The Founders Journey

You’re not just building the future, you’re also telling your own story.
Here, you’ll learn to tell a good one, ready for the next era.

Before every founder story unfolds, an idea waits like a seed for someone to plant it, tend to it, and see what will blossom. Perhaps one has found you.

Below, you’ll find some of our research distilled into a simple framework inspired by Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. It is designed to help you to take the first steps up to the founder’s threshold, where ideas begin to take root.

This is where you can explore, trial and error, and start shaping your own story, ready to tell when someone finally asks: “Tell us your founder’s story.”

If an idea has found you, it is ready to be noticed and acted on. And like every story, it begins in an Ordinary World…

1. Ordinary World

The Ordinary World is the starting point of every founder’s journey. It represents your everyday life, your routines, systems, and familiar patterns.

This stage is about awareness. Before you can create change, you must first understand who you are and how your world currently operates.

Nothing needs fixing yet. This is simply the moment of noticing all the stepping stones that lead you up to this moment.

    • Restlessness or low-grade dissatisfaction

    • Feeling underwhelmed or overwhelmed at the same time

    • A sense that “there must be more,” without knowing what it is

    • Competence without fulfilment

    • Momentum without meaning

    Purpose: To witness your present reality, understand your context, and gain clarity before exploring possibilities.

    • You cannot leave a world you haven’t fully seen

    • Awareness precedes meaningful action

    • Ordinary patterns are not “wrong,” but unexamined routines can block transformation

    • Observation allows you to identify both opportunities and constraints

    Key Themes: Innocence • Beginnings • Observation • Potential • Awareness

    Affirmation: I allow myself to see life clearly, without judgment.

    • You can see your life clearly without urgency to escape it

    • Gratitude for the present coexists with detachment from it

    • Old patterns feel visible rather than controlling

    • You stop defending “how things are”

    • Curiosity replaces anxiety about the status quo

    • Space opens naturally, without forcing change


    When this clarity arrives, you’re ready to hear the Call to Adventure.

2. Call To Adventure

After you’ve fully seen your Ordinary World, something begins to change.

The Call to Adventure is the first spark. It’s a thought, idea, conversation, experience, or insight that invites you to imagine a new possibility. When it arrives, its presence is unmistakable.

This call does not appear because you are ready, prepared, or searching for it. It arrives because the conditions inside you, your world, and the idea itself have aligned.

Nothing has changed yet, but this is an invitation, not a commitment.

    • Excitement or renewed energy

    • Curiosity and creative expansion

    • Moments of doubt, fear, or overwhelm

    • Thoughts like “this could change everything” or “who am I to do this?”

    Purpose: Noticing possibilities, entertaining new paths, and allowing yourself to imagine without pressure to act.

    • Ideas are energy. They exist whether or not you act on them

    • You’re not required to say yes yet; observation comes first

    • Curiosity and discernment are your guides

    • Some ideas will fade; others will persist and call for your attention


    Key Themes: Invitation • Catalyst • Curiosity • Potential • Imagination

    Affirmation: I allow myself to explore possibilities without needing certainty.

    • Certain ideas remain persistent in a calm, exciting way

    • Curiosity replaces urgency or pressure

    • You can imagine multiple futures without clinging to one outcome

    • Excitement feels grounded rather than dramatic

    • The invitation feels steady instead of chaotic


    At this point, the idea is no longer simply appearing; it’s starting to ask for your response.

    This is where the next stage begins.

3. Refusal of the Call

After the excitement of the Call to Adventure, hesitation naturally arises.

The Refusal of the Call is the moment you pause, and you begin to weigh the idea against your current life. You battle it against your responsibilities, relationships, finances, identity, and sense of safety.

It’s normal to feel torn between the comfort of the known and the uncertainty of possibility. This stage exists because transformation always involves risk, and fear deserves to be met consciously rather than avoided or overridden.

Nothing has gone wrong. Resistance is part of the process.

    • Heightened self-doubt or inner criticism

    • Increased awareness of logistical, financial, or personal constraints

    • Oscillating between excitement and avoidance

    • Imagining worst-case scenarios or testing the idea intellectually

    • Watching to see if someone else acts first


    Purpose: Discernment. Noticing your fears, assumptions, and real-world constraints without letting them decide for you.

    • Fear is information, not a decision-maker

    • Saying no to one idea doesn’t close you off to others

    • Reflection and pause are part of the journey, and they help build self-trust

    • The tension you feel signals growth and alignment with potential


    Key Themes: Resistance • Doubt • Safety • Testing • Courage

    Affirmation: I allow myself to feel the fear without letting it decide.

