Why starting a startup?

Common myths:
1. To be wealthy
This is not always relevant since the risk of failure is bigger in the entrepreneur world than being an employee. Being a startup founder also requires a long time commitment. According to CB Insight, only 1% (9) of 1027 seed backed tech startup that goes to the 6th round of financing or unicorn, safe to say. Dustin Moskovitz, ex-facebook, and co-founder of Asana said that 100 tech engineers at Facebook are better financially than the vast majority of entrepreneurs.

2. To impact society
This one also not good enough to be the reason, since joining an established company may be better at giving impact. At least for 3 reasons. In the established company, there is already a massive user base, existing infrastructure, and working with an established team. Bret Taylor as number 1500+ employee at google created google maps that now used by billion users. JR as number 250+ employees at Facebook created the “like” button that impacts how billions of Facebook users interact on the platform.

3. Glamorous lifestyle
Probably you watch movies and media that show the glamor life of entrepreneurs. In the beginning, the truth of being an entrepreneur is like this as per Dustin Moskovitz:
1. You have people relying on you: your employees. They bet their years to be with you
2. The recruiter calls your employee every week, you are on worry to lose them
3. Every new financing round feels like life and death
4. Your competitor feels like going to kill you

4. Be the Boss, being in control
Phil Libin from Evernote said that when you are the CEO, everyone else is your boss — all of your employees, customers, partners, users, media, etc.

So, what should be the reasons to start a startup? As per Dustin Moskovitz, there are two:
1. Passion: Something that can catch your attention for 10–20 years
2. Aptitude: Your idea is valuable enough and you’re the best person to bring that idea into the world. Aptitude as per Oxford Dictionary is “a natural ability to do something”