“I’m scared”

Earlier this week, Meerkat’s Ben Rubin joined us on Product Hunt Radio shortly before Twitter confirmed the acquisition of the formidable competitor, Periscope, and limited Meerkat’s API access.

Toward the end of the episode, Erik Torenberg asked Ben:

This has blown up so recently in such a strong way. How are you feeling about it? What’s going through your mind?

He responsed:

I’m thankful and overwhelmed, that’s first. Second, I’ve sent an email to 400,000 users saying I’m closing a platform before, so I know that right now we need to be very focused on the product and what it’s going to be in the next three months or less. And we need to be very focused on keeping this beautiful fire that we have in the community.

So, what we want to do is we want to hug the community and make sure that the product is awesome, scaleable, working, and eventually grow up.

[pause]

I’m scared.

Grinning, I said:

That’s exactly how you should feel.

I’ve only known Ben for a few weeks but his humility and community focus are refreshing. I admire his transparency and willingness to speak openly. Fear is healthy, inspiring a heightened sense of awareness.

I can relate, but being scared != unconfident. Last week, someone asked me:

Are you confident?

Building a team is scary. Seeing growth dip one week makes me nervous. Sometimes I feel like an impostor. Despite this, I’ve never felt more confident in myself and the team.

And like Ben, we’re scared but that’s normal and healthy. ☺

P.S. If you’d like to speak with someone about the stresses and challenges of starting up, visit 7 Cups of Tea Startup Support.