A founder's placebo
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
I noticed something really fun at this World Cup.
Every time Norway wins, the players and fans do a rowing motion together. Everyone sits down as if they're rowing a Viking longboat. The move came to be called the Viking Row, and it even spread from the stadium to the streets of Oslo.
England's is even more interesting.
Every time they win, the players and fans sing Wonderwall together. It seems it started when the stadium DJ played the song, the fans sang along, and the players joined in. Then, the more they sang it, the more it became something people expected. Now whenever England wins, everyone waits for that moment.
I find this really interesting.
Because at first it may have been pure coincidence. But once an action, a song or an image is tied to winning again and again, it's no longer just an action, or just a song.
It becomes a switch.
The placebo effect
It's a lot like the placebo effect.
A placebo isn't magic. Taking a fake pill doesn't cure everything. What it mostly affects are things the brain regulates: pain, fatigue, stress, focus, athletic performance.
But that's already quite something.
Because very often, it's not that people lack ability. They just haven't got into the zone yet.
Some research suggests that in sports performance, a placebo might bring only a 1% to 5% improvement. That sounds small, but for an athlete it can be the difference between winning and losing. For a founder, it can be the difference between whether you keep going to meetings today, keep chasing the numbers, keep reviewing, keep facing the problems.
Starting a business really needs this kind of placebo too.
Because starting a business is so hard.
Very often it's not that you don't know what to do. You know you need to watch the data, control inventory, chase cash flow, make content, deal with people, face banks, investors, suppliers and staff, plus the problems that never stop coming every day.
The problem is that the brain gets tired.
After being tired for long enough, people don't suddenly give up. They slowly lose the feeling of "I can still fight".
A founder's own switch
So founders need some placebos of their own.
Maybe it's checking the dashboard at the same time every morning. Maybe it's a fixed celebration whenever the team hits a target. Maybe it's playing the same song whenever a live stream passes a certain number. Maybe it's, at a low point, going back to look at how you got through your hardest times. Or maybe it's just telling yourself: today doesn't have to be 100 out of 100; 70 is fine.
These things seem a bit childish.
But for founders, these small rituals are really reminding the brain: we're still in the game.
Of course, a founder's placebo can't mean deceiving the market, investors, customers or the team.
Fake revenue can't be passed off as real. No profit can't be dressed up as very profitable. No execution can't be dressed up as vision.
That's not a placebo. That's fooling yourself.
A truly useful founder's placebo is when you know full well that reality is hard, but you still give yourself an explanation that helps you act.
It's not fooling yourself that you'll definitely win.
It's not letting yourself lose before you've even started.
We can still do this
As an England supporter for decades, I've been disappointed at every tournament.
Every time it feels like there's hope, and every time it ends the familiar way. But this time, when I saw the players holding hands, standing in front of the fans and singing Wonderwall together, I suddenly felt something was a little different.
Not because singing this song means they'll definitely win.
But because it had been a long time since I'd seen this kind of team chemistry in England.
That feeling of everyone really being together, the fans together too, the whole country finally seeming to believe "we can still do this", was something I hadn't seen for many years.
Starting a business is the same.
Sometimes what we need isn't more principles.
We already know the principles.
What we need is a switch that gets us back into the zone.
A song, a gesture, a routine, a number, a small win. Any of them will do.
Maybe that's the founder's placebo.
Reality is still hard. The company still has to make money, cash flow still has to be managed, products still have to be sold, the team still has to be led.
But when you're truly exhausted, sometimes you just need a little something to trick your brain and get it to believe, first:
We can still do this.