... leave, no matter what. A big part of that comes down to people, their values, and their character. And often, that starts with the founder. So what makes a great founder? For me: Being ambitious and thinking big Being disciplined and leading by example Staying curious and always moving with the times or even staying ahead of them Being able to inspire people around them Having natural authority and being more of a leader than a manager Making tough decisions ... ... decisions under pressure" (which is on Nika's list), but something more specific knowing precisely which of your assumptions are load-bearing and which aren't, and being able to act anyway. Coming from structured finance, this is the discipline

... most important and challenging experiences you ll have as a founder is fundraising. I pitched VCs across London and San Francisco. Some spent 15 seconds on my deck. Some took the call just to diligence a competitor. One told me to ask for more money. Oh, and I found out your pitch is probably being recorded and run through AI. This is the high-impact version of all of those lessons to save you time, energy, and emotional damage. Please ... ... outlier yet, like most, geography is a strategic choice. Raise early and more than you need This is one of the biggest lessons I learned. I only ever wanted to raise as much as we needed. That felt disciplined

... makes it easy to ship more. It does not make it easy to ship responsibly. Enterprises that succeed in 2026 won t be the fastest. They ll be the most disciplined. Clear standards. Repeatable processes. Explainable decisions. Speed without discipline