Arun Agrahri
The Founder's Mental Models

Business 25 min read

The Founder's Mental Models

Decision Frameworks from 200+ Interviews

We analyzed 200+ founder interviews from My First Million and Y Combinator to extract the mental models, decision frameworks, and thinking tools top founders use to navigate uncertainty, evaluate risk, and build lasting companies.

  • Why Do Mental Models Matter for Founders?
  • What Decision-Making Frameworks Do Top Founders Use?
  • How Do Founders Assess and Structure Risk?

Guide Map

  1. 1 Why Do Mental Models Matter for Founders?
  2. 2 What Decision-Making Frameworks Do Top Founders Use?
  3. 3 How Do Founders Assess and Structure Risk?
  4. 4 How Do You Know If a Pursuit Is Worth the Effort?
  5. 5 How Do Founders Handle Failure and Build Resilience?
  6. 6 How Should Founders Think About Teams and Relationships?
  7. 7 Where Do Founder Experts Disagree?
  8. 8 FAQ

Also includes Table of Contents

200+

Videos Analyzed

37

Expert Sources

36

Mental Models Extracted

76

Rules & Principles