Why you always lying?
Data, analytics, startups and guts…
Time to face it: you’re hallucinating.
We’re all hallucinating; some of us more than others. Entrepreneurs are the most delusional of all.
Entrepreneurs are especially great at lying to themselves. Lying may even be a prerequisite for succeeding as an entrepreneur — at the end of the day, you need to convince and persuade others to believe that something is true despite the lack of good, hard evidence. You need people to believe you and to take a leap of faith with you. As an entrepreneur, you need to live in a semi-delusional state just to survive the inevitable rollercoaster ride of running your startup — one day feeling: “I’m gonna be a billionaire” and “What the fuck am I doing with my life?” the next.
Small lies are essential. They create your reality distortion field. They are a necessary part of being an entrepreneur. But if you start believing your own hype, you won’t survive. You’ll go too far into the bubble you’ve created, and you won’t come out until you hit the wall — hard — and that bubble bursts.
You need to lie to yourself, but not to the point where you’re jeopardising your business.
That’s where data comes in.
Your delusions, no matter how convincing, will break under the harsh light of data. Analytics is the necessary counterweight to lying, the yin to the yang of hyperbole. Moreover, data-driven learning is the cornerstone of success in startups. It’s how you learn what’s working and iterate toward the right product and market before the money runs out. For the very well-funded, be cautious of running out of time.
In no way am I suggesting that gut instinct is a bad thing. Instincts are inspiration, and you’ll need to listen to your gut and rely on it throughout the startup journey. Don’t ignore yourself or your guts. Guts matter; but you’ve just got to test them. Instincts are experiments. Data is proof.
