The d*ldo of consequence rarely arrives lubed.
Business is full of uncomfortable truths.
Founders spend most of their time avoiding them.
And that’s exactly why the consequences hurt so much.
Because when the universe comes to teach you a lesson, it rarely does it gently.
In fact, it usually shows up holding something rubbery, suspiciously large, and absolutely dry.
The d*ldo of consequence does not come with instructions.
It shows up when you’re not looking.
And it is always, always unlubed.
Welcome to entrepreneurship.
🩹 Founders avoid the truth because the truth is awkward
Most businesses don’t fail because the product is bad.
They fail because the founder refuses to face reality.
Reality tells you your pricing is wrong.
Reality tells you your spend is mental.
Reality tells you your brand is confusing.
Reality tells you your mate is not a co-founder just because he once shared a business meme.
But instead of listening, founders build another feature.
Another website.
Another version of the pitch deck that still isn’t being sent to real investors.
They convince themselves:
“One more bit of polish and THEN it’ll work.”
Meanwhile, reality puts on surgical gloves.
🥊 The longer you delay the truth, the harder it lands
There’s a moment in every founder journey when something snaps.
💸 The cash runs out.
🔥 The team quits.
📉 The “hockey stick” graph looks like roadkill.
When you don’t have the awkward conversation early —
you have the painful collapse later.
When you ignore market signals —
you get ignored by the market.
When you pretend burnout isn’t coming —
burnout arrives wearing steel-toe boots.
The universe loves a dramatic teaching moment.
It will not hesitate to bend you over your own poor decisions.
💀 I know because I’ve been arrogant enough to ignore the obvious
There was a time I thought I could “work harder” than consequences.
No plan. No strategy.
Just pure delusion and vibes.
I remember staring at pages of numbers that looked like a toddler’s attempt at algebra
thinking
“If I ignore this long enough… maybe it fixes itself?”
Spoiler alert:
It didn’t.
It exploded.
Not the good kind of explosion.
Not fireworks and champagne.
More like financial diarrhoea.
Painful. Messy. Not a photo-op.
Those were the years of ugly learning.
Years social media never saw.
Years that hardened me into who I am now, someone who can say with absolute confidence:
The longer you avoid accountability, the deeper the universe will make sure you feel it.
🔍 Founders avoid truth because success feels fragile
There’s a psychological trap all founders fall into:
If I admit the flaws… does the dream die?
So instead, we:
Pretend the numbers look fine
Pretend interest = demand
Pretend busy = progress
Pretend “investor conversations” count when they’re just LinkedIn likes
We cling to hope like a toddler clings to a helium balloon.
It floats for a while.
Then the air leaks out.
Hope is beautiful.
Delusion is deadly.
The difference is measurement.
And most founders never measure anything that might scare them.
🤡 Founder logic is undefeated
Ask a founder how things are going and you’ll get one of two answers:
1️⃣ “We’re smashing it.”
2️⃣ Dead silence followed by a nervous laugh that suggests personal collapse.
There is no middle ground.
Founders are excellent storytellers — especially when lying to themselves.
“We’re pre-revenue.”
Translation: “We have nothing yet.”
“We’re in stealth mode.”
Translation: “We are too embarrassed to show you the thing.”
“We’re focusing on product.”
Translation: “We have no customers.”
“We’re building traction.”
Translation: “My mum liked our Instagram post.”
The lies get funnier.
The consequences do not.
😬 The truth hurts less than the regret
You know what’s worse than embarrassment?
Ignorance.
You can recover from feedback.
You cannot recover from three wasted years building something nobody wanted.
Better to pivot early than autopsy a corpse later.
The founders who win aren’t the smartest or the bravest.
They’re the ones who stop lying to themselves first.
The ones who:
Launch messy
Learn fast
Take criticism
Adapt constantly
You can’t “manifest” a business into existence.
But you can learn one into existence.
Courage is accepting you might be wrong.
Leadership is changing when you are.
🧩 The painful maths of consequence
Here’s a truth that could save founders a decade:
If you can’t say what you do in one sentence
you don’t know what you’re building.
If you can’t sell one
you can’t sell a thousand.
If you can’t retain customers
you don’t have a business.
Everything else is noise.
No amount of branding, coding, networking, positivity or oat-milk flat whites will save you from structural stupidity.
Face it early
or be faced with it forcefully.
One is slightly uncomfortable.
The other requires an ice bath.
🧨 Consequence always arrives, but you get to choose the timing
You can make reality a partner
or you can make reality a punishment.
You can test your assumptions
or have them tested against your will.
You can take small controlled pain now
or a large uncontrolled catastrophe later.
Either way:
you are going to learn.
Your only choice is whether you want lube with that lesson.
✅ The Unfounded Truth
If I could give every founder one piece of advice:
👉 Stop being scared of the truth.
👉 Let feedback in.
👉 Let your ego die before your company does.
The d*ldo of consequence isn’t the enemy.
It is the teacher.
It is the mentor.
It is the reality check you didn’t ask for
but absolutely deserve.
And if you want to build something that survives:
you have to stop trying to avoid the pain
and start trying to learn from it.
📖 Want more brutal truths like this?
Read “Unfounded.” It might just save you from the worst lessons.
