2025-06-03
[[Question 3.pdf]]
using [early stage venture value proposition cld](https://claude.ai/chat/f986fbc7-8519-4df9-8ded-eeaebcc6f7ce) i connected with [[tom_griffith]]'s description of bounded rationality and bounded optimality. matches with my expectation of thinking (acting) partner
|**Aspect**|**Economics Mixing**|**Resource Rationality Mixing**|
|---|---|---|
|**What to mix**|Biased beliefs with objective priors|Private benefits with stakeholder utilities|
|**How to mix**|Cognitive training/correction|Systematic validation design|
|**Entrepreneur role**|Should become less optimistic|Can remain optimistic but use better tools|
|**Outcome**|"Rational" probability assessment|Informed decision despite optimism|
## **Two Paths to the Same Goal: Breaking Entrepreneurial Isolation**
### **Economics Approach: Mixing Through Debiasing**
- **Goal**: Mix entrepreneur's subjective beliefs with "objective" market priors
- **Mechanism**: Training, education, bias correction
- **Formula**: `p_corrected = α·p_entrepreneur + (1-α)·p_market` where α → 0 (reduce entrepreneur weight)
- **Arora's critique**: "Common priors may be unrealistic but abandoning them opens too many degrees of freedom"
### **Resource Rationality Approach: Mixing Through Design**
- **Goal**: Mix entrepreneur's perspective with stakeholder utilities while respecting constraints
- **Mechanism**: Cognitive augmentation tools (dual validation)
- **Formula**: `Decision = f(entrepreneur_utility, customer_utility, resource_partner_utility)`
- **Our contribution**: Systematic mixing without requiring entrepreneurs to abandon optimism
## **The Mixing Insight Applied to Dual Validation:**
### **Traditional Mixing (Economics)**
```
Entrepreneur belief → Training → Market belief
(Single perspective) → (Correction) → (Shared perspective)
```
### **Systematic Mixing (Resource Rationality)**
```
Entrepreneur optimism + Customer utility + Resource partner utility → Dual validation
(Private perspective) + (Market perspective) + (Operational perspective) → (Integrated decision)
```
## **Tesla Example as Mixing Mechanism:**
- **Entrepreneur perspective**: "Electric cars can outperform traditional sports cars"
- **Customer mixing**: "Do luxury buyers actually want electric performance?"
- **Resource partner mixing**: "Can Lotus+Xcellent+Chroma actually deliver this?"
- **Result**: Systematic mixing of three utility functions without "debiasing" Elon's optimism
## **Updated Theoretical Framework:**
|**Aspect**|**Economics Mixing**|**Resource Rationality Mixing**|
|---|---|---|
|**What to mix**|Biased beliefs with objective priors|Private benefits with stakeholder utilities|
|**How to mix**|Cognitive training/correction|Systematic validation design|
|**Entrepreneur role**|Should become less optimistic|Can remain optimistic but use better tools|
|**Outcome**|"Rational" probability assessment|Informed decision despite optimism|
## **Why This Matters:**
Both paradigms recognize that **entrepreneurs in isolation make poor decisions**. The disagreement is:
- **Economics**: "Fix the entrepreneur's thinking"
- **Resource Rationality**: "Fix the entrepreneur's information processing tools"
**Dual stakeholder validation achieves mixing through design rather than debiasing** - it systematically forces integration of multiple utility functions without requiring entrepreneurs to abandon the optimism that drives them to start ventures in the first place.
This makes our approach more **implementable** because it works WITH entrepreneurial psychology rather than against it.