenses went out.

Obsess over cash flow from day one. Know your burn rate. Know your runway. Know when money arrives and when it leaves.

The companies that survive aren’t always the best—they’re the ones that didn’t run out of money.

Your First Customers Are Everything

Your first 10 customers will teach you more than any market research. They’ll tell you what’s broken, what’s missing, what they actually need.

Treat them like gold. Give them personal attention. Learn from every interaction.

Early customers who stick around become case studies, references, and advocates. Late customers are just transactions.

Co-Founder Relationships Get Tested

If you have a co-founder, year one will stress-test the relationship. Money gets tight. Decisions get hard. Visions diverge.

Have the hard conversations early. How do you make decisions when you disagree? What if one person wants out? How do you split equity if contribution differs?

The co-founder relationships that survive year one are built on explicit agreements, not assumptions.

Nobody Knows What They’re Doing

The successful founders you admire? They were confused and scared in year one too. They just don’t talk about it now.

You’re not supposed to have all the answers. You’re supposed to figure things out as you go. That’s the job.

Stop comparing your behind-the-scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel.

The Learning Curve is Vertical

You’ll become passable at sales, marketing, finance, product, hiring, and operations—all in one year.

You won’t be great at any of them. That’s okay. Year one is about survival, not excellence.

Get good enough to not fail. Get great later.

Practical Survival Tips

Financial:

• Have 12 months of personal runway before starting
• Pay yourself last
• Every expense should pass the “does this help us survive?” test

Mental:

• Find other founders to talk to
• Exercise and sleep are non-negotiable
• Set boundaries—the company will take everything you give

Operational:

• Talk to customers constantly
• Ship fast, iterate faster
• Say no to almost everything. Startup Daily covers founders who get this right

Relationships:

• Communicate with co-founders weekly at minimum
• Don’t hide problems from important stakeholders
• Maintain some relationships outside work

When to Push Through vs. Pivot

Year one is not the time for drastic pivots. You haven’t given your idea enough time.

But it is the time for constant small adjustments. The product should evolve weekly based on customer feedback.

Push through if: Customers exist and engage, unit economics are feasible, you still believe in the vision.

Consider pivoting if: Zero customer engagement despite attempts, fundamental unit economics don’t work, you no longer believe.

Most year-one struggles are execution problems, not idea problems. Don’t abandon ships too quickly.

The Honest Truth

Year one sucks for almost everyone. The wins are small. The problems are large. Progress feels glacial.

But: Every successful company you admire went through this. The founders just don’t post about it on LinkedIn.

Survive year one. That’s the only goal. Everything else comes later.

And if you’re in month 6 right now, questioning everything: that’s exactly where you should be. Push through.

The view from year two is better. I promise.