Is Starting a Business More Fulfilling Than A Relationship Now?
(We’re joking… But Let’s Play Devil’s Advocate For A Bit.) So- Love or Launch?
We love to think of entrepreneurship as this bold, high-risk pursuit of passion. But if you really look closely, starting a business has a lot in common with modern dating—and in some ways, it might even be easier.
1. Clearer ROI
In business, you can measure traction: revenue, growth, market share. There are dashboards, metrics, and quarterly reports that give you a sense of whether your efforts are paying off. That clarity provides a sense of validation—proof that the grind is working.
Relationships, on the other hand? The “metrics” are far less tangible. How do you measure love, loyalty, or long-term compatibility? It’s not like you can plug your partner into Google Analytics. Entrepreneurs often find comfort in knowing their actions can produce visible progress, which makes dating feel frustratingly vague and hard to “optimize.”
2. Control Over the Process
When you’re building a business, you get to design the playbook. You pick your partners, set the strategy, and decide when to pivot. Even failure feels like something you have some agency over—you learned, you adapted, you tried again.
But in relationships, the timeline and outcome can feel much less predictable. You can put in your best effort, communicate clearly, and still find yourself blindsided. For people who are used to being in control—calling the shots, steering the ship—that lack of certainty can feel like chaos.
3. Today’s Dating Landscape Is… Complicated
The “barrier to entry” in modern dating feels higher than ever. Endless swiping, unspoken rules, ghosting, mismatched expectations, the pressure to present a curated version of yourself—it’s a lot. Ironically, launching a business can feel more straightforward. With a startup, you expect messiness: you test, iterate, find your market fit, and keep refining. Failure isn’t final, it’s feedback.
There’s a reassuring logic in business—you can work harder, test smarter, and eventually “crack the code.” Dating? Not so much. No amount of A/B testing guarantees someone won’t disappear after three great dates.
So What If We Mixed the Two?
Here’s a thought: what if we approached relationships with the same level of intentionality we bring to business? Imagine if we set clear goals from the start—aligned on vision, values, and dealbreakers. Imagine if we prioritized open communication as much as a founder does with their team. Imagine if we gave ourselves permission to “iterate” when things don’t go as planned, instead of throwing in the towel at the first sign of friction.
The outcome might not be a unicorn startup or a picture-perfect romance, but it could lead to something more realistic and fulfilling: relationships built on clarity, honesty, and resilience.
Or Maybe…
Of course, there’s another side to this. Maybe we’re just over-romanticizing entrepreneurship. After all, startup life is hardly glamorous—it’s late nights, self-doubt, and constant risk. Framing it as a “love story” might just be our way of making the grind feel more meaningful.
Still, whether you’re chasing love or building a business, one truth holds: both demand courage, vulnerability, and the willingness to show up consistently, even when the outcome is uncertain.
And maybe that’s the real overlap. At the end of the day, whether you’re pitching investors or swiping on Bumble, you’re betting on the same thing: connection, growth, and the hope that all your effort will be worth it.
