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To be a founder is to be a modern day alchemist: through a kind of magic, you create something valuable out of nothing.
Of course some founders start with capital and connections gained from their years of work at a big tech company, or connections to friends at VC firms, but many of the greatest success stories in tech were truly scrappy:
- Sara Blakely of Spanx made the first version of her legendary leggings herself and sold the product herself even as she worked a day job, even landing herself on the Oprah Winfrey show.
- The founders of Airbnb rented air mattresses on their floor for last minute conference goers and sold boxes of cereal when they were running out of money and needed to keep their business afloat.
- With my first startup, Ridejoy, my cofounder slept on a mattress pad in my room for 6 months. We launched out of Y Combinator with hastily assembled website to share rides to Burning Man.
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