building a new company

is like pushing a boulder up a mountain

you start at the bottom, all by yourself

just you and this big boulder 

bystanders will point and laugh and call you crazy

but if you believe in what you’re doing with all your heart

you ignore them and start pushing it up the steep slope anyway

along the path, people will see you struggle 

and some might join you

and when the right people do, it gets a little easier

more hands making lighter work

occasionally some helpers do more pulling than pushing

and you have to stop and tell them they can’t help anymore 

which breaks your heart every time

because they only meant well

but the pain lessens each time

becoming slightly more bearable

but it never truly disappears

nearly all who choose to push the boulder 

won’t make it up to the top

their strength will give way before they do

they stumble and collapse

and that boulder starts to roll backwards 

crushing them in its path

leaving them broken and shattered 

sometimes dead 

you are like sisyphus, but the punishment is of your own choosing

rather than from hades

but there are a special few

who through luck and hard work 

and ingenuity and sacrifice

who by some divine grace 

make it all the way to top of the mountain

with their helpers standing shoulder to shoulder

they couldn’t have done it without them

and as soon as it reaches the top

the boulder tips to the other side

and the weight vanishes

and it begins to roll down hill

gathering speed

snowballing

larger and larger

a flywheel spinning

faster and faster

it’s momentum becomes unstoppable

until all the world has been taken over

by your new idea of how things should be done

a glorious victory

that once began 

as a boulder 

at the bottom of a hill

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