Here's how you can identify and steer clear of common logical fallacies as an entrepreneur.

If you take things personally you won't succeed as an entrepreneur. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is the result. The best idea should win. Everything else is a distraction.

Always think from first principles. Stress test your analysis. Surround yourself with bright and vibrant people who challenge you.

As we raise a Seed Round to get our cure for 750 million incontinent women to them, we encounter many factual as well as logical errors by potential investors. When a gynecologist shows ignorance of a woman's anatomy, I fight the urge to slap some sense into him and calmly explain the anatomy without hurting his feelings. As we go through the fundraising process I find that I have to use the skills I developed decades ago when I was a medical school professor - listening, suspending judgement, clearly explaining, patience and motivating.

To avoid common logical fallacies as an entrepreneur, foster a culture that values deliberation and diverse perspectives. Ensure your team is united in seeking the best solutions rather than proving who is right. Most ad hominem attacks arise when the focus shifts from the merit of ideas to personal attacks. A pragmatic approach emphasizes evidence, logic, and respect for differing opinions. By encouraging thoughtful debate and mutual respect, you create an environment where the best ideas can flourish.

You may find it useful to take the opposite approach: Steel Man the opposing views. Express it back to them in the strongest, most generous and positive way you can, to show you understand and respect their point of view, before you present your argument. This is good intellectual discipline for you, and demonstrates respect.

This is common in the startup world. I’ve met so many entrepreneurs who don’t want to spend money on marketing and sales. But will put the entire runway into product development. The old rules of thumb “you have to spend money to make money” and “you get what you pay for” are almost always true. I’ve heard a lot of straw man arguments about not having to spend money to rapidly grow revenue. Try to use case studies with clear spend and revenue ROI data to make your case against arguments like “we don’t have to pay for lead gen, we’ll just cold call… so and so says it works equally.” And so on.

Explanation: The Straw Man fallacy involves misrepresenting someone’s argument to make it easier to attack. How to Avoid: Ensure you fully understand and accurately represent the opposing viewpoint before critiquing it. Engage in active listening and ask clarifying questions. This not only fosters a more productive discussion but also helps you address the real issues at hand.

Deception is always a very short term tactic with a long term dammage on someone's reputation and career. In my opinion, we either win with pride or lose with dignity. . .

Again, you can use the EOS principles to avoid this. Avoiding the strawman fallacy is essential for productive business discussions. Use EOS to stay clear and focused: Vision: Stay true to your long-term goals & core values. People: Cultivate a leadership team that values honest communication. Data: Base discussions on accurate, factual evidence. Issues: Use the Issues Solving Track (IDS?) to address misunderstandings directly. Process: Follow established processes to ensure clarity. Traction: Hold team members accountable to their commitments. Adhering to these EOS principles can help you avoid distorting arguments, maintain professional integrity, & drive your business towards success. Focus on understanding & addressing the real issue.

One more thing that you need to keep in mind is that you are, more likely than not, going to find high-profile mentors's advice for your preferred claims as you are going to find high-profile mentors' advice for your not-so-preferred claims. Therefore, it is always better to maintain a balanced and more rational view than simply appealing to authorities.

I really value expertise as an entrepreneur AND it’s ALWAYS important to follow your own guidance system as you are ultimately the creator of what is being produced. Relying solely on others opinions and statical analysis is a recipe to become like everyone else. While you consider these facets, please take the time to honor what your creating, all the while understanding that what is available in this now moment is different than the paradigms that business has been built on. Today there is opportunity to employ more awareness of what you want your business to feel like and accomplish all the while ensuring that you maintain authenticity.

Pathos, which in short, is relative to the emotions evoked and experienced by a listener. A good speaker will elicit emotions that are germane to the case being made. The goal is to “inspire to aspire” the speakers goals by prodding emotions to get the listener to understand the speakers perspective. Only then will the listener disregard logic and fallacy and accept the speakers claims and accommodate their suggestions. In this undertaking, nothing works better than a great story, told by a skilled story teller with passion and vivid (sometimes salty) language. Intense emotions will match the intensity of the speakers goals, particularly when trying to lead people to take action.

My dad gave me the best team building advice; simply elegant. “Hire to your weakness”. Surround yourself with people that augment your strengths and build on your weaknesses. Thankfully, my dad is still providing daily advice at 82 years old. He is my mentor, and superhero.

As leaders we need to spend more time helping our teams crystalize the real/root problem before going too far on problem solving. If we fall in love with the problem, instead of the solution, then it opens us up to all sorts of ideas that could help us achieve the intended outcome. The process should be: clarify the root issue > crystalize the ideal outcome > explore multiple solutions.

This happens far more often that most entrepreneurs realise: For example, Bootstrapping vs. Venture Capital (VC) Funding: This presents a scenario where founders believe they must choose between growing their startup organically through bootstrapping (using their own funds and profits) or relying on external funding from VCs. This is not a two faced dilemma. There are several alternatives: A hybrid approach - Bootstrap now and funding later. Debt - including venture debt Government grants Side hustles A Friends & Family round And can be many more. Get inventive

It is also tempting to see decisions as overly complex which can lead to indecisiveness. As the leader of a substantial organization, my most precious commodity was my time. Avoiding oversimplification is important, but not to the point where it leads to “paralysis by analysis.” Often, making no decision at all is worse than over analyzing every decision. Successful entrepreneurs will recognize which decisions need more research, time, and consideration, and which ones should be made with imperfect information. The ability to know where decisions fall in the hierarchy of importance relative to the research and analysis required to make such decisions (i.e., time) enables a leader to make decisions in a consistent and scalable manner.

