In the startup world, people usually sell you the pretty picture: overnight success, the brilliant idea, the next Steve Jobs, the perfect pitch. But the truth, the part nobody talks about much, is that most of what takes you far isn't any of that.
It's not about holding on just because. It's about being clear on why it's worth keeping going.
What got me here wasn't being the smartest or the fastest. It was holding on, learning, adding value and keeping going, always with a direction. Well, not always 😝
🚀 What I learned by holding on
By 2017 I had applied to 65 accelerator programs and funds... all over the world. One after another: rejections, silence, more rejections. But every application made my pitch better, made me understand my business better, sharpened the product. Until number 65 came along: Rockstart Colombia said yes. If I'd quit earlier, it never would have happened.
Or the time, after raising our pre-seed and feeling ready to put together the seed round in 2020, I started working on it… and the pandemic hit. I had investment committed, the first letter of intent, and I watched the deals fall through one after another. The worst part: I got it. I would have done the same in their shoes. The model was B2B for hotels, one of the hardest-hit sectors. The key was not giving up. Holding on forced me to get more creative, to look for real solutions, to reinvent myself instead of standing still.
Same thing back in my musician days: we went from playing for 10 people in a dive bar in downtown Buenos Aires to packing a theater with thousands of paying fans to record our live DVD. That didn't come from luck. It took years. It came from keeping at it, holding on, never throwing in the towel, building.
🔑 So... what does holding on really mean?
Holding on isn't standing in the storm for no reason.
Holding on is having a why:
✅ A goal that keeps you up at night.
✅ Clear signs that it's worth keeping going.
✅ Customers who come back, metrics that move, a team that shows up.
And if you don't have a big purpose yet, that's fine. You build it along the way. But in the meantime, look for your small wins, your signals that this could turn into something bigger.
⚡ A fine line between persistence and stubbornness
- Hold on, but with clear metrics. If it's not growing, it's not a business, it's an expensive hobby.
- Hold on, but don't fall in love with the idea. Fall in love with the problem you solve, not the solution.
- Hold on, but not alone. Talk to other founders, share, learn, let people help you.
👊 Wear and tear
- Persistence: adjusting, measuring, learning, adding value as you go.
- Stubbornness: pushing the same thing, the same way, hoping one day it just works.
The first one builds. The second one wears you down.
🌱 Relax, you won't be the first or the last
A clear example: the founders of CLUVI. Before the pandemic they ran Eventsite, an events site. The pandemic shut every door. What did they do? They pivoted in time. They switched industries, built Cluvi to help restaurants with digital menus and kept evolving from there. They didn't sit around waiting for the old world to come back. Later on they grew their team to over 100 people.
If you're at that point where everything feels uncertain...
stop for a second and ask yourself:
👉 Why is it worth fighting one more day?
👉 What sign tells me this could be something big?
It's not holding on just because.
It's holding on because you know the game is worth it.
