Cosplaying startup
Back when we first started Textio, a prominent media outlet asked me to write a weekly blog about my founding experience. I love writing and this seemed like an amazing opportunity. Not only would it bring visibility with potential customers and investors, but it also felt validating: if I got attention for being a successful founder, then I must really be one.
But when I shared the news with an experienced mentor, his reaction was strong and immediate. "Founding a company isn't a reality TV show," he told me. "This will be a stupid distraction."
I passed on the blog offer.
You can fake it, but you might not make it
In 30 seconds, the conversation with my mentor refocused me in crucial ways. I had to ask myself some uncomfortable questions:
- If my company fails, will I wish I'd spent more time writing blogs about it, or more time actually doing the work?
- Am I building a business or curating a character?
- What would happen if I put every ounce of this energy into making a great product instead?
Before I started a company, the founder journey sounded glamorous from the outside. But in reality, many of my ideas about the experience were totally wrong.
Working with an early tight-knit team sounds energizing, until you have to send someone home for not having showered for two weeks. Jet-setting around the country sounds glitzy, until you're stuck unshowered overnight at the Charlotte airport. Building a company with your own values sounds empowering, until you discover that one of your executives is exacting a reign of terror on their team and you need to step in.
Now on the other side, it's easy to see that my mentor was right. Cosplaying startup isn't the same as building a real company. Moreover, cosplaying startup makes you materially less likely to succeed at building a real company, because you're distracted by things that are not important.
But this isn't uniquely about startups. No matter what field you're in, why is it so tempting to cosplay success?
Let's perform identity construction!
These days, it's easy for me to spot the signs that someone is cosplaying startup. They implement nonsensical org structures where one manager has 50 reports. They do away with job titles for no apparent reason. They have really good snacks, but no health insurance for employees.
But this isn't just a startup thing. Performative identity cosplay is kind of the American way, especially in professional life. For instance:
- The self-described "product guy" who was an entry-level PM one time 25 years ago
- The "I have run three marathons, read three novels, and done a week's worth of work before 6am" productivity hacker
- The “people-first leader” who hasn’t had an unscripted conversation with a non-executive employee since Obama’s first term
- The “truth teller” who somehow always posts the safest possible opinion 72 hours after everyone else
These people have always been around. However, AI has pushed professional cosplay into absolute overdrive.
AI makes cosplay, and cosplay loves AI
Thought leadership cosplay is particularly insidious in an AI-forward climate. We've all seen the "AI expert" who booted Claude Code up once, but that's not even what I'm talking about.
Fake-it-till-you-make-it is nothing new. However, AI makes it particularly easy to pretend to be someone that you're not; you can readily express yourself like someone with lived experience, even if it is far away from your actual reality.
The prevalence of AI also makes people feel like they need to cosplay AI itself. For instance, the other day I saw a post from someone with no technology background whatsoever asserting that, because they have moral discomfort with foundation model companies, they would soon be personally building their own models to run ops for their solopreneur consulting business. Lolsob.
That example is particularly ludicrous, but AI cosplay is everywhere. When it seems like everyone else is building with AI, you feel pressure to talk about the 25 agents you've built, even if you haven't really done that. When your company counts AI usage as input into performance reviews, people make sure to hit their chatbot daily, even if they're not using it for anything valuable.
The bottom line: Professional cosplay isn't a new thing, but it is especially acute in this moment. Just as in the past, there's usually something more meaningful to focus on than playing pretend. Like actually doing the not-very-glamorous work. ❤️
Kieran
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