Loose Ends
New angles, quieter opportunities, fewer bandwagons
Lets try experiments with startups instead of locking in too soon. How Walt Disney’s relentless optimism is a lesson for us all and finally a Goat button perfect for a quick laugh in a sticky situation.
Enjoy!
🧪 Stop Hunting for the Idea. Start Running Experiments.
A Reddit post quietly cut through a lot of startup noise this week.
In Reddit, a founder described abandoning the search for the perfect startup idea and instead committing to a simple rule: run one small experiment every week until something earns commitment.
No grand vision. No 10-year roadmap. Just motion.
That framing matters because the “perfect idea” mindset is paralyzing. It treats startups like lightning strikes instead of processes. Most founders don’t fail from bad ideas — they fail from waiting too long to choose one.
Weekly experiments flip the risk profile ⚖️
❌ You don’t over-invest emotionally
🔄 You get feedback fast
📉 Bad ideas die cheaply
📈 Good ones reveal themselves through pull, not persuasion
The key insight isn’t speed. It’s optionality.
When you treat ideas as testable hypotheses instead of identities, you stop protecting them. You let reality do the filtering. Commitment becomes a result, not a decision.
This also explains why many founders feel stuck even when they’re “busy.” Planning feels like progress. Experimentation creates evidence.
The founders who win rarely spot the right idea immediately. They collide with it after enough controlled attempts.
Momentum beats clarity.
Signals beat vision.
And consistency beats brilliance.
The goal isn’t to find the idea.
It’s to build a system where good ideas can’t hide forever.
Walt Disney’s Relentless Optimism
Walt Disney was fired early in his career for “lacking imagination.” He went bankrupt more than once. What separated Disney from everyone else wasn’t talent alone—it was relentless optimism paired with execution.
🌈 Disney’s core belief:
If you can imagine it clearly enough, you can build it—but only if you’re willing to outlast the setbacks.
🧱 Why this matters for founders:
Early failure doesn’t invalidate the vision
Skepticism is not a signal to stop
Persistence compounds faster than talent
🛠️ How to apply it:
Protect the vision, even when execution is messy
Treat rejection as part of the process, not the verdict
Keep shipping, even when momentum feels invisible
Disney didn’t win because every idea worked—he won because he kept going until one did. In a tangled startup, optimism isn’t naïve. It’s fuel.
(Insight inspired by Walt Disney)
Loose Change
A desk-sized novelty button that does exactly one thing: screams like a goat when pressed. Originally sold as a gag gift, the Screaming Goat has quietly become a stress-release object for people who sit at a desk all day.
🐐 One-press, instant primal scream
🧠 Zero setup, zero learning curve
😮💨 Strangely effective micro stress relief
Completely unserious—and that’s the point. It solves no real problem, yet earns its place by giving people permission to break tension for half a second. In a world of optimisation, nonsense sometimes wins.
Your weekly haul of tools, links, and discoveries worth stealing.
The quiet collapse of the DTC brand model
YC founders on what actually worked in 2025
AI agents didn’t fail — expectations did
Solo founders are outperforming small teams
Why most SaaS pricing pages are lying to you
The rise of “boring” businesses on the internet
OpenAI competitors are quietly eating market share
How newsletters are replacing landing pages
The return of bootstrapped profitability
What founders regret not doing earlier
That’s All Folks
Before you go:
Have an idea you want feedback on? DM me to discuss it or book in for Office Hours here.
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Until next time,
Connor / Loose Ends