“The interesting thing about business, it’s not like the Olympics. You don’t get any extra points for the fact that something’s very hard to do. So you might as well just step over one-foot bars, instead of trying to jump over seven-foot bars.”

Warren Buffett

I wish I’d heard and taken this advice earlier in my start-up career. Hanging around too long and slogging through a company that’s going nowhere has a massive cost. It’s like running up a big sand dune – the faster you run, the more energy you burn with no progress.

The one upside of working on a difficult problem is the friendships and lifelong bonds you made with your team. I know friendships and connections can’t be measured monetarily, but a strong network of comrades who have built together and fought to keep a company afloat is priceless and endures. Applying that grit and experience to a fast-growing company, later on, can yield amazing results.