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Staying Power 181

of risks and requirements, and Mark and his team faced tough choices
regarding where to invest limited resources.

As a general rule of thumb, I have found that most startup
founders, driven by their enthusiasm and commitment, attempt to do
too much, too fast. Successful entrepreneurs often look back on their
path to value creation as less like a sprint than a marathon, one that
balances urgency and desire with watchfulness, patience, and good
judgment. As Amar Bhide, visiting scholar at Harvard University’s
Kennedy School of Government, wrote in his classic piece on boot-
strap finance in the November-December 1992 Harvard Business Re-
view, “Start-ups that failed because they could not fund their growth
are legion. Successful bootstrappers take special care to expand only
at the rate they can afford and control.”9

Founder-Level Strategies: Performing and
Persevering over Time

During 2008, as it became increasingly clear that the market for up-
scale adult daycare services in Charlotte was not going to materialize
any time soon, Lynn Ivey continued to doggedly pursue her dream.
She brought on a temporary sales team to generate and follow
through on leads. She continued to network with enthusiasm
throughout the community, seeking client referrals and new financial
partners. But privately, Lynn wrestled with despair and depression.
Fatigued by financial crises, she searched for pockets of cash and jug-
gled vendor and bank payments to generate another month’s payroll.
It had been more than a year since her mother had passed away, and
her lingering grief was now deepened by the growing realization that
her business, a monument launched in her mother’s memory, was it-
self in the process of dying.

The birth of a business idea brings hope, jubilation, and intensity.
Aspiring entrepreneurs feed off of this energy and spread it to others
as they race forward. Friends and colleagues admire and congratulate
new founders on their bravery and creativity. But it is further along
the venture road, beyond the honeymoon’s promise, in times of strife

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