every successful startup has been through this curve even I’ve been on this curve more times than I can count most of those times, I crashed somewhere in the “reality sets in” pit and quit you start with hype you ship... no one cares you try to fix it... still no one cares and slowly, you wonder if you just suck most startups die here not because the founders are dumb, but because it’s insanely hard to keep going when you don’t know if you’re delusional or early for me, I’ve only made it past that little PMF dot a handful of times and those were the ones everyone now calls “obvious wins.” but in the moment, nothing was obvious it felt like pushing a rock uphill while other builders around me were celebrating if you think you’re stuck in the valley too, keep at it. keep experimenting- something might click. but if nothing moves for a while, pause and measure where you’re at. do you actually want to keep going? does the market care even a little? is there a signal worth chasing? this steep curve is mostly inevitable - you just have to figure out, realistically, how long you can sustain being here and how fast you think you can get out some people grind for years before getting out of this pit. respect to them. as for me, I have a simple rule: if a project doesn’t show revenue traction soon enough, I kill it fast. there are many ways to play this game, just make sure you’re choosing yours on purpose