I absolutely agree; you need a persistent “go big or go home” attitude if you’re going to make it as a startup business. I once took on a rather large game project with another good friend of mine, an artist. Though he was pessimistic from the beginning, I insisted we keep at it. In retrospect, it would’ve been much better to reevaluate the scope of the project early on, rather than burn ourselves out and not finish anything.

Of course, I don’t actually see my erstwhile cofounder quitting on me—he’s as dedicated as I am. We were just going to miss the deadline to apply together, so I said “Screw it—I’ll apply alone and hire him immediately, if by some magic I get in”.