This is one of the words you hear almost always in the startup ecosystem: “Fear of Missing Out.” As a startup founder, I almost always took pride in my ability to envision products and think objectively with clarity, so by no stretch of the imagination did I think I would ever fall for FOMO. When I was founding Kleo Network, I heard this advice over and over: “You need to drive FOMO for investors to invest in your startup.” I used to think, “Whoa, are investors really that dumb?” In reality, I was the one being dumb.
I fell for FOMO—hard. The genesis of FOMO comes from greed. If there is an opportunity to make money, people tend to attach network effects to that opportunity, scale quickly, and create wealth for themselves. Greed isn’t bad. The action paralysis that comes with that greed is.
For the last few months, I’ve been fidgety with my ideas:
→ New idea. New messaging. New GTM.
This keeps repeating. No potential gets realized because nothing is given enough time to compound. Anything great tends to be copied rather than found through one’s own voice and originality. That’s why it’s so easy to copy and so hard to create. It’s not a question of money; it’s a state of mind that’s dictating it.
FOMO affects investors, but it affects startup founders a lot more—especially solo founders. The new thing getting traction is always shinier and more exciting than what you are currently building. That’s why FOCUS and MOMENTUM are extremely hard—and getting them right is the most precious thing.
I want to stick to a specific timeline for my next product, and I will follow this timeline no matter what.
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8 October — Launch the website
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9 October — Launch the product
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10 October — Launch on Product Hunt
Everything needs to be focused on that and nothing else.
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