đ Hi, Iâm Oliver and welcome to my newsletter The Foundersâ Fuel which is all about becoming a better startup founder. Join 10,153 founders and VCs backed by companies like a16z, YC, Accel, Sequoia, and more to gain data-driven insights, understand why they matter, and learn to use strategies that help your startup grow.
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I have a vision so clear it burns, a startup idea I would bet my life on. But markets shift, users surprise me, and new shit happens every single day.
Itâs not easy. I have to stay stubborn, yet flexible if I want to make it out.
Every startupâs heart is its mission. Paul Saffo says the Founderâs Paradox is âholding that mission like a lifeline while staying ready to swap your playbook when data points to a better playâ.
Itâs about nailing our why, like making work seamless, but bending on the how, like jumping from software to services.
Steve Jobs crushed this at Apple. He lived for tech that felt human but pivoted from Macs to iPods when the market screamed music.
His vision held; his path didnât. Stubborn, yet flexible.
We, founders, mess this up. Some of us cling to our original idea as something untouchable, even when thereâs 0 traction. Why do we do this to ourselves?
Or we chase anything shiny. The founder paradox means we stand firm and pivot sharp in one breath.
Itâs especially important in the last two years, when thereâs too much happening with the AI boom. Startup closures increase, mainly because of this lack of âstubborness, yet flexibilityâ.
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Slack is a textbook case of staying true to their vision, no matter the circumstances.
Stewart Butterfield started with a gaming idea but noticed users loved their chat tool more. He stuck to his why, seamless collaboration, but ditched games for enterprise software.
That pivot alone drove a $27B exit.
So what can we do to ensure this?
Pin your companyâs why to one sentence, like âmake finances painless.â
Every larger decision must align.
Track users and metrics daily, keep an eye on rivals. Test pivots small, like Slack did with its chat tool internally. Explain every shift to your team, tying it to the one-liner behind mission. Every quarter, check: is this path still the best bet?
Jeff Bezos mastered this at Amazon, staying customer-obsessed but flexing from books to global retail.
We get this right and we are golden.
Stay focused. Pivot sharp. Win slowly.
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