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As a founder, one of my favorite hobbies is learning about how other founders launched their businesses.
Of course, by the time I read their book or listen to them on a podcast, they’ve already made it. The narrative of their evolution has already been written, and they can recount their early days — and attendant struggles — with the calm remove of someone who knows the hardest part is behind them. That changes everything about how it sounds.
When you hear Howard Schultz describe pitching Starbucks to investors, he’s already Howard Schultz — and had been for a long time. The same goes for Brian Chesky, who now runs an $80 billion company and can afford to laugh about the five consecutive rejections he got in 2008. But underneath the polished anecdotes, worn as lightly as their luxury sport coats, lies a darker truth. Not every founder suffers from imposter syndrome — just 84% of us, according to one highly cited statistic. The truth is, before (almost) every founder achieved success, they were someone else entirely: unsure, full of doubt and sure their product would fail.
Why entrepreneurs catch imposter syndrome
I feel qualified to write about entrepreneurial imposter syndrome because I suffered from it myself. Right before I launched Jotform, I was plagued by a sudden-onset bout of panic and dread. My visions of failing were dramatic; the stuff of grade school nightmares. “Jotform — More Like Joke-form,” TechCrunch would sneer.
That never came to pass, obviously. But the fear was real, and it wasn’t irrational. Starting a company means stepping into a role you have never held before, making decisions you have never made before and asking other people to trust you before they have much reason to. It’s a lot to ask — of course, it produces doubt.
It’s no coincidence that the psychologists who first identified imposter syndrome in 1978 noticed it most acutely among high achievers: People with every external marker of competence who still couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d fooled everyone and were about to be found out.
Founders, almost by definition, are exactly this kind of person. You have to believe you are capable of building something that doesn’t exist yet. When you do start, you discover exactly how many things you don’t know — and the gap between your ambition and your current ability suddenly becomes acutely, terrifyingly real.
The good news? There are steps you can take to build confidence, proving to yourself (and others) that you’re the real deal.
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