Postscript: The Work Has Just Begun

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.Octavia E. Butler*

This book has shown you the principles, frameworks, and tools to become a great founder through the power of writing. Now comes the hard part: turning your words into action.

Benjamin Franklin is considered one of the greatest writers in American history, but he was a doer first and foremost. He didn’t just write about his disagreements with the governing Penn family of Pennsylvania—he actively defied them and their corrupt policies. He built coalitions, proposed new laws, and spent decades in London lobbying the British Parliament. When King George failed to support the American cause, Franklin didn’t just write about the injustices of the crown—he took up arms against them.

When Arlan Hamilton saw the lack of venture capital funding for underrepresented founders, she didn’t just write a scathing viral blog post about it (which she did). She founded her own venture firm: Backstage Capital, the name an homage to her days as a touring band manager. Backstage Capital has since invested in over two hundred companies led by underrepresented founders.

Keith Gill, a family man known as Roaring Kitting and DFV among online traders, didn’t just write a compelling thesis on why Gamestop was undervalued—he invested $53K of his own savings into the stock, thus kickstarting the historic short squeeze in January 2021. The bet made him a multimillionaire and icon. At the same time, Public.com didn’t just courageously speak up for retail traders during the Gamestop stock freeze. Just days after the incident, the trading platform announced they would no longer accept Payment for Order Flow, the controversial practice that made up a majority of rival Robinhood’s revenue. The decision would better align the startup with their mission of empowering all investors, not just the financial elite.

Clear thinking leads to confident writing. Confident writing leads to decisive action.

All the PR/FAQs in the world mean nothing if Amazon doesn’t take the best ideas and execute on them. You can create the perfect Heroic Customer Story and ABC123 copywriting framework, but they won’t matter if you don’t do the work to promote your startup.

Great founders don’t just write—they take the right action:

• They start with the end in mind

• They build empathy with their customers

• They communicate clearly and intentionally

• They lead and write with courage, even when it’s hard

And that’s just the beginning. As you’ve seen throughout this book, writing will help you improve every part of your business, from strategic planning to training employees. Make writing the basis of your company culture and watch the benefits compound over time.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of writing, though, is the confidence you’ll gain in yourself. I hope you join the ranks of entrepreneurs and great leaders through the ages who have used writing as the catalyst for personal transformation. Because when your thoughts become words on a page, they can suddenly be questioned, critiqued, and refined. It’s quite literally like writing your ideal life into existence.

Beyond that, I hope the stories, frameworks, writing prompts, and exercises in this book help you become a better founder. I wrote Great Founders Write to be a resource—something to be read slowly and repeatedly as you put the teachings into practice. Use these ideas to create your own writing routine and develop exercises that work for you.

Finally, I hope this book has sparked or rekindled your love of writing—not just as a tool, but also a source of joy, comfort, and creativity. I hope it gives you the courage to be relentless as a founder, creator, and person.

Since the days of Kushim in the ancient city of Ur, entrepreneurs have used writing to propel the world forward.

Now it’s your turn to create something worth writing about.