Hey Reader, The most founder thing you’ll ever do is clap for yourself in the dark. The everyday battle to carry something heavy that no one even knows you’re holding, and yet, everyday, you choose to lift it anyway. With all the founder myths, the hustle porn, and the startup optics, motivation gets fragile. Not because you’re weak but because you’re bombarded by stories that make it feel that if you’re struggling, you must be failing. But it’s not real. It’s curated. Calm down. I’m not...
9 days ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, Right now, in the thick of the hard work, it’s easy to confuse effort with progress. It's hard to separate exploration work from completion work. Both matter. But only one completes the job. That confusion usually starts with drift. Half-loops. Half-commits. All noise. It feels like action. It’s not. Let’s fix that. You half-execute. Test instead of commit. Cold email campaign with no replies? Failed channel. Fumbled pitch? Market doesn't work. Meanwhile, that unanswered email in...
16 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Your startup exists in multiple realities simultaneously.You see a unicorn. They see a horse with an ice cream cone stuck to its head. Same startup. Different realities. That gap between perceptions is where founders live every day... the space between what is and what's perceived. The investor who squints at your deck and diagnoses the wrong problem. The advisor who actually knows what's holding you back. The prospect who can't see why your solution matters. The team member who's...
23 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, One of the things you only discover by being a founder is that... You never arrive. The goal posts always move. We know this. Build the product, no time to celebrate, now you need a customer. Sign the customer, no time to celebrate, now you need to fix the bugs. Fix the bugs, no time to celebrate, now you have to keep your customers. It's always "just one more thing." Perhaps my fave way of explaining it, is as a founder you are always standing on the edge of a cliff, when...
30 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, You don't grow out of selling. You grow through it. Sales is just concentrated empathy plus action. You’ve already got both. I hope. Sales is about deeply understanding someone else's problem (empathy) and caring enough to do something about it (action). That’s not “selling" - that’s serving with conviction. To not sell it, would be selfish :) But selling evolves. Early customers buy you. The chaos. The charm. The promise. That's where you thrive. Later customers? Expect some...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Your pitch deck promised X. Your roadmap outlined Y. But today, you're building Z. And that's exactly as it should be. Founders write plans as if startups operate in predictable environments. They don't. They operate in constant chaos. Planning creates direction. Preparation creates options. You need both, but most founders over-index on the former and under-invest in the latter. Your plans are fantasies until they collide with reality because the world rarely reacts how you...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Toxic employees kill companies.Nope.Mediocre employees do. If you truly, deeply, obsessively care about what you're building… you’ve probably been called toxic, probably even felt a little toxics. But there’s a world of difference between destructive behavior (toxic) and productive intensity (diva energy). If caring too much, pushing too hard, and refusing to lower your standards makes someone a diva? Then yeah. Hire more of them. intensity ≠ toxicity What people really mean when...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, You can only believe in what you don’t know. That’s why you started. Right? Every great startup begins as an act of defiance against the existing reality.Not always to change the world. Sometimes, just to make something a bit better. You see a gap in the market, an edge, a better way. You imagine the future. The users, the traction, the growth, the impact. You see your life on the other side. Ugh. The seduction of possibility. Every founder starts at zero. Just the idea, a vision...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, The biggest inflection points in your startup won't feel big when they happen. It's the smallest shifts that change everything. Big Doors Swing on Small Hinges is tied to decisions, actions, and communication. 🚀 The decision that kills your startup won't feel big when you make it. That's what makes it dangerous.🚀 The decision that changes everything won't feel big either. That's why most founders miss it. This is the counter-balance to the entropy newsletter. The thousand tiny...
2 months ago • 4 min read