Why Growth Obsession is RUINING Founders Mental Health (everyone's INSANE) - One Vital Solution from Charlie Munger & Charlie Bigham

Sometimes, building a brand feels easy, like walking in the soft gorgeous morning sunshine with the slow gin-clear waves rolling up the beach.

Sometimes, building a brand feels hard, like crawling over glass naked whilst being stung by a thousand demonic, furious wasps.

Sometimes, your Confidence soars up, like Summer blossoms out of Spring.
Sometimes, your Self Doubt plunges down, like Winter withers out of Autumn.

Over Crimbo,

I had a complete W- O - B - - B - L - E

Confidence wilted like feeble, turgid spinach over ghastly giblets.

Every 5 or 6 or 7 months I plunge into a right sour pickle. Self-Doubt Swamp. Mucky and muddy and malevolent.

I write this newsletter to Nurse me and Nurse you, too. Hopefully.

There are two modes to build a brand: EASY MODE vs. HARD MODE.

Easy Mode is sunshine. Hard Mode is rain.
Easy Mode is Heaven. Hard Mode is Hell.

Founders, too often, play in HARD MODE. When actually EASY MODE is only hop, skip and jump away.

GROWTH: EASY MODE vs. HARD MODE

Growth is a strange beast.
Founders, including me, obsess with growth.
Growth has become a religion we piously kneel at the alter to.

LinkedIn is The Church of Growth Religion.
LinkedIn is part of the problem wrecking founders mental health and sinking brands.

LinkedIn rewards growth.
Real life rewards durability.

“By Endurance We Conquer” - Ernest Shackleton (bloke who explored the Artic or sum shit)

Building a brand is just STAYING IN THE MUTHA FUCKIN’ GAME.

The longer you stay in the game.
The more likely you are to win.

And, that’s why LinkedIn is fucking pernicious.

LinkedIn rewards growth + success + innovation.

Real life rewards dogged persistence + staying in the game.

Imagine posting on LinkedIn, “7 Bloody Fun Reasons We Said No To a Shitty Back of Store Tesco listing, To Ensure We Grow Slowly and Correctly”. Wouldn’t get many likes.

Imagine posting on LinkedIn, “OMG!! Can’t believe it we didn’t hire some swish MD from Mars, because we’d be stretching ourselves too thin on budget”. Wouldn’t get many likes.

Imagine posting a selfie on LinkedIn, “Hey Guys, just me taking a shit on the David Lloyd bog on my 3 hour lunch break after sitting on the Spa listening to Drake”

(SHIT. SHIT. SHIT. Sorry that was for the extended family WhatsApp group) (not this newsletter).

We venerate GROWTH.
We venerate HUSTLE.

Instead, we must venerate ENDURANCE.

Endurance is the REAL game.

Charlie Bigham, I remember, lucidly, at a Bread & Jam talk, Charlie titled his talk “The First 26 Years”.

Charlie knows it’s about playing the long game.

HARD MODE is focusing on GROWTH at all costs.
EASY MODE is focusing on DURABILITY at all costs.

(**CAVEAT 1 - appreciate some reading will have investors breathing down their neck. But I’d argue with the exit, fundraising and retail landscape totally fucked. Amazing brands like All Plants going bust. A world where build and flip in 5 years, for the majority, no longer exists. We’re at a stage where investors are also realising, you can’t build a brand overnight)

(** CAVEAT 2 I fucking love LinkedIn, I show off all my successes on the on-the-reg. I am part of this heinous problem, too.)

ENJOY THE JOURNEY: EASY MODE vs HARD MODE

Start hating the journey.
Start burning out.

The goal isn’t growth.
The goal is to not burn out.

The goal is to stay in the game long enough to win.

How?

Let’s use Charlie Munger’s Rule of Inversion.

Rule of Inversion: a mental model that involves looking at problems from a different perspective by turning them upside down. The rule is based on the teachings of German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi, who would often advise his students to "invert, always invert”.

Let’s use my journey of building a podcast, first. Then we can explore building a brand.

