Selected Essays from Substack — Tao of Founders

Tao of Founders publishes deeper long-form essays on Substack. This page curates the best entry points if you want more than the product page, more than excerpts, and more than surface-level startup advice.

If the book is the distilled framework, these essays are the extended conversation.

Start here

• Duality and Your Hero’s Journey
  A strong starting point for understanding the philosophical foundation behind Tao of Founders and how the founder journey is shaped by paradox.
• The Expert’s Trap
  On flow, over-effort, and why experienced founders often need better discernment, not more force.
• Ego Paradox: The Sword and The Shield
  An essay on ambition, narcissistic fuel, and the tension between ego as a driver and ego as a liability.
• The Creative Practice
  On creativity, systems, founder taste, and the disciplines that sharpen original work.
• The Bigger Picture
  A piece about ambition, courage, aesthetics, and building something that matters beyond short-term noise.
• Human Learning, Machine Learning
  A recent essay connecting founder learning, criticism, adaptive systems, and LLM-assisted thinking.

How to use this reading path

Read the book for the compact operating system. Use Substack for the deeper essays, evolving ideas, and ongoing founder reflections.

Best flow: read a few essays on Substack, explore the book, then subscribe for weekly founder wisdom.

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Go to the Substack publication