Startup Founders: Cheer Squad

Hey Founder,

The most founder thing you’ll ever do is clap for yourself in the dark.

The everyday battle to carry something heavy that no one even knows you’re holding, and yet, everyday, you choose to lift it anyway.

With all the founder myths, the hustle porn, and the startup optics, motivation gets fragile. Not because you’re weak but because you’re bombarded by stories that make it feel that if you’re struggling, you must be failing. But it’s not real. It’s curated.

Calm down. I’m not entering my “reflections on founder loneliness” era. I did that last year on the Nomad Founder.

So. Who cheers you?

It’s not just your family’s vague encouragement. That support matters, but it rarely recognizes the specific weight you’re carrying.

I’m talking about real cheer. The kind that comes from someone who doesn’t just acknowledge your effort, they recognize the weight. The cheer that shows up not because you’re winning… but because you’re not done.

The question I’m really asking is whether you're building in silence? And if so, how long can you actually sustain that? Silence as in, no one around you that is cheering you on, who understands the weight.

Because no matter how well you explain it, if they haven’t done it, they can’t fully understand it. Period.

For many, doing it solo, comes from “F you, watch me” energy. I’ve built on it. I’ve won with it. But that’s also not what this is. This isn’t about who’s rooting against you. This is about who’s actually for you even when you’re not winning.

There’s this idea that founders are supposed to be these self-fueling machines. Push without applause. Build without feedback. Persevere in isolation. Because the riches will have made it all worthwhile.

Maybe that’s true for some. But most founders I know, when you give them the space and the safety, will tell you the thing that hurts is operating in silence.

Brian Chesky said: “No one told me how lonely it would be.” That’s Airbnb. The dream version of success. The top of the mountain and the word he chooses is lonely.

I’m not so sold it’s lonely at the top. I think it’s lonelier at the beginning. The bottom. Oh. And the middle. Oh. Also the top. Lonely just changes its outfits throughout.

So I’ll ask again. Who cheers you?

Is it your co-founder? Partner? Team? Your past self? Maybe no one does. Maybe that’s the problem. Or maybe… that’s the forge.

Some founders build in public. Some build to prove something. And dangerous ones build because they’ve learned how to clap for themselves in the dark. Not in some hustle-porn, lone-wolf fantasy. But in the quiet, deliberate way of people who’ve stopped waiting for recognition and started operating from conviction.

Because when no one is clapping, no one is cheering, can you keep moving forward anyway?

Building in silence is second-guessing every metric because no one can tell you if it’s good. It’s launching something and hearing nothing, and wondering if it’s the product or the positioning or you. It’s not knowing if your fear is valid or just you panicking. And having no one to ask.

Whilst most people wait for proof before they believe or do a thing, founders build things no one believes in yet. It’s in the job description. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone.

Even if you can self-cheer, you still need to be seen. Even if you don’t need applause, you still need perspective.

Even the most self-reliant founders need a tribe. Not to cheer for them, to see them. To remind them they’re not carrying the weight alone.

Some founders figure out how to do both. Others surround themselves with people who know how to do it when they can’t. A tiny group, who cheer, not in a hype way, but in a value way.

The right mentor. The right peer group. A coach who actually gets it.

Melanie Perkins pitched Canva for years before it clicked and only after 100+ rejections and finding the right co-founder. The technical skill helped. But the shift came when she stopped doing it alone.

You don’t have to depend on others to survive but assuming no one else’s experience, guidance, or presence could accelerate your journey is not a strength in your capabilities, it’s a limitation.

Why? You don’t know how fast fast is until someone pulls you into their lane.

Your Founder Tribe or whatever you want to call it, is that multiplier. Without a network you’re playing a video game on hard mode for no reason.

If you can do one thing, let it be this.
Think of that one founder you met, that you know is grinding, that maybe came to mind - doing it quietly, without a lot of noise. Send this to them. Let them feel seen?

If you can do a second thing.
Message a founder, ideally someone a few steps ahead of you, in the trenches, have a monthly call with no agenda. Everything changes when you find a place for all that pressure to go…

There’s no trophy for doing this alone. That’s why I reply. Slowly, but sincerely to almost every email.

People are always so shocked I reply. I’m always more shocked they emailed. Because it means someone, somewhere, is still trying. Still pushing. Still giving a shit. And that deserves to be seen.

You don’t need applause. But you do need a voice in your corner.

Go get one. Go be one.

If I can be of service, feel free to grab time.

LFG.
- James