Let’s Just Throw Money at It!

Despite my years as an entrepreneur, despite all the companies I’ve built or helped build, the industries I’ve disrupted, and the sleepless nights spent solving impossible problems with nothing but sheer willpower and caffeine—I have woken up to find myself in the vortex of the corporate world at various times through my career.

This world, where stability reigns supreme, where careers are built on careful navigation rather than reckless ambition, where opportunity comes neatly packaged in quarterly projections and strategic roadmaps. A world where politics is the currency, and fitting inside "the box" is the prerequisite for survival. The box, of course, isn’t open to everyone. It’s only big enough for those who are invited in.

But the one thing that truly fascinates me in this world, the thing that mesmerizes me more than any corporate ladder or boardroom power struggle, is the idea that money solves everything.

The more zeros and commas you plaster onto that number, the faster, better, and more effective the solution. No need for ingenuity, no need for scrappy problem-solving, no need to iterate, pivot, or struggle through the discomfort of true innovation. Just throw more money at it.

The Great AI Arms Race

Take, for example, the latest spectacle: the U.S. government pledging an absurd amount of money to win the AI race. Billions of dollars committed to ensuring that America will hold the world championship title in artificial intelligence. But what does that really mean? Why is it so important? Today, AI means controlling the world’s data. It means deciding what information gets fed to billions of people every day, through every device they interact with, every ad they see, every news article they read. Not a problem but an end goal worth throwing all the money in the world towards.

A few days later, the world gasps as a Chinese company—a startup that seemingly emerged from nowhere—leapfrogs them. Faster, sleeker, hungrier.

I couldn’t help but be amused.

Because this is the oldest story in business. This is why startups come out of nowhere and take down giants that once seemed indestructible. This is why Amazon obliterated bookstores, Tesla made legacy automakers scramble to catch up, and Facebook knows more about everyone than the governments that serve them.

It’s not about the money. It’s about the hunger.

To move fast, to be slick, to be creative, you need to be starving for something—not for money, but for the dream. It’s about proving something, about solving a problem, about seeing a world that others don’t see yet and making it real before anyone else catches on.

The Money Myth

I won’t lie. I’ve fallen for the illusion myself.

Building multiple companies, raising capital, convincing investors—it’s easy to believe that more money means faster, bigger, better growth. But here’s the truth: money doesn’t guarantee success. What it really buys you is access.

Money is a stamp of approval that convinces the gatekeepers of the world that you’re worth taking seriously. It opens doors to conversations, partnerships, and resources. But money doesn’t build companies—people do. And those people? They need something more than money to fuel them. A purpose, they say.

Yet, we’ve been conditioned to believe that only the desperate are dangerous. That those who are truly hungry must be stealing, lying, or cheating their way to get a small piece of the pie to get them through the day. That only those already inside the box should be trusted to win.

But the truth is the opposite. The hungriest founders are the ones who build movements, not just businesses. They are the ones who take down incumbents, not because they had more money, but because they had nothing to lose.

So What’s the Real Solution?

Yes, money matters. I’m not na?ve. You need capital to build, to scale, to hire talent. You need investors who believe in you. You need funding to prove that your idea is worth betting on.

But if money is the only thing that can solve your problem, you have a bigger problem.

Maybe the real strategy is to have money but act like you don’t—to keep the scrappy edge, the creativity, the ingenuity that comes from necessity. Or maybe the solution is to rethink what success looks like in the first place.

Because the real danger isn’t running out of money. The real danger is forgetting that hunger builds empires, while comfort builds glass houses.

And we all know what happens to glass houses when the next hungry founder comes knocking.