The 7 Hardest Truths Nobody Tells You About Building a Startup

Yesterday, I talked about how we don’t share our failures on social media; we only amplify the good parts. The “things are going well” mask.And I get it. Nobody wants to look vulnerable or incompetent in public. But today, I want to drop all that and speak from experience, raw and unfiltered.Let’s get into the seven hardest truths about building a startup that nobody warns you about.

These are based on my experience so far

⚡1. Branding Is Secondary; The Trademark Comes First

It took me years to break out of the mindset that “logo first” is the right approach. Visual identity is cool, we all love a clean logo, a sexy brand guideline, and a beautiful design system. But honestly? That’s not the priority. Your first priority is protecting your identity. Before you spend money on branding, check:

Is your name available? Is the domain free? Is someone already using the trademark? Can this name legally scale with you globally?

Because when you start moving fast and gaining traction, that’s when reality hits. Another angle is the search engine battle. Imagine launching a startup and realising four other companies already use the same name. You’ll be fighting SEO wars you had no business fighting. You’ll lose customers because they typed your name and found someone else. You can avoid these problems.

Treat trademarks, domain names, and company registration as the foundation, not afterthoughts.

⚡2. Make It Work, Then Make It Beautiful

We all love beautiful interfaces, smooth animations, pixel-perfect layouts.... Yeah! I do too. We all love a beautiful UI until we realise the product doesn’t work. People get excited by aesthetics, but they stay because the product actually solves their problem.

The hard lesson you eventually learn is that an ugly product that works will beat a beautiful product that doesn’t every single time. There’s a maturity you develop as a builder, you stop obsessing over shadows and gradients and start obsessing over functionality, reliability, and real utility.

⚡3. You Will Get Rejected By Investors... A Lot

This one hits home because I’ve lived it. You will pitch to people who smile at you, clap for you, nod at your slides, and still say no. And when you’re new, rejection feels personal. You start questioning your idea, your execution, even your self-worth. Investors don’t reject you because they hate your idea. They reject you because it doesn’t fit their current appetite.

It’s like trying to sell someone food when they aren’t even hungry. It doesn’t matter how delicious it is, they’re simply not buying today.

Investors have timing, mandates, risk levels, sectors they’re focused on, and portfolio gaps they want to fill. You could be building a fantastic product, but if it doesn’t align with what they’re looking for at that moment, it’s not happening.

⚡4. Building & Scaling SaaS Is Expensive, Even If You Can Code

Coding doesn’t save you from SaaS expenses.

Our Reality Check:

• Servers cost money
• Tools cost money
• Salaries cost money
• Onboarding costs money
• Marketing burns cash like oxygen

You can build the first version yourself, sure. But scaling? That’s another story entirely. Even now, I still spend a lot on tools, team costs, API usage, etc. My first startup was fully bootstrapped. Hunger wan almost finish me... lol! I remember having to move back with my parent just so I could reduce my personal expenses and pour them into the startup. I couldn’t even pay myself because I was the funding. Eventually, the math wasn’t mathing, we were losing more than we could ever make.

SaaS rewards you, but it demands upfront sacrifice. And guess what? It’s easier to convince investors once you show traction, not ambition.

⚡5. Learning to Sell Is Non-Negotiable

When I started tech eight years ago, I skipped marketing; I never liked it. Being a founder forced me to confront reality: If you don’t know how to sell, you will suffer. Entrepreneurship will force you to break and make habits. As a founder, you’re the number one salesperson, whether you like it or not.

Selling is not just pitching. It’s about persuading, storytelling, negotiating, positioning, and making people want your solution.

If you don’t want to learn how to sell yet, then get yourself a co-founder who’s a beast at sales, a COO who understands operations & closing deals or someone who can pitch better than you can code.

Because without sales, nothing moves. You will drink garri, and your team will leave you.

⚡6. You Will Always Run Out of Money

This one is brutal because it’s true. No matter what stage you’re in, early, mid, or scaling, you’ll always feel like money is never enough.

Even if you've raised $20k, it will finish. You raise $200k, and it finishes. I promise you, you can even raise $2 million and still hear your accountant say, “We’re running low.”

Why?

Because the moment you get money, your obligations expand, Hiring, Infrastructure, Marketing, Expansion, Legal, Compliance, Operations and lots more.

Startups are engineered to burn money. That’s the nature of speed. And you can’t slow down, because slowing down means dying. The trick is not to avoid running out of money; the trick is to extend your runway and increase your survival instincts.

And I recommend you try to bootstrap for at least a year or 2. This would teach you and get you prepared before you get the bigger bag.

⚡7. No One Cares About You (At First)

This sounds harsh, but it’s one of the most liberating truths once you accept it. When you’re building a startup,

• People don’t care that you’re stressed, - "sorry"
• They don’t care that you’re broke. - "Well, you chose this life, not me"
• They don’t care that you’re trying your best. - "Your mates are scaling and selling, you should too"
• They don’t care about your dream or your “big vision.” - "Even I have a bigger vision, but can yours make me more money or make my life better?"
• They don’t care that you're sleeping 4 hours a night. - "As I said, you chose this life, remember?"

Harsh truths

And why is that?

Because everyone is fighting their own battles. People only start caring when you show results, People care when your product works, your users grow, your revenue climbs, and your brand is everywhere.

Until then, it feels like shouting into a void. OYO!!! And your team? They are all looking for stability; if you are not paying enough, they will leave. It's not their fault, we would do the same too, won't we?

The fact that no one cares means you’re free to fail quietly, rebuild quietly, learn quietly, and experiment quietly.

No expectations = no pressure.

Build your startup with the mindset that no one is coming to save you, and you’ll move faster.

So, yeah, that's my little and honest opinion. If you like what you just read, please like, share and comment. If you like it so well that you want to invite me to be a speaker somewhere, please don't 😂😂😂 I am not in for that yet.