My risk tolerance is extremely low. If something involves serious financial or personal risk, I rarely take it unless the upside is massive or I’m comfortable losing what I’m risking. Most of the time, that means I say no.

For Foundation, that has meant being smaller today than we could be, intentionally. We’ve chosen a slower, (and in my opinion) safer path. I haven’t had many sleepless nights worrying about payroll or debt, not because we’ve run a perfect business, but because we’ve turned down opportunities that might have fast-tracked growth in exchange for the peace that comes with sustainability.

You can’t miss a debt payment if you don’t take on debt.

I don’t say that lightly. Some businesses truly need loans to get started or to reach the next stage. But I’ve also seen a culture that glorifies high-risk, high-reward entrepreneurship without showing the downside. Betting on growth that may never come is risky. Hiring ahead of revenue is risky. If you can stomach that risk, that’s fair, but I know I personally can’t stomach risking my livelihood or the job security of the people who depend on Foundation just to arrive somewhere a few years sooner.

I might think this way because I’m not building a company to exit. I’m building a business I hope to retire from as an old man with the next leader ready to take it further. If the goal is to build something that lasts 100 years, the difference between hitting a milestone in three years versus five hardly matters.

I guess I’m trying to say in a world obsessed with speed, it’s okay to slow down.

There’s a reason endurance athletes train at a slower, controlled pace. Sprinting gets you ahead quickly, but if you want to still be running 50 miles into the race, you can’t sprint the whole time.