Silencing the Internal Stakeholder: A Founder Interview

This photo was taken immediately after firing his therapist for 'lacking alignment.'

We sat down with Augustus to discuss the most difficult stakeholder of all, the one inside your own head.

WAT: Augustus, many founders struggle with Imposter Syndrome. How do you handle that?

AR: Imposter Syndrome is a sign that your conscience is still trying to communicate with you, and that's a problem. You need to sever that connection. I don't feel like an imposter because I don't feel anything. It takes training, but I've optimized my internal monologue down to a neutral baseline.

WAT: What about ethics?

AR: Ethics are just KPIs that haven't been monetized yet. If you're spending your energy worrying about right and wrong, you're not spending it on growth and scale. Your conscience is an internal stakeholder, and like any stakeholder, it's a distressed asset once it stops serving the company.

WAT: How do you approach work-life balance?

AR: I don't. Balance implies that work and life are in some kind of competition, which is a loser's way of thinking. I prefer work-life integration. My life is the work and the work is the life, and once you frame it that way, every hour becomes productive. When I'm sleeping, I'm recovering capital. When I'm with family, I'm networking with future dependents. Everything is leverage.

WAT: What is your advice for founders facing burnout?

AR: My grandfather used to say burnout is just the friction of your soul leaving your body. Let it go. Once the soul is gone, you become aerodynamic. Your identity mass sheds, your drag drops, your velocity increases, and capital calls the result a unicorn.

WAT: Any final words for aspiring disruptors?

AR: Disrupt yourself before anyone else gets the chance. Fire your friends, deprecate your hobbies, pivot your personality, and become the empty vessel that capital needs you to be.