There is a pattern I see again and again with business founders.

When they talk about their business, whether they are fashion designers, scientists or artists, they speak with passion about their products: how they are designed, made, and how they will be like in the future. That obsession on perfecting the product is real and that matters.

But when the conversation shifts to the financial decisions that must support that vision such as pricing, revenue targets or cost structure, the energy changes.

There is hesitation.
Often a lot of it.

Not because founders don’t know these decisions matter. 

They do. 

They know these choices will shape the future trajectory of the business. 

And yet, many postpone committing to them.

Because waiting feels careful.
It feels responsible.
It feels like staying in the safe zone a little longer.

Why postponing feels like prudence

This is not a lack of seriousness. Quite the opposite in fact.

Postponing financial decisions often looks like prudence: gathering more information, refining assumptions, running more analyses. 

Founders want to avoid getting it wrong, especially when they are operating in realities where mistakes could be expensive and sometimes hard to undo.

So they research more. They analyse customer behaviour. They study the market. Some even hope there is a missing playbook or formula they haven’t found yet (haha, my engineer founders!).

I understand this instinct well.

When you are the founder, you are also the one carrying the consequences. Decisions are not abstract. They affect people, cash flow, reputation, sometimes even personal survival. 

Waiting feels like protection.

Postponing is not neutral

But here is the part that often remains unseen: postponing financial decisions is not neutral.

You might feel that will allow you to “keep options open” but in fact it is an active economic choice. 

And like any choice, it produces effects, whether you intend them or not.

Financial decisions as gates

Hear me out: Financial decisions act like gates. If you don’t open these gates deliberately, they stay closed by default.

Pricing is the clearest example.

Pricing doesn’t only determine how much you earn. It defines where your business is allowed to go. Wholesale, retail, direct-to-consumer, international markets, agents, distributors…etc. Each of these paths carries its own cost structure and expectations.

If your pricing does not make room for them, those options quietly disappear.

Not because you rejected them. But because you never decided to make room for these options to exist in your business.

When time decides for you

When a financial decision is postponed, it doesn’t stay undecided. The environment decides instead. Distribution partnerships are chosen because they are the only ones available. Costs accumulate in ways the business never learns to carry. What started as a temporary situation slowly becomes the business’s default.

Delayed decisions do not preserve freedom.
They transfer power. Quietly, and sometimes permanently as time takes over.

The reframing that matters here is simple, but often relieving: avoiding a decision does not remove responsibility. It shifts it.

Once you see that, the question changes. It is no longer “Am I being careful enough?” but “Who or what is currently deciding for me?”

You don’t need to rush into reckless and painful commitments right away. But you do need to recognise that non-decisions are still decisions, with real economic and structural effects.

A small, safe step forward

If you want one small, safe step, here’s my gentle nudge:

Name one financial decision you are currently postponing.

Not to resolve it, just to acknowledge that waiting is already shaping your business.

Sometimes, that recognition alone is already a big step forward.