Hey Reader,

Everyone thinks it, nobody says it out loud. I want to be rich. Not just comfortable. Not just doing okay. Rich.

And every time you mention an exit, an IPO, or what you'd do with the millions, someone... Another founder, an advisor, a VC, a shitty internet post, tells you that's the wrong mindset. Doesn't tell you. Shames you.

Do it for the passion. Do it for the mission. Do it for the impact.
Bullshit. You can do it for the money.

Read this post from Tim Draper. This is the "Red Flag" mentality that made me want to write this weeks newsletter.

"A startup is a mission. A great entrepreneur is a missionary. Not a mercenary... One of the biggest red flags is when the entrepreneur talks about how he is going to make money."

Off topic. Girl dad. She can be a red flag too!! 👱‍♀️

Tim is a legend, and from his seat, he's right. He's looking for a signal of inevitability. He wants to know you won't quit.

But for you, this creates a foul paradox, forced to perform "Missionary" while living the reality of a "Mercenary." So give Tim the mission, he needs it, just don't confuse what you show them with what drives you. (narrative vs motivation).

So when Tim tells you talking about the exit is an instant turn-off and not to care about money while they literally only have one job, one legal responsibility... to care about money, the irony feels a touch deafening. The whole structure, theirs and yours, is designed around financial outcomes.

Their concern is that if you’re only in it for the money, you’ll quit when it gets hard. Fair. Startups are brutal. They want to know you’ll go the distance when things break (they will). Their concern is they want you so committed to the problem that solving it is the mission. Also fair. I agree with them on this.

But they assume mission is the only thing that keeps you going.

Whilst I don't want you waltzing in talking about the catamaran you are looking to buy - “I want to be rich” is honest, clear, and measurable. It's way clearer than the hypothesis you are banking your startup on - that will probably pivot and change anyway. Wanting financial freedom, doesn’t change when it gets hard, if anything, that’s what actually gets you through.

A founder who wants to get rich from their company is maximally aligned with outcomes. That’s not misalignment, it’s the definition of skin in the game.

Commitment can come from passion for the problem, passion for the mission, or passion for wealth. Most founders started because they saw a broken thing and saw the opportunity in fixing it (hopefully) - the problem and the money were never in conflict. All three keep you in the fight. Don’t let anyone tell you only one of them counts.

PERMISSION

It’s okay to want to be rich. It’s okay to think about the exit. You don’t have to pretend you’re Elon saving humanity. You can just want to win. And get paid.

For most founders, it is not actually billions, and yachts - it’s a nice dream, but what most people really want is financial sovereignty - which is just the ability to say no to anyone, for any reason, forever. Yet, it goes against a culture that glorifies the broke founder grinding in a co-working space as if poverty is a prerequisite for purpose - a founder who would very much like the option to add avocado once in a while.

We can all agree that it's really fucking hard to get rich. It’s exponentially harder the richer you want to get. So my position is... go on then... do it. You can change the world and own a home. You can care about the mission AND the exit!

It's easy to forget Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when we look at a founder, yes delusional humans, but also, have basic needs. It’s hard to do anything when you can’t pay rent. It's not a fun theory - every day is a fight for survival, and if you have little bit of safety, surely it is easier to stay true to the mission?

Finally, your significant other, if that applies to you, the person holding it together while you’re building. The person managing the house, the kids, the awfulness of living with someone who’s all-in on a thing that might not work, the person who has only heard of slack because you talk about it 9000 times a day.

They’re not mission-driven about your SaaS platform, they’re mission-driven about your family’s future. So, honoring their sacrifice by wanting to get rich is the whole point.

When you’re not honest about the money and made to feel guilty about wanting it, or shamed for talking about it, you perform mission instead - which is really just code for using the word democratize a few times but inauthentic founders are worse operators.

Clarity on your motivation to want wealth makes you a clearer founder because decisions sharpen, strategy sharpens, because you know what you’re optimizing for - you have a very very clear reason for operating. Ergo, you start optimizing for the thing you actually want.

EVOLUTION

The best founders I know aren’t doing it ONLY for the money. But they’re not doing it ONLY for the mission either. They want to win. They want financial freedom. They want to build something meaningful. They want to be rich. All of those are true at once.

And a point for hindsight, as you pass that mini inflection point, not where it gets easier, but where you start to see the impact, a weird balance shifts because you start to see the impact of the thing you build, the actual, real impact, the customers that depend on you. And suddenly... the mission becomes real.

Early stage, mission is a slide in a deck that GPT helped you write, but as you move up and to the right, that impact becomes true and the work will create the passion as it scales.

Don’t let anyone make you feel small for wanting optionality. I didn't write a newsletter for the last two weeks. No reason. Optionality.

If I can be of service, feel free to grab time.

LFG.

- James

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