Have you ever walked into a room and felt like you had absolutely no business being there?
I have. More times than I care to admit.
I remember standing in front of a government minister, presenting a proposal for a smart city initiative. I had the slides. I had the data. But deep inside? I was thinking — do I actually know enough to be standing here? I said what I needed to say. I answered the questions. And somehow, I got the contract.
Was that faking it? Or was that faith?
That is the question I have been wrestling with every time someone throws the phrase “fake it till you make it” at me — usually with a confident grin, like it is some kind of life hack passed down from Silicon Valley.
Let me be honest with you. I have both lived this phrase and been burned by it. And I think it is time we have a more grown-up conversation about what it really means.
The Case FOR Faking It
When I first stepped into the world of IoT, nobody had a perfect playbook. The technology was evolving. The standards were being written in real time. The market did not even fully exist yet. If I had waited until I felt completely ready, I would still be waiting today.
“Fake it till you make it” — when understood correctly — is really about confidence before competence catches up. It is about showing up even when you feel unqualified. It is about taking the seat at the table before someone else decides you do not belong there.
Early-stage entrepreneurs need this mindset. When I was building FAVORIOT, there were many moments where I had to project confidence to investors, partners, and customers — even when the product was still being shaped. That is not lying. That is leadership.
The psychology behind it is real. Behavioural scientists call it “enclothed cognition” — when you act and present yourself as the person you want to become, your brain begins to rewire itself to match that identity. You stop feeling like a fraud and start becoming the real thing.
That minister I stood in front of? The contract we won helped us build something real. The confidence came first. The competence followed close behind.
The Case AGAINST Faking It
But here is where I have to be honest — and a little uncomfortable.
I have seen people “fake it” who had no intention of ever making it. They used the phrase as a cover for incompetence. They presented credentials they did not have, promised results they could not deliver, and left a trail of broken trust behind them. In the startup world, we call them “founders.” Sometimes investors call them something less polite.
There is a razor-thin line between projecting confidence and projecting deception. And when you cross it — knowingly — it is no longer a mindset strategy. It is fraud.
I have also seen the psychological cost of sustained faking. When you spend too long pretending, you start to lose track of what is real. Imposter syndrome becomes a permanent resident. You are always performing, never present. That is exhausting. And it is hollow.
In a technical domain like IoT, the stakes are even higher. If you fake your understanding of security protocols, edge computing, or data governance — and someone deploys a system based on your advice — people can get hurt. Systems can fail. And your name is attached to it.
Faking it in the boardroom is risky. Faking it in a hospital’s patient monitoring system is dangerous.
So Where Does That Leave Us?
I think the phrase needs a serious upgrade.
Instead of “fake it till you make it,” I prefer: “act as if, while you build the real thing.”
There is a difference between acting with confidence while you are learning, and pretending to know things you do not. The first is courage. The second is deception.
The best version of this mindset looks like this:
- You take the opportunity before you feel fully ready — but you immediately begin closing the gap between where you are and where you projected yourself to be.
- You project confidence in your vision — but you are transparent about what is still being developed.
- You own the room — but you also do the work when no one is watching.
I did not fake my PhD. I studied for it. But I faked my certainty many times — in pitches, in negotiations, in conference keynotes — because I believed in where we were going, even when the road was not yet built.
That kind of faking? I can live with it.
The kind where you have no intention of doing the work? That one catches up with you. It always does.
A Question For You
So I want to ask you this — and I want you to sit with it honestly:
When you have “faked it,” were you buying yourself time to grow? Or were you hoping no one would ever look closely enough to notice?
There is no shame in the first. But the second? That is where it gets dangerous.
Tell me in the comments — where do you stand on this?
