"Why don't you want to succeed?"

A couple of months ago, I sat down for coffee with a founder who I'd never met before. He asked me what I do, and I explained that I try to do it all: I run a bootstrapped, 1-person B2B software company.

He asked if I thought I could close more customers if I ditched the solo thing. "Probably", I said. "But I like going at it alone."

He asked if I thought it would be less stressful if I raised money and delegated the harder parts of the business. "Probably", I said again. "But I find it fun struggling with new things."

After a few more questions, he point blank asked what was really on his mind:

"Why don't you want to succeed?"

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most successful of them all?

Our industry is dominated by venture capital, and success only seems to have one face: the biggest company, with the most funding raised, with the highest possible revenue.

I have no criticism for anyone who wants to make those things their goal, but they’re not mine. In fact, more than anything, I know what I don’t want:

• I don’t want to work for someone else.

• I don’t want to travel when I don’t feel like it.

• I don’t want to be on a big team.

• I don’t want to spend much time at all in meetings.

• I don’t want a rigid schedule.

The great thing about running a business it that you get to make your perfect world, even if it doesn’t match someone else’s expectations. You get a sandbox to play in, and you can build your castles however weird you want.

But hey, don’t just take it from me. Take it from Tyler Durden.

We work jobs we hate, to buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.