Am I the 95%?
95% of startups fail, we all know that statistic, at least those of us in the startup community. When you first realize you're actually founding a startup you enter this magical world where everything is possible if you want it bad enough. Tech giants who raised billions and IPO'd, wizardish apps that transform your everyday life and literally change the world, all-mighty VCs who hold the keys to your happily-ever-after ending, you know, basically your tech mogul billionaire, 5 cars, 3 houses, bikini pool parties and never work another day again life.
Well, after you join the fraternity of startups, you start hearing people bragging about this infamous statistic that 95% of startups fail, and you kind of feel them being proud that they are still around, like that's a sign that they are in the top 5 percent. You spend a little time observing and realize that VCs are not very eager to throw millions at you, and you look at the famously "top 5%" enthusiastically telling you how their product is going to change the world and how great their progress is, and you objectively recognize how most likely full of shit they are.
An obvious question comes to mind: am I the 95%?
Hard to tell. Depending on drive, hard work and basically pure statistics, you might end up on one or the other side of the implacable 95%.
Let me give you some context
We built a product called Beez, a BNPL solution that allows you while making an online purchase to split the payment into 4 equal installments over 45 days. Our users are mostly millennials and Gen-Z and they use the product as a tool for smoothing their spending, they don't see it as a credit product and we don't see it either. It's a sort of credit card in which you cannot roll over what you owe and pay huge interest on it.
At Beez we passed through some very rocky times, which I'll detail in future articles, but still, I don't feel like I'm in the 95%.
And that last sentence right there, that's the most dangerous sentence an entrepreneur can write. Because feeling like you're not in the 95% is not the same as not being in the 95%, and the gap between those two things is where careers go to die.
The rock bottom that taught me everything
Let me be specific because I think specifics matter more than motivational platitudes.
After my first company failed, I was completely broke. Not "had to tighten my belt" broke. Not "couldn't afford restaurants" broke. I'm talking couldn't-buy-a-bus-ticket broke. I had massive debts, no money, nothing. I was getting calls from debt collectors. I was getting calls from friends I'd borrowed money from. I was getting calls from the police about fraud and tax evasion charges. All of this while I literally couldn't buy food for my daughter.
It took me 10 years after that to be able to own a bank card again.
That's rock bottom on my definition and it was fucking painful. But once you realize that literally there is no place to go, forward is not negotiable. And forward I went. I imagined it would take me less time to get to where I wanted, but for me it was and to some parts still is an excruciating journey.
I'm telling you this not for sympathy, believe me I'm way past needing that, but because I want to be honest about what the 95% actually looks like from the inside. It's not a statistic. It's waking up every morning with a knot in your stomach and spending the first hour of your day wondering if today is the day it all falls apart again.
The problem with the 5% mentality
Here's what drives me insane about the startup community. Failure gets praised. Like it's the holy grail of building a business. "Fail fast, fail forward," they say, like it's a bumper sticker and not something that destroys families and mental health and years of your life.
To me personally this was very confusing, most likely because I've suffered catastrophic failures during the last decade, and found myself more or less in the same place over and over again. And it's not like I haven't learned anything, because I'm not ending up in exactly the same place, it's just that there are so many types of failure that I'm worried I'll never arrive at the destination, always failing in the process.
At Beez we burned through 1.2 million euros in one year with not very much to show for it, just maybe some cool technology and some timid traction. Looking back it's not obvious how we got there. Maybe we focused too much on technology and didn't get enough data on user traction. Maybe we miscalculated the numbers. Or maybe we calculated right and asked for 5 million but were only able to raise 1.2 million and moved forward thinking we'd figure it out.
It's complex and there are a lot of failure points and to me as an entrepreneur this whole game is very confusing. I believe a lot in learning but somehow I don't think that I have learned enough, and I'm not sure I'll ever learn enough to make sure I reach my objective to build a billion-dollar company.
What I actually believe about the 95%
My view on the 95% barrier is mostly one of defiance. I'm conscious of it but I just choose to ignore it, most likely because I'm a control-driven individual and my code that I live by is that "it's not over until I say it's over."
It's a very tough mantra to live by, and I wasn't always like that. I developed this mindset after 15 years of painful trials building the life that I wanted for me and my family.
But defiance alone doesn't cut it. So here's what I've actually learned, the stuff that's worth more than any motivational poster:
Be objective. Statistics help and data mastering is crucial. Tracking progress is the only technique that will stop you from deceiving yourself. You have to imagine that you are a thirsty man in the desert — seeing water is something your brain will do to you, it's not real, it's a mirage, and if you don't measure reality with actual numbers you will chase mirages until you die.
It's a personal battle. Most likely school did a lousy job teaching you how to learn. The journey is definitely worth it but you need to understand that this is not a sprint, it's not even a marathon, it's more like moving to a new continent with nothing but a backpack and the conviction that somehow it will work out.
Train your patience. If you are a millennial or younger, instant-gratification parenting techniques have already messed you up more than you know. The dopamine system that was supposed to reward long-term effort has been hijacked by likes and notifications and two-day deliveries.
Having money is great, you should definitely pursue it, but be realistic — the journey is going to strain the parts of you that are your core assets. Make no mistake, if you are an asshole the journey will make you more of one. And yes, assholes can make money. But you kind of see the problem there, don't you?
So, am I the 95%?
I honestly don't know. And I think that's the only honest answer any entrepreneur can give. The moment you're certain you're in the 5% is probably the moment you've stopped paying attention to reality.
What I do know is this: don't expect the world to be fair, you'll realize that our definitions of fair are completely different. Good versus bad is a battle mostly in your head. And if you don't win the battle with yourself, along the way you will quit.
Don't complain. Always be unsatisfied, but don't complain.
I'm building something right now — an autonomous AI insurance agent, a single-human company, an Organization as Code framework — and I'm documenting the entire journey publicly because accountability is the only antidote to self-deception. Every week I test a hypothesis, I publish the results, I share the failures. That's how I plan to stay on the right side of the 95%, not by believing I'm special, but by measuring obsessively and adjusting relentlessly.
Success as I define it is not yet in my sight. But I've learned valuable lessons along the way and I want to share them, maybe it could help others shorten the time to hit the barrier to the top 5%, because in my opinion being on the other 95% is just not worth it.
So buckle up.
Next up: Why I rebuilt my agent to never depend on a single AI provider — and what infrastructure decisions have to do with survival.
— Vasile Tămaș, building from Cluj-Napoca, Romania