Zero-to-One Decisions: Why Founders Should Trust Their Gut Over Data - FSO Speaker Series
About
At Figuring Shit Out, we put on events for Founders who don't normally go to events. We didn't believe Singapore needed another panel, fireside chat or Q&A so we did the radical step of asking speakers think ahead of time about what they wanted to say. Beyond palatable food & hopefully more than palatable networking, why schlep across town to sit in a cramped room for an hour: Perspective!
All our speakers come from fascinating career backgrounds that caused them to look at the world and think about problems in uniquely insightful ways. Each of our talks provides a unique lens on the problems facing startups that Founders can absorb to provide a new toolkit of insights for their own founder journey.
Topic
At the earliest stages of building a startup, founders are often told to be “data-driven.” Validate everything. Talk to customers. Run (or at-least find) research before making decisions.
But in reality, some of the most important early decisions - what problem to solve, what product to build, and who it’s really for - are also the ones where data is the weakest, most misleading, or simply doesn’t exist.
In these moments, waiting for data can slow founders down, dilute strong ideas or create a false sense of certainty based on limited, biased and sometimes even misleading inputs.
Drawing on years of experience in market research and working closely with startups, this session explores a counterintuitive perspective (with few caveats, of-course):
At the zero-to-one stage, over-reliance on research can do more harm than good.
Instead of walking through research methods or frameworks, this session focuses on how founders can think about when to trust their instincts, when data actually helps and when it gets in the way.
We will explore:
Why and when early-stage research can produce false signals and misleading confidence
The difference between problems that can be researched and those that require conviction, aka ‘gut’
Where founders tend to over-index on customer feedback too early – to their own peril
How to think about intuition as a legitimate decision-making tool
When research becomes valuable again - and how to use it without slowing down
Many founders assume that better decisions come from more data. But at the zero-to-one stage, knowing what not to wait for is more valuable.
About the Speaker
Nishant Kaushal is an insights leader, entrepreneur and founder of ADNA, a global research startup that helps companies make faster, better decisions by capturing real human perspectives at scale and deploying true Human-in-the-loop AI platforms.
With over 20 years in market research and strategy, he has worked across industries including FMCG, tech, finance and automotive, partnering with some of the world’s largest brands. He previously held senior leadership roles at TNS / Kantar, where he led the Singapore office, managed global client relationships and helped businesses translate consumer insights into growth.
Over time, working closely with both large companies and early-stage startups, he began noticing a recurring pattern: while data is powerful, it is often overused or misused at the earliest stages of building a product - sometimes slowing founders down or leading them in the wrong direction.
Through ADNA, he now works with startups, corporates and investors to rethink how research should be used - focusing not just on generating insights, but on enabling better, faster decisions in uncertain environments.
Nishant is based in Singapore for the last two decades and works with clients globally.
Event Details:
📅 Date: Wednesday, 27th May
🕒 Time: 6:30 PM - 9 PM
📍 Location: Monk's Brew Club, 57 East Coast Road
⏰ Agenda:
6:30 - 7pm - Networking
7 - 7:40pm - Talk
7:40 - 8:00pm - Q&A
8:00 - 9:00pm: Networking & Bites
Website: https://speakers.figuringshitout.com/
WhatsApp Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EcdZhBqS6tWBTRSuEMChLj
Upcoming Speakers
Grit & Resilience in Startup Founding
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