Published in the San Diego Union-Tribune, January 26, 2026
by Neil Senturia
Imagine the possibility that your most thoughtful decision is absolutely wrong.
Now, remember the subtext of my entrepreneurial rants over the past 14 years have often been centered on the importance of behavior, psychology, background, history, talent, energy, track record, goals and a clear recognition of where you are going and what you want.
OK, you know what you know. Then a crack in the foundation appears. Minor you think, cover it with a rug. Then the building begins to shake, you look up to the sky, praying to whomever is in your outlook folder, and you beg for another chance, because you discover that you were wrong. The rug is not going to cut it.
The puzzle pieces on the table stare at you and ask did you become aware on your own, or did the other members of your team, your immediate family, your board of directors, your shrink or your exercise coach point out the flaw in your reasoning.
Answer is it doesn’t matter. What matters is when you see the right answer. Embrace it.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the brilliance of creating co-CEOs in my little AI company. I politely complimented the other guy but pointed out several skills that were lacking and then using six examples from large public companies, justified shared responsibilities. I explained that there would be clear swim lanes and each executive would play to their strengths. Pause.
I floated this idea to a few of my venture pals and what I got back was, “Are you out of your mind, investors bet on the founder, or at least they bet on one CEO, but the idea of two is only going to make it even easier for them to give you the no soup for you speech.”
My response was considered and measured. Maybe I couldn’t hit the fastball anymore, but “put me in coach, look at me, I can be centerfield.”
I went back and looked at some of my previous 680 columns, (of course using my AI platform, AskTuring) and I found that the subject of arrogance, ego, misaligned executives, technical friction and downright stupid behavior appeared in more than 39% of the columns. Huh.
I tell this tale on myself as a confession that I hope will energize lots of other CEOs and founders and co-founders who operate with certitude and may not be aware of the blinders that cloud their vision.
Thus, “lend me your ears, I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” I have made my co-founder the full and complete CEO. I have exited stage left to the role of executive chairman, which is a fancy of way saying, you can come in for lunch after golf, but there is no permanent desk.
Takeout, paper plates, great to see you, sorry I have a meeting.
Now with this decision comes one other. I have always talked about misplaced goals and the teams to reach them. The classic line is to get the right people in the right seats on the right bus headed in the right direction (OK, using Google Maps).
What the company learned with this change is that all the usual garbage about roles and responsibilities was easy to resolve, but it also freed up a completely new game plan. We had built a diamond (partly by mistake), but we were treating it as if it were a cheap piece of glass. So the company is now launched on a different trajectory. Going bigger.
While the above story is personal and about me and my little AI company, it is a tale for all founders and entrepreneurs. All that jazz about how a startup is hard to do, goes out the window when it is your startup. Decisions are incremental and critical. You need to get them right, one at a time.
The famous story is this. If you are running down the road, and you look back and there is no one behind you on the road there are only two possibilities — either you are way, way ahead — or you are on the wrong road.
Rule No. 814: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Senturia is a serial entrepreneur who invests in startups. Please email ideas to [email protected].