Business Unusual: How Startups Win When Founders Ignore the Old Rules
The conventional wisdom on how to start and run a business is evolving. Young, innovative leaders are disrupting well-entrenched industries by rethinking what has always been done and asking themselves, “Why can’t this be done differently?”
Third Broken Rule: Winning is everything
In many arenas of business, winning is considered paramount. But these three entrepreneurs are redefining what it means to win—and what the usual business model is supposed to look like. Floersch prioritized the victory of a positive fan experience over his team’s performance on the field. “Rather than focus first on the competition…my team and I decided to focus on something different—our brand, the culture we wanted to create, and our community.”
Ponan proved that building inclusivity and brand boldness mattered more than chasing conventional mass appeal wins at launch. By making sure her foods were top-14 allergen-free, and putting bar codes on her products that provide ingredient information to the customer, she ensured product safety. She also chose bold product branding to set her products apart from others in the industry. “Our branding isn’t muted, clinical, or apologetic like many ‘free-from’ products. We’re bold, colourful, fun, and unashamedly inclusive.”
At Glīd, Damoa focused on designing smarter systems using AI orchestration rather than raw horsepower benchmarks that others saw as wins. He explains, “Yes: we chose intelligence over horsepower. The industry thought we’d be judged by torque, payload, and raw steel. Instead, we built EZRA-1SIX, our AI orchestration system. That decision transformed Glīders from vehicles into the nervous system of a universal logistics platform.”
Some rules are meant to be broken
If there is one common thread that unites these founders—and some of our other featured founders—, it’s fearlessness. Ponan reinforces this point when she says, “There were moments where I thought, ‘Who am I to do this? Am I smart enough? What if I do something wrong?’ But the flip side was that I had very little to lose.”
This doesn’t mean the lesson is to always be chasing unicorns and rainbows. Rather than one huge win, their success is built of many small victories compounded over and over. As Floersch puts it, “The best advice I’ve received is to focus on hitting singles over and over again.” Rules are important, but knowing which ones can be broken can be even more valuable.
Key Takeaways
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