Read more about "real" vs "fake" work on Sam Altman's blog. A few favorite excerpts:
Fake work is both easier and more fun than real work for many founders. Two particularly bad cases are raising money and getting personal press; we’ve seen many promising founders fall in love with one or (usually) both of these, which nearly always ends badly.
... There are a few other common problems. One is a feeling of “we made it” that comes after a big financing round and a reduction in intensity. A related problem is that after you’ve raised a lot of money or become somewhat well-known, it’s harder to admit that things aren’t working and you need to change direction. Also, very small startups can grow by sheer force of will, even with a bad product. This stops working after a few months as the numbers get larger, and if you haven’t built something people love, you will not be able to continue growing.
... Don’t ever let yourself feel like you’ve won before you have. I still don’t think the Airbnb founders feel like they’ve won. You have to keep up a high level of intensity for many, many years.
