Guru busting
The pitch is not the plan.
A partner, a loan, or an LLC may be useful. None of them tells you what the business actually needs.
The attractive shortcut
The seductive version begins with a solution: find a partner, raise money, file the company, quit the job. The missing step is naming the constraint first.
What holds up
Start with the work that cannot happen, the evidence you have, the consequence of waiting, and the smallest reversible test. Then ask which resource—person, money, space, equipment, advice, or time—fits that problem.
Where it breaks
- The proposed solution is carrying three different problems at once.
- Nobody can say what success would look like in the next thirty days.
- The plan only works if sales, timing, or goodwill land perfectly.
- The downside belongs to one person while the upside is described as shared.
Questions worth carrying
- What can the business not do today?
- What evidence would change your diagnosis?
- What is the cheapest useful test before you bind yourself to someone?
Fifteen-minute move
Write one sentence beginning: “The work stops when…” Then list three possible causes before naming a solution.
A clearer problem does not guarantee a good outcome. It makes the next decision easier to inspect.
