The one barrier to entry: doubt

We’re living in a time when the bottlenecks to building have disappeared. The ability to move quickly, create for users in new ways, and succeed with different skill sets has never been greater. The skills that matter today are not the same as they were five years ago. I’d like to say I feel bad for recent graduates facing lower employment rates due to AI, but I don’t. It’s true: the world has changed. Universities can’t keep up with how fast it’s moving. But the advantage is yours; you have access to tools no one else in history has had, and you know how to use them. Curiosity and Persistence The most valuable skills today aren’t technical background or expertise. They’re authentic curiosity and persistence. If you’re genuinely passionate about what you do and you refuse to give up, you’ll succeed. Right now, anyone with a computer can build anything. You have an expert in your pocket, a top-tier engineer waiting for your ideas, a product strategist to bounce thoughts off of, and an advisor to guide you back to the product. I’ve never written a single line of code, yet I’ve built the entire Rendezvu codebase through curiosity and persistence. Both traits alone won’t get you far. If you’re curious but not persistent, you’ll quit. If you’re persistent but not curious, you’ll grind away without solving meaningful problems. Success comes from combining both curiosity to explore and persistence to finish, and from thinking long-term about learning. Build It Yourself I’m not “successful” yet, but I’ve met plenty of entrepreneurs, from consumer goods founders to Y Combinator software teams, and the best ones are the most curious. They’re the ones you just know won’t quit because they love learning more than they love winning. So when someone says, “I’m going to do this,” or, “We just need a tech person,” my answer is always, “Okay, but why haven’t you started?” You don’t need a technical cofounder. You can build it yourself. There are two reasons for this: 1. Anyone with the problem-solving gene can build. Coding is just structured problem solving now. If you’re willing to be frustrated and learn, you can do it. If not, maybe entrepreneurship isn’t the right path. 2. Founders need to be in the details. Your product is everything. If you can guide it yourself, there’s no disconnect between vision and execution. Paul Graham’s essay Founder Mode, inspired by a talk from Brian Chesky, emphasizes that great founders stay close to the details. There’s no better way to do that early on than by building yourself. Plus, it keeps your burn rate near zero and lets you test immediately. The Discipline of Persistence Persistence is one of the hardest traits to master. Maybe patience belongs here too, but I’d call it patient urgency. You need to think long-term and accept that building takes time, but also act with urgency every single day. Every micro-decision matters. Every hour compounds. Spending an hour watching mindless TV versus reading could make two completely different people after a year. You could read 20 books a year at just 15 hours per book. That’s not fast reading; that’s consistent reading. Cultivating Curiosity Curiosity separates entrepreneurs from the rest. You need an almost weird curiosity, a willingness to wander down dark hallways and explore obscure corners of your product or new ideas just because you love learning. That’s where breakthroughs happen. Elon Musk says his best ideas come in the shower. That ability to let your mind wander isn’t just a gift; it’s a skill. You can practice it. Do it often enough and you’ll find yourself naturally asking, “What if we did it this way?” Curiosity also thrives in conversation. Talking to others exposes you to entire lifetimes of experience. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Let your curiosity roam. The more perspectives you gather, the sharper your own ideas become. Belief and Momentum It’s crazy how many people don’t believe in their own capabilities. I know, because I used to be one of them. But once you start stacking small wins, learning one thing and then another, it becomes addictive. That momentum builds confidence, and confidence fuels everything. We’re at an inflection point in history, just like when the internet or computers were introduced. A new technology, AI, has opened the floodgates of creation. You can harness it to become unstoppable. Learn from it. Grow with it. Help others grow with it. You’ve been handed infinite knowledge at your fingertips. You don’t need anything but yourself to get started. The only thing standing in your way is doubt.