Most entrepreneurs are very sure that the start-up which they are going to start is going to change the world. Everyone dreams they are going to found the next unicorn, otherwise no one would ever go down this path !

I think it's important that you have a lot of optimism , because the truth is that you do need to be a little crazy in order to have the courage to found start up. However, some of this is misplaced. 

This is partly because first-time entrepreneurs are usually students who've been extremely successful academically, which is why they are not used to handling failure. The naively assume that just because they've been very successful in school and college, they will continue being successful in the real world as well. However, we all know there is no correlation between academic success and real world success, but this is not something which they've learned as yet.

The other problem is all the Kool-Aid which they're used to drinking because of all the hype which surrounds the start-up ecosystem. They read all the success stories which the media highlights; they soak up all the praise which is showered on the start-up founders who have made it big; and they binge on all the Shark Tank shows. 

Sadly, few people talk about the failures and hardships which entrepreneurs need to endure. Even successful entrepreneurs convey a very rosy picture of their journey, because they want to show how heroic they have been in overcoming all the obstacles they were forced to surmount. They usually downplay all the near death experiences which they've had. 

Investors, on the other hand, are acutely aware of the fact that lots of start-ups fail. Most investors have invested in companies which have gone belly up, even though the start-up was very well positioned and the founder seemed to be very bright, and had all the right things going for them. Even after being able to raise funds from sceptical and cynical funders , they still end up failing - often after burning through a lot of money. This is why there's such a huge difference in the world view between the battle-scarred seasoned investor , and the first-time entrepreneur !