What determines whether you succeed or not in business ? I'm still early in my career as a founder in the tech industry. Its quite interesting to me to sometimes think about the fantasized version of my dream to build a company and contrast it with my actual experience. One of the things that took a while for me to learn is this. Embrace reality and deal with It. Reality is the starting point and the ultimate judge of any decision. Denying or fighting how things work leads to failure, whereas accepting harsh truths allows you to adapt.