Hope is at the heart of why.

People start businesses for all sorts of reasons. Some, disillusioned with their 9-5 see starting a venture as a means to find more meaning and freedom in their day-to-day life, others spot an unmissable opportunity to exploit a gap in the market, while others are inspired to make the world a better place. Whatever the reason starting a business begins with a seed of hope.

Hope is also what sustains us in our darkest days as visionaries, when the shit hits the fan and everything is telling us to give up and walk away, it’s hope that gives us the fortitude to continue on. Sometimes it’s a misplaced hope against all good sense, but I believe this is a delusion that all pioneers are guilty of at least once in their journey.

Hope is risky.

It can feel vulnerable to hope. Admitting to ourselves and others that we are working towards something leaves us no place to hide. Should we fail in our attempts there is no way to ‘style it out’. We failed. And that wasn’t the plan.

But when we open ourselves to the potential of failure we learn to lean-in. We stop faffing and trying to cover our tracks, and that gives us the energy to focus on bringing our plans to fruition.

When the hope is gone.

So if hope is what inspires and sustains, what happens when we lose hope?

This is the question at the heart of Founder Hope, a growing community of founders, built around sharing experiences as pioneers and founders.

Founder Hope is launching summer. Sign-up for free below to become a founding member and help shape the community as we grow together.