Chaos. Quotes

“Runway is the time you have left before your startup starves to death. It’s the number of months, weeks, or days your company can survive on the cash you have before you run out and everyone realizes your “brilliant idea” wasn’t so brilliant after all.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Networking is pretending to care about strangers for personal gain. Networking is the startup sport where charm, business cards, and carefully timed coffee meetings replace actual progress. Networking is a survival skill disguised as small talk.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Hustle Culture is the glorification of exhaustion and burnout. Hustle Culture glorifies suffering, not success. Smart founders work hard, but they also work smart, and they know exhaustion is the enemy of good decisions.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is how much you spend to convince someone to buy your product once. This is where the fantasy of “viral growth” meets reality. You might have a brilliant product, but if you’re spending $500 to get someone to pay $50, congratulations: you’re running a charity, not a business.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Sales Funnel is how you trap customers and hope they don’t escape. A sales funnel is the seductive term for the process of guiding prospects from “I’m curious” to “Here, take my money.” Sales funnels are powerful, but don’t mistake manipulation for loyalty.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Branding is putting lipstick on your startup pig. Branding is the art of making your startup look cooler, smarter, and more valuable than it actually is. Build the product first, polish it second, and don’t let style ever replace substance.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Business Model is the way you pretend to make money (and hope it works). Copying someone else’s model without understanding why it works for them. Ignoring the fact that “scaling” doesn’t automatically mean “profitable.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are arbitrary numbers that make you feel productive. It’s corporate astrology: you stare at charts and dashboards, interpret the signs, and declare, “We’re growing!” while quietly ignoring the fact that revenue is flat. If you’re hitting all your KPIs and still not growing, they’re just three letters that make you feel busy while you slowly fail.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Advisors are people who give you vague advice and expect equity. They’ll ask, “So, what keeps you up at night?” then respond with something so generic you could have found it on a motivational Instagram account. “Advisor” is the only title where you can be useless and still be respected, until the company dies.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Culture Fit is hiring people who agree with your bad ideas and won’t complain. Instead of diversity of thought, you get a team that nods enthusiastically at every terrible idea and pretends the chaos is just “part of the culture.”
Culture Fit can quickly turn into “culture trap,” where innovation dies and everyone’s just too afraid to say what they really think.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Founder is the person who’s mostly stressed, broke, and convinced they’re a genius. They juggle everything from product design to accounting, customer support to PR disasters, all while convincing themselves that success is just one pitch away.
In short: founders are a special breed of delusional optimists with an unhealthy caffeine addiction and a chronic fear of failure.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“The pivot is the official startup way of saying, “Well, that didn’t work, so now we’re going to pretend this was the plan all along.”
Investors are conditioned to love pivots: because it means you’re still trying, even if you have no idea where you’re going.
So go ahead, pivot like your startup’s life depends on it, because, spoiler, it probably does.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Market Research is googling stuff and hoping the numbers aren’t complete lies. This is where assumptions become “facts,” and blind optimism masquerades as “informed decision-making.”
Market research is less about truth and more about building a convincing story you can tell investors, and yourself, until reality decides to show up.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.

“Business Plan is the fairy tale you tell investors to get money, even if you have zero clue how you’ll execute.
Business Plan is less about what you know and more about what you hope will happen if the stars align and your competitors suddenly forget how to compete.
Business Plan is less a plan and more a prayer; so pour yourself a strong coffee and start writing.”
― Renata Škarpa, Chaos.: Where dreams, disasters, and money collide.