- Feb 27, 2025
- 325
- 113
I’ve known a lot of people way smarter than me like engineers, analysts, strategy people, who never even consider starting their own thing. Supposedly, only about 0.1% of highly talented people go the entrepreneurship route. I’m no genius myself, but I do run a SaaS, and it’s wild to me how much brainpower sits on the sidelines.
After meeting hundreds of high-potential people in corporate and tech, I think it’s less about money or ideas and more about comfort. Smart people often build stable, well-paid careers, and the thought of ditching that certainty for the chaos of entrepreneurship is just not appealing. Also, there’s the curse of seeing too many risks. Being able to see every possible way something could go wrong can paralyze you before you ever start.
When I started my business SocLeads, there were at least ten voices in my head telling me why it would fail and none telling me to just try it and learn. Most people don’t need more brains or better ideas, they need permission to try, get things wrong, and not have it wreck their self-image.
I really believe talent is everywhere, but momentum is rare. Sometimes average people win just because they’re willing to send that first cold email, launch an early version, or risk looking dumb.
After meeting hundreds of high-potential people in corporate and tech, I think it’s less about money or ideas and more about comfort. Smart people often build stable, well-paid careers, and the thought of ditching that certainty for the chaos of entrepreneurship is just not appealing. Also, there’s the curse of seeing too many risks. Being able to see every possible way something could go wrong can paralyze you before you ever start.
When I started my business SocLeads, there were at least ten voices in my head telling me why it would fail and none telling me to just try it and learn. Most people don’t need more brains or better ideas, they need permission to try, get things wrong, and not have it wreck their self-image.
I really believe talent is everywhere, but momentum is rare. Sometimes average people win just because they’re willing to send that first cold email, launch an early version, or risk looking dumb.
