Doing startups are a pretty stressful way of life. Not because 9 in 10 startups fail, but because I poured my heart into mine for months and only then it failed. It's like finding out there's no Santa Clause.
Feels like being a drunk. "Yeah I've got to get off this" and then back on the bottle after just a week of sobriety. It's hard to fail, it's harder to stay away from starting again. It just feels so sweet. The promise of success - yes money, but more so the achievement of creating something that actually helps people, oh and the (mini)fame it brings. Also the process of making something just gets me all wired up.
I've brainstormed 4 ideas since last week, when I shut down my last project. I get so hyped up about these things it's hard to stay realistic. Luckily for me I've got a better system this time - basically following Running Lean. Which is to say start from the Lean Canvas then talk to real people to validate the idea and then perhaps build a front page with a fake payment system and only when "clients are queuing up" do I start building. I guess programming really is just one step of the process.
I truly enjoy making startups. Even though it burns every now and again. Just as love can hurt, but it's well worth the effort in the end of the day. In both cases what you don't achieve you learn from. Perhaps the best lesson the startup mentality offers is to make sure you do actually learn and not just keep building with blinders on.