A romantic at heart, however, I selectively blocked out the Domino's-catered dinners and inevitable caffeine binges, and instead envisioned heated foo ball tournaments and thrilling conquests into the Internet world. Now a five-month veteran of startup life, I now realize that reality lies somewhere in between. The eLance coaster thus far has been simultaneously fast, furious, exhilarating, and exhausting. Like many dotcom companies, eLance has pushed its team to innovate more creatively and to produce with ever increasing speed. The result is a product of which we are extremely proud.
Time exists for startups in perpetually insufficient quantities.
There are never enough hours in the day to build our brand as forcefully as we would like, implement the various solutions that we have brainstormed, build enough partnerships, or address all of our users' concerns. That dilemma is both exhausting and exhilarating. At the end of each day, despite our lingering to-do lists, we feel intoxicated by the small successes that epitomize startup life. Whether these successes are in the form of strategic partnerships, improved site features, or even appreciative user emails, the validation is enough to maintain the addiction to this ride, as bumpy and jarring as it may get. Throughout these past five months, however, eLance has slowly matured and grown in size, as well as in the types of challenges it can successfully overcome.