The Blessing of Customers Makes a Startup Rich, and Adds No Sorrow

When I set out to build my first startup back in college, I was overflowing with excitement. I had what I believed was a brilliant idea: an app to help people manage their daily tasks more efficiently. I poured everything I had into it. Every feature was designed with care, the interface polished until it felt just right. I was convinced that once it launched, people would come running.

But launch day came and went. Then a week passed. Then two. And the downloads never really arrived. I tried marketing, ran small campaigns, sent messages to everyone I could, but the numbers stayed flat. I was stuck. More than that, I was confused. I had built something good. Why didn’t anyone seem to care?

That’s when I realized the truth. I never actually talked to the people I was building for. I didn’t ask what they wanted, what they struggled with, or how they organized their days. I assumed. I built in silence. And when I finally unveiled the product, it wasn’t solving a real, clearly felt problem. It was a solution in search of a need.

That failure stuck with me, but it also taught me something I’ll never forget. A startup lives and dies by its relationship with its customers. Their attention is what validates your idea. Their feedback is what shapes your product. And their money is what keeps you alive.

There’s a proverb that says, “The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” That line kept echoing in my head as I reflected on the experience. It inspired a version of my own: The blessing of customers makes a startup rich, and they add no sorrow with it.

The blessing is the support, the revenue, and the growth that come when people use and pay for what you’ve built. And there’s no sorrow in that because it’s honest. It’s earned. It’s a sign that you’ve built something people actually want.

I started thinking more about whether it’s even possible to become truly wealthy without customers. And sure, there are exceptions. Inheritance. Investments. Some people build their wealth in ways that seem detached from selling directly to others. But even in those cases, customers are never far from the picture.

Warren Buffett is one of the most well-known investors in history. He doesn’t sell products directly, but the companies he invests in do. Their ability to generate returns is rooted in how well they serve their customers. Without that relationship, his portfolio wouldn’t grow.

The Walton family inherited wealth from Walmart, but that fortune came from a company that serves millions of people every single day. Walmart is built on knowing what customers want and offering it at a price they can manage. The family’s legacy and wealth are inseparable from that customer relationship.

In tech, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos built companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Amazon by putting customers first. Amazon changed the way the world shops by making convenience a core value. Tesla made electric vehicles desirable by listening to what customers cared about, from performance to sustainability.

Startups like Airbnb and Slack took off by focusing on real needs. Airbnb didn’t just offer a new way to travel. It listened to both hosts and guests and shaped the platform around their experiences. Slack became the go-to communication tool for teams because it solved a pain point and kept evolving with user feedback.

Even in fields like entertainment and sports, customer support is at the core. Oprah Winfrey became a billionaire through viewers and fans who watched her shows, bought her books, and supported her brand. Michael Jordan built a global brand on top of talent, but also on products that people wanted to wear and emulate.

It’s hard to find a path to long-term wealth that doesn’t, in some way, trace back to people who choose to engage, support, and spend. And that means customers. Even those who invest in financial instruments or inherit wealth are ultimately connected to businesses that rely on customers to survive and grow.

That early failure in college was a gift in disguise. It showed me that success isn’t just about building cool stuff. It’s about building with people in mind. It’s about solving the right problem for the right person at the right time.

Now, I reach out early. Before I write a line of code or sketch an idea, I ask questions. I listen. I test. I try to understand not just the need, but the person behind it. What frustrates them? What slows them down? What are they trying to achieve?

I’ve learned to invite feedback, even when it’s tough to hear. I’ve learned to build with flexibility. I’ve learned that trust is everything, and that relationships matter more than features. You can patch bugs and rewrite code, but you can’t fake genuine care for your customers.

Even when someone inherits a fortune, the reason that fortune exists in the first place usually goes back to a group of customers who found value in something. Whether it’s a retail empire, a media platform, or a software tool, the common thread is people who showed up, paid attention, and paid money.

So now I keep this phrase close: The blessing of customers makes a startup rich, and they add no sorrow with it.

It reminds me that no matter how much hype surrounds a startup or how much capital it raises, nothing is more valuable than the trust of real people who believe in what you’ve built. When you serve them well, they become your greatest strength. And that kind of blessing really does add no sorrow.