Mishneh Torah, Sanctification of the New Month 16 · Startup voice, On-ramp

Hook

Founders love the myth of the "straight line." We build our pitch decks with linear projections, assuming that if we just keep our heads down and push, we will move from point A to point B in a perfect, predictable trajectory. We view our competitors as obstacles on our path and ourselves as the Sun—the central, gravitational force of our market.

But the reality of business is messy, elliptical, and constantly shifting. You aren’t just moving toward your goal; you are operating within a complex, intersecting orbit that includes your investors, your team, and the external market. As Rambam notes in Mishneh Torah, Sanctification of the New Month 16:1, the moon’s orbit "intersects the orbit in which the sun revolves at an angle."