Well, I’m not going to lie…I’m still intimidated by this whole startup thing.

“THE PMARCA GUIDE TO STARTUPS,” Part One: Why not to do startups, and Part Four: The only thing that matters, were very interesting reads, but have still not subdued any concerns or insecurities I have regarding our startup projects. Then again, maybe that wasn’t the intention of this reading, but was rather to show what you’re up against and expand your thinking a little further.

Part One was pretty much brutally honest. The piece explained to us that startups can be en emotional rollercoaster and reading the blog from top to bottom, I absolutely felt like I was on one. In my head I was at Cedar Point, about to aboard a new ride called “Startup.”

So, we immediately are told some pretty cool positives of startups. Freedom, opportunity, culture, new ideas, impact – all really, really awesome things that anyone would be crazy not to be apart of. Thinking I am about to put my hands up on the rollercoaster and be all in, the ride starts to descend.

We learn that nothing happens unless you make it happen in startups. You get told ‘no’ more than you’re told yes. You have to put a lot of time in and build a team that is receptive to your ideas and way of culture. And basically, anything can happen.

Now that my stomach is turned all different ways, I went onto Part Four. The section explained the importance of not only the product or service, but the team that creates it and the market in which its in. It was interesting to see that the overall success cannot happen without the understanding and development of each part. This section makes you ask yourself a lot of questions, rather than giving you answers.

It’s extremely clear that understanding your market is absolutely fundamental in creating a successful startup. Once you know it inside out, you have to know it outside in. This article has encouraged me to do some outside research on startups that have not only succeeded but failed as well. I’m hoping that when I understand more of what can go wrong, I can figure what is needed to go right and not be so intimidated by this whole process. This particular blog was a very easy read, and explained concepts in very simple terms.

After last week’s pitch sessions, I’m excited to see how each of our ideas will address a particular market and which ones. By sharing out individual thoughts, we can help one another ask the questions that this article forced us to ask ourselves.

Overall we learn that there are good and bad days. But, it looks like we’re all going to have to board this ride together. And not just because our grade depends on it…but because this is a unique opportunity that not many have the courage to embark on. Like the writer of the piece who was 22-years-old when they went all-in to a startup idea – we have nothing to lose.