Why do founders love to self-sabotage.
Hello World.
As with all new hobbies. I started slacking on this new one of writing blogs. And I found myself skipping my writing routine for many days.
However, the good news...
This blog is not about me. Or it is only partially about me.
This blog is about founders. (yes, I was a founder. But not anymore. I still love founding stuff. And as many of the founders out there, this can also be linked to some undiagnosed ADHD)
And at the time of writing this blog, I am professionally hired to be a founder best friend. Or sometimes, a founder wing man.
And as all good best friends, sometimes I have to be a tough friend. Actually, many times I have to be a tough friends.
I have been a tough friend to founders so many times that I have started seeing a pattern in founders' behaviours.
Thus, the name of this blog post.
It is truly impressive how many founders find so many creative ways to self-sabotage their work.
Sometimes weeks, months or even years of their hard work would go to waste because of these last minute decisions.
Things like stopping a funding application that can allow their company to survive for another 12 or 18 months, 2 weeks before submitting the final application.
How do I know that?
- Because I have seen it happening with many founders at my role at SuperCharger Ventures.
- Because I have been through it myself.
For the remaining part of this blog, I will focus on #1. More on #2 in a separate post, because remember, this one is not about me.
So, the real question is, Why do founders love to self-sabotage so freaking much?
In my opinion and experience, there are three main reasons for this behaviour.
A. Founders are rebels, even on themselves.
B. Founders are experts in firefighting, not wells digging.
C. Failing is scary, but sometime succeeding is even scarier.
For A) founders have left stable careers to follow paths less traveled. This provides them with the awesome excuse of being pioneers.
At times, they might succeed in finding fantastic new continents, at others, they might be looking for India and end up finding the US instead.
However, the routes of these awesome destinations might take months or years to discover. And many founders have unreal expectations and seek the destination more than the journey. I know, sounds a bid cliche, but it is real.
B) Fighters made a career of being under-staffed, under-resourced, and always in surviving mode, even if the lifespan are longer for some.
So, firefighting 🔥 is their thing. However, successful entrepeneurs need to also become very good at finding the right soil, gather the needed resources, and start digging for longterm wells. And most founders, learn this the hard way.
This leads them to be in the defensive position all the time, reacting instead of acting, and taking lots of decisions that are shortterm-focused. Thus, sabotaging their chances for longer term success.
Lastly, for C) EGO is scary. It can lead you to 10x success or 100x loss.
Betting on your own success as a founder is scary for two main reasons. First, what if you end up failing? Second, what if you end up succeeding?
The answer again is simple and convenient. self-sabotage.
It is way easier to self-sabotage and blame others, investors, clients, partners, the ecosystem, or life, than to give it your 100% and try your best to fight for your very low chances of success.
So how can we fix this mindset?
I am not fully sure yet.
However, over the years, I became a strong believer in this;
We are all slaves to God (Allah).
God plants the worm in the mouth of a bird, and he plants bread crumbs in the nests of the ants - without them ever worrying too much about it.
How can this relate to us?
We, humans, need to start focusing more on the process.
And leave the results to the creator of results.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala.
Peace be upon you all 👋🏼
As this is my first blog, I would appreciate any feedback.
Please feel free to write me at Hi@iusef.me