"Probably most importantly, I learned that the glorification of the startup lifestyle is a lie perpetuated by people seeking to make money from it at all levels."
This I would say is my main learning point. My first startup failed because of inexperience and team implosion following incapability of generating revenue fast enough on one side, and attract favorable investment on the other. Failure could have been lighter on both me and the other members of the team, was it not for a self-immolation mindset probably driven by glorification of "startup lifestyle". Things fail. Most of the time. Assume failure. Optimize for resiliency. Never expect success as the natural outcome, but rather consider it will come collaterally to continuous reaction to ugly realities, and damn slowly. You can stumble upon a rocket ship, but it is not how businesses usually get to come to life.
This I would say is my main learning point. My first startup failed because of inexperience and team implosion following incapability of generating revenue fast enough on one side, and attract favorable investment on the other. Failure could have been lighter on both me and the other members of the team, was it not for a self-immolation mindset probably driven by glorification of "startup lifestyle". Things fail. Most of the time. Assume failure. Optimize for resiliency. Never expect success as the natural outcome, but rather consider it will come collaterally to continuous reaction to ugly realities, and damn slowly. You can stumble upon a rocket ship, but it is not how businesses usually get to come to life.