Why Relationships Matter More Than Skill Sets in Entrepreneurship
When people talk about entrepreneurship, the conversation often centers around skill sets. Strategy, execution, sales, marketing, operations, and product knowledge are usually positioned as the primary drivers of success. Those skills matter, especially early on when everything is fragile and the founder has to wear every hat. But over time, I’ve learned that skill is rarely the thing that determines how far a company goes. Skill helps you start. Relationships determine how far you can carry the work. Most meaningful opportunities don’t come from perfectly executed plans. They come from people who trust you enough to open doors you couldn’t access on your own.
Why Skill Alone Has a Ceiling
Technical ability can only take a business so far. You can be excellent at your craft and still struggle to scale if everything depends on you. At some point, skill becomes a bottleneck rather than a multiplier. Relationships work differently. They compound quietly over time and often show up when you least expect them to. A conversation turns into an introduction. An introduction turns into a partnership. A partnership turns into momentum that no amount of individual effort could have created. This is especially true in early stage companies where trust moves faster than process.
Trust Is the Real Currency
What I’ve come to appreciate is that trust is a form of capital. It lowers friction, shortens timelines, and creates optionality that doesn’t exist on a spreadsheet. When people trust your judgment and intentions, decisions happen faster and collaboration feels lighter. That trust doesn’t come from credentials or pitch decks. It comes from consistency. From showing up the same way over time. From doing what you say you’ll do even when it’s inconvenient or unglamorous. In many ways, trust is built long before it’s ever needed.
Why Alignment Matters More Than Capability
One of the biggest mistakes founders make is optimizing for capability over alignment. It’s tempting to bring in the most impressive operator, the most experienced advisor, or the most technically gifted partner without slowing down to ask whether values actually align. Misalignment creates drag. It shows up in subtle ways like decision tension, miscommunication, and quiet resistance. Over time, that friction compounds and becomes far more expensive than any skill gap ever would have been.
Aligned relationships create momentum. People move in the same direction without constant explanation or correction. That kind of alignment is rare, and when it exists, it’s worth protecting.
Building HUMN Has Reinforced This
As HUMN has taken shape, this lesson has become even clearer to me. The progress that’s mattered most hasn’t come from moments where I figured something out on my own. It’s come from conversations, relationships, and people who were willing to share perspective, make introductions, or challenge my thinking in constructive ways.
Some of the most important decisions have been influenced not by expertise alone, but by trust in the people offering guidance. That trust made it easier to listen, to adjust, and to move forward with confidence. In many ways, HUMN is as much a reflection of the relationships around it as it is of the idea itself.
The Long Game of Building With People
Entrepreneurship often gets framed as a solo pursuit, but in reality it’s an ecosystem sport. No one builds anything meaningful alone, even if it looks that way from the outside. The companies that last tend to be surrounded by strong networks, aligned partners, and people who believe in the mission beyond a transactional level.
Skill will always matter. It’s table stakes. But relationships are what create resilience when things don’t go as planned and momentum when they do. If I’ve learned anything through this process, it’s that the work compounds faster when you invest in people, not just capabilities. Over time, that approach doesn’t just build better companies. It builds better foundations for whatever comes next.
