Do you have what it takes to try again after spending thousands of hours building an idea?

I spent 250 days building v1 of Caravan Notes. Everything in my body (hope) was telling me, it will work. I woke up everyday with the determination of a soldier in a holy war. I lived code, breathed design, and dreamt of ux. No workouts, no social life, nothing but Caravan Notes.

I used my software daily, my beta customers (they actually paid!) used my software daily, and we both loved it.

Launch day, I recorded all the demos and gave a heartfelt walkthrough. My post went viral. But on the other end. Crickets.

“Is it on the app store?” No. Ok, cool product.

“Make it exist first,” they said. And they might have been right. Because if I didn’t listen I might have not started.

But after launching and failing, there’s now a fear that I didn’t expect. What if I spend another 200 days of 12 hour effort and my idea flops again?

I’m learning the answer to that question more every day. And so far, my conclusion is: that’s life. You get bucked off your horse, again and again, and the winners keep getting on. No one will save you no matter how disappointing life gets. You’re still alive and building the resilience and the strength to laugh at fate and grab destiny by the saddle again until it bucks you off again. That’s where the fun in life is felt in full force.

I almost gave up. I spent a little too long licking my wounds and falling back into my old habits of over-reading and over-planning. But I’m back building in full effect. v2 incoming.

I will keep getting on until I figure out how to build an iconic company from scratch. And I will keep sharing my stories so you can take notes from my falls. And stand on my shoulders to reach higher than I ever could.