Dear Entrepreneur,
Sacrifice. This is very common in the beginning stages of a startup. You need to make sacrifices. In other words, you need to pay your dues. Entrepreneurs often sacrifice their own salary to fund what needs to be funded in their business—betting that they will get it back, and even much more, later.
And due to necessity, it’s very often to see most startups asking early employees to focus on “early-employee equity”, and thus, pay below-market in salary during their early stages. When it comes to startups, risk comes to mind for many, but not taking that leap poses an even greater risk—the risk of missing a great opportunity.
Choosing to accept startup risk—as a startup founder—could fundamentally alter your life and career, and quite frankly, I think you should do it.
With love,
Chidi