Relentlessly Resourceful
The distilled quality of a good startup founder: not merely relentless, but resourceful in the face of novel obstacles.
The best analogy is a running back: not merely determined, but flexible — they want to get downfield, but they adapt their plans on the fly. Pure relentlessness fails because in interesting domains you don’t know whether the next obstacle is foam or granite. You can’t simply plow through; you have to keep trying new things.
Key Distinctions
- Vs. hapless: hapless is passive — letting circumstances batter you.
- Vs. general “success” recipe: in writing/painting the obstacle is often internal obtuseness (active curiosity is better); in startups obstacles are mostly external.
- Can be taught to many (especially young people still under authority) but not to everyone. Big-company and school environments do not cultivate it.
Practical Uses
- Self-diagnosis and cofounder selection test.
- Tactical reminder: “Be relentlessly resourceful” is how you reach “Make something people want.”
- Upper bound on startup formation is the pool of people with this quality.