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Every day, I鈥檓 joined by CEOs and entrepreneurs sharing the ups and downs of business building. The biggest question on all of their minds: What do I need to do for my business not just to survive, but thrive?

Many founders need help, as 50% of startups do not reach the five-year milestone. A by noted that, while all companies will have an initial spark, not all of them can sustain the flame to build ongoing success. Entrepreneurs who can maintain the flame demonstrate the 鈥渞esilience, perseverance, innovation, and ownership mindset necessary for long-term success.鈥�

So what can entrepreneurs do to sustain this flame? At my Florida-based startup community, , we鈥檝e seen a 96% survivability rate, despite intense market changes, a global pandemic and a massive decline in venture funding.

Here are three of the biggest commonalities I鈥檝e seen contribute to the long-term success of those companies over the years.

A desire to listen

The pace of learning when you鈥檙e building a business is intense. Every customer discovery call, team meeting, roadmap and board update delivers an outsized volume of data points that can improve what you鈥檙e doing.

While every entrepreneur might see this information, they aren鈥檛 necessarily listening to it. To listen to this information means transforming it into actions that will improve your business in the long run.

An entrepreneur who listens and transforms is curious. And as founder once said: 鈥淐uriosity doesn鈥檛 kill the cat, it kills the competition.鈥�

Your curiosity 鈥� your desire to listen and change and grow 鈥� is your biggest asset and competitive advantage.

A curious entrepreneur is eager to get inside customers鈥� minds. In the early days, entrepreneurs who have a genuine curiosity about how to make their customers鈥� lives better tend to have a faster path to product-market fit. They are continually learning what matters most to their users, and acting on it.

Because of this, these entrepreneurs are often quick to adapt and grow. They鈥檙e able and willing to make real-time modifications based on what they鈥檙e learning about their customer and their business. Their roadmaps are written in pencil, not pen. They don鈥檛 hesitate to revisit plans when customers begin pointing them in a new direction.

Furthermore, this type of entrepreneur is often an expert at context-switching. Due to the nature of their jobs, founders are often required to wear a lot of hats. This means being bombarded by a variety of inputs and tasks over the day, and the only way to navigate them is by mastering your mind鈥檚 filing cabinet.

The ability to context switch is an incredible determinant of entrepreneurs who can cut it and those who can’t. The strongest entrepreneurs can hold all that information at once, and know how to sort it in real time to inform productive iterations in products, messaging and processes.

A detachment to the ups, an opportunity with the downs

The reality of being a founder is that, for every one thing that goes according to plan, 10 things will not. A strong entrepreneur, one who can build a thriving business, has a healthy relationship with these inevitable ups and downs.

It鈥檚 important to have a balance 鈥� celebrate your wins (and acknowledge your losses), but don鈥檛 let either define you. When something goes well, recognize it, and don鈥檛 be shy to celebrate with your team. These achievements keep motivation high and validate that you鈥檙e onto something big.

However, it鈥檚 important to recognize that those wins can be fleeting. You can鈥檛 let them define you or your business. Entrepreneurs who dwell in the wins of the past can miss the information and learning moments that guide them where they need to go in the future.

As for the downs, it鈥檚 important to remember that challenges fuel iterations. A good CEO friend of mine often says, 鈥淭he challenges are happening for you, not to you.鈥�

The downs, the obstacles and the bad news all contribute to a better, stronger future so long as you know what to do with them.

Lean into the downs, and use them as an opportunity to learn, evolve and grow. You鈥檒l be thankful to those moments in the long run.

An endurance mindset

Building a company is an endurance sport, and you should treat it as such to see success. You are an athlete of sorts, and to perform you need to take care of your health and wellness in all aspects. Founders are a core asset to the success of their business, and they need to be taken care of in the same way any other asset would be. A burnt-out founder leads to a burnt-out business.

Furthermore, it鈥檚 important, but difficult, for founders to acknowledge that they are not the brand. For a company to scale, a brand needs to take on an identity of its own, outside of the founder. Otherwise, everything the brand does is limited by the perspective and the abilities of the founder or founding team. In the same way, you let your child grow up to be their person, you need to let your brand become its entity outside of you.

Ultimately, it鈥檚 important to remember that building a business isn鈥檛 linear. There will be highs and lows and everything in between. By sticking with entrepreneurs and helping them develop the skills needed to create long-term success, your business can and will flourish.

is the CEO of , a startup hub located in downtown Tampa, Florida. Before moving to Tampa Bay, Shenoy served as the vice president of strategy and business development at Chicago-based incubator . Prior to 1871, she worked for several top global media and advertising brands. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from and an MBA from the . She currently serves on the board for and .

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