"Dirigir una startup es como comer vidrio. Simplemente empiezas a gustarte el sabor de tu propia sangre."

Starting and running a startup isn't for the faint of heart. Imagine something as daunting and painful as eating glass — that's what it's like. You’re constantly facing new challenges, dealing with setbacks, and often, it feels like you’re getting hurt more than you're making progress. It’s a grueling process, one that requires you to get comfortable with discomfort, to the point where you start to find a twisted satisfaction in the struggle.

Elon Musk famously said this to capture the brutal reality of entrepreneurial life. When he co-founded companies like PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla, he faced enormous obstacles, including technical failures, financial troubles, and intense public scrutiny. His words resonate with many who’ve walked a similar path, emphasizing that the journey isn't just about triumphs but about enduring and eventually embracing the hardships.

Imagine you’re a young entrepreneur who has just launched a tech startup. You’re full of ideas and enthusiasm, but soon, roadblocks appear at every turn. Your product has bugs, investors are skeptical, and the market isn’t responding as you hoped. It feels like everything is falling apart. But you push through. You work late into the nights, learning from every mistake, fixing problems as they arise, and slowly, you start to see small victories. An investor shows interest, a customer gives positive feedback, and your team begins to gel. That’s when you realize — you’ve become stronger. The pain hasn’t disappeared, but you’ve learned to thrive on the challenge. You’ve developed a resilience that wasn’t there before.

So how can you apply this? First, accept that pain and difficulty are part of the process. Don’t shy away from them. When you hit a wall, see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Surround yourself with people who support you but also challenge you to be better. Take care of your mental and physical health — a strong mind and body can endure much more. And remember, it’s okay to fail. Each failure is a step closer to success.

Think about Thomas Edison, who famously tried thousands of methods before finding the right filament for the light bulb. He didn't see those attempts as failures but as crucial learning experiences. Picture yourself in his shoes — every time you face a setback, it’s not a defeat but a lesson. Over time, you'll get better at anticipating problems and solving them more efficiently. You'll start to "like the taste of your own blood," as Musk puts it — not in a literal sense, of course, but you'll begin to find pride and strength in your ability to endure and overcome.

In short, running a startup is a test of endurance, adaptability, and grit. It’s about facing the pain head-on and coming out stronger on the other side. Embrace the struggle, learn from it, and let it shape you into a more resilient and capable person. After all, the glass might cut, but it can’t break you if you refuse to let it.