Is it worth spending eight years trying to launch a startup that no one wants to invest in, even if you believe in it?
I work in deep tech and aerospace research—specifically in fluid dynamics. It’s a potentially groundbreaking field; I have a proof of concept and plenty of positive feedback from serious experts in the industry. However, a number of circumstances have created an impenetrable barrier for me, and all my attempts to find a co-founder or investor have failed—for perfectly valid reasons.
For one, I’m an artist by training and profession, which immediately undermines my credibility; I’m often simply ignored. My prototypes look like primitive DIY projects rather than convincing products for investors; plus, it’s a high-risk field that demands a much stronger business case. I tried going it alone for a long time, but recent circumstances have made that incredibly difficult, and I’ve essentially hit a dead end. On one hand, people tell me it’s cool—that I should keep going and that I can pull it off—and they’re waiting for results. On the other hand, I can see myself being dragged into a deep abyss, catastrophically wasting time with zero return.
Sometimes I feel like I’m on the verge of madness and have to force a mental reset just to put it aside and focus on ordinary work. I honestly don’t know what to do: does it make sense to keep diving all the way to the bottom, and does that kind of persistence ever actually lead to success?