Why Are We Surprised That Startups Are So Freaking Hard?

It's not enough just to do something extraordinary initially. You have to make an extraordinary effort initially. Any strategy that omits the effort — whether it's expecting a big launch to get you users, or a big partner — is ipso facto suspect.

It takes enormous discipline to NOT try to scale something that's working. But some things just don't scale -- and trying to do so can destroy the golden goose in the process. Many entrepreneurially minded people can't help themselves from trying.

If you've built more than one SaaS (mainly talking to product builders and studios), you will start to realize that the process of building these standard SaaS components will take you more time than building the core functionality in the beginning.