Welcome to the Founders Matter Podcast.

The podcast where we talk openly about what it really means to build a business on your own terms.

In this episode, Jase Smith and Pablo Muñoz explore how founders approach growth, risk and business modelling, and why so many startups are still shaped using frameworks designed for large corporations rather than early-stage ventures.

Drawing on research into founder wellbeing and entrepreneurial thinking, the conversation examines the limits of traditional risk management when applied to startup environments. While established organisations often operate in relatively knowable conditions, founders are creating businesses in spaces shaped by uncertainty, reaction and constant change. As a result, planning tools based on prediction, control and fixed outcomes can often feel misaligned with the lived reality of building a business from scratch.

The episode explores the difference between causal and effectual thinking, showing how founders can make decisions based not on perfect forecasts, but on the means already available to them, including their experience, knowledge, relationships and resources. Jase and Pablo also reflect on how using models that do not fit the realities of entrepreneurship can affect confidence, self-worth and the connection founders feel to the businesses they are trying to build.

Rather than encouraging founders to follow someone else’s formula for success, the discussion highlights the importance of shaping a business in a way that reflects who they are, what they value, and what is realistically within their control. In doing so, the episode challenges the assumption that every startup should be run as a small version of a corporation and instead offers a more grounded way of thinking about growth, risk and sustainability.

Access the episode resources here

Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn:

Jase Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jase-smith-zero78training/

Pablo Munez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablomunozroman/

Kat Sykes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-sykes-business-not-as-usual/

Welcome to the Founders Matter Podcast.

The podcast where we talk openly about what it really means to build a business on your own terms.

In this episode, Jase Smith speaks with Kat Sykes about KPIs, targets and goals, and why so many founders end up measuring their businesses in ways that do not reflect what really matters to them.

Drawing on her experience in the corporate world, including project work in the NHS, Kat explains how traditional KPIs often measure the wrong things. In many organisations, there is a disconnect between the targets handed down from above and the actions that actually create meaningful change. When founders leave employment and start their own businesses, they often carry those same inherited ideas about performance with them, even though they now have the freedom to define success differently.

The conversation explores what happens when founders rely on goals that are shaped by investor expectations, external advice or societal conditioning rather than their own values. When business owners try to make themselves or their businesses fit someone else’s model of success, it can create frustration, misalignment and a loss of purpose.

Instead, Jase and Kat discuss how founders can start with their values and their “why”, then work outward to create goals and KPIs that genuinely support the business and life they want to build. By focusing on the parts of the process they can actually influence, rather than outcomes that sit outside their control, founders can create measures of success that feel more meaningful, motivating and sustainable.

Access the episode resources here:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:eu:7dd6294f-c6a1-4b7b-8889-db6c7f7ac45c

Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn:

Jase Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jase-smith-zero78training/

Pablo Munez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablomunozroman/

Kat Sykes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-sykes-business-not-as-usual/

Welcome to the Founders Matter Podcast.

The podcast where we talk openly about what it really means to build a business on your own terms.

In this episode, Jase Smith speaks with Kat Sykes about how founders measure success and why many end up using KPIs that reflect external expectations rather than what actually matters to them.

Drawing on her experience working across education, construction, the NHS and digital transformation, Kat explores how systems such as schools and traditional workplaces condition people to work within predefined metrics and performance measures. When founders start their own businesses, they often carry these inherited ideas of success with them, even though entrepreneurship offers the freedom to define success differently.

The conversation examines the consequences of relying on indicators designed for investors, institutions or external validation. When founders measure their performance against metrics that do not align with their own values, it can create a disconnect between the business they are building and the life they hoped it would support.

Instead, Jase and Kat explore how founders can begin by identifying what truly matters to them such as freedom, variety, impact or personal growth and then work outward to design businesses and KPIs that support those goals. By focusing on behaviours, actions and outcomes within their control, founders can create measures of success that reflect both the business they want to build and the life they want to lead.

Access the episode resources here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:7383a4e1-af82-472a-8489-0918c88e99dd

Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn:

Jase Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jase-smith-zero78training/

Pablo Munez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablomunozroman/

Kat Sykes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-sykes-business-not-as-usual/