The Triple Crown Playbook: Persistence, Resilience, Patience

The best investor and entrepreneur is a social scientist. As such, if you try to understand WatchMojo as just a media company, you’ll miss the point.

It’s really an exercise in understanding people—psychology, behavior, and systems—and then building something that aligns with that reality over time. In 2006, it was clear what the opportunity was:

The challenge was: how to turn that Vision into Execution.

The Origin: Timing, Not Genius

When we launched WatchMojo in 2006, we weren’t first.

We also weren’t late.

We were somewhere in the third wave—after the pioneers had proven it worked, but before the space became saturated.

That positioning mattered.

The first wave proves something is possible.
The second refines it.
The third scales it.

By the early 2010s, the question was no longer if digital video would work.

It was:

👉 What format could scale within it?

But before determining the format, you have to identify the right platform, hence Platform/Format fit (similar to Product/Market fit for startups). It was clear that YouTube would win, but YouTube itself was not early per se.

YouTube won because of many factors:

By the early 2010s, creators had mastered many formats and styles, so we had to re-orient our extensive programming into something focused.

Six Years of Nothing (and Why It Matters)

From 2006 to roughly 2012, we didn’t make money.

That period forces clarity.

I’ve articulated startup success as a function of:

vision
ambition
execution
timing
luck
focus

But if you strip it down, the real drivers are:

👉 Persistence
👉 Resilience
👉 Patience

The Triple Crown

Persistence

Showing up, again and again. To quote Calvin Coolidge: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Resilience

Taking the hits—rejection, doubt, indifference—and continuing anyway. These days, the proliferation of venture capital has created many “founders,” but too few are actual “entrepreneurs.”

Patience

Entrepreneurs are notoriously impatient, but also paradoxically patient, because they think in decades, not years, and certainly not quarters, like executives. Patience is understanding that the timeline is not yours to control.

Most people understand persistence.

Fewer truly understand resilience.

Almost no one practices patience.

Because here’s the truth:

👉 You can be persistent
👉 But if you’re not resilient, you will stop

And even if you’re both—

👉 Without patience, you will quit too early

What It Feels Like From the Inside

Entrepreneurs are proverbial frogs who start off in lukewarm water and then find themselves in boiling hot water. Executives tend to parachute into boiling water, then react by jumping out, or dying. But to founders, there’s no moment where it suddenly “works.”

No bell rings.

Instead:

small signals
slight momentum
marginal improvement

Until one day, you realize:

👉 You’re no longer guessing, you have found product/market fit, and
👉 You’re executing

Principles Before Profit

If you start by prioritizing profit, you almost always fail. For one, in economic theory, profit attracts competition, so profit evaporates. You have to foresee the future.

But ultimately, Profit is the outcome. Principles are the foundation, the Vision that does not change. Purpose is your Mission, which can and should change.

Our non-negotiables were clear: