Startups are hard. Really hard.

I've always known this in a way, but am much more lucid about this having now spent the last 2 years investing in startups and seeing how hard it has been for them to gain the sort of rapid success we tend to hear about in the startup zeitgeist.

Developer 👨🏽‍💻. Angel investor. Ex-Ethereum Foundation. Eth2 validator. Thoughts on blockchain, tech, strategy, economics.

And thus, the next round of funding is needed to maintain the runway. The startup must pivot, sometimes completely in order to maintain momentum.

Much respect to founders who are able to keep going through these periods of uncertainty whilst knowing that in the end the business may still not reach velocity.

Despite hard work, talent, good market opportunity and a good enough MVP, it's still really hard. Things take longer than expected, the market isn't as receptive as expected, or unexpected issues come up. And so on.