The two companies every founder runs
The vision you pitch vs. the messy reality you manage — and why they must connect
Every founder lives in two realities.
The one you pitch — big markets, long-term vision, higher purpose.
And the one you run — difficult customers, a team pulling in different directions, churn, missed deadlines. With every now and then a win that keeps the hope alive.
Both are true.
But when the pitch starts replacing the truth, the gap creates stress, confusion, and eventually cracks in execution.
Founders are especially vulnerable here. By nature, we’re optimistic. We see possibilities where others see barriers. That optimism is what gets a company started in the first place. But it also makes it easier to repeat the pitch until it feels like reality.
And here’s the deeper problem: founders rarely admit when they feel uneasy about the chaos inside their business. Optimism tells you it will get better. Experience tells you to always look “in control.” So you hold on, keep pitching, and often only admit the truth when it’s almost too late.
I still remember how a business can split into two parallel streams.
On one side, you continue to update fancy slides, projecting possibilities and vision to the outside world.
On the other hand, the day-to-day reality of customers, product, and operations is running in parallel.
The two streams rarely meet. And when you start believing that’s just how it has to be, the tension becomes enormous.
That’s why the first step in my work with founders isn’t more pitching. It’s peeling back the story to uncover what’s actually true:
What’s true today — and what could become your truth tomorrow?
Who are your best customers?
What do they really value in your product — not what you think they should value?
Why do they actually buy?
How do you deliver that value in a way customers can’t find anywhere else?
What strategy can your team align around — not just what sounds good on a slide deck?
When you get that clarity, everything moves. The pitch takes care of itself. Because it’s no longer just a story you tell the world — it’s a truth your team can execute on every day.
That’s the essence of how I designed my advisory sprint: start with clarity, dig into customer reality, and then build a growth model based on evidence rather than optimism alone. Optimism is still essential — but it works best when anchored in truth.
👉 The sooner you spot this trap, the less costly it is. That’s exactly why I start every sprint with a reality check. If you want to see how it works, here’s a quick version you can try: anjali.no/free-diagnostic
In two minds — one of my own paintings. I chose it because it reflects the split reality many founders live in: the story they project outside, and the messy truth they manage inside.