Hey Mr. Founder, You’re Not That Great

Respect the Competition

Confidence is a great asset. It is something we at Promus Ventures look for in founding teams. After an initial meeting or call with a company, there is no need to move further if we don’t get the sense that the team is:

1. going after their vision with reckless abandon AND
2. believe deep down they were uniquely crafted for their particular challenge

Cockiness and confidence brush up against each other but are two different species. Confidence holds back the power and unleashes it at appropriate moments. Cockiness runs amok, thinking its greatness spews from each pore, flinging superlatives all over the room.

We are privileged to see a lot of different types of startup teams. What we have noticed is an interesting anecdotal correlation in how teams view themselves versus the competition and success:

• The teams that see their competition as formidable and praise them for their efforts tend to be the teams that win.
• The teams that put down their competition and rail on others’ product seem to end up getting steamrolled.

“Meekness does not mean weakness,” so goes the refrain. Know that there are smarter people than you out there. Understand that the race is long with hills and valleys. Success is not measured in days and weeks, but months and years.

Regardless of how oversubscribed your current round is or the pedigree of your team, execution is a bear. The worst thing is to find yourself unprepared when there’s a leak in the boat. And all boats get leaks.

So be confident that your vision of the future will play itself out, but be humble enough to know that how you get there will most likely be different than what your deck says. It may go swimmingly well or be a total disaster, but it will test all you’ve got so be prepared.