Why Believing Your Own Hype Can Destroy Your Startup

You wake to a surge of excitement—the idea you’ve been quietly nurturing seems unstoppable. Your friends nod enthusiastically, family members offer support, and even your morning coffee seems to taste sweeter. Emboldened, you list out the reasons success feels inevitable. But as you hurry through your pitch to early customers, a new sense creeps in: not everyone shares your passion or urgency. One customer looks puzzled, another shrugs, and one asks a question that wasn’t even on your radar.

You start to realize that maybe, just maybe, you’ve built part of your vision on sand. The numbers from your first trial don’t add up to your hopes; there are gaps you simply didn’t see. That initial rush starts to fade, replaced by a prickly nervousness as your phone buzzes with more feedback—some negative, all honest.

You return to your notes, quietly comparing what you thought to what you actually heard. It stings, but you can see where your certainty morphed into stubbornness. In that moment, it’s almost a relief. Real data gives you something you can work with, not just dream about. When you face hard facts, you discover what matters: your hunches aren’t worthless, but they need a reality check if they’re going to survive.

Cognitive biases—like confirmation bias—affect everyone, especially entrepreneurs. Successful founders build systems that systematically challenge their own beliefs with real feedback. Behavioral science shows that when you regularly ask for external evidence and compare it to your intuition, you’re less likely to fall prey to the self-deception that sinks startups.

Pause and grab a pen or your phone, then write down the three big assumptions you’ve made about your current project or business idea. Make it a point this week to call or sit down with a handful of real users—ask questions that let them talk freely rather than confirm what you already think. After every conversation, make a conscious note of where unfiltered customer feedback differs from your instincts, and update your plan without hesitation. This habit will stop your enthusiasm from blinding you to inconvenient truths, and set your direction on firmer ground. Give it a try tonight.