What TIG Welding Taught Me About Building a Startup
At first glance, TIG welding and building a startup don't seem to have much in common.
One involves molten metal, tungsten electrodes, and hours spent in a fabrication shop. The other involves customers, marketing, product development, and endless problem-solving.
But the longer I've done both, the more I've realized they're remarkably similar.
When most people first try TIG welding, they're surprised by how difficult it is. Unlike MIG welding, where you can get decent results fairly quickly, TIG demands precision. You're controlling the torch with one hand, feeding filler rod with the other, and managing heat input all at the same time. A small mistake can quickly ruin the weld.
Startups are much the same.
From the outside, people often see the finished product. They see the successful company, the growing customer base, or the polished website. What they don't see are the countless small adjustments happening behind the scenes every single day.
Just like TIG welding, success isn't about one big move. It's about managing dozens of small variables simultaneously.
In TIG welding, too much heat can warp the material. Too little heat can leave a weak weld. Move too fast and you lose penetration. Move too slow and you create problems of a different kind.
Building a startup requires similar balance.
Move too quickly and you may create systems that don't scale. Move too slowly and competitors pass you by. Spend too much time perfecting a product and you may never launch. Launch too early and you risk disappointing customers.
The challenge is finding the right balance.
Another lesson TIG welding teaches is patience.
Nobody lays down perfect welds on day one. Every skilled welder has stacks of practice coupons hidden somewhere that remind them how much they struggled in the beginning. Improvement comes through repetition, mistakes, and a willingness to keep showing up.
The same is true in business.
Most startups don't struggle because founders lack intelligence. They struggle because building something meaningful takes longer than expected. There are setbacks, unexpected expenses, customer feedback, product revisions, and countless moments where quitting feels easier than continuing.
The founders who succeed are often the ones who simply stay in the game long enough to improve.
One of my favorite things about TIG welding is that every weld tells a story. An experienced fabricator can look at a weld bead and immediately identify what happened. Too much heat. Poor fit-up. Inconsistent travel speed. The evidence is right there in the finished product.
Business works the same way.
The results we see today are often the visible outcome of thousands of decisions made months or years earlier. Growth, stagnation, success, and failure all leave clues if we're willing to look closely enough.
Perhaps the biggest lesson TIG welding has taught me is that perfection isn't the goal—continuous improvement is.
Every project teaches something. Every mistake becomes experience. Every challenge improves your skill set for the next one.
Whether I'm building a custom car in The Fab Lab or helping grow a startup, I've learned that progress usually comes from the same place: patience, persistence, and a willingness to keep refining your craft.
In both welding and business, the people who win are rarely the ones who start out the most talented.
They're usually the ones who keep showing up, keep learning, and keep building.