week 115: i think… i believe… and i know…
pure wondering
thank you to over 11,000 of you who read this weekly and share with your friends and family for behind the scenes on building a million a 5 million dollar business from scratch and beyond.
i also include a personal note in the end so i am grateful that you let me do that without judgement.
in my last book, MOVE, i wrote about companies going thru problem-market fit to product-market fit to platform-market fit….
Byan, my co-author and i affectionately call it the 3P’s framework.
but as a 3rd time founder at GTM Partners for about 3 years, i wonder if at a personal level there is another framework at play.
it starts with… “i think” this is possible or i think we should test this or that…
then you get to a point, when you start using the words like “i believe” and that’s when you are starting to get some conviction about the market, your confidence in the team and the product, and seeing customers engage in a way that is clearly pointing to something worth focusing on.
finally, a stage comes when you start saying these words: “i know”… not arrogantly but very confidently.
you almost can see a bit further than everyone else can that feel unreal.
i have to tell you, i feel like it right now.
at GTM Partners, in last 3 years, we have gone thru a ton of “i think” moments.
recently, i could hear people saying “i believe” a lot more and now, i can myself catch myself saying, “i know… this will work”.
most self-funded startups don’t even get to even 1 year and here we are, almost 3 years into it, mostly the same team and feels like… we know that we got something.
it’s a moment i am glad i am documenting it and if you go read the very first few notes from me in this series, you can clearly see me writing more “i think” statements.
on a personal note, as a family, we went to Niagara falls during the fall break…
it was quite a thrill!
here’s us just getting on the boat to get closer to the falls and we have this “i think” moment thinking this is going to be a lot of fun but not know how much volumes of water is dropping per second and even might get completely soaked!
and as we got closer to the falls, we went from “i think…i believe” moment to this is truly massive and majestic moment so i can say now that “i know”…
sometimes, the moment from “i think” to “i know” could have in minutes, like this video us experience the great falls.
sometimes, it might take 3 years, like my current company and we are almost there when the fun begins.
and sometimes, it might take decades, like my wife and i came to faith in Jesus Christ in our mid 30s against all odds and cultural challenges.
leader point: in business and in life, let’s learn to enjoy every moment of “i think… i believe… i know” because there is beauty in every moment.