Need inspiration? Listen to these amazing entrepreneurs…

There’s that moment when you have an idea.  For a new feature, new product or new business.

Most people never get any farther than that, of course.  Every step from that point forward is hard work, high-risk, fraught with stressful moments and sleepless nights and countless obstacles.

A few people see the end of the tunnel.  It’s near impossible to know which founders, which businesses, will make it as they’re growing, launching, doing the hard things about hard things that propel them forward and separate their work, their success, their path from those of others who gave up when things got tough.

Most work worth doing is tough.  The glory and tribulation of seeing your idea turn into something that changes the world, that puts a dent in the universe as they say, that’s the fun part.   It’s easy to ignore or skim over the blood, sweat and tears that got you there.

I had the honor of attending the Seattle TechStars Demo Day last Thursday afternoon.  Ten amazing companies and founders gave their short pitches to a room packed with mentors and investors.  I was honored to introduce one of the presenting companies, Touchbase, a company doing amazing work to improve real-time communication and collaboration between sales, marketing and product teams.

What has impressed me most about Touchbase’s founder, as well as the others I had the pleasure of hearing and meeting last week, was their energy.  Their enthusiasm.  Their unbounded confidence that they’re truly going to change the world with what they’re building.

Statistically, not everyone in the room is going to make it.  And the founders of these companies are all smart enough to know that.  But like any high-performance athlete or business leader or professional, they’ll run through brick walls to ensure it’s not going to be them.

Listening to these amazing entrepreneurs, hearing and feeling their energy, was a massive jolt of energy and inspiration for me.  I highly encourage you to find an opportunity to hear similar stories and pitches in your area.

If you happen to be in Seattle, I hope you can join me the afternoon of Thursday, November 20, 2014, for the 9Mile Labs Demo Day.  I love the work 9Mile Labs is doing in particular because they focus entirely on B2B start-ups.  They have an other impressive class of companies this year.  I look forward to seeing you there, and guarantee you’ll walk away with new ideas, new confidence and new energy.