The reality of working on a startup is that sometimes things happen at a glacial pace.
One day, you’re making rapid progress—closing a deal, shipping a big feature, landing a key partnership. The next, you’re waiting. A contract drags on. A customer takes weeks to decide. An investor conversation that seemed promising goes quiet.
It’s a weird contrast. Startups are often talked about in terms of speed, but a lot of the work is just patience—showing up every day, even when nothing seems to be moving.
I share this because there is actually a lot of bad advice out there. For example, some investors say you have to be growing X percent weekly or monthly. When I first started my startup journey, I thought investors knew better and when I didn’t see progress, I stopped working on my ideas.
With Oatfin, I decided to take a different approach. I focused on consistency over arbitrary growth targets. Instead of obsessing over weekly percentage gains, I committed to showing up every day, solving real problems, and delivering value to customers.
Some weeks, growth is explosive. Other weeks, it’s just steady progress—improving the product, strengthening relationships, or laying the groundwork for future wins. And that’s okay.
The truth is, startups aren’t built in sprints; they’re built in sustained, deliberate effort over time. Patience, persistence, and adaptability matter just as much as speed.