Yuval Passov, a founder advisor and LinkedIn Top Voice, presents a counterintuitive claim: the founders who succeed are not those who collect the most advice. Investors, podcasts, social networks, and advisors all tell a founder what to do next, but the volume of advice is not what separates success from failure.
What Really Characterizes Founders Who Succeed
According to Passov, what successful founders share is that they ask many questions and listen carefully. They gather perspectives, but in the end they run their own playbook. It sounds simple, yet Passov stresses that from his own experience it is one of the hardest things to apply.
Why Copying Advice Feels Safe and Misleads
Under uncertainty, adopting someone else's advice feels safe. You copy a framework or recommendation that worked for another person, or you do what the expert on stage said. The problem, Passov notes, is that this advice was built for the situation of the person who gave it, not for yours.
The Formula: Ask Widely, Then Filter
Passov returns to two simple principles. The first is to ask widely, to talk with people who have already walked the path and to listen to them genuinely. The second is to filter, meaning to turn what you heard into an insight that fits your situation rather than accepting it as a ready-made instruction. The combination of open listening and independent judgment is what produces good decisions.