Common Question:
How do I fall in love with the journey of building a podcast/brand?

Inversion Question:
What can I do everyday to ensure I hate the journey of building a podcast?

Once we know how to HATE it.

We know what to AVOID.

Wisdom is Prevention - Charlie Munger
Wisdom is Prevention - Charlie Munger
Wisdom is Prevention - Charlie Munger

How to hate the journey?

• compare myself to other interview podcasts vs. conversations show - HUNGRY is a conversation show

• compare myself to podcasters who’ve done 4x as many episodes as me

• constantly look at my weaknesses/faults vs. double down on strengths and what’s working

• Look at downloads and figures too often of other shows - this is totally futile.

• Stop editing your podcasts a one hour walk in nature and instead do it a desk - this ruins my day

• Stop taking a 2-3 hour lunch break - you need to rest

• Stop taking Friday afternoons off to do fuck all - you need to rest

• Start having conversations with people who I don’t really want to speak to

Founders building challenger brands: How to hate the journey?

• Comparing our brand to a brand in the same category that’s raised 5x more money than you

• Anxiously looking at what activations our competitors are doing on social media vs. staying true to our brand values aka having a wobble

• Constantly checking availability in store and panicking that you’re out of stock in all stores - Zoom out, it may not be as bad as you think

• Comparing the size of your team vs. the size of their team - fuckin’ futile

Another example Charlie Munger’s Inversion Rule for brand builders

Common question:
How do I grow the biggest food and drink brand in my category?

Inversion question:
How do I sink my challenger brand quickly?

Remember, knowing what to AVOID is important to STAY IN THE MUTHA FUCKIN’ GAME.

• Stop focusing on your CUSTOMER + PRODUCT (Julian Metcalfe, ITSU & Pret A Manger)

• Launch into too many retailers too quickly, spread yourself too thin, so they flop

• Creating a brand that doesn’t have a 45% Gross Margin (Giles Brook)

• Looking at trends and randomly launching in NPD in random categories that make no sense

• Hire a bigger team just because you’ve got a few more listings. New listing doesn’t = consistent revenue.

Fun Activity For You:
Start writing a list of ways to Kill Your Brand Over Night.
Avoid all those things in 2025.

Knowing what to AVOID = EASY MODE

I AM NEVER SATISFIED: EASY VS HARD MODE

So many founders (myself included) are never Gettin’ No Satisfaction.

This Easy Mode reframe really helped me

Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, says there are approximately 300,000 people on the planet who actually get to DO THE THING THEY LOVE

There’s 8.2 BILLION mo’ fuckers on the planet, right?

You reading this. Yes YOU.
You’re so so so so lucky to get to build the thing you love.

Surely, that’s enough?

Surely, not having a boss breathing down your neck is enough? Surely, making enough money to do what you want every day is enough?

What’s your enough goal? = Gratitude.

Gratitude = Easy Mode.

Easy Mode = STAY IN THE MUTHA FUCKIN’ GAME.

MENTAL MODELS REFRAME FOR ANXIOUS FOUNDERS HARD vs. EASY MODE

Hard = Left.

Easy = Right.

1. Nothing is ever enough <> that was amazing, maybe I can do more and will do more

2. You’re too Obsessed with you brand <> I am Besotted

3. I have to do this <> I get to do this

4. How can I win <> How can I just not burnout, and stay in the game longer

5. What are my competition doing <> What are the unique strengths that got me here in the first place? How do I do more of them?

6. How do we innovate to grow? <> how do we focus on what’s working and double down on what’s easy?

DESTROY YOUR COMPETITION EASY VS. HARD MODE

This one is super simple. It’s a delicious quote by Tim Ferris. Read this, and you’ll be in easy mode.

Do not over-estimate the competition and under-estimate yourself - Tim Ferris

Fank You for Reading Folks

Oi beg you do me a cheeky favour please

Please leave us a 5* review on Apple or Spotify - some gimp left a neggy comment ruined our average rating.

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