BE SMART

Are founders allowed to lie? “Many of you reading this will reflexively shout back, no! Of course not! Being a founder does not make lying okay! But before you submit your answer, take a minute to think about it. If you are only allowed to tell the literal, complete truth, and you’re compelled to tell that truth at all times, it is very difficult to create something out of nothing. You probably don’t call it ‘lying,’ but founders have to will an unlikely future into existence. To build confidence in everyone around you – investors, customers, employees, partners – sometimes you have to paint a picture of how unstoppable you are, or how your duct tape and Mechanical Turk tech stack is scaling beautifully, or tell a few ‘pre-truths’ about your progress. Hey, it will be true, we’re almost there, let’s just say it’s done, it will be soon enough.”

• “Not everyone does this, of course. Some founders keep on the straight and narrow, and only tell the literal truth at all times. (Good luck to them, honestly.)”
• “Other founders bend the truth way too much, and end up as high drama like Theranos or laughingstocks like Fire Fest.”
• “But in between, there’s a murky grey area of social contracts and soft power, and it’s where the founder-VC relationship gets really interesting.”

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FINAL THOUGHTS

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