Compass

Shownotes

Episode 1 : Fortune favors the bold: How to start a business before you’re ready.

12 March 2025

What if the key to starting your business isn’t perfection—but courage?

Starting anything new—especially your own business—is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying.

By definition, any new path is uncleared. Or, as Joseph Campbell so aptly stated: “If the path before you is clear, it is probably someone else’s.”

So, if you are setting out on a new path—whether in your professional or business life—encountering and clearing obstacles along the way is inevitable.

At some point, doubt will inevitably creep in. And when things don’t go as planned, it’s easy to want to throw in the towel and walk away. If you’ve ever hesitated to take action or found yourself stuck in the cycle of waiting until everything is perfect, this episode is for you.

The people who succeed aren’t the ones who had the perfect plan. They’re the ones who started before they felt ready—and figured it out as they went along.

And that’s exactly what we’re talking about in this episode.

We explore themes of growth, courage, and the importance of defining one’s vision in entrepreneurship. We learn that discomfort is often a precursor to growth and that clarity comes through action rather than waiting for perfect conditions. The discussion also highlights the significance of understanding one’s ‘why’ and adopting a mindset focused on progress over perfection, particularly through the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach.

The 3 key takeaways from this episode

1. Be brave not perfect. With courage to take action comes the magic of clarity.

You don’t need to be perfect, nor do you need to be an “expert,” to launch something new. Courage means daring greatly to step into the arena.

2. Be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. Embrace failures as valuable feedback and factor them into your growth journey.

A new path is by definition not cleared. True clarity comes from engagement, not thought. And with the right mindset you can overcome and figure out every obstacle to move forward on your path.

3. Grit is the real secret sauce of sucess.

Entrepreneurship isn’t about being the best right from the start. It’s about continuous evolution, continuous learning. The entrepreneurs who ultimately succeed aren’t necessarily those with perfect circumstances, an ideal network, or abundant funding. They’re the ones who learn, pivot, adapt, and keep moving forward, regardless of the obstacles they encounter.

– Quotes & resources from this episode

“When you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” – Rumi
“If the path before you is clear, it is probably someone else’s.” – Joseph Campbell
“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take.” – Cheshire Cat, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
“Clarity comes from engagement, not thought” – Marie Forleo
“Done is better than perfect.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin
“The Man in the Arena” – Theodore Roosevelt, in his “Citizenship in the Republic” speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, in 1910