Quick note before we start. I’m cutting this newsletter back to once a week because I care more about hitting the right nerve than filling your inbox.

That decision came from the same question many founders quietly carry.

Will this even work?

When you’re building something new, especially something without a clear precedent, growth stages blur → there’s no clean benchmark → metrics feel unreliable. You’re doing the work, but progress is hard to name.

This shows up constantly in my 1:1s.

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How do I know what stage I’m in? What should I be measuring right now? How do I know a pivot is strategic and not just fear?

Belief has to carry you longer than evidence ever will.

The uncomfortable truth is this. Early on, clarity lags behind effort. Validation arrives late. Data trails belief. When you’re making something real, the only thing you fully control is your attitude.

✔️ how you show up

✔️ how you interpret silence

✔️ how you decide when the signals are mixed

This newsletter was no different. I spent time strategizing how to reach founders with something that actually mattered → watching small signals, questioning whether it was landing, and resisting the urge to optimize for volume over meaning.

The struggle is real because the work is real. Founders don’t need more content; they need sharper focus, fewer false metrics - principles that hold when the numbers don’t yet.

Loneliness isn’t a mistake in the process; it’s the chapter where conviction gets tested before results catch up.

If this brought something up for you, you don’t have to sit with it alone; book a sofa session

— Ian Adams, Founder the little red sofa

Before founding the little red sofa, I led strategy and creative for brands like Jeep, HSBC, and Unilever at top global agencies and in-house teams across 8 countries. Now I partner with brands to do the uncomfortable work that builds resilience. That’s how they become unshakable. Impossible to ignore.