Many founders think of a startup as a shortcut to making a lot of money fast, but in reality an exit usually takes 8–12 years of long, hard work. Shallow tricks or cookie-cutter products that merely chase trends rarely lead to acquisition or a big outcome; what matters is creating real, differentiated value. Paradoxically, the fastest and largest results come when you build something original that you genuinely love and that earns the respect of other developers and founders. 💡

1. The get-rich-quick fantasy versus the painful reality of startups

A lot of people treat starting a startup like a get-rich-quick formula: present a vaguely plausible vision, wave your hands, raise money, and make money fast. The reality of the startup world is completely different.

Michael tells a story from when he first started a company at 23. When a law-firm attorney — then 30 years old — told him that it usually takes eight to twelve years for a startup to exit (to be acquired or go public), he didn't believe it at all.

"College only takes four years, and you're telling me eight to twelve? I thought this 30-year-old lawyer had no idea how the world worked. But eight years later, when I turned 30, I ended up selling my company. The lawyer was right."

In fact, it took Twitch five years just to figure out what it should be doing, and several more years after that to be acquired. Dalton captured the essence of startups by quoting a well-known engineering adage.

"We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they would be easy."

2. Dropping the "I know a trick nobody else does" illusion

A substantial number of founders talk publicly about building an enormous company while harboring a secret desire to exit in two or three years, take the money, and leave. They think they're hiding it completely from investors, but experienced investors already see through it.

"Thinking you can fool everyone and pull off a quick exit with some trick is a very midwit move. You're better off naively believing 'building a big company is easy.' We already know exactly what you're thinking."

Once you start deceiving yourself, you cling to short-term hacks and inflated numbers rather than long-term product value. Falling into a fake plan like "I'll make about $10 million and sell" ultimately means failing to deliver real value to customers, which leads to failure. ⚠️

3. Going the opposite way of everyone else is what makes you fast

So what is the real way to get rich quickly through a startup? Dalton and Michael emphasize that it is "doing the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing."

Right now many founders ride the AI boom and chase trends, building the same obvious B2B agent services or cookie-cutter slop you can find anywhere. But large companies and acquirers have no reason at all to acquire such a commonplace startup.

• Originality and obsession: You have to jump into a distinctive, differentiated area that others aren't attempting.
• Creating real value: Focus on the quality of the product itself rather than shallow networking or exaggerated email spam.
• Capital efficiency: Don't raise excessive amounts and burn enormous sums, so you retain flexible acquisition options.

The founder who built the JavaScript runtime tool Bun, for example, shared his development process every day, earned deep trust from fellow developers, and was ultimately acquired by Anthropic for a large sum. As with OpenClaw, which was acquired after ten years of steadily building open source, the opportunity comes to "the person who builds something genuinely interesting rather than trying to get acquired."

"You shouldn't artificially trick people or lean only on networking. You have to build a killer tool that earns the respect of other developers and builders."

4. Solve a problem you love and know well

The surest way not to fall into these traps is to build a product the founder actually loves, wants to use themselves, and makes for customers they want to work with.

If you force yourself into an idea you think investors will like, you won't last. Conversely, as Twitch eventually pivoted into game streaming — the area its founders genuinely enjoyed — and achieved enormous success, the odds of success rise dramatically when you immerse yourself in what you love.

"What if I didn't get hung up on what authority figures say and focused only on building something cool and great? Amazingly, that actually works."

Closing

Becoming rich overnight through a startup is very rare and requires considerable luck. But rather than straining to find a shortcut, doing what you genuinely love and building a product that earns the respect of fellow builders is actually the fastest path to success.

"When other people start reacting with 'Wow, this person is building something really interesting. I'd love to talk to them' — you're on the right track. ✨"