Recognisable Situations
What This List Is (and Isn't)
These are common situations founders recognise when a decision is close to being made.
Each Symptom describes how a decision can feel as commitment approaches - not what the decision is, why it exists, or what should be done about it.
Recognising yourself here doesn’t mean the decision is wrong.
It doesn’t mean you’re stuck. It doesn’t imply risk, failure, or a required next step.
It only means this situation is familiar enough to take a closer look (if you want to).
How To Use This List
This list exists so you can recognise yourself quickly.
You’re not trying to analyse anything or diagnose a problem. You’re not committing to a path.
If something feels familiar, that’s enough. If nothing fits, you haven’t missed anything.
This is just a way to start.
Recognisable Situations
You’re choosing between viable alternatives and can’t land on one.
Credible people are giving you conflicting input, and you can’t reconcile it.
It’s unclear who actually owns the decision or has the authority to make it.
You’ve lost trust in your own judgment and keep revisiting decisions you would once have made quickly.
You’re looking for external calibration to know whether your numbers, reactions, or decisions are reasonable for your stage.
If None of These Quite Fit
Sometimes nothing is clear except that something feels off. That’s still a valid place to begin.
How This Works
(structural, formal, research-grounded and not written for most humans)
This system does not evaluate options or recommend actions.
Before advice is considered, it checks whether the surrounding
decision-support structure is functioning as required.
If that structure is not functioning,
any advice- including high-level principles or clarification-
is unreliable and must be withheld.
Diagnosis does not occur through advice, explanation,
or questioning in this moment.
In those cases, the stated problem is treated only as a diagnostic probe.
Advice is intentionally withheld until the underlying blockage is identified.
When these conditions are present, this page is the diagnostic entry point- not an explanation, and not a pointer to external advice.