There's a very real reason why "pride" is one of the seven deadly sins. In fact, according to the write-up about the seven deadly sins on Wikipedia, "In almost every list Pride (Latin, superbia), or hubris, is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and the source of the others."
And thus "pride" has no place in a start-up.
Pride makes you talk at your customer. Not with them. It closes your ears to that which you ought be hearing if you ever want your start-up to survive, yet alone have any chance at ever thriving. The last thing a customer wants to hear is how great you are. It's irrelevant. They can go talk to anyone else, and hear the same. Rather, they want to hear how you are going to solve their problem. How can you solve their problem with your mouth open? Shut it, ask, listen, and help solve their problem.
Pride makes you think you know better than your customer. Your customer is the only one who knows what they want. And as a start-up, it is your job to find out, as best you can, what that is. Otherwise, there's little chance they'll reward your start-up with their hard earned dollars. Telling the customer how great your company, product, service, business philosophy or whatever else you take pride in, is just noise to them. Ask them what they want, listen, engage, and use what you learn to help them help you be successful in your start-up.
Pride makes you vulnerable. I suspect that one of the major reasons so many people do not enter the world of entrepreneurship is because of the great unknown. There is NO CERTAINTY. There is no pre-defined organizational structure to climb. No job title that matters. No certification that says you've succeeded. No way to easily and concisely communicate just how much of your heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears you've pored into this thing you call your start-up, and how deeply important it is to you. There is no performance review and annual raise. No bonuses. Unfortunately, these are the things that far too many people cling to, and use as evidence of their own self-worth, confidence and sense of place within their social and professional networks. Forget about it. No one cares. What matters is what you believe about yourself and how you treat the people around you (ie, customers). And those who dare to believe in themselves are the ones who dare to set all that meaningless detritus aside, and go it alone, knowing that no matter what happens, everything is always going to be okay. Lose the pride, and watch your true, strong, confident self emerge. And your start-up will grow muscles like you never thought possible.
Pride makes you say things that have no value, but to serve your pride. How many times do you hear someone answer the question "So, what do you do?", with something along the lines of "I am the Director of XXX at ABC corp, I manage the XXX widget team, we did XXX dollars last year..." blah blah blah. Really, that's what you do? Good for you. It's got no place in a start-up. Building a business, from concept to market is a life pursuit, it's not about impressing your peers with a job title, with how much power you have, and how much money you make. It's about embracing the unknown, putting yourself out there and on the line, having the courage to live your dream, constantly iterating on the value and execution of your dream, and in so doing, checking your identity at the door. Your identity, your pride, will only ever get in the way, and will muddy the experience your customers will have with you and your start-up. Let it go. It has no value in a start-up. The next time someone asks you what you do, tell them about the dream you are living...you are living it right?
Of course, all of this is much easier said than done. All of us have vulnerabilities we might prefer to hide, as well as those things we've accomplished in life that make us feel good and that we wish more people would know about. Regardless, the point I am trying to make, and reinforce and re-emphasize to myself more than anything, is that when you've committed to starting your own business/es, you've got to be willing to wear many hats; deal with constantly shifting dynamics; and be willing to do just about anything that your start-up requires to succeed. And you absolutely have to be comfortable with recognizing your own limitations and be willing to engage and rely on others who can help you in the co-created actualization of your dream, your start-up. Notice, pride has no place in any of this...this is a start-up.
