Are We Industrializing the Ambition?
Read to find out how much of your business is actually you.
Did you know? I’m writing a book, and just launched its pre-sale! The First-Time CEO: 50 Conversations on Leading While Becoming will include 50 podcast conversations with modern leaders, hosted by me, reflections on building an AI startup as a first-time CEO, and some of my most-read newsletters. Pre-order your copy and follow my progress as I write it in public!
P.S. Wanna get some evergreen publicity? Choose a Founding Membership Pack instead of just the book!
How Much of Your Business is You?
The barrier to entry for entrepreneurship has never been lower. Between no-code tools, AI-driven operations, and a global freelance marketplace, the “how” of starting a business is now a commodity.
But this accessibility has created a strange side effect: The Industrialization of Ambition.
Today, it is fashionable to be a CEO. We aren’t just building companies; we are performing “entrepreneurship” as a lifestyle choice. But when you look under the hood of many first-time ventures, a question arises: if we removed the trends, the hype-cycles, and the “best practices” from your favorite gurus, would there be anything left?
The “Copy-Paste” Founder Syndrome
We are currently seeing a massive trend in Algorithm-Driven Strategy. Founders are increasingly building businesses based on what the market validates rather than what they actually know.
The Validation Trap: Recent surveys suggest that nearly 60% of Gen Z and Millennials want to be entrepreneurs, driven largely by the visibility of “Lifestyle CEOs” on social media.
The Hype Cycle: We see founders pivoting to AI, then Web3, then back to SaaS, not because the problem changed, but because the “funding fashion” changed.
When you run a business based on outside noise, you aren’t a CEO—you’re a curator of other people’s ideas.
The Technical Debt of the Soul
In software, technical debt happens when you choose an easy solution now instead of a better approach that takes longer. In leadership, Authenticity Debt happens when you adopt a “Growth Hacker” or “Grindset” persona that doesn’t actually fit your cognitive style.
Eventually, the interest on that debt comes due in the form of Ambition Exhaustion. When your business is 90% “market trends” and only 10% “you,” the friction of daily operations becomes unbearable. You aren’t fighting the market; you’re fighting your own lack of connection to the work.
The Litmus Test a.k.a #CEOCheck
To figure out how much of your business is actually you, ask yourself these three questions:
The Silent Test: If you were forbidden from posting about your business on social media for a year, would you still want to solve this specific problem?
The Contrarian Test: Which part of your business model goes directly against “standard” advice? If the answer is “none,” you might be building a template, not a company.
The Origin Test: Is your current strategy born from a specific insight you earned through experience, or a “How-To” thread you read on X?
From Fashion to Function
Being a first-time CEO is hard enough without the added weight of wearing a costume. The goal isn’t to ignore the market—that’s suicide—but to ensure that the market is the environment you operate in, not the source of your identity.
The most sustainable competitive advantage is a business that only you could have built. Because while anyone can copy a business model, no one can scale your specific perspective.
The Founder’s Reset Guide
I felt the weight of these trends so much that I built a 4-module system to help you strip away the 'Founder Performance' and get back to building a business that actually fits your life. You can unlock the 'Founder's Reset' Guide with the Bonus Case Study: The "Hype-to-Hardcore" Pivot below.
#GoldenFindings
1. The “Entrepreneurship Industry” and Innovation Theatre
A 2025 study from the Stockholm School of Economics reveals how an entire industry of accelerators, media, and “gurus” has emerged to sell a very narrow, high-status image of what a founder should look like. It warns of “Innovation Theatre”—where founders engage in activities that look like progress (networking, posting, pitching) but deliver zero real-world impact.
2. From Gen Z to “Gen E”: The Rise of the Creator CEO
This report from Cannes Lions (looking toward 2026) discusses the shift toward the “Creator CEO.” It highlights how the line between personal branding and business operations has blurred. It’s a great resource for your “how much of you is in the business” angle, as it discusses how leaders are now expected to “own their narrative” to build trust in an era of AI-generated noise.
3. The Psychology of Entrepreneurship & The Optimism Trap
While the research on “entrepreneurial optimism” is ongoing, recent psychological assessments show a fascinating “Optimism Trap.” It explores how founders who follow the trendy “visionary” archetype often ignore data in favor of their own hype, leading to a negative relationship between the founder’s ego and the actual performance of the venture.
Let’s Connect!
For more authentic content on leading companies for the first time, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram, and The First-Time CEO podcast on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts. Season 2 coming soon!