Zombie Entrepreneurs

In my browser, two tabs perfectly capture the state of entrepreneurship in 2025. In one, ChatGPT is generating an ad script based on a framework my client swears by. In the other, I'm on a Zoom call with a founder whose business is stagnant despite following every best practice the internet offers.

"It's just... everything," he says, running his hands through his hair. He's 28, two years into running his e-commerce brand, and drowning in problems. "Traffic's flat, conversion's down, CAC is rising. But let's talk about cart abandonment—that feels fixable."

He shares his screen, showing funnel metrics. "We've tried everything—exit-intent popups, abandoned cart emails, trust badges. A/B tested checkout flows. Even had ChatGPT optimize microcopy." He pauses. "The data still shows 70% of add-to-carts dropping off at checkout."

This is entrepreneurship’s version of the uncanny valley—everything looks right on the surface, but something essential is missing. Something human.

"Tell me about your homepage," I say.

He looks confused. "The homepage? But the drop-off happens in the cart."

This is it. The chasm between founders who mimic success and builders who cultivate it. Between those who play by the book and those who have been around the block. Between being data-driven and being data-informed.

It’s not a surprise. Instagram overflows with influencers promoting the glory of entrepreneurship. And according to Beehiiv, 2024 saw a 96.2% spike in new newsletters, from 26,911 to 52,809. More people than ever are writing about and consuming entrepreneurial advice, yet something vital is getting lost in translation. More on all that in a second.

"Your customers aren't making a split-second decision at checkout," I explain. "They’re concluding a journey that started when they landed on your site. By the time they reach the cart, they either have momentum and trust or lingering doubt. Your abandonment rate isn’t just where they leave—it’s proof they never truly arrived."

His eyes widen and then resign to the truth.

We’re living in the democratization of entrepreneurship. Anyone can access the playbooks, run the frameworks, and let AI optimize their decisions. We've made starting a company easier than ever, but in doing so, we've created a generation of founders who know the steps but can't hear the music.

This is why many of the most successful founders are in their 40s and 50s. Yes, they often have more resources and connections. More importantly, they've lived through enough cycles to develop pattern recognition that can’t be faked. Experienced enough failures that have sharpened their judgment. Seen enough trends rise and fall to develop taste that can’t be automated.

Watch Succession. The Roy children mimic their father’s moves, parrot his phrases, copy his ruthlessness. And they fail. Again and again. They have his playbook but not his instincts. His tactics but not his judgment. His data but not his wisdom.

This is startup land in 2025—a growing population of founders armed with best practices but missing the other half of the equation.

Great so what do I do?

If you lack life experience, shortcuts are in short supply.

You are either very lucky, a rare breed, or you’re harboring an obsession. For the latter, the best and fastest way to develop judgment is running hyper-calculated A/B tests – meaning you have all of your hypotheses written down and are obsessing over why each test succeeded or failed. You’re also not just tracking metrics – you’re living in your customers' shoes, breathing your target market's problems, sleeping on your product's and marketing's gaps.

This is what helps you evolve from zombie entrepreneur to an alive and thriving builder, because:

• Being data-driven means outsourcing your judgment to the numbers; being data-informed means using the numbers to make a judgment call.

• Being framework-driven means checking all the boxes; being framework-informed means using the boxes as inspiration.

• Being AI-driven means relying on a robot's thinking; being AI-informed amplifies yours.

I get it. When you're doing things you've never done before, it's uncomfortable to be in the abstract. Black and white, concrete concepts make wading into the unknown a little less terrifying.

The truth is that the abstract is where you win. Having worked with dozens of founders, I've learned that that there are three abstract capabilities — ones that compound with experience — essential for successful entrepreneurship:

• Taste: The ability to sense what resonates before data confirms it. It separates a trend from a fundamental shift. Taste comes from immersion—not just observing your market, but living it, breathing it, dreaming about it.

• Judgment: Data tells you what is happening. Judgment tells you why it matters. When my client’s cart abandonment rate was high, the data pointed to checkout. Judgment revealed a broken customer journey.

• Synthesis: The ability to connect market data, cultural shifts, tech trends, and psychology into a perspective. It’s not just seeing the dots; it’s a clear view into all of the spaces between them.

Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble, didn’t just build another dating app. She wasn’t just following market research. She saw a cultural shift—women wanting more control in online dating—and synthesized that with insights on behavior and tech. Taste told her what women wanted before the data confirmed it. Judgment allowed her to bet on a model others dismissed. Synthesis helped her weave culture, technology, and human psychology into a billion-dollar brand.

The real competitive advantage today isn’t having the best data or frameworks. It’s developing these deeply human skills—the ability to see beyond the obvious, to understand why behind the what, to spot opportunities others miss while they optimize for what’s measurable.

As one my favorite tweeters recently tweeted:

This is the real advantage in the age of AI. Beyond the automation and optimization, tools of the undead, lies the human capacity to read the room without a framework, sense momentum despite the metrics, feel resonance outside the data, and understand why people care—all of which the zombies will never have.