- Being both optimistic and pessimistic is necessary for success.
- Being too far on either extreme can lead to failure.
- Pessimistic founders tend to want to quit or change everything after one negative experience.
- Optimistic founders may talk a lot but fail to create value or provide insights.

The fact is you need to be both optimistic and pessimistic.

And if you're too far on either extreme, you are gonna fail.

Michael, who's the stereotypical too pessimistic founder?

It is like 1 painful experience causes them to want to either quit everything or change everything and fill in the blank on the painful experience.

It's like bad customer call, bad investor pitch meeting, whatever.

1 negative experience is getting them to run away.

How about the comical stereotype of someone who's too optimistic?

You're like, there must be something here.

But the longer they keep talking, the more you are extremely confused why it doesn't appear like anything has happened, like any value has been created or any insight has been found.

By the end of the conversation, like you are convinced the person actually has no idea what's going on.


Speaker 0: The fact is you need to be both optimistic and pessimistic. And if you're too far on either extreme, you are gonna fail. Michael, who's the stereotypical too pessimistic founder? What are they like?

Speaker 1: It is like 1 painful experience causes them to want to either quit everything or change everything and fill in the blank on the painful experience. It's like bad customer call, bad investor pitch meeting, whatever. 1 negative experience is getting them to run away.

Speaker 0: How about the comical stereotype of someone who's too optimistic? What's it like talking to them?

Speaker 1: So at first, you get really excited. You're like, there must be something here. But the longer they keep talking, the more you are extremely confused why it doesn't appear like anything has happened, like any value has been created or any insight has been found. By the end of the conversation, like you are convinced the person actually has no idea what's going on.

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How do you balance optimism and pessimism while building your company?