A Few Good Founders
Maybe the aforesaid line rings a bell. Maybe it doesn’t. But let’s hope that it does, for it’s truly an iconic line — one that was delivered by the equally iconic Jack Nicholson, who starred in A Few Good Men. If you haven’t seen the movie, thankfully, there’s still time to do so. But nevertheless, I’m not here to rave about the film’s cinematic merits; rather, I’m here to quickly highlight how the aforementioned line relates to the world of startups.
Indeed, from working in tech for the past few of years, I’ve seen how indispensable “truth” is to startups, for it operates as a navigational guide, an intellectual compass of sorts — a proxy for its immediate counterparts, facts and evidence, which are the vestigial byproducts left in its wake. And when harnessed correctly, “truth”, if you will, nudges the diligent founder in the right (or least wrong) direction, enabling them to better steer their entrepreneurial vessel through the turbulent conditions of running an early-stage company. Even better, “truth” can endow the attentive founder with the right fortitude to avoid some of those conditions all together.
However, not every founder embraces the truth. While this is unfortunate, it is, nevertheless, understandable — if not predictable. Many of us, if not all of us, struggle, at times, with the “truth”, for it cuts deep, takes no sides, and owes no one any favors. Yet, the best founders unconditionally flock towards facts, data, and evidence.
Despite the obvious advantages of doing so, many founders are reluctant to do so. They prefer data that reinforce their biases, assumptions, and preferences. For them, optics take primacy, no matter how incongruent they are to reality. While we (read: humans) are biologically wired to avoid pain, this particular approach is problematic in that it only begets more of what it intends to avoid, for the long-term pain of dismissing evidence is far greater than the immediate pain of accepting it.
So for the VC community, perhaps it’s ideal to further pattern match around a founder’s (and team’s) capacity to honestly assess and accurately respond to the prevailing fact patterns. Lastly, for the founders out there: pay attention to the data your company yields.
It may turn out to be your team’s competitive advantage, and in the startup context, one can never have too many advantages.
