When Should We STOP Asking for "More"?

When does having "more" become a liability?

As Founders, we all start with nothing, so we're heavily conditioned to keep asking for more — more customers, more revenue, more capital, more resources. More is always better, because we have so little.

Yet if things go well, at some point we do have more stuff. We've got a successful company, a great income, and lots of toys. For the first time, we start to realize that getting "more" starts to become extremely expensive, and potentially not worth it all.

So, how do we figure out what that perfect balance is for us? How do we avoid falling into the trap of not being able to stop ourselves?

The Diminishing Value of More

What we fail to realize until it’s too late is that getting more often comes at an exponential cost. Upgrading from a junker to a BMW feels huge, but beyond that, the effort and risk increase sharply while the payoff shrinks.

Not seeing this cost/value shift can be fatal. Lance Armstrong was already a legend with multiple Tour de France wins, but chasing more pushed him past the line where he started doping to win. He lost not only his titles but also his reputation and legacy. His story shows that pushing beyond “enough” can cost far more than it gives.

This is true in our startups. We can raise too much capital, hire too many people, or simply extend ourselves too far. We do this with the idea that "more is better," but we also fail to calculate whether or not it's worth it to begin with.

When Enough is Actually Enough

At Startups.com, we see this pattern all the time. Founders who have already “won,” who have built successful companies or made a big exit, often find themselves in precarious positions chasing marginal gains. Instead of enjoying what they have accomplished, they double down on risk, stress, and sacrifice for very little upside.

I often tell Founders, “You’ve already won. Now all you can do is lose.” Once you reach a certain level of success, the stakes change. The real risk is not failure anymore; it is losing the stability, reputation, and freedom you have worked so hard to build. Chasing the next deal, the next raise, or the next big win becomes less about growth and more about compounding risk.

Our goal as Founders is to figure out what "enough" looks like both personally and professionally. It's a matter of assessing not only whether we are satiated, but whether or not we think the risk or cost of getting more is even worth it.

Shifting the Focus of More

One of the most valuable lessons that I've learned about the pursuit of more is changing its focus. For example, many of us may dream of building a big company. I get it. But at which point our company is "big enough," what if we put that same kind of energy into something else entirely?

There are so many buckets that deserve "more" and get overlooked. Relationships, personal wellness, charitable causes — you name it. We're not these one-dimensional beings that only have a single path of growth.

I've rarely seen this shift in focus produce bad results, yet I don't see it often enough. It often manifests in someone running a triathlon, or spending more time with their kids, or in my case, building an entire house with your own hands. By extracting that value out of new buckets, we maximize the ROI of that effort versus trying to wring 1% more value out of the buckets we've emptied.

Ambition Expects Value

This isn't about being less ambitious — it's about maximizing the value of our ambitions. We deserve to be rewarded with more when we put in the time and effort to manifest it. But that doesn't mean the reward will always be worth it.

Our focus as Founders should be on maximizing value. We want the greatest rewards for our effort. The moment we see that the rewards are diminishing and the cost is increasing, we should stop investing.

You deserve more. You worked for it. But also, you deserve to enjoy it and be satisfied.

In Case You Missed it

Who am I Really Competing Against? What if we're all competing in a game we can't actually win?

How to Find Minimum Viable Happiness What's the least we need as Founders to be happy?

Why Can’t I be OK with Where I am? At some point, we have to realize that the "next goal" actually doesn't matter. It's the fact that we haven't been able to stop and enjoy the last 10 goals or (heaven forbid) realize that what we've accomplished is enough.