If you have ever ordered the steak and lobster special at a dinner that your startup was paying for, go slap yourself. And then do it again, just so you remember that feeling. It will actually be a lot worse if you run out of cash.

Startup founders are optimistic. They have to be, to take what others might consider a risky idea and run with it until it becomes a real, potentially viable business. And hopefully it will become something much more for their customers, employees and themselves. The ideas that sound completely crazy to most people are the dreams of entrepreneurs.

I completely understand why founders look at the world as all upside, and why they are eager to spend their way to making their vision come true. I understand it because I founded or was an early employee of six tech companies including Aha!