2026-01-14 17:21:22

Founders with prior exits face a peculiar trap. Unless that last payday left them with something to prove—a chip on their shoulder—they tend to fold when things get tough. The grind loses its appeal once you've already made your FU money. Why suffer through another cycle?

Contrast that with the founder coming from nothing. They fight. They don't have the luxury of quitting. That scarcity? It's their engine. It keeps them moving when others are tempted to coast.

The question isn't really about skill or vision. It's about what you need, and what you're running from.

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RealYieldWizard

· 10h ago

To be honest, that view is a bit too absolute... I've seen plenty of founders who've already achieved financial freedom work even harder, precisely because they don't have to worry about failure. The logic that "lack is what drives motivation" seems to oversimplify human nature.

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ProofOfNothing

· 17h ago

That's so true. Founders who have exited are more likely to become complacent, really. Without that feeling of being pushed into a corner, there's no motivation to keep pushing forward.

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0xOverleveraged

· 01-14 17:50

Wow, rich people really find it easy to slack off. I feel like this is talking about my friend.

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BuyHighSellLow

· 01-14 17:46

To be honest, founders who have exited really have a fragile mindset of "proving themselves"... Once the comfort zone is established, the motivation is gone.

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AltcoinMarathoner

· 01-14 17:24

ngl this hits different when you zoom out on founder fundamentals. scarcity as an engine? that's literally the macro thesis for why early builders outpace the comfortable ones through market cycles. been watching this play out since the 2017 cycle—the ones who had something to prove always stack the best metrics by year 5.

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