I have a rule for taking on new clients: two calls. That’s it. If a decision to work together hasn’t been made by the end of the second call, the lead moves to a low-priority list.
It’s not personal. It’s a pattern.
The number of calls required to make a decision is a powerful signal. It tells you how successful a founder is likely to be and what kind of results you can expect.
The best founders move fast.
They don’t need certainty or guarantees. They don’t look at uncertainty and freeze with indecision. Instead, they operate from a few core principles, using razors that cut through the noise. They run experiments in parallel.
They look at a decision and ask themselves a simple questions like:
“Will I have significantly more information doing this than not?”
"Is there an assymetric return to this decision?"
"Is the risk of not making a decision greater than the cost?"
"Is this a reversible decision?"
If the answer are all yes, they decide.
Now.
They treat choices as calculated risks, not permanent obligations. Every risk is an experiment, and every experiment gets three things: A time limit. A learning goal. A budget.
This isn't about being right all the time. It’s about learning, fast. It’s a filter for people who understand that progress is a product of momentum, not perfection.
These are the best kind of founders to work with.
The opposite of that are founders that are in constant anxiety over a never ending list of things that requires decision.
Ps. On the 3 constraints of an experiment, read Moses Lo's blog on experiment.