UpTrajectory Review
Alexa von Tobel, founder turned investor, argues in Fast Company that curiosity, not confidence or grit, separates founders who build extraordinary companies from those who build merely good ones. She draws on backing 18 companies past $100 million in revenue, watching five go public, and logging 500 hours of founder conversations on her podcast. She cites research showing curiosity drives higher-performing, more adaptable organizations, yet most leaders stifle it because they fear risk and inefficiency. A Merck study of 3,000 employees found 85% believe curiosity sparks ideas, but only 20% call themselves curious at work. Curiosity ranks 12th among workplace traits, behind organized and detail oriented. Von Tobel points to Ben Lamm, who cofounded Colossal Biosciences with geneticist George Church despite no genetics background, as proof that relentless questioning beats technical pedigree.
For a small-business operator, this lands harder than another leadership platitude. You run lean. You cannot afford blind spots. Curiosity costs nothing but attention, and it compounds. Von Tobel's data shows your team already believes curious colleagues generate breakthroughs, yet few feel permission to ask questions. That gap costs you. A retail owner who asks why customers abandon carts at the register might redesign checkout flow and lift margins. A contractor who questions why one crew outperforms another might codify tacit knowledge and scale. Curiosity turns frontline observations into operational fixes. It also shields you from disruption. Small businesses die when owners stop asking what customers want next. The piece reminds you that asking beats assuming, especially when payroll depends on it.
The argument is not new. Carol Dweck's growth mindset work and Adam Grant's research on curiosity precede it. What stands out is von Tobel's insistence that curiosity outranks grit, a trait Silicon Valley worships. We agree. Grit without curiosity is stubbornness. A founder who persists down the wrong path burns cash and morale. Curious founders pivot early, test assumptions, and spot weak signals. We are skeptical of one thing: von Tobel's sample skews toward venture-backed outliers. Colossal Biosciences raised hundreds of millions to resurrect mammoths. Most small businesses lack that runway. Curiosity helps, but it does not replace cash flow discipline or execution speed. The piece underplays that. Still, the core claim holds. Leaders who model questioning create cultures that surface problems early, and early problem-solving saves money.
Second-order effects ripple outward. If curiosity drives adaptability, then hiring for it beats hiring for credentials. A bookkeeper who asks why revenue dipped might catch a billing error. A barista who wonders why morning rushes stall might suggest a prep tweak that cuts wait times. Yet most job postings still list detail oriented and collaborative, the traits workers already claim. That mismatch means you might screen out your best problem-solvers. Downstream, curiosity gaps widen. Large firms can buy innovation through acquisition. Small firms must generate it internally or die. Von Tobel's data also hints at a quiet cost: when leaders stifle questions to avoid inefficiency, they trade short-term speed for long-term blindness. That trade kills more small businesses than competition does.
Watch whether your own behavior signals permission or punishment. Von Tobel says the curiosity gap starts at the top, and she is right. If you shut down a question in a meeting, you teach the room to stay silent. Test this: in your next team huddle, ask one open-ended question and wait through the awkward pause. Track who speaks up and what surfaces. You can also audit your hiring. Swap one credential requirement for a question that probes curiosity, such as tell me about a time you changed your mind at work. The original piece likely expands on von Tobel's founder examples and research citations, but the action is clear. Curiosity is not a soft skill. It is an operational advantage you can build starting today.
Takeaway: Ask one open-ended question in your next team meeting and wait; curiosity surfaces problems early and saves money.
Excerpt from the original — Fast Company
There’s a question I’ve been turning over for years, both as a founder and as an early-stage investor: What separates the people who build something truly extraordinary from those who build something merely good?
I’ve had an unusual amount of pattern recognition to draw on. I’ve backed 18 companies that have crossed $100 million in revenue, watched five go public, and seen 10 get acquired, including my own. I’ve spent 500-plus hours in conversation with the world’s best founders on my podcast, Inspired, studying how they think and what drives them. I’ve also studied behavioral psychology, positive psychology, and growth mindset, including work in Daniel Gilbert’s positive psychology lab.
After all of that, here’s what I know for certain. The best founders don’t lead primarily with confidence or conviction. It isn’t …