Success is dangerous.
Not because it makes founders lazy.
Because it makes them certain.
The more successful you get, the more filtered your environment becomes. People know your track record. They respect your judgment. They stop pushing back. That feels good. It is also a problem. Research on group polarization shows that when like-minded people spend too much time thinking together, their views tend to move to a more extreme version of where they started. Agreement compounds. It does not correct.
That is how smart founders get trapped.
Not by ignorance.
By repetition.
The strongest business example comes from venture capital. In The Cost of Friendship, Paul Gompers and his coauthors found that investors were more likely to team up with people who looked like them by background, education, or prior employers. That familiarity came at a cost. The paper found that this homophily reduced the probability of investment success, with the damage most likely linked to poorer decision-making after the investment was made. Similarity made collaboration easier. It did not make it better.
Founders should take that personally. The people around you shape the quality of your judgment. If everyone around you shares your instincts, your growth is already slowing. You do not need endless disagreement. You do need enough independence around you for someone serious to say, “I think you are wrong,” and for that sentence to improve the business. That is why support is not the goal. Better judgment is the goal.
Better judgment needs friction.
Author note:
Anna Lautenschlaeger is the founder of ASENUI and LAULAU, author of Out of the Echo Chamber, and a researcher and entrepreneur focused on how ambitious founders grow through exposure, reflection, and carefully curated environments.