By Michael Goldstein, an EO DC member and founder of Exhilarator

I used to believe that the most difficult part of being a startup entrepreneur was the lack of security, the long nights or even health insurance issues. Coming up with a market-changing idea seemed like the easy part, but the real issue is one that many entrepreneurs tend to tackle last: the business’s financial model.

Many founders simply decide on a revenue model that worked for other companies or work to gain customers and then monetize the product’s value. Others try to make as much as they can while they can, forgetting that short-term profits (just keeping the lights on) don’t lead to long-lasting businesses (big payoffs).