Earn your own "yes."

Embrace the Power of "Yes": Turning Rejection into Motivation and Conviction as a Founder.

As a founder, the only “yes” you really need to earn is your own. 

You’re going to hear “no” 1000 times from investors, friends, partners, family members, experts, clients, and anyone else you bravely share your dream with, as an early stage founder. That’s not only expected, it’s normal. Your job is to make sure a “no” is not only fine but empowering. 

You need to learn to not take every “no” personally. The first step is to understand that everyone sees the world from their own unique perspective. That’s why investors get it wrong all the time, and they know it. At the end of the day, we’re all limited by our context, paradigms, culture, and mental patterns. 

The second step is to separate yourself from your startup. When someone says “no” that doesn't mean they’re rejecting you as an individual. They’re rejecting an idea you presented for a million different reasons they may or may not be fully aware of. You and your self-worth are independent of your startup and you must stay true to that realization both when things are going bad, so you stay strong, and when things are going good, so you stay humble.

“You don’t need eyes to see, you need vision”. 

That’s a powerful personal mantra spoken by Maxi Jazz, frontman of electro-rock band “faithless”, that I invoke every time I need to re-earn my “yes.” Nothing worthwhile in this world is cheap, easy, or fast. That definitely applies to startups and even more so to social enterprises that envision a bold tomorrow. That’s why a “no” to me has become reassuring and motivational because it reminds me that I’m building something worthwhile that is innovative, potentially harder to grasp at the beginning, and ultimately groundbreaking. 

When I hear a “no” I automatically do two things: 1- I learn from it to find out how I can turn it into a “yes” and 2- I make my own “yes” stronger and louder. At the end of the day, when I turn off the lights and close my eyes, I make sure I feel my “yes” pounding down on my heart stronger than any “no” I may have picked up during the day. There is no room for self-doubt and self-sabotage in the founder’s mindset toolkit - there is only room for “yes”. 

The crazy thing is that if you think you’re right or if you think you’re wrong, you’re right in both cases. It all comes down to perspective and the energy you feed yourself internally, every day of the entrepreneurial roller coaster. So just say “yes” and convince yourself you’re right until proven wrong - it’s the best ROI.

Now saying “yes” is not about being delusional or not being able to see reality. It’s not about assuming you’ll never be wrong and that your idea or startup can’t fail. “Yes” is about conviction, about power, about choice. It’s the fuel you need to keep on going, not a dose of convenient denial you need to protect yourself from yourself. 

Channel your “yes” intentionally and wisely. Earn it and use it to remind yourself that you can build if you choose to, and that you’ll only be proven wrong by trial and error, after courageously trying, rather than by fear, before failing to try at all.