25 October 2023

Entrepreneurs and tragic optimism

Viktor Frankl’s idea fits founders better than most business advice does.

Frankl wrote about tragic optimism in Man’s Search for Meaning. His point was that people can say yes to life even when they face pain, loss or failure, and that meaning is what makes that possible.

Founders are rarely in a situation like Frankl’s, so I use the idea with care. But anyone who has run a startup knows the moments: the customer who disappears, the funding round that falls through, the co-founder who leaves. Tragic optimism is not a smile in those moments. It is a decision to keep going because the work still matters to you.

Here is what I think it changes.

The choice of venture

Founders who start from something they care about tend to pick problems worth years of work.

The reaction to change

A failed pilot or a regulatory surprise becomes information instead of a verdict.

Staying power

Purpose does not remove setbacks, but it shortens the time people spend stuck.

The way decisions are made

Founders with a clear sense of what they are building for usually think about employees, customers and partners together.

There is a limit, though. Meaning does not pay salaries. A founder still needs a market, a plan and numbers that add up. I would never ask anyone to be tragically optimistic instead of testing their assumptions. I would ask them to do both.

If you are building something right now, what keeps you going on the bad weeks?