Founders: your biggest threat isn’t competition, it’s complacency.

Cheimaskēsai.
The ancient Greeks used this word for hard winter training. 
Epictetus believed victory belonged to those who prepared when others rested.

Building a startup feels exactly like that.
There’s no summer break; only training seasons.
The market won’t wait. Neither will your competitors.
Survival depends on how deeply you’ve trained when conditions were tough.

I saw this firsthand after a major product launch.
The instinct was to slow down and celebrate. But beneath the win, I saw cracks: fragile handoffs, scaling risks, process gaps.
Left alone, they’d have split wide open.
Instead, we doubled down on preparation. Months later, when growth surged, that winter training kept us ahead.

That shaped how I lead. Every phase, funding, scaling, and even downturns, is training. The real work happens before the spotlight turns on.

For founders:

• Don’t wait for the crisis.
• Don’t assume the next round or next customer will save you.
• Build systems, discipline, and resilience now.

Because when the storm comes and it will, you’ll either stand ready or be swept aside.

Cheimaskēsai – Train in the winter.

In startups, it’s not competition that kills you.
It’s complacency.