When you’re a startup founder, especially in the early days — from bootstrapping to Series A — you’re constantly pulled in a hundred directions.

You’ve probably heard this stat before, but it’s worth repeating: around 90% of startups fail — and a huge part of that is simply because we don’t focus. Not enough. Not on the right things. Not consistently.

I’ve felt that too.

When I started building Rare Founders, I was doing everything at once — events, partnerships, sponsorships, fundraising, side projects, social media… even product ideas I had no time for. The FOMO was real. And because things were picking up, I felt like I had to say yes to everything.

Spoiler: I almost burnt out.

And even worse, I wasn’t making real progress on the stuff that actually mattered. That’s when I started trying to get better at focus. I still don’t think I’ve nailed it — far from it — but I’ve learned a few things that help.

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A report from First Round showed that 70% of early-stage founders say “knowing where to focus” is their biggest challenge — not raising money, not product, not hiring. Just basic prioritisation.

And it makes sense.

There are endless things you could be doing: features to build, investors to meet, decks to update, people to hire, posts to write, podcasts to record, events to attend. But if you try to do it all, you’ll drown.

Here’s the kicker: switching between tasks all day drops your productivity by 40%, and on average it takes 23 minutes to regain focus after every interruption. Multiply that by 10–15 context switches a day and you’ve lost hours.

In my own journey, I’m still figuring it out. There are weeks when I feel like I’m on top of it — and then the next week it’s a complete mess again. But the awareness is helping. I now know when I’m drifting, and I’m quicker to course-correct.

Here’s what I started using — nothing fancy, just things that actually worked for me.

I try to block 2–3 hours most mornings for deep, focused work. No meetings. No Slack. No calls. Just execution.

When I stick to it, it’s a game changer.

Once I started treating my calendar like real estate and not a wishlist, I started seeing results. I batch my calls in the afternoon, and even things like emails have their own block.

I don’t always get it right — sometimes I break my own rules — but I keep coming back to this.

More on time blocking →

Probably the best lesson I have learned in the corporate word and it works.

You list out your tasks and divide them into:

It’s crazy how much time we waste on stuff that feels urgent but really isn’t. I found I was spending hours fiddling with visuals for social posts when what I should’ve been doing was locking in our next sponsor.

More on this →

It sounds simple — set 1–2 goals, build around them — but in practice, it’s tricky.

I’ve started using OKRs to create structure and avoid drifting into random projects. When I actually stick to the OKRs I set, the team moves in the same direction and everything feels clearer.

But I still get pulled into shiny ideas, and sometimes I realise halfway through the quarter that I’ve ignored the Key Results completely. That’s when I pause, realign, and start again.

It’s a work in progress, but it’s been helpful.

Frameworks help, but honestly the biggest challenge for me is mindset.

I don’t have this nailed. It’s something I’m becoming more aware of, and catching in real-time — but it’s ongoing work.

Every founder has it. You go to an event, hear a killer idea, and want to pivot or launch a new thing this week. I’ve done this so many times — and regretted it.

The truth? Most successful founders stay heads down on one problem. They don’t chase every trend. They double down on what’s working.

In the early days, you say yes to anything that brings in revenue. But not all money is good money. Taking a misaligned partnership or building a feature for one demanding client might help this month… but kill your product long-term.

Still figuring out where to draw the line here. Sometimes I say yes and then regret it. Sometimes I say no and wonder if I missed something.

Ask yourself: Is this helping me build something sustainable? Or just a short-term dopamine hit?

This one is really hard.

As founders, we’re wired to say yes — to investors, to users, to friends. But the best thing I’ve learnt: every time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else.

And if you’re not careful, you’ll say yes to 10 things and forget to build the actual business.

Start treating “no” as a strategic decision — not just something to feel bad about.

Steve Jobs once said: “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”

At the end of the day, building a startup is messy. You’ll always have 100 things to do and not enough people or time.

Now you are aware. You will know when you are drifting. You will know when you need to stop and ask yourself: is this really what matters right now?

And when something shiny comes along… pause and ask: does this help me get to where I want to go?

If not — let it go. I’m still working on it. But one “no” at a time, it gets easier.

✅  If this hit home, pass it on. There’s probably another founder in your circle quietly battling the same thing.

(👉 Vote now — we’ll share the results in next week’s issue. All votes are anonymous.)

(Last week’s poll results)

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