Sports are a fave topic on the O’Daily.

SO MANY PARALLELS BETWEEN STARTUPS AND SPORTS!!!!

Also, I just love them.

Running, Ironmans, basketball, rugby, Ultimate, softball, and that doesn’t include being a 1990s Braves super fan.

(Anyone else still love the “Always Coca-Cola” jingles from 1990s Braves radio?? Okay, just me.)

What learned from my dad is via sports and I’ve already shared 4 lessons from being an Ironman that apply to startups.

But wait…there’s more!

Here’s 5 more lessons from sports that apply to startups. On your mark, get set, go!

1. Competition is a gift.

The best way to get better?

Play with people better than you!

I love training with people faster than me. I love working with people smarter than me. I love seeing what is possible and being pushed by their excellence.

True in business too!

Competition drives:

• Efficiency

• Performance

• Lower prices

• Creativity

Just look at all the AI progress as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google duke it out.

So that defender who made you work extra hard to score?

The runner ahead of you on all the hills?

The other executive who gets better results?

The company in your space whose marketing is crushing yours?

Thank them!

They’re raising the bar and giving you a reason to work even harder and smarter.

Competition isn’t bad, it helps you get better and, in the world of startups, it’s fantastic market validation!

2. You don’t have to feel great to have a great day.

My triathlon coach Matthew Rose used to say this.

Usually when I was complaining about being “too tired” to hit a pace or wattage.

Also to prep me for the ups and downs of race day, like being in the depths of despair at mile 10 of the Ironman marathon (only 16 miles to go! 😬😂).

Ideally, you feel great on race day.

Ideally, you walk into a client meeting and you’re in the zone.

But if you are tired, sick, nervous, or just don’t feel as amazing as you want, YOU CAN STILL EXECUTE!

This mindset is at the heart of how great founders overcome Imposter Syndrome:

Do it anyway.

You don’t need perfect conditions.

You DO need to show up and keep going.

And if you can shift your outlook from “this is terrible and I suck” to something with more hope, determination, and positivity?

All the sudden, the legs feel lighter at mile 11 and you realize that you can still close a deal without the perfect slide deck!

3. You never know what will happen.

I came off the bike in 10th place in my age group. Not good.

But you never know what will happen…

Turns out, my not-good bike meant my legs were fresh. I ran one of the fastest half marathons of the day, passed 6 women in my age group, and snagged 3rd place and my first trip to 70.3 World Champs!

At the 2025 Ironman World Championships, the women who were in 1st and 2nd place both dropped out (brutally hot day), which meant the athletes in 3rd, 4th, and 5th ended up on the podium aka in the prize money, baby!!!!! 💪😎💰

I worked at two companies that were “underdogs.”

Competitors raised more money, spent more on marketing, hired more people, and built more features. (Or at least that how it felt at the time!)

If we had thrown in the towel because we were “behind,” we never would have been acquired by top tier public companies!

Turns out, some of those competitors were spending too much and it wasn’t sustainable.

You never know what will happen…

4. You choose what “winning” means.

My dad and I used to run together on a 2 mile loop in our neighborhood. At the finish, we run up a big hill and turn onto our dead end street.

The game? Pick up the pace. Faster and faster. Pass our driveway. Alllll the way to the end of the street. Sprint finish!!

Who won? I don’t remember.

That wasn’t the point. It was about the fun of competing, pushing yourself, spending time together, laughing while smack talking about the next run.

Sports (and life!) can be joy, misery, or both.

But most of what you feel, day in and day out, depends on you.

If the only goal is to win, potential is limited. A binary outcome. Your growth (and happiness) is capped.

If the goal is to appreciate the experience of playing and competing, you always win.

And I don’t mean the score.

You win because of how you feel about yourself, what you learn, the memories you made.

BONUS: You also play better!

Joy makes consistency and sustainability easier, which are two of the biggest factors in long term outcomes.

It also lightens the load. You let go of pressure, attachment, stay in flow, and actually perform better.

Are you thinking about that pitch competition as life or death? Or can it be a stage party with some butterflies in the stomach and good stories?

If you don’t sell your company for $1B is it a total failure, or will you love the impact you made along the way?

5. Off days take more discipline than training.

You know what’s harder than pushing through?

Taking time off. Ending a workout early. Giving yourself an extra rest day.

Any elite athlete will tell you, recovery is as important as training.

Sleep, nutrition, off days.

The best at their sport are also the best at recovery.

In the days leading up to your target race, you do less training so your body can be rested for the race — a taper. Mentally, it’s WAY harder than a big training week.

You’re cranky, anxious, out of rhythm. There’s a friendly term in the industry called a Taper B!tch. And it applies to pretty much everyone 😁

Some people can’t do it. They can’t handle the rest, train too much, and never have the race they are capable of.

Imagine: years of work but you never live up to your potential because you can’t chill for 1 week.

Sound familiar to, gulp, any founders out there?

Taking time off is one of the hardest things for founders.

Yet, I consistently hear from founders who say that taking time away, even a day or two of unplugging, gave them huge amounts of energy and unlocked key business insights.

Many founders can’t make themselves do it.

And just like athletes, they never achieve their full potential.

Because the best athletes and founders manage the fear, trust the process, play the long game, and understand the performance value of intentional recovery.

You’re not being lazy. You’re doing the hard work of getting better.

What lessons resonate the most for you? What have you learned through other areas of life (music, art, plants, school, building things, parenting) that help you navigate startups?