Why I moved to the South of France (for a year)? The #1 Lesson Founders Need to Hear

After exiting my last business, I made a decision that surprised many in my circle: I moved to the South of France for a year. It wasn't an early retirement or an extended vacation—it was a necessity. The years of building, scaling, and finally exiting my company, followed immediately by diving into advising other founders, had created a relentless momentum. I was moving from one rocketship to another, caught in an endless cycle of acceleration.

I needed time to think, to write, to process. More importantly, I needed space to understand what it all meant—the journey, the lessons, the patterns I was seeing repeat themselves across different founder stories. I had insights to share, a book brewing inside me, but the constant forward motion of startup life left no room for deeper reflection.

What I've discovered here in my little village of 600 people has transformed my understanding of time itself. The French don't see taking time as a luxury—they see it as a necessity. They understand that some things can't be rushed: a good meal, a meaningful conversation, a well-thought-out strategy. They've taught me that there's wisdom in resistance to the constant pressure to accelerate.

This perspective hit home particularly hard last week during a conversation with two founders who had recently raised millions in venture funding. The anxiety in their voices was palpable—a feeling I knew all too well. They were caught in that familiar trap where the pressure to scale meets the fundamental need to get things right.

These founders had the funding, but they hadn't yet discovered their true north. They were being pushed to build out their sales organization, to hire seasoned executives, to scale rapidly. But there was a crucial piece missing: they hadn't yet defined what truly made them irreplaceable in their market.

This is where I see so many founders stumble. They fall into the trap of believing that being faster, cheaper, or marginally better is enough. It never is. In today's market, these advantages are temporary at best, illusory at worst.

What your business needs—what every business needs—is something that can't be easily replicated. It's not just about features or efficiency gains. It's about providing something your customers simply cannot get elsewhere. For B2B solutions, this might mean unlocking access to transformative knowledge, equipping teams with truly unique frameworks to make better decisions, or fundamentally improving the quality of work life. For B2C offerings, it could mean transforming personal wellbeing in ways that transcend traditional metrics.

But discovering this unique value equation requires something that seems increasingly rare in the startup world: time to think, to experiment, to understand deeply. When founders skip these crucial steps, the consequences cascade. A premature hire of a sales executive becomes a misalignment of vision. That misalignment spreads to the sales team, who struggle to articulate value they don't fully understand. The anxiety trickles down, creating pressure points throughout the organization.

What I've learned, both through my own journey and watching others, is that some questions can't be answered by moving faster or throwing more resources at them. This is particularly evident with the majority of founders I encounter who, after raising a first round and then seeking a second, have often achieved remarkably little in between, despite burning through millions of dollars. Sometimes, the most valuable thing you can do is pause, reflect, and ensure you're building on solid foundations.

This isn't about moving slowly for the sake of it. It's about understanding that resilient growth—meaning growth that can navigate all kinds of challenges, from changing tariffs and tax regimes to new competitors and established entities entering your space—isn't built on speed alone. It's built on clarity of purpose, on a deep understanding of value, and on the kind of insights that only emerge when you give them space to develop.

The pressure to accelerate is real, especially when you've raised venture capital. But the cost of rushing fundamental decisions far outweighs the cost of taking time to get them right. Your unique value equation—the thing that makes you truly irreplaceable—isn't something you can rush to discover. It emerges from deep understanding, careful observation, and yes, sometimes from having the courage to slow down.

Back in my village, as I watch the sun set over the Cévennes Mountains, I'm reminded that some things—like good natural wine, deep insights, and resilient businesses—simply can't be rushed. They require patience, attention, and the wisdom to know when to resist the constant pressure to accelerate.

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