Be excited
A lot of times, true excitement is the unfair advantage highly successful founders have over others.
I had a conversation last week that completely changed how I think about what makes entrepreneurs truly successful.
It started pretty much like any other conversation I have. A person with a goal, and my follow up conversation to understand the person, and their goals better.
But, the conversation ended up revealing something profound about the difference between founders who thrive and those who just survive.
Let me tell you what happened.
It Started With a Simple Request
An investor reached out to me last week. She was looking to get connected with early-stage founders in the AI space – nothing unusual there. I get these requests all the time.
But as I do with everyone new I connect with, I started digging deeper. I needed to understand exactly what she was looking for so I could make the best possible connections for her.
During our conversation, she rattled off her investment criteria:
Quite a lot of numbers. Team experience. Market size. Business model. Revenue projections. Growth metrics.
All the usual suspects you'd expect from someone who's written dozens of checks and has some serious wins in her portfolio.
Then she paused mid-sentence.
"You want to know what's really at the top of my list?"
Now this was exactly what I was looking for. The boilerplate stuff is table stakes – anyone can recite market size and team credentials.
But this? This was gold.
This was what would help me make the absolute best connections for her.
"Founder excitement about the problem they're solving. Everything else I can help fix – team gaps, go-to-market strategy, even business model pivots. But if they're not genuinely fired up about what they're building? That's unfixable."
The Pattern That Made Me Pause
That was a perfect starting point for my search. But it also got me thinking in a way that made me uncomfortable. (Yes, I do get uncomfortable.)
There have been founders whose businesses were absolutely relevant to this investor. Strong teams, solid traction, impressive metrics. But based on my conversations with them, something was missing. That spark. That fire.
They'd somehow lost it along the way.
And in good conscience, and with conversion goals all around in mind, I knew they would not be the right fit.
I started mentally reviewing recent conversations I'd had with founders, and a troubling pattern emerged:
So many of them are just going through the motions. Pitching because they have to. Building because that's what founders do. Networking because their advisors told them to.
But that initial fire? That thing that got them started in the first place? It's barely flickering.
I spoke with a founder just last month who has everything on paper – great team, solid product, decent traction. But when I asked him about the problem he was solving, his response felt... rehearsed.
Like he'd said it a thousand times but stopped feeling it somewhere along the journey. If you asked me if he believed in the grand plan or not, I honestly wouldn’t be able to tell you.
The Authenticity Test
Here's the thing about excitement that this investor helped me realize: you absolutely cannot fake it. Not really.
People can sense authenticity from a mile away, especially investors who've sat through hundreds of pitches. They've developed a sixth sense for genuine passion versus well-rehearsed enthusiasm.
I've been in calls where I could practically feel the difference bursting through. Some founders describe their product methodically, hitting all the right buzzwords. Others paint a picture of the world they're trying to create, and you can hear the emotion in their voice.
Guess which ones get the most follow-up meetings?
What Real Excitement Looks Like
Ask any successful investor about their best investments, and here's what they'll tell you:
They backed founders who couldn't stop talking about their problem space. Not their product features. Not their business model. But the problem itself.
Founders who would light up when discussing the customer pain they were solving. Who you could sense genuine frustration from when discussing how broken the current solutions were.
I connected a founder with a potential investor two weeks ago, and the moment he started talking about the inefficiencies he was fixing in healthcare, his entire energy shifted. His voice got faster, the conversation got more animated, and the investor could tell he'd been thinking about this problem long before he decided to build a company around it.
During follow-up, the investor simply said: "I knew within five minutes I wanted to invest. Not because of the business metrics, but because of his conviction."
The Ripple Effect of Genuine Passion
That excitement? It's incredibly contagious.
I've watched it happen in real-time during the connections I facilitate. When a founder can't contain their enthusiasm for the problem they're solving, it shifts the entire dynamic of the conversation.
Suddenly, everyone wants to be part of what they're building. Potential partners start offering connections. Investors begin thinking about term sheets. Advisors volunteer their time.
That excitement attracts talent who want to work on something that matters. It opens doors that probably should stay closed for most people. It turns casual coffee chats into strategic partnerships.
But here's the most important part: that genuine excitement about your problem is exactly what would help you get through those dark, gloomy nights.
It is the fuel that will carry you through the inevitable, and many tough times ahead.
The Secret Sustaining Force
And trust me, there will be tough times.
When your lead investor pulls out at the last minute, when your biggest customer churns, when your star engineer quits to join a FAANG company – that excitement about the problem you're solving is what gets you out of bed the next morning.
It's what makes you believe that what you're building still matters. That the pain you're addressing is real and important. That the world genuinely needs what you're creating.
I've connected with founders going through their darkest moments, and the ones who survive aren't necessarily the ones with the best metrics. They're the ones who still get fired up talking about why their problem needs to be solved.
Finding Your Fire Again
If you're reading this and thinking, "I used to have that excitement, but I've lost it somewhere along the way," here's what I want you to do:
Go back to your customers. Not to sell them anything or gather product feedback, but to really listen to their problems.
Understand their frustrations. Remember the human pain that made you want to build a solution in the first place.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the mechanics of building a business – the fundraising, the hiring, the product development – that we forget about the actual humans we're trying to help.
And if you're struggling to reconnect with the right customers or stakeholders who can reignite that passion, it's simpler than you might think. Just reach out to me – once I understand the problem you're solving and who you need to hear from, I can connect you with the exact conversations that will remind you why you started this journey. Get started here.
The Founders Who Inspire Me
Here's to those who still get goosebumps talking about their problem. Who can't sleep because their minds are racing with potential solutions. Who get genuinely angry about how broken current systems are.
If that's you – protect that fire. Let it show in every conversation, every pitch, every interaction. It's not just passion for passion's sake. It's your secret weapon.
And if you've lost it? It's not too late to find it again. The problem you originally set out to solve is still there.
The people who need your solution are still struggling. That fire is still waiting to be rekindled.
My Challenge to You
This week, I want you to have one conversation that's purely about the problem you're solving. Not your product, not your traction, not your fundraising – just the problem.
Talk to someone who experiences this problem daily. Listen to their frustration. Feel their pain. Remember why this matters.
If you're not sure who to talk to or how to find the right people, that's exactly what I do every day. I can help you identify and connect with the people who will remind you why your work matters. Learn how it works.
Your excitement isn't just a nice-to-have. It's the foundation of everything else you're trying to build. It's what will attract the right investors, the right team members, the right customers.
Most importantly, it's what will sustain you through the journey ahead.
Stay fired up!
What problem gets you genuinely excited? What keeps you up at night because you can't stop thinking about solutions? Hit reply and tell me about it – I love hearing what drives founders to build, and sometimes these conversations lead to unexpected connections.