Rejection is the common thread in founder and creator stories
September 29, 2026 · 17 min read
Guy Raz finds rejection in nearly every How I Built This story, Jamie Kern Lima used it as fuel for IT Cosmetics, Jo Koy built a career on bombing, Zach King was rejected by film school, and John Grisham's rejections feature in Mel Robbins' book episode. Treating rejection as a normal career stage keeps people going long enough to break through.
The rules, numbers and steps worth keeping in front of you.
- Guy Raz: the ability to withstand rejection is the number one trait founders share, and it can be trained.
- Build tolerance with repeated low-stakes asks, as door-to-door sellers and missionaries do (Raz).
- Raz: mission, not money, carries founders through the hardest moments.
- Jo Koy: accepting a challenge and failing is a win; passing out of fear is the real failure.
- Koy bombed about 25 times before stand-up clicked, and never said no to a gig.
- Jamie Kern Lima faced three years of rejection from retailers, buyers and investors before a $1.2 billion sale.
- Kern Lima turned the cruellest rejection into her mission and trusted her gut over the experts.
- Zach King was rejected by film school twice and taught himself, then published on YouTube.
- John Grisham was rejected by 28 publishers and kept his day job while he wrote.
- Read each rejection: a fixable flaw, bias to route around, or a signal to pivot.
- If a gatekeeper keeps saying no, find a route that needs no permission, as Koy did by filming his own special.
- Anchor identity outside the outcome: Raz in being a father, King in work he is proud of.
- Kern Lima: knowing when to exit can be the real victory.
- These are hindsight success stories, and persistence has real costs.
This is the short form. The full insight has every expert's reasoning, their own words and the sources.