I thought building the product would be the hard part

A month ago, I quit my job to start a company with three friends. I thought the hardest part would be building the product. Turns out, building is the comfortable part. Talking to users, understanding problems deeply, learning distribution, figuring out how to get feedback, and putting your work in front of strangers has been much harder than writing code. Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to participate in communities like Reddit and Hacker News, and I’ve realized every community has its own culture. You don’t just show up and launch something. You learn, listen, contribute, and earn trust over time. Still very early in the journey, but I’m excited for what’s ahead. For founders who have been through this before: what surprised you most after leaving your job to build something of your own?