The Psychology & Anatomy of a Start-Up: Session 3 - Data Discovery & Refinement
SESSION 3
Data Discovery and Refinement
Preventing you from falling victim to your own scam
You believe in your idea. That's the problem.
Every founder is psychologically primed to see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and interpret data in ways that confirm what they already believe. This isn't a character flaw — it's human neuroscience. But left unchecked, it will cause you to build something nobody wants while being completely convinced you're on the right track.
Session 3 of The Psychology of Startups: Building Something Meaningful is a reckoning with the way your mind works — and a practical toolkit for building a data discipline that protects you from your own enthusiasm.
Led by Morné Maritz, whose background in organisational psychology and Fortune 500 consulting has given him a front-row seat to how smart people systematically deceive themselves, this session is one of the most provocative and practically valuable of the entire series.
✅ What You'll Learn
The 5 cognitive biases that are most dangerous for early-stage founders
How confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance cause brilliant people to build the wrong thing
Where to find credible, clean data — and how to evaluate its quality
When to use AI in research — and when human judgment is irreplaceable
How to structure a data room that builds investor confidence from day one
⚙️ What You'll Need
AI Subscription (Claude and Perplexity Recommended) and
data Capturing Tool (Excel, Sheets, Typeform, Mailchimp, Airtable, etc)
Homework completed from Sessions 1 and 2
✅ What You'll Get
Defined Problem
The foundational bricks for your ICP and Solution Prototype Hypothesis
Homework for Session 4
🎤 Your Facilitator: Morné Maritz — Founder & CEO, Cogniate | Organisational Psychologist | Author | 20+ years advising Fortune 500 leadership on human behaviour, decision-making, and organisational change. Morné has seen first-hand how the smartest people in the room can fool themselves — and how to stop.
🎤 Your Host: Diane Gogoleva — [Networking Expert & Events Curator | Builder of founder communities where intellectual honesty is a cultural norm.
Session 3 of 9. Attend live for the Q&A — this one always sparks the most uncomfortable (and useful) conversations.