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Why do we sabotage ourselves?

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Welcome to David Beats Goliath—for founders who refuse to live small stories.

Dear Founders,

This is #2 of a 12-part series. I’m sharing the invisible stories that quietly kill momentum and prevent founders from succeeding.

If this isn’t helpful, you can tell me.
(I won’t stop. But I do listen.)

Let’s go.

Invisible Stories, Part II: “I Need Permission.”

Most driven people think they’re being responsible when they say things like:

• “I should probably get one more credential.”
• “Let me wait until someone more qualified validates this.”
• “Who am I to say this?”

But it's actually fear dressed in a blazer.

The Invisible Story

Before launching your business or product, do you believe that

Do you hide behind

• credentials?
• prestige?
• “one more year”?
• “I’m not ready yet”?

Thus you delay.

You don’t launch.
You don’t ship.
You don’t sell.

Not because the market said no.
But because you're unsure if you're qualified.

And while you hesitate, someone less thoughtful, less capable, and less principled takes the meeting, closes the deal, and captures the upside.

Not because they were better.

Because they moved.

Familiar?

Why This Story Is So Sticky

Want to hear something uncomfortable?

Elite institutions like Harvard and Stanford don’t just monetize education.
They monetize insecurity.

They sell something far more valuable than knowledge.

They sell permission.

Permission to:

• speak with authority
• take up space
• be taken seriously

And here’s the part people don’t like admitting:

It works.

Not because the education is fake.
But because most people don’t actually want knowledge.

They want relief from doubt.

So these institutions become a proxy decision-maker.

Instead of asking, “Do I know enough?”​
You outsource the question to a logo.

Instead of building conviction,
you rent it.

That’s why the story sticks.

Because at its core, this isn’t about learning.
It’s about who gets to speak without asking for permission first.

And as long as people are afraid to claim authorship over their own competence,
someone else will happily sell it back to them—framed, credentialed, and very expensive.

But Here’s the Problem

Markets don’t recognize permission slips.

Customers don’t ask where you studied.
Revenue doesn’t check your credentials.
Traction doesn’t care who validated you.

The market only responds to one thing:

Action.

Which brings us to the part most founders miss.

Why Some People Never Ask

There are founders who don’t seek approval:

• not from advisors
• not from institutions
• not from consensus

They don’t posture.
They don’t explain.
They don’t wait.

Why?

It’s not arrogance.

It’s purpose.

When your purpose is bigger than your ego,
the question “Am I allowed?” evaporates.

You’re not acting to look smart.
You’re acting because something needs to exist.

If you genuinely believe:

• customers are being underserved
• a problem is being mishandled
• a better solution must be built

Then waiting feels irresponsible.

Here’s the Smash

Read this twice:

Not credentials.
Not titles.
Not institutional approval.

If the mission is real,
no committee gets a vote.
No gatekeeper controls entry.
No naysayer owns your upside.

The market is open by default.

A Final Rewire

The next time you hear:

Answer internally:

Then move.

Because founders don’t ask for permission.

They ship.

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