Great accelerators and venture funds like YCombinator and Andreessen Horowitz are designed to solve the common problems of starting a company so the founders can focus on the core new innovation. At the earliest stage, this includes things like forming a corporation, choosing a lawyer, and getting free cloud hosting. In the first few months, founders need help prioritizing what is important, focusing on the right metrics, and preparing how to pitch to investors. Later, founders need help with recruiting, building a sales organization, introductions to large companies, etc. These are challenges that nearly every founder needs help with, and investors are uniquely positioned to provide. Organizations like YC and A16Z can build these support services and share them with hundreds of portfolio companies, giving those companies a huge advantage and higher likelihood to succeed.
However, there is another challenge that many founders face that is largely unserved by anyone: how to deal with the stress, pressure, and damage to relationships that are common for founders.
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