Before we launched HelloSign, I remember showing HelloFax to a family member. This person was normally supportive, but he took a glance and walked away. He wasn't the only one. A lot of people wouldn't even look.
I was the only believer.
Belief is the most important component for a startup. Most companies are born and die with one believer. Maybe they had zero believers, since even the founders didn't truly believe.
Great companies have many believers. Dropbox has over 100 million believers. Google has 1 billion believers.
When you start a company, you only have one believer: you.
Your job as a founder is to create believers.
You have to believe.
When a friend pitches me a startup idea, I recently started asking, “do you really want to work on this?” I learned that it doesn't make sense to dissect the idea first. It's belief that will keep the company alive and create other believers.
The Airbnb founders maxed out their credit cards, then sold cereal to stay afloat. For 999 days they didn't see traction. But, they believed.
You need customers that believe.
Customers invest time and money — their most precious resource — into your product. They need to believe that you'll add value to their lives.
Evernote ran out of money. They had a customer that believed so much, he invested and saved the company from bankruptcy. He believed.
The press has to believe.
What separates the companies that get press and the ones that don't? The press believe in the former more than the latter. It's that simple.
The press loved Twitter. They believed in it before I did, before most people did. The press believed and made me believe.
Investors have to believe.
To compensate for losses, the potential return on each investment has to be high. You need to have the potential to become a billion dollar company.
YC often talks about how Dropbox wasn’t the top pick for a lot of investors, but they found a few that believed.
The team has to believe.
The people you want to work with can work anywhere they want. Great developers, marketers, salespeople and other talent look for something worth building.
Pandora ran out of money in 2001. Their 50+ person team deferred $1.5 million in salaries. For two years. They believed.
Your partners have to believe.
Business development can grow your company to a massive scale. You need to show that you can add value to their users, that you'll be around for a year. They need need assurances before sending thousands or millions of customers your way.
Bill Gates licensed software to IBM before he owned it. This became a company making partnership. IBM believed that Microsoft would add value to their users.
This all goes back to the beginning, when you are the only believer. You don't have any customers, the press won't write about you, investors won't talk to you, employees don't apply and partners don't know you exist.
Your job as a founder is to create believers.