This morning I had a fascinating discussion with a very successful longtime Silicon Valley VC. He’s been in the business for more than 20 years, has pretty much seen it all, built and exited a couple of successful B2B companies himself. You get the idea…
Our discussion circled around the question: How do you build a $100M company. Not one of those hip one-feature-exit-quick web or mobile apps but a real company. One which gets to $100M in revenue.
His answer is: It takes two years to get to product/market fit. And then another 5–10 years to build it. You might be able to supercharge the second part; and he has never seen a $100M company find proper product/market fit in less than two years.
Two years.
This is the mantra: You’re better in this game for the long haul (and enjoy yourself doing so).
There is no replacement for hard work. No shortcut. We didn’t come here expecting gifts. We came here to work for it. I believe that any man and woman who’s going to labor hard and long can attain their goals.
Get to work.