Ignorance or Incompetence

Hey Founder,

I’m about to say something brutal. It might sting. That’s the point.

I only ever say these words when you can see my face, so you know how much love is behind them. But honestly. I want you to be moderately offended.

Not because I’m trying to provoke you, but because I need this to land.

I have danced around this for a while, you have to trust how founder-first I am. How in your corner, I truly am.

Last week I said it softly. Maybe you didn’t fail, maybe you just never actually tried.

It's a very explicit, binary question:

Was this incompetence?
Or was it ignorance?

It demands an answer, and with trust, it never creates shame. Most founders aren’t used to this kind of direct confrontation.

They’ve had encouragement. Suggestions. Feedback. All fab. But rarely has someone looked them in the eye and asked:

Did you not know?
Or did you not do?

The power of uncomfortable clarity and a refusal to let you hide behind vagueness. It forces a decision. It’s not about fault. It’s about responsibility.

It’s a brutal question. I know. It's also the best one I can ask when things don’t get done the way they should have.

Whatever it might be, when you just didn't finish the job. The follow up, the edit, the ads, the work, the whatever, the outcome.

It's when you just didn't complete that one thing, you didn't execute the kill chain.​

Was it because you didn’t know what to do?
Or because you did, or could have, but didn’t follow through?

One is forgivable. The other is fixable. Neither justifies inaction.

When you know where you stand. It makes it a f*ck ton easier to take the next step.

Ignorance doesn’t mean stupid. It simply means you don’t know what you don’t know. Surely that's not incompetence....

Often the answer was there and you didn’t look.
That’s not ignorance. That’s quiet incompetence.
Not malicious. Not lazy. Just… avoidant.

You didn’t fail because it was hidden. You failed because you didn’t look.

I have a founder, clever as f*ck, has built, has scaled, has a mobile app only on iOS. His ads were getting super high clicks but weren't converting, despite targeting a very specific audience where clicks should have meant genuine interest. The ad worked, the conversion didn't.

We looked at the analytics, 65% of his ad traffic was coming from Android users. 65% of people who literally couldn't download his app even if they wanted to. So for the users that could download it (iOS), his conversion rate was fab.

So was this ignorance or quiet incompetence?

He genuinely never thought to check the platform breakdown of his traffic. But should he have? Was this information available all along in his google analytics? Yes. Could he have investigated deeper when his conversion metrics didn't make sense? Also yes.

So which was it? Did he know he could have looked harder but didn't, or did this idea truly never cross his mind? Not about blame, it’s about missed visibility.

This case. Genuine ignorance. He was focused on creative, messaging, website, everything, just not the technical observability. Had the possibility of platform mismatch occurred to him, he would have fixed it. Immediately.

The point is that the binary question created immediate clarity. And once that was clear, so was the path forward:

• Target ads specifically to iOS users to stop wasting spend
• Consider building an Android version to capture the obvious demand

He took both actions. Problem solved. Immediately. Done. Like done done.

This question is about training your mind how to critically think. It's not about making you feel bad - it's about creating clarity that leads to effective action. Everyone misses things they "don't know they don't know."

Ignorance means you lacked the knowledge. That’s fine. You can learn. Incompetence means you had or could have had the knowledge and still didn’t execute. That’s a problem.

Both are better than the quicksand of founders pretending they are still figuring it out. When you call it what it is, you can start doing something about it. A definitive action.

Do the thing, do it well, do it all the way to completion. Stop circling. Stop justifying. Stop carrying it forward. Just do. The f*cking thing.

This isn’t a team question, it’s a you question.

You know the sales. You know the product. You know the burn rate. You know the roadmap. You know what’s behind. You know what’s broken. You know what you’ve been avoiding.

I also get the reality. This question is most powerful when someone else asks it of you. Someone to look up and down the beach with you. So what if no one’s asking you? What if you’re building alone?

It’s hard. You need trusted voices. That’s what a tribe does. Calls your blindspots, holds your standards. But until you find that person…

Did you not know what to do? Or did you know and just not do it?

So. Absent a trusted voice. Asking yourself this question is better than no question at all. Even if you can’t fully see your own blindspots.

If you got this far, this message probably hit. If you’re truly stuck, if this email hurts, if you’re nodding along unsure where to start, reply to this email.

If you think I’m saying this like it’s easy, text me (more than hi). +1424 346 4633. It’s my phone, might take me a minute, but i’ll reply.

The question only becomes powerful when it doesn’t carry shame. And for that to be true. You need to feel safe. And for most of the people around you, it’s probably not safe.

Most startup problems aren’t strategic. They’re just unresolved decisions. They just require movement.

Are you mature enough, strong enough, honest enough not to flinch at this question, take it exactly how I said it. Nod. Go do the thing.

Because once you name it, the fog, the burden, the weight - it lifts.

You just decide: fix or learn.

Failure happens. Always. Super always. Strategy miss, execution miss, just did something stupid miss.

You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to have it all figured out.

But you do have to be clear. Because you can’t execute what you won’t admit. One deeper. Your team can’t execute what you won’t admit.

So.. What’s behind schedule? What slipped? What metric is sliding? What have you been avoiding? What don't you understand? What did you hope would work, but hasn’t?

Am I not doing it because I don’t know how? (ignorance)
Or because I do, but haven’t committed? (incompetence)

Pick one. Fix it. Move. That’s the work.

If I can be of service, feel free to grab time.

LFG.
— James