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/