Laura Deming's co-founder, Hunter, wasn't swayed by existing research. His initial skepticism turned to conviction only after he independently re-derived the fundamental physics of ice formation from first principles. This illustrates the depth of technical diligence required to validate radical ideas and build a foundation for tackling seemingly sci-fi challenges.
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Before seeking major funding, Elysian validated its radical aircraft design with skeptical professors from TU Delft and MIT. Winning over these experts provided the critical credibility and third-party proof needed to build investor confidence in their unproven deep-tech concept.
True scientific progress comes from being proven wrong. When an experiment falsifies a prediction, it definitively rules out a potential model of reality, thereby advancing knowledge. This mindset encourages researchers to embrace incorrect hypotheses as learning opportunities rather than failures, getting them closer to understanding the world.
Even Donald Hoffman, proponent of the consciousness-first model, admits his emotions and intuition resist his theory. He relies solely on the logical force of mathematics to advance, demonstrating that groundbreaking ideas often feel profoundly wrong before they can be proven.
The strength of scientific progress comes from 'individual humility'—the constant process of questioning assumptions and actively searching for errors. This embrace of being wrong, or doubting one's own work, is not a weakness but a superpower that leads to breakthroughs.
There's a strong correlation between solo founders and deep tech ventures. The hypothesis is that if you're audacious enough to tackle a monumental technical challenge, the added difficulty of doing it alone feels like a rounding error. The entire endeavor is already set to maximum difficulty.
To endure a multi-year build with constant self-doubt, the founder maintained a core belief: since the market need was proven and existing products were flawed, a better solution was physically possible. This framed the challenge as one of perseverance, not possibility.
Rippling actively hires former founders because they have a unique ability to find paths forward when facing seemingly impossible constraints. Unlike typical managers who present problems, founders understand that if the 'reasonable' path leads to failure, they must find an 'unreasonable' one to survive.
The most successful founders rarely get the solution right on their first attempt. Their strength lies in persistence combined with adaptability. They treat their initial ideas as hypotheses, take in new data, and are willing to change their approach repeatedly to find what works.
To get Google's TPU team to adopt their AI, the AlphaChip founders overcame deep skepticism through a relentless two-year process of weekly data reviews, proving their AI was superior on every single metric before engineers would risk their careers on the unconventional designs.
Dell’s approach of deconstructing problems and maintaining deep curiosity is perceived as extraordinary by others. To him, it's the only logical way to operate ("How else would you do it?"), highlighting the mindset gap between great founders and the rest of the world.
