After founding four start-ups and spending 15 years supporting entrepreneurs, I have developed what I call my ‘sixth sense for business’.
Sometimes, after just a few minutes of discussion, I know that a project will go nowhere. The market is too narrow. The business model is flawed. An unbalanced team. Flawed fundamental assumptions.
What seems obvious to me is not obvious to the entrepreneur in front of me. 🤔
And that’s the paradox of coaching:
I could be blunt: ‘Your project won’t work.’ But what’s the point? The entrepreneur isn’t ready to hear it. They need to live the experience, face the market, and draw their own conclusions.
Some would say that I should be brutally honest to ‘save them from wasting their time’.
But here’s what 15 years have taught me:
- Sometimes I’m wrong. The entrepreneur finds an angle I hadn’t seen. 💡
- Sometimes the project fails, but the learning experience is fundamental for the next one. 📚
- Sometimes it’s not the project that matters, it’s the fact of finally taking the plunge. 🚀
My role is not to judge the absolute viability of a project.
My role is to ask the right questions. The ones that will reveal the flaws. The ones that will force the entrepreneur to challenge their own certainties. The ones that will accelerate their learning.
‘Have you spoken to 50 potential customers?’ ‘What is your actual acquisition cost?’ ‘Why you, why now?’ ❓
If, after these questions, the entrepreneur persists, so much the better. Either they will have proven me wrong, or they will learn quickly and bounce back better. 💪
Experience doesn’t always prove you right. It just gives you a better intuition about the risks.
How about you? Have you ever had this feeling about a project? How do you deal with it? 👇
#entrepreneurship #startup #coaching #business
What bothers me the most? It’s not bold or improbable projects. It’s those where the entrepreneur systematically refuses to test their assumptions against reality. ⚠️
PS: And if you agree with me that there are no stupid ideas, here’s a good example: My PetRock. https://www.lesinrocks.com/actu/lhomme-qui-vendait-des-cailloux-domestiques-aux-americains-est-mort-359525-02-04-2015/