i find myself gravitating towards “truth-seeking” people recently. i’m not sure if this is the best word for it but what i’m trying to say is people that are curious about how things work in the world and care about knowing the details
first got started thinking about this because it’s a great trait to have as a pre-seed founder. lots of successful founders i have interacted with are able to see the world in a slightly different way than others, they uncover some kind of truth that others haven’t yet, and build a company around this insight. it involves going a few layers deeper in analysis than most, and it involves asking a lot of questions
it’s good to be opinionated about problems / products, but not so much so that if you realize you haven’t found the “truth” you’re unable to change your thinking. in pre-seed founders, this might look like being willing to nimbly pivot around until you find pmf. some people pivot faster than others, but in general it seems small pivots are a good sign. having confidence in your product is good, but being willing to constantly run experiments and try new features / gtm strategies can’t hurt either
maybe you’re chugging along, but after a small pivot / experiment you find an even faster-flowing current than the one you were previously in. it’s not a bad idea to be paranoid - “are there faster-flowing currents / better tailwinds i could be riding, that would help me grow exponentially?” you shouldn’t spend 100% of your time dedicated towards this, but maybe 10%, or else you risk being out-innovated. it’s good to execute, and focus, but it’s also risky to be on too linear of a path
a friend put it this way - lots of smart people are able to hear out a counterpoint to their position, and they’ll think “that’s interesting, that’s not what i believe, but let me see if there’s a way to incorporate what you just said into my worldview.” it’s a more illustrative way to think about “strong opinions, loosely held”
i have seen many founders work on ideas that seem not very interesting, but they are so opinionated that they don’t pivot when they see slow adoption. this is in contrast with truth-seeking, which means constantly being curious, asking questions, re-evaluating if your current thinking is close to “truth” in the world or not. it’s probably impossible to seek the truth without having an intense curiosity for how things work in the world, and a constant desire to be learning
this is obviously very subjective and it’s hard to describe what “truth” is. but some people seem to have good taste in ideas consistently, whereas other founders seem really smart but somehow keep choosing poor ideas to work on, even though they should have all the ingredients (pedigreed background, book-smart, etc)
it seems like truth-seekers are not only curious about a lot of things, they also detail-oriented and able to concentrate on one topic without losing focus. instead of covering 100 topics with surface-level analysis, they might get wrapped up going down one rabbit hole. they’re fascinated not just by learning new things, but also by details. they do deep research and want to get as close to truths as possible. curiosity alone isn’t enough
this applies to investors as well - some seem to be genuinely curious, and gravitate towards truth-seeking founders, rather than following the herd. they ask the questions that others aren’t asking frequently
in fact, oftentimes they might ask very few questions but they’re the ones that count. i have seen investors that run through a script (”what’s the problem,” “how does the product work,” “how do you think about customer acquisition,” “how much are you raising,” etc) whereas others ask one really important question that’s unique to the specific startup and it’s the #1 question you should be asking (all the other questions don’t matter by comparison). essentially your analysis can have more substance with fewer words
as a counterpoint, there are people that seem to create or alter truths that exist in the world. some founders create markets that didn’t exist before them, or are able to introduce a new paradigm (new way to price a product in their space, non-intuitive gtm strategy, etc). if you look at some of these examples though i think they can be traced back to a “truth” that no one else has realized yet
i think it’s possible to be opinionated and innovative while still being curious and able to change your mind on things. i’m trying to be more like this myself and appreciate any tips that could lead me down this path better