Just keep going

They pivot, they evolve, they transform, but they never stop.

Not one thing

After listening to many episodes of the Founders podcast, and the actual interviews David Senra did with some of the founders he “reviewed”, I find some common themes I wish to internalise.

The first has to do with the idea that if you want to be successful, you need to focus on the one thing you’re great at. I disagree. Founders are often publicly known for a specific thing, but that thing doesn’t really define their skill set, let alone their spectrum of interests. Most of them say they’re interested in many things, that they practise and learn about those things, and that these change over time.

There’s a certain seasonality to them. They turn interests into businesses, and businesses back into interests.

They never stop

What this points to is the opportunistic nature of entrepreneurs. They see a probability of succeeding, and they go after it.

They keep going, not just because they’re sure about their insight (which may well have come from that broad spectrum of interests), but also because they can’t stop. Stopping means defeat, and defeat doesn’t work for them. That vocabulary doesn’t exist.

They pivot, they evolve, they transform, but they never stop.

Already there

Perseverance seems to me to be broadly ill defined. It’s often associated with words like struggle, effort and pain. But when you hear a guy like Michael Ovitz talk, there’s no such association. He doesn’t mention his struggle, or hard work. He mentions the reason for his drive, and he keeps that reason, from his childhood, close to his heart.

It’s as if he doesn’t need to think about perseverance. It’s not an issue. He has the trait, but he didn’t train for it. What he did is much easier: he found a reason that was already there, and embodied it.

The valley

He literally says: “Where I’m from, there is no giving up.” And on another occasion: “I never want to go back to the valley.”

He knows those experiences are long behind him. But he chooses not to let that get in the way. He chooses not to sit still and enjoy his wealth. He just keeps on going, thriving in his childhood fear and pain.

Contained and tamed

Another theme is curiosity. This one speaks to me, because I’m quite curious myself. Learning about new things, perhaps unrelated to my current projects, gives me some kind of energy.

A curious mind and a rigid mind are polar opposites on the same spectrum. Curiosity must be contained and tamed, so it becomes a force and not a distraction.

Founders talk about clipping things they come across, sifting through the pile, and every now and then going very deep into them.

Deep research. Conversations with people who know a lot about the topic.

The dumbest in the room

They’re not afraid to be the dumbest in the room, or to show they don’t know much about certain topics. That trait is quite hard to find, especially in business relationships.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting your counterparties to think you’re smart and know a lot. But the ones who respect you for admitting you don’t know something are most likely the ones you should focus on.

They understand the value in not knowing, because they’ve been there themselves. And not knowing doesn’t mean you’ll never know. After all, knowledge is pretty easy to come by nowadays.

A million guys like us

None of the founders took “no” for an answer, nor did they take it personally. No simply meant the counterparty wasn’t the right one. They kept looking for the right partner, investor, employee, client.

Rick Rubin, talking to Jimmy Iovine, said something that made me laugh, because it’s hard to believe it’s true: “There are a million guys like us, we’re not that special.” Jimmy agreed, and said he tells himself the same.

Just because the guy you admired, spent time on, or desperately thought you needed said no, doesn’t mean there aren’t others who could do the job better.

Just as there are probably people who could do your job better than you. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. The ocean is plenty full of fish.

Not wanting to

It’s amazing how media and fame distort our perspective on people. They get put on high horses and decorated with all sorts of fancies. But in reality they’re just people like us: flawed humans who happened to work very hard on a thing they’re great at.

Rick Rubin again: “I wake up every morning not wanting to do the thing I am supposed to do, but I made an agreement, so I have to do it.” He loves the moment he realises there’s potential in a song. The rest of the process, not so much.

Just showing up

These words strike home. They hit hard, like a bus. We tend to think these guys must be something special, have something special, be blessed or whatever.

But they’re not. They’re just showing up, every day.

And so can I

And so can I show up every day too.

That’s what’s going to make the difference? Right, that seems easy.

Even if you don’t feel like it

Just showing up, even if you don’t feel like it. That’s what I used to do, and will continue doing.

First written in August 2026.