High Speed Leadership: Startup Traction

There’s a stretch in building a company where everything feels tight at once. Cash is thin. You’ve got a handful of initiatives in motion.You believe in what’s ahead… but you can’t hit the gas yet. Not until something proves it can actually move the needle.

It’s that weird moment of playing defense and offense at the same time. The closest thing I know to it is approaching a corner fast in motorsports.

Before the apex, you’re carrying speed but you can’t yet see the exit. You’re braking enough to stay in control, but not enough to lose the momentum you’ll need on the straight. You’re easing the wheel in, feeling for grip, trying to rotate the car without committing to a line you can’t recover from. Every input matters.

The whole job is to survive the uncertainty long enough to reach the apex.

And once you do, the track opens up.The wheel straightens.You know exactly how much throttle you can give it. Acceleration stops being guesswork and starts being confidence.

Startups work the same way.

Before the apex, you’re testing ideas, conserving cash, and reading the road. You don’t know which initiative is the real setup for the straightaway. You’re trying to avoid spinning out… but also trying not to tiptoe through the turn.

Then one of those bets connects. The car rotates. You get your line.And you can finally accelerate with intention instead of hope.

People love the straightaway moments. These are the wins the momentum...the "hair on fire" chaos of growth. But the race is actually decided in the messy, pre-apex stretch where visibility is low and judgment matters most.

And if you want to enter that corner with measured confidence, a few principles help:

1. Brake in a straight line.

Cut unnecessary burn before things get chaotic. Clean up expenses, simplify priorities, and come into the “turn” stable instead of sideways.

2. Choose your turn-in points deliberately.

Don’t chase every idea. Pick a small number of initiatives that actually have a shot at becoming your exit path.

3. Let the car rotate before you get greedy.

Wait for real signal before you assume you've found the line to speed. This could be early traction, paying customers, usage patterns. You’ll know when the car has rotated the the point of accelerating to the exit line.

4. Keep some grip in reserve.

You need just enough margin (cash, time, focus) to adjust mid-corner. Running out of runway here is like running out of track. Understeer is accelerating too early before the evidence you are balanced.

5. Communicate like you’re leading a pit crew.

Your team needs to know the plan: why you’re slowing here, what you’re testing, and what “apex” looks like. Clarity becomes stability.

6. Commit once you see the exit.

When a bet finally lines up and the path opens, go. You have the data, you have evidence. Don’t hesitate. It's offense now. Straighten the wheel and get on throttle.

The part before the apex is uncomfortable.But it’s also where founders earn their speed, their intuition, and their conviction.

Everything after that is just acceleration.