Founder Mindset & Decision-Making
Building a startup means making important decisions with incomplete information. There’s rarely a perfect answer, certainty is hard to find, and rejection is part of the process.
In this session, Zavosh Zaboliyan will break down how experienced founders think, make decisions, and keep moving forward when the path isn’t obvious.
Drawing on 15+ years as an entrepreneur, startup operator, and mentor to more than 500 founders, Zavosh will share practical frameworks for building conviction without becoming attached to the wrong idea, deciding when to persist and when to pivot, and focusing your limited time and resources on what actually matters.
🧠 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
🎯 Build conviction under uncertainty — Make confident decisions even when you don’t have all the information.
🔄 Know when to persist or pivot — Separate temporary setbacks from signals that something genuinely needs to change.
💪 Deal with rejection and setbacks — Learn how to process feedback without allowing every “no” to derail your direction.
⚡ Prioritize what actually matters — Identify the few decisions and actions that can have the biggest impact on your business.
🛠️ Become more resourceful — Learn how strong founders make progress despite limited time, money, people, and information.
🔍 Make better founder decisions — Develop practical frameworks for evaluating opportunities, risks, feedback, and trade-offs.
🎯 LIVE OUTCOME
You’ll leave with a clearer framework for making difficult founder decisions, prioritizing what deserves your attention, and navigating uncertainty without getting stuck waiting for perfect information.
👋 ABOUT ZAVOSH ZABOLIYAN
Zavosh Zaboliyan is a serial entrepreneur, startup operator, and ecosystem leader with more than 15 years of experience building companies, scaling innovation programs, and mentoring early-stage founders.
He has mentored more than 500 founders, contributed to initiatives generating over $1 billion in economic impact, and helped startups raise tens of millions of dollars in funding. He has held senior leadership roles at organizations including Foresight Canada and Spring Activator, where he designed and led nationally recognized startup and investment programs.
As an Entrepreneur in Residence, Zavosh combines firsthand founder experience with years of mentoring entrepreneurs to help founders think bigger, execute faster, and build resilient companies.