By Elaine Wherry

1. Technology Makes It Possible to Start a Company Overnight… launching a product is just the beginning… finding a problem worth solving, educating users, building traction, developing a viable business strategy, training a sales team, and securing long-term funding takes time…
2. You Only Pivot When Your Idea is Bad… The Internet reinvents itself every two years. Even if you are successful today, technology changes so quickly that you can lose success just as quickly as you gained it …
3. Being a Founder is Glamorous… most founders spend 40% of their time hiring… founders can’t loosen the reigns until they’ve hired and trained the first 50 team members…
4. Founders Don’t Have Bosses… Sadly, it’s just not true… entrepreneurs are also accountable to the Board of Directors who determine whether the founders are fulfilling their roles… accountable to the market and the market is the craziest, most irrational, and unfair boss of them all.
5. The Best Product Wins. Product design can be a formidable advantage… Most companies excel at experimentation rather than product execution…
6. VCs Throw Money at you… average American startup team reaches out to approximately 60-120 VCs and angels to raise the first $1M …
7. An Acquisition Means You’re a Multi-Millionaire… It’s possible for an acquisition in the hundreds of millions to leave nothing for the founders depending upon how much has been raised, how much was allotted to employees, the number of founders, whether the exit included stock or cash, and the liquidation preferences…
8. Raise as Much Money as You Can… only take the money you need (with some cushion) to prove the next stage of your business…
9. If You Do Everything Right, You Will Be Successful. There is no magic formula. Many smart startups will fail and many foolish ones will somehow succeed. Luck plays a huge hand in a startup’s ultimate outcome… a 93% failure rate…
10. We’ll Always Have These Opportunities… Read more: http://www.ewherry.com/2014/08/10-silicon-valley-myths/?utm_content=bufferbc1a7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer