> No business porn for me. I want struggle, not Disney. +1. Even though @jstanley is correct about the latter quote, I do agree that most start-up stories are

> No business porn for me. I want struggle, not Disney. +1. Even though @jstanley is correct about the latter quote, I do agree that most start-up stories are dominated by these fantastical circumstances and ridiculous buyouts. I think there are primarily two reasons for this: 1. Retention (or lack thereof) in the start-up world 2. The success bar As far as (1) is concerned, I think why we don't hear about people that try, try, and try some more for many years is that once you reach a certain age or once you have kids, you can no longer afford to live on Ramen noodles and Ritz crackers. If you fail once, twice, or three times, it really is very very difficult to try again. Even tough you've (hopefully) gained some valuable lessons by failing, you've lost (a perhaps disproportionate amount of) resilience. Thus, you're much less likely to try again. (2) is moreso culture-dominated than rooted in the real world. As far as I'm concerned, I'd consider myself "successful" if I launched a 1-person start-up and sold it for mid-to-high 5-figures. That's not even close to "Facebook successful" and maybe my success bar has been lowered since I've failed a bunch of times, but most of these books/interviews/talks are written/given by people that have had outstanding exits. No one wants to talk to the tiny 2-man studio that built a company and sold it for $300k (even though I would argue that's a successful exit).