Startup Hunger Games
Get your shit together. Deliberately provocative.
Building a startup is no less than surviving the Hunger Games. It’s relentless, thrilling, and utterly unforgiving. This year was pivotal for many companies in my portfolio. I’ve seen some survive and thrive despite challenging conditions, while others failed spectacularly despite having great opportunities to succeed. It always comes down to the same patterns…
The Obvious One: People
Or in other words: People, people, people, people, people, people, people!
“Obviously,” you say? You’re not really listening. While you may agree, most of you don’t act on it. Why? Because it’s hard to face the truth. You’re afraid to ask some of your early employees to leave—and you will regret not doing it sooner. No one likes firing people, but the survival of your company depends on it. In a competition, you wouldn’t accept a member dragging the rest of the team down. The search for product-market fit, traction, acceleration, and profitability is a competition.
Great people operate from first principles—the ones you’ve set toward excellence. They perform beyond their peers, push boundaries, and often go the extra mile. They’ll move mountains, spread excellence, and establish rhythm among colleagues, all with care.
But it’s your responsibility to foster the right attitude within your organization. If your startup is the Titanic, bad hires are the iceberg. Except this time, you saw the iceberg, hugged it, and then blamed the ocean.
A couple of distinctions to keep in mind: An extraordinary achiever with a toxic attitude is never an option. Asking someone to leave doesn’t mean they’re not capable; it just means they’re not the right fit for your company at that moment, or you haven’t created the right conditions for them to thrive.
Growth Mindset
Or in other words: You know nothing, Jon Snow. Or better yet: Adjust to fucking reality.
Startups are chaos. Product-market fit is hard, traction is slow, acceleration doesn’t work as planned, time flies, plans fail, markets shift, personal views are out of touch, competitors come out of nowhere. It’s exhausting. It’s almost like playing Monopoly with no dice, no money, and someone keeps flipping the board.
What makes the difference is your agility and rhythm. If you’re not ready to challenge yourself, you’re likely on a rough path. Our best startups embrace the discomfort of pivoting, changing perspectives, learning new things, and daring to go against the consensus. The best founders are in constant motion—tweaking, adjusting, and moving faster than anyone else. It may not always be comfortable for the team, but it’s reality.
A couple of distinctions to keep in mind: Some people thrive in more structured or stable environments, and that’s okay—it’s just important to acknowledge it. Chaos isn’t a constant state. It comes in phases of varying magnitude and length. Knowing when to lean in and when to regroup is crucial.
Data Rules
Or in other words: Men lie, women lie, but data doesn’t (if well tracked). Or simply: Financial responsibility isn’t optional; it’s foundational.
Many founders lose their grip here. Our best companies have founders who know their data by heart. They have complete control over their model’s equilibrium and never make decisions without consulting their data first. And when the data isn’t readily available, they dig for it.
Founders who don’t track their runway are like pilots saying, “We don’t need a fuel gauge. I just feel like we’ll make it.” Spoiler: You won’t.
You can’t run a business without mastering your data. At best, it’s reckless; at worst, it’s suicidal. Stretch every dollar until it screams. If you don’t know your runway, CAC, LTV, and margins better than your investors, don’t bother asking for more money.
Control the numbers, and you control your destiny.
One distinction to keep in mind: Tracking too many metrics or doing so poorly can overwhelm you. Data literacy includes knowing which numbers matter and presenting them clearly. How you interpret and communicate your data is just as important as how you track it.
These are the rules of the game, and they’re non-negotiable. In the Startup Hunger Games, it’s not luck that gets you out alive—it’s these principles in action. So ask yourself: Is my team strong enough? Am I agile enough? Do I have control of the numbers?
Most of you are showing up with a slingshot while someone else built a flamethrower.
In this arena, the odds are against you.
By default, you won’t survive.
