Startups
Early-stage companies and the specific, often unglamorous challenges of building one. Most of what actually determines survival looks nothing like the story eventually told about it.
Burn rate is a decision, not just a number
Burn rate gets reported as though it were simply observed. In practice, nearly every part of it reflects a choice the team is making, consciously or not.
The pivot that looks like failure from the outside
A well-timed pivot often gets read publicly as a company admitting defeat. Internally, it frequently looks like the opposite: a team finally facing reality.
A founding team is a bet on how people handle conflict
Founding teams get chosen mostly for complementary skills. What actually determines whether a team survives is how its members handle real disagreement.
The advisor who never actually helps
A well-connected advisor with a small equity grant sounds valuable in theory. Many end up contributing far less than the equity they were given assumed.
Hiring the first ten employees changes the company forever
The first ten hires set norms that persist long after those specific people have moved on, whether or not founders are deliberate about shaping them.
The co-founder breakup nobody saw coming
Co-founder splits often look sudden from the outside. Nearly all of them were visible, in hindsight, for months before anyone acted on the warning signs.
Splitting equity fairly is harder than it sounds on paper
An equal equity split feels like the fair, conflict-avoiding choice at the start. It can quietly become a source of resentment once contributions diverge.
