Essay · ~5 min read

Bad Entrepreneurial Cliches: Strong Opinions Loosely Held

Brad Feld · Feld Thoughts Free Beginner

Feld, a founder and investor who has sat through decades of these conversations, names the trap: 'strong opinions loosely held' often just intimidates the room into silence, so nobody delivers the hard feedback you actually need. His replacement is a tool you can use in the moment: when someone (including you) states something forcefully, ask 'is that the truth or a hypothesis?' It cuts the bluster and reopens the door to being corrected.

  • Held loosely or not, a strong opinion voiced by someone with power tends to shut down the people best placed to correct you
  • Reframe positions as hypotheses supported by data and experience, not declarations to defend
  • Asking 'truth or hypothesis?' is a one-line habit that keeps a discussion honest instead of a contest of conviction
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The question it answers

  1. How do I let go of ego enough to hear hard feedback without either crumbling or getting defensive?

Read with it

  1. Most founders wave around 'strong opinions loosely held' as cover for never actually updating. Chin, writing from running his... Commoncog Essay · ~12 min read 'Strong Opinions, Weakly Held' Doesn't Work That Well Cedric Chin
  2. A concrete India case of a founder swallowing his own instinct. Kamath started Zerodha believing 'more people solve more... Business Today Article · ~4 min read Nithin Kamath reveals why Zerodha deliberately stayed a 1,000-person company Business Today
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