For a long time, I believed waiting was a sign of wisdom.
Wait until the data is solid.
Wait until the market matures.
Wait until the signals become clearer.
It sounded reasonable. Safe, even.
But the longer I stayed in entrepreneurship, the clearer one truth became. Waiting for certainty is not a strategy. It is a luxury. And not everyone can afford it.
Certainty usually belongs to those who are already comfortable. Those with more resources. More time. More room to be wrong. For most founders, reality looks very different. We move under constraints, under constant pressure, with a cost of waiting that rarely gets discussed.
I have been in rooms where everyone agreed it was “not the right time yet.”
Not enough evidence.
Not enough traction.
Not enough support.
On paper, they were right.
But time did not pause. Each month of waiting raised the price. The team started asking where we were headed. Partners went quiet. Small but critical opportunities disappeared without any announcement.
No alarms.
No red lights.
Just a slow, growing weight.
That was when I realised something uncomfortable. Certainty rarely appears before movement. It often shows up after a decision is made and you live with the consequences. Not before.
Many founders fall into the same trap. They believe waiting reduces risk. In reality, it only delays decisions and adds a different kind of risk. Burnout. Lost momentum. A team that slowly loses trust, not because of a wrong call, but because no call was made.
There is a real difference between patience and paralysis.
Patience still moves forward, even if slowly.
Paralysis feels calm, but it is quietly moving backward.
I learned to tell them apart the hard way.
There were moments when I had to move before I felt ready. Not because I was fully confident, but because the cost of waiting had become higher than the cost of acting.
This is not about blind courage. It is about reading context.
When data is incomplete, I ask different questions. Will waiting truly bring meaningful information? Or is it only offering temporary comfort?
If it is the second, I know I am hiding behind logic.
Here is something rarely said out loud. Certainty often favors those who arrive later. Those who enter after the market takes shape. After early mistakes are made. After paths are cleared.
Early founders do not get that privilege.
They move through fog. They learn while walking. They make imperfect decisions so others can make safer ones later.
Once I accepted this, my view of waiting changed.
Waiting stopped being the default. It became a strategic choice that needed justification. If I wait, I must know exactly what I am waiting for and what price I am willing to pay.
If there is no clear answer, it is not strategy. It is avoidance.
I also learned this. Leadership is not about always being right. It is about being accountable. Teams do not demand perfect certainty. They ask for direction, even if that direction gets adjusted later.
Today, I still wait when it makes sense. But I do not wait to feel confident. I wait only when waiting adds real value.
Otherwise, I move.
Because in entrepreneurship, certainty is not the starting line. It is a byproduct of steady action and the courage to choose, even with limited information.
And that is the luxury many people do not realise they do not have.
Dr. Mazlan Abbas 