This post was originally posted on GeekWire.

Seaton Gras started a tech incubator because he wanted to help entrepreneurs more easily create companies.  He named it SURF Incubator — an acronym for Start Up Really Fast.

But If you prod a bit more and ask him about the name, he might just dive into an analogy of how startups and surfing are quite similar. SURF is a great name since founders are constantly working against resistance to get a business up and running, he says.

Bromium founder Simon Crosby brought up that same analogy during one of my recent Founders RAW conversations.

He says:

“So you’re in the waves… and you got a board.  And your board is your ‘idea’.  And one thing you quickly realize is you cannot control when the waves come.. you have no ability.  When the wave comes, you gotta get on the board and you gotta surf… and there’s reefs and other dangerous things under you.  So you cannot control time, you’re in a very precarious situation at all times… and it goes up and down a lot, sometimes several times a day.”

New startups are being created at a fever pitch — and we’re coming off Seattle Startup Week where we crawled, sang, danced, learned, lived and breathed startups. But it’s important to remember: Not everyone surfs.

And they don’t for very good reasons.

It’s dangerous.  It takes time.  It takes patience.  It takes learning the ins and outs of the environment  so you can start predicting what’s going to happen next.  It’s not as glamorous as most make it out to be, sometimes it’s cold, it’s always wet and a mouthful of salt water doesn’t usually sit too well.

See the similarities?

Let’s not forget it takes lots of hard work and dedication to build great and lasting companies.  Here’s to hoping you paid attention this last week, made some great contacts and discovered your next steps to take. I know I did.

Now, it is time to act on those next steps.  Make a promise that your excitement and energy of wanting to be a part of the startup movement doesn’t get washed away just like the “NICK WAS HERE” signature I place in the sand of every beach I visit.

Below is the short clip of the surfing analogy from my conversation with Simon.  You can catch more of Founders RAW here.