Family is your best fuel
Entrepreneurs and founders are extraordinary individuals who possess the ability to generate and sustain high levels of energy. When I immerse myself in building something I’m passionate about, I’m often amazed by the sheer vitality I feel—it’s as if I’ve been endowed with a supercharged motivation that not only fuels my creativity but also empowers me to share that energy with my team. I believe this capacity to harness and renew energy is a gift that defines all entrepreneurs.
However, no matter how much energy we generate, we will inevitably reach our limits, especially as we persist on the long journey of entrepreneurship. To maintain the super-speed pace necessary for our ideas, we need the best possible fuel—and that often comes from the support and energy of our families.
Throughout my long journey to becoming an entrepreneur, I didn’t always have my family’s approval for following my dreams, let alone sharing them. Over time, this lack of support drained my motivation, causing my dreams to wither. However, in my new endeavor to start a business, I learned from those past lessons and took concerted steps to involve my family in my vision and the process of realizing my dreams. It took years of effort, but I eventually succeeded.
The impact of having my family on board with my daily work and sharing my goals has been remarkable. Gradually, they began to fuel my “tank” every day, offering ideas and advice that enriched my work. My dreams have become their dreams, and my family has become an integral part of my team. As I grow, we grow together. While it isn’t always easy to achieve this harmony, having your family invested in your passion is incredibly rewarding—not just for your work but for your life as a whole.
Friendship makes the difference
An entrepreneur’s path can often feel lonely. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have a supportive team during the day and an engaged family outside of work, the reality is that you’re navigating the high-risk, high-reward landscape of your business largely on your own. You carry burdens of bad news that only you must confront, and you face problems that investors, teams, and partners expect you to solve, regardless of their complexity. Even when you find a way to steer your business into calmer waters, the negative energy from facing challenges alone can accumulate within you, eventually making you feel overwhelmed, even if you pride yourself on being brave and resilient. This is the sanity test that most founders must endure.
However, you don’t have to face everything by yourself. This is where friendship can make a crucial difference and even save your entrepreneurial life. It’s not just any kind of friendship, but one that is uniquely shared among founders and entrepreneurs. I’ve found that the most beneficial connections come from finding one or two entrepreneurs who are not involved in your business but possess relevant experience in building their own.
Once you identify someone who could serve as an unofficial coach, approach them with full transparency, asking if they would be willing and available to offer their guidance. This commitment is significant for both parties, so be clear about your expectations—and remember that they likely have a busy life as well. If they agree to be that person you can reach out to on tough days, schedule regular check-ins. These don’t have to be frequent, but establishing consistency is important for nurturing your relationship and ensuring mutual support.
Remember, a healthy, lasting friendship is a two-way street. Be mindful to offer your own time, insights, and resources to your friend as well.
Trust me, having one or two close founder friends who will stand by you as confidants—through both the highs and lows of your business—will make an enormous difference.
Community is where you belong
It’s ingrained in our DNA that humans have a profound need for connection. Evolutionarily, this tribal instinct greatly enhanced the chances of survival for our ancient ancestors. When you belong to a group, you trust others to have your back in times of danger, help care for your children while you hunt and gather, and face challenges together, ensuring the continuation of your lineage. To encourage and maintain this camaraderie over the long term, our biology has ingeniously designed a selfless hormone—oxytocin, the “love chemical.” This hormone gives us a rewarding sense of pleasure when we act in friendly, loving, and generous ways. Unlike dopamine, which offers entrepreneurs instant gratification from progress, oxytocin works to deepen our bonds; the more we connect with individuals in our circle, the more rewarding those connections become. This is why, when we finally find a community where we feel we belong, it creates lasting bonds that can grow over time.
In my journey, I struggled for much of my life to find that sense of belonging. Life took me from music to science, from China to the U.S., and from a biomedical professional in academia to an entrepreneur founding innovative startups. Every group I encountered along the way was brilliant and kind, yet I still couldn’t shake the feeling of isolation. It was an awful, persistent sensation. Now that I understand the biology behind those feelings, I realize they stemmed from not feeling seen, heard, valued, or understood by those around me—individuals who were supposed to share my beliefs, characteristics, and values. I didn’t feel “safe” or at home within those groups.
Everything changed when my startup journey led me to the gener8tor founders community. I vividly remember the strong, pleasant feeling I had for the first time in a room full of like-minded gener8tor staff, founders, and other professionals supporting the program. It felt like reconnecting with a good old friend after many years—familiar yet new, and I knew it was just the beginning of a lifelong, committed journey together. For the first time in my life, I truly felt I belonged.
As founders and entrepreneurs, it is necessary to find people who understand you, listen to you, and can lend a hand when times get tough. The community you belong to can provide endless support and guidance throughout your entrepreneurial journey, both within and beyond work. Your community serves as your source of energy, success roadmaps, knowledge, talent, and even business opportunities. Perhaps the most valuable asset your community offers is the unconditional love between founders—an enduring bond that lasts “’til death do us part.”
