Show-off

April 29th, 2024

I’m not gonna pretend anything, I was trapped too. It felt good to have our company and myself in the media! It boosted my ego, which grew. There are some people who don’t have that, but I see it in most founders around the age of 30 and let’s be honest – everyone is a bit of a narcissist.

Some people are still kind of normal – it’s healthy to like yourself – and some people have crossed that pathological line. Suddenly, they start to feel a need to prove their greatness to others through articles in the media. And somebody goes even further, starts mentoring startups, starts going around conferences spreading wisdom without really accomplishing anything themselves yet. He comments all sorts of things on Twitter and gets addicted to the dopamine boost every time someone clicks like.

Where is the line where self-love, self-esteem and self-presentation are still healthy? It’s really hard to say. Plus, it’s a little different in every culture. Frankly, for us at Reflex, too much self-presentation (often with a glorifying Forbes article) is a yellow flag. Does the founder still have any self-reflection? Is he doing this for the company or for his personal cult? Is he able to make decisions without “what will they say…” filter? Does he have any time left for business when he’s spending so much time and effort on self-presentation and PR… couldn’t he instead solve a few problems, of which there are many everywhere, and take his company a step further?

And that’s still level 1. In level 2, it’s a pure lie. I’m surprised how often we see this in the media. It begins innocently, facts are bent, full truth is not told, words are tweaked and games are played. It’s a classic PR game. But then, under the guise of “good PR is important for my business”, outright lies start. About last year’s turnover. About the number of customers. About the size of the investment, about the valuation. Nobody’s gonna check that anyway, are they? But think twice. In your next round, of course, your next investor will do the background check. And maybe before the meeting where you could explain, he’ll conclude for himself that there’s already been so much money burned at such a high valuation that there’s no point in even caring. Then such a bombastic article on Czechcrunch two years ago came at a steep price.

Is it worth it? No, it’s not. You don’t get real respect from others through media coverage. You get it through your reputation. And that’s built by actions, and it’s built long term. It’s built not by how you present yourself, but mainly by how those who know you personally talk about you. And in the end, if you dedicate yourself to your business and make a 9-digits exit, all the media will write about you without you having to worry about it.