Short excerpt from a YouTube podcast-style video by Jim Johnson (uploaded Dec 16, 2023) discussing how natural curiosity in young children—constantly asking “why”—often fades in adults, and how that loss of questioning affects entrepreneurs. The speaker notes many founders state large financial goals (e.g., $20M, $50M, $100M) and emphasizes probing the deeper reasons behind those ambitions.
What's interesting is it's such a curious component to a four or five year old. They want to understand what's going on and why a thing is the way that it is. And then I think sometimes we quit asking ourselves those questions. As we get older, we get old, we get crusty, we get set in our ways, and we quit asking ourselves why. And as an example, like with the coaching entrepreneurs, almost all of them have these giant dreams. And I can't tell you the number of times I've asked somebody, like, what's your dream? What are you trying to do with this business? And I hear something like, I want to have a 20 or 30 or 50. I've heard $100 million company, and I love that. I'm like, okay, cool. Why.
