By Corey Kossack

Entrepreneurs love to rush. We are always in such a hurry to get things done, whether it be the launch of a website or the closing of our first big deal. We rush primarily out of fear, and sometimes that fear gets in the way of doing the right thing for our product and those who use it. What fear? Sometimes it's: "If I don't get this out to the world today, someone else will come out with a better version tomorrow", or "If I don't get an investor in the next 90 days, my company is going to go under and all my hard work will have been for nothing".

While there certainly is validity to both of these fears, entrepreneurs need to remember that there is always a way to continue moving towards achieving success - that is, if you meet the three following requirements:

1) You genuinely care about the impact your product or service will have on the people who use it

2) You created your company because there was a need for it - not because you had a need to be an entrepreneur

3) You are willing to do whatever it takes to turn your vision into reality

Maybe I am still a little too young and still a little too naive, but it is my belief that if you meet those three requirements, nothing will really stand in your way of continuing to make progress towards your end game.

One of my favorite entrepreneurs, Lyn Graft from Austin Texas, always said to me "It's more of a marathon than a sprint", when referring to growing a company. There were times when I thought that maybe Lyn's words were more of an optimist's way of making excuses for why things at their company weren't growing as fast as they had hoped, but I've come to see this as more of a reality than optimism. Those who are looking for a quick hit in entrepreneurship likely won't get it, but those who are in it for the long haul (who listen to others, adapt to what their customers need, and continue to push the envelope) will have a fighting chance at success.

Last week I read an article by Rosabeth Moss Kanter at Harvard Business School about innovators and staying 15 minutes ahead of the competition. Here's what was interesting to me about that article and how it applies to the subject at hand. Kanter said "Innovation is risky... Innovators often have to ease anxieties by sounding conservative when doing something radical."  She said that rather than trying to change the world, change your industry or change the way consumers behave overnight, you need to take baby steps toward your end goal, consistently staying just 15 minutes ahead of everyone else. So true. Look at Facebook. Back in 2004, if Facebook had launched with this mega-social network that allowed people you had loose relationships with to see every detail of what's going on in your life, do you think you would have signed up? Maybe not. But after years of conditioning us (15 minutes at a time) to open up and share our lives with others, today we are more than willing to tell people what's happening with our lives, and some of us have even gotten comfortable enough to tell people exactly where we are at any given time, using services like FourSquare. 

So rather than trying to sprint towards your end game, dig your heels in and get ready for the marathon ahead. Just don't forget to listen to your customers, stay 15 minutes ahead and keep innovating along the way. If what you are building really matters to enough people, you'll get to where you need to go.