The founder must stay corrigible

A founder needs enough conviction to continue when reasonable people doubt the idea.

The same conviction can become a liability when it protects every assumption from evidence.

The solution is not weaker belief. It is a better relationship with being wrong. A founder can be deeply committed to the mission while remaining willing to revise the product, the market, the timing, or the method.

I trust leaders more when they can say, plainly, that a previous view no longer fits the facts.

Being wrong is expensive. Remaining wrong because identity became attached to the answer is usually much more expensive.