The Patience Problem: How Software Founders and NFL Quarterbacks Have Become Underserved

In the high-stakes arena of the NFL, Baker Mayfield’s story has been one of grand expectations tempered by hard reality. Selected first overall in the 2018 draft, Mayfield’s entry to professional football was heralded with fanfare, reminiscent of the “monster seed rounds” that make headlines in Silicon Valley. The Cleveland Browns, long beset by quarterback woes, placed in Mayfield their hopes for revival—a scenario not unlike a venture capital firm’s high-profile bet on an early-stage disruptor with a promising but unestablished product.

For both software startups and professional athletes, however, initial capital and excitement are merely prologue. Investors in these worlds—be they NFL executives or venture capitalists—understand that early valuations, no matter how soaring, must one day meet the expectations they set. Much like a founder at a high-growth SaaS firm pressured to justify a valuation over 20x revenue, Mayfield faced an imperative to transform promise into tangible, sustainable success. His record-breaking rookie season offered a glimmer of hope, but a difficult sophomore year, marred by a 6-10 record and as many interceptions as touchdowns, called his potential into question. It was a moment familiar to any software CEO navigating an unanticipated plateau. Still, the Browns, like investors committed to seeing a founder through rough patches, decided to back Mayfield for another season, betting that perseverance and improvement might yet yield returns.

Adaptability: A Core Principle in Tech and Sports

Mayfield’s journey illuminates a truth universally understood by leaders in both sports and technology: adaptability is indispensable to longevity. Just as a quarterback must adjust to evolving team strategies, shifts in roster dynamics, and new systems, SaaS founders face their own need to pivot, refining products and strategies in response to fluctuating markets and customer demands. Mayfield’s resilience after a setback season mirrors the iterative process that defines a startup's growth story, a testament to grit and an openness to change.

Investors and executives know well that in high-stakes environments, success often goes not to the strongest, but to those who stand resolute amidst periods of adversity.

That resilience paid off in 2020 when Mayfield led the Browns to their first playoff appearance in 18 years. Yet, after a shoulder injury sidelined him in 2021, the Browns decided to pursue a new quarterback, trading significant draft capital to secure a replacement and effectively ending Mayfield’s role as the team’s cornerstone. For a star player, it mirrors the experience of a founder watching investors close off additional funding and redirect their priorities, leaving a once-promising leader and product on a lonely sidelines.

A Growing Impatience in Venture Capital and Professional Sports

Mayfield’s narrative is emblematic of an impatience that has grown endemic across industries.

Professional sports and venture capital alike are arenas increasingly driven by an appetite for quick evidence of traction—a desire for rapid results that, while lucrative in the short term, can undermine the development of long-term value.

In Silicon Valley, this impatience manifests in the way venture capital firms often step away from promising companies that fail to achieve aggressive growth targets within tight timelines. The startup landscape is littered with innovative young companies that, like Mayfield, have been cast aside, even as they stood on the cusp of transformative potential. NFL franchises, too, have adopted a shorter fuse, benching quarterbacks who fail to meet immediate expectations. It’s a risk-laden approach that often sacrifices future gains for present performance.

Both industries provide a stark example of what happens when initial hype encounters the complex, often grueling path of real-world development. From Anthony Richardson to Bryce Young, recent NFL first-round picks join a roster of talent overshadowed by the demand for immediate results—a tendency mirrored by the tech world’s endless parade of discarded founders. Many of these individuals and companies represent promising investments that, given time and the right support, could achieve greatness. Yet the relentless push for scale leaves little room for patience.

Balancing Patience with Pressure: The Tension at the Heart of Success

In both venture capital and professional sports, the pressure for quick results can overshadow the profound benefits of patient capital. For Mayfield, the pressure to achieve instant wins mirrors the high-stakes environment that many startup founders navigate, where expectations of exponential growth from day one push even the most resilient leaders to the brink.

Founders and athletes alike face narrow windows in which to prove their value, often at the expense of deeper, long-term development. Quick wins, celebrated on the field and in boardrooms, may create market-leading companies and players, but an overemphasis on these immediate victories often sidelines promising talent, relegating it to history with scant recognition of what might have been.

Startups that deviate from hyper-growth trajectories encounter increasing difficulty in sustaining investor interest. Companies that fail to reach benchmark “triple-triple-double-double” growth rates quickly find themselves vulnerable to abandonment, no matter the strength of their market opportunity, product capabilities or leadership.

Patience and Attention: The Rare Qualities of Transformative Investment

After leaving the Browns, Mayfield’s journey took him from the Panthers to the Rams, in search of a new “product-market fit”—a struggle that every founder understands all too well. When product positioning or alignment with ICP isn’t fully optimized, startups, like quarterbacks, require time and recalibration to reach their potential. But the scarcity of patient capital and the structural imperatives for rapid paths to outlier returns make this level of long-term support rare. Many venture capitalists, bound by fund structures demanding rapid revenue compounding, simply cannot afford the luxury of waiting for slower-burning successes. When momentum stalls, hard choices often follow, whether on the field or in the boardroom.

Mayfield’s journey is emblematic of an issue that permeates Silicon Valley: talent with tremendous potential is sometimes cut loose, not due to lack of ability but due to limited access to investors willing to back a longer developmental path. In the venture world, the decision to walk away is often more pragmatic than reflective of merit. Mayfield’s trajectory reminds us of the talent and innovation that might lie dormant, untapped, in players and products that, with the right nurture, could change the landscape. Every founder who has encountered go-to-market challenges or product tweaks knows that early stumbles don’t equate to failure; sometimes they signal the need for patient iteration.

Unlocking Untapped Potential in an Era of Swift Judgments

Sports franchises and venture capital firms alike pride themselves on rigorous selection standards, but that rigor often risks sidelining valuable potential. Mayfield’s story underscores that players and products that don’t reach their peak overnight may still deliver extraordinary value over time. This enduring truth points to an essential takeaway: it’s often in the longer view, looking past immediate metrics, where transformative potential is found.

The People Factor: The Key to Lasting Impact

An NFL executive once remarked, “It’s no different than a personal relationship—you aren’t the same person in this one as you will be in the next.” It’s a sentiment that strikes a chord with both founders and investors: real success comes not from perfection but from partnerships that nurture potential. In both venture capital and professional sports, the instinct for rapid returns can be overwhelming, even counterproductive. Mayfield, reflecting on his journey, voiced the sentiment that drives founders who feel abandoned when growth slows: “You’re having a lot more fun when you’re not getting shipped off like a piece of dirty laundry.”

Firms like Camber Partners represent a different approach, supporting the individuals and products overlooked by others. They recognize that short-term setbacks don’t necessarily indicate long-term flaws. The Browns saw a setback; the Buccaneers saw opportunity. When they signed Mayfield to a one-year contract, they recognized an asset worth nurturing. Today, with a new $100 million contract and league-leading results, Mayfield’s narrative is one of persistence rewarded—a reminder that in both football and investment, patience is often the rarest, and most rewarding, form of capital.

In a world that values instant success, Mayfield’s story illustrates the profound impact of a second chance. In both sports and software, win-win outcomes are possible—and those willing to wait for growth may just secure the most enduring prize.