Los mejores líderes se rodean de gente que les aportan visiones diferentes y complementarias, aunque a veces no sea lo más cómodo.

The best entrepreneurs have an incredible ability to travel down paths, with calculation and conviction, knowing that they may learn that the path isn't the right one to travel after all, and they can take those learnings down a different path in the future. If you believe that a step down the wrong path is a slippery slope, you will never take that first step at all, and thus will never learn.

Explanation: This fallacy assumes that a relatively small first step will inevitably lead to a chain of related events culminating in a significant (usually negative) effect. How to Avoid: Evaluate the likelihood and evidence of each step in the supposed chain of events. Avoid making assumptions about outcomes without solid evidence, and consider each decision on its own merits.

One of the most important elements of entrepreneurship is the ability to feel comfortable in a sea of discomfort. You have to be willing to take potential risks and more so, learn from the results that occur when you make a tough decision. You live in a world of uncertainty where you must stay optimistic even in the face of adversity. Nothing is linear in the entrepreneurial journey. It’s all about adaptability, flexibility, iteration and learning. Don’t be afraid of what mistake might cause. Instead, execute and when those mistakes arrive, obtain the right mindset of how to learn from them.

In most of the times, you. You will find that Enterpreneurs have much courage to take quicker decisions than other business men. And sometimes these decisions are successful while other times they might lead to a deep and painful dammage. And here where Enterpreneurs might need to get people with long experience on thier boards to serve as emergency breaks "when required".

By recognizing and avoiding the slippery slope fallacy, you can make more rational and informed business decisions. Example: Allowing flexible work hours after analyzing productivity data from similar companies ensures a well-informed decision that enhances employee satisfaction without compromising productivity By steering clear of the slippery slope fallacy, you promote a culture of thoughtful decision-making, continuous improvement, and strategic risk management, ultimately leading to a more robust and adaptive business.

As a strategic consultant, I see confirmation bias ALL THE TIME! Senior management teams frequently hire consultants to validate what they already want to do. Because the “hypothesis” of the consultancy just so happens to conveniently align with that of the board. Objectivity is critical. As is approaching problems from a first-principles perspective. You’ll never get to the right answer if you’re pushed to craft a story that reinforces an opinion. Critical to effectively challenging confirmation bias is to approach every problem with hard data and facts. It’s then about delicately conveying facts that run contrary to management beliefs, if that’s what the data says. In the battle of “my facts vs your opinion”, facts will always win.

The best way to avoid confirmation bias is by bringing another set of ears and eyes with you when conducting customer discovery (market-needs-finding) interviews. Works even better when that person doesn't care as much about your solution as you do. I guest-taught a customer discovery class at another university where they assigned MBA students to join teams. Like magic, the neutral but smart adjuncts on the team heard very different things in the same interviews than did the inventors of the tech.

Have you ever seen a black swan? Some people were convinced that such a creature did not exist. Then, one did. And more than one. Is your success a black swan? Can you feel it, hear it, see it, smell it? Taste it when you are just about to give up?

Preventing confirmation bias is tricky because it's hard to shake. Each of us wants to feel validated at different points in our journey. Self-reflection can act as a wise guide when you feel you're getting allured inside the appeal of being right.

Explanation: Confirmation Bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs. How to Avoid: Actively seek out information and perspectives that challenge your views. Encourage a culture of open dialogue within your team, where different viewpoints are considered and debated. This will help you make more balanced and informed decisions.

All the aforementioned fallacies are indeed worthy of our concern, as any one of them could affect us at any moment, and there is scarcely a foolproof strategy to guard against them. However, I have always relied on an even greater shield: the understanding that failure is our best teacher. It fortifies us, preparing us for greater victories in the future. Therefore, continue to cultivate your learning. When you encounter such a fallacy, emerge stronger from the experience. Transform it into a source of strength rather than allowing it to become a weakness.

My favorite fallacy is sunk costs - the idea that you are reluctant to give up a strategy because you have invested so much time, capital and heart into it. ?? Your product idea became your obsession - giving it up and pivoting can lead to heartbreak and grief. ?? A lot has been invested, money has been raised based on it. It is scary to give it up and have to explain it to your team, clients and investors. ?? Abandoning the idea is a hard choice and it may help you shed the weight to achieve liftoff. ?? Nearly all start-ups pivot at some point in their journey - do it rather sooner than later!

Be humble - you don’t have all the answers. Practicing humility as an entrepreneur involves recognizing your limitations, biases, and the possibility of being wrong. It means being open to learning from others, considering different perspectives, and being receptive to feedback. This mindset fosters curiosity and a willingness to explore new ideas, leading to more informed decisions. Embracing humility can improve self-awareness, communication, and collaboration, helping navigate business complexities with integrity.

In my experience avoiding logical fallacies is key for making smart decisions. What worked for me is to focus on the actual arguments, consider many options, rely on evidence and data, analyze trends critically, test your hypothesis with real people and stay focused on the main issues. Practicing critical thinking, seeking different perspectives, and making decisions based on solid evidence can greatly improve your judgment and planning.