Why Founders Choose the Harder Path

By Saranga Pagadala, Founder of DesignAI

Building a startup is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And yet, like many other founders, I continue to choose this path every day.

When people talk about startups, they often highlight the glossy parts — funding rounds, growth metrics, press features, and product launches. What they don’t often talk about is the emotional weight founders carry: always being ON, the sacrifices, the self-doubt, and the relentless pressure to prove something that doesn’t yet exist.

At DesignAI, we set out to change how we interact with the digital world by using V/AR technology in the real estate industry. Over time, that vision grew into a platform that now includes AI tools that generate immersive experiences by simulating the real world.

But the road to building this has been anything but easy.

The Privilege and the Pain

It’s a privilege to wake up every day and work on a problem that genuinely excites you. It’s a privilege to work with talented people who believe in your vision. It’s a privilege to have customers who are rooting for you, who want your product to work because it will change how they operate.

But it’s also painful.

There were times when co-founder dynamics didn’t go as planned. Times when the product wasn’t ready and we lost deals. Times when investors walked away, and moments when I questioned whether I was even the right person to build this. Every founder knows what it’s like to stare into the unknown and ask themselves, Is this worth it?

The answer, for me, is still yes.

From the Field to being a Founder

Much of that mindset comes from my years playing competitive soccer. I’ve played since I was a kid, and the sport has always been my first teacher when it comes to discipline, resilience, and leadership.

Soccer also taught me how to be part of a team that relies on trust, communication, and selflessness. You learn to play your role, but also to lift others when they’re struggling. That’s what founding DesignAI has felt like — being part of a small, scrappy team that’s sprinting toward a goal with limited time and even fewer resources. Sometimes you’re the striker scoring goals, other times you’re playing defense, protecting the team’s momentum.

And then there’s the endurance. The early morning practices, the injuries, the games we lost in overtime. Just like with building a company, you show up every day, whether you feel like it or not. You learn to love the grind, not just the glory.

Learning at the Edge of Chaos

What makes this path worthwhile is how much you learn — about business, people, and most importantly, yourself. Startups force you to become resourceful. They teach you resilience, grit, and humility. They show you what you’re capable of, even when you have no sense of direction or when you’re completely lost.

With DesignAI, I’ve learned how to build products, how to pitch a vision, how to hire, how to lead, and how to recover from setbacks. I’ve learned that the hardest moments often precede the biggest breakthroughs. That progress doesn’t always look like up-and-to-the-right growth. Sometimes it looks like surviving another week. Sometimes it’s simply holding the team together.

I’ve learned that being a founder is about constantly growing into the next version of yourself.

Why Founders Keep Going

So why do we keep doing this, even when it’s hard?

Because there’s nothing more meaningful than creating something that didn’t exist before. Because there’s joy in solving hard problems. Because we believe, deeply, that there is a better way of doing things. And because, even when it’s painful, it’s ours.

Founders choose the hard path because it teaches us how to dream bigger. Because we want to leave a mark. Because we want to build a future that doesn’t yet exist — and we’re willing to go through hell to get there.

DesignAI has been that journey for me. It’s been messy, chaotic, painful, and deeply fulfilling. And if you ask me, would I do it again?

Absolutely. Every. Single. Time.