    • Fear is present but no longer paralysing

    • Risks and consequences feel realistic and grounded

    • You stop outsourcing the decision to timing, permission, or others

    • You can consciously say yes or no without urgency or avoidance

    • Your choice feels calm, intentional, and self-directed

    • Resolve begins to form, whether that means committing to the idea or releasing it with clarity.


    Once this clarity arrives, you’ve crossed an internal threshold, and the journey is ready to continue into Meeting the Mentor.

4. Meeting The Mentor

Once you’ve said yes to the potential of an idea, you begin to realise you can’t, and don’t need to do everything alone.

Meeting the Mentor is the stage where support, insight, and perspective enter your journey. This may come through a person, a conversation, a book or movie, a framework, a lived experience, or someone who reflects possibility back to you.

A mentor does not take control of your path, and they don’t solve the problem for you. Instead, they help steady your confidence, clarify your thinking, and prepare you mentally, emotionally, and practically for what lies ahead.

    • Conversations with people who have done similar work

    • Researching how others approached similar challenges

    • Learning frameworks or mental models

    • Seeing proof that what you’re attempting is possible

    • Feeling more grounded, resourced, or inspired


    Purpose: To build confidence, clarity, and perspective, but not to outsource decision-making.

    • Guidance is a tool, not a crutch. You are still the expert in your idea.

    • Mentors provide insight, reassurance, or frameworks, but don’t replace your judgment.

    • Not every piece of advice or mentor is the right fit; discernment here matters.

    • Proper mentorship helps you see possibilities, stay resourced, and trust your own capacity.

    Key Themes: Mentorship • Discernment • Preparation • Proof of Concept

    Affirmation: I seek guidance without outsourcing my authority.

    • You feel supported while remaining self-directed

    • Guidance strengthens clarity rather than creating confusion

    • You can discern what advice to take and what to leave

    • Learning feels integrated, not overwhelming

    • You feel resourced and ready to act on your own initiative

    When preparation feels solid, the journey naturally shifts from learning to commitment, and you can finally Cross The Threshold.

5. Crossing The Threshold

Crossing the Threshold is the moment of real commitment.

Until now, you’ve observed, explored, hesitated, and gathered guidance, but nothing has fundamentally changed. This stage marks the shift from intention into action.

The idea moves from possibility into the real world, and once this step is taken, there is no clean return to the Ordinary World as it once was.

For founders, crossing the threshold often looks like drafting or building a first version, prototype, or MVP. It may involve publishing work publicly, telling your network, or shifting how you present yourself. It can also mean investing time, money, or reputation, and choosing actions that carry real-world consequences.

Even small steps matter. A single post, prototype, or decision can create a clear before-and-after moment in your journey.

    • A mix of excitement, fear, and momentum

    • Transition from exploration to execution

    • Building early structures, systems, or feedback loops

    • Confidence comes from action, not reassurance

    Purpose: To move from planning to doing. Momentum is built through tangible steps, not speculation.

    • Action is the proof of commitment

    • Small steps that create real-world consequences matter more than perfect execution

    • Hesitation disguised as refinement or partial commitment blocks momentum

    • Feedback and experience replace speculation and theory

    Key Themes: Threshold • Decision • Momentum • Execution

    Affirmation: I commit fully to the next step, without waiting for certainty.

    • You no longer debate whether to act, and action is consistent

    • Your identity begins to shift through behaviour, not intention

    • Feedback and reality guide your decisions instead of speculation

    • Momentum carries you forward, even when motivation fluctuates

    • You no longer feel a desire to return to the Ordinary World


    At this point, the journey moves from planning and preparation into learning through experience.

    You are no longer imagining the adventure; you are living it.

Take the leap. The journey has only just begun.

This page doesn’t complete the Founder’s Journey. It prepares you for it.

Most people never get this far. They stay in observation, imagination, or hesitation. Choosing action, even imperfect action, places you among a much smaller group: those willing to learn by doing and being in the pursuit of experience.

What comes next isn’t linear, and it isn’t tidy. It involves experimentation, uncertainty, feedback, and growth that doesn’t have a shortcut. From here, the journey continues through lived experience, supported by insight, reflection, and finding your community.

If you’d like to keep going, we’ll be here sharing tools, stories, and frameworks to help you navigate what unfolds after the leap. And if you know there is work to be done, you can find more here.

What’s next?