Scarcity vs Abundance: The 'What Else Do I Have?' Pivot
Stop counting what you lack and start inventorying what you've already got.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 93%
On a mountaintop in 2014, newly engaged, O'Brady and his wife Jenna sketched the Explorers Grand Slam world record and a nonprofit platform around it. Back in their one-bedroom Portland apartment the spreadsheet said half a million dollars; they had ten thousand. The scarcity mindset does the subtraction and quits. The abundance mindset asks a different question: okay, I've got 10 grand — what else do I have? Internet, Google, a handful of friends to ask. They spent every dollar of the ten grand on a website, then knocked on doors for 18 months and collected a thousand no's, each one sharpening the pitch. The yes came from a spin class his ego almost made him skip.
Origin
In fall 2014, engaged on a mountaintop, O'Brady and Jenna brainstormed doing the Explorers Grand Slam — the seven summits plus both poles — as a nonstop four-month world record with a media platform and a kids' health nonprofit attached. The mapped-out cost was $500,000. They had $10,000 between them. Eighteen months and a thousand rejections later, a friend dragged him to an LA Fitness spin class to meet a woman who'd held a 5K world record 30 years earlier. She waved over her husband. His business card read: Mark Parker, CEO, Nike.
Core principles
- 01Scarcity mindset compares the gap and quits; abundance mindset inventories the assets and starts.
- 02The moment most good ideas die is the sober morning after the brainstorm.
- 03A thousand no's are a thousand reps, not a thousand failures.
- 04Luck comes to those who are prepared.
- 05Spend your last resources on the one asset the eventual yes will ask to see.
How to run it
- 1
Have the mountaintop brainstorm — then survive the sober morning
Big ideas get born in high-vibe moments and die the next morning when the numbers land. Recognize that morning as the actual decision point, not the idea itself.
Pro tip The napkin business plan and the marathon you swore to run die in exactly the same hungover moment. Know it's coming.
Watch out 'That only works if we raise five million' is the scarcity mindset wearing a spreadsheet.
- 2
Ask 'what else do I have?'
Instead of comparing your resources to the requirement, inventory every asset you actually hold: capital, internet access, search, a handful of friends who'll take a question.
Pro tip The question is generative rather than evaluative — it forces you to build a list instead of a verdict.
- 3
Spend everything on the one artifact the yes will demand
Identify the single thing any serious prospect will ask to see, and put your whole budget into making it credible before you need it.
Pro tip O'Brady spent all $10,000 on a website eight months before the CEO of Nike said 'do you have a website or something? Email it to me Monday.'
Watch out The artifact has to be genuinely good. A cheap version fails the exact moment it matters most.
- 4
Knock on every door and let the no's sharpen you
Pitch relentlessly, literally and figuratively. A thousand no's is not a thousand failures — each one polished the pitch, sharpened the confidence, and tightened the articulation.
Pro tip Keep going even when you're nervous with two months to the deadline and only 30-40 grand raised.
- 5
Show up to the unglamorous invitation
When someone offers a lead that seems beneath you or unlikely, go anyway. The prepared pitch plus the room you almost didn't enter is what luck actually is.
Pro tip 'Luck comes to those who are prepared' — a thousand rejections meant the pitch came out with authenticity and passion when 30 seconds mattered.
Watch out O'Brady nearly skipped the LA Fitness spin class because his ego said a professional athlete doesn't do group fitness.
In the wild
Eight months before the deadline, O'Brady and Jenna spent every dollar they had — $10,000 — on a website, reasoning that anyone serious would eventually ask to see one. Then a friend dragged him to an LA Fitness spin class he thought was beneath him. He gave a 30-second pitch to a stranger with salt-and-pepper hair on his way out. The man asked if he was looking for sponsors, said the company he worked for might be interested, and handed over a business card: Mark Parker, CEO, Nike.
→ The CEO's exact next words were 'do you have a website or something? You should email it to me on Monday' — the one asset they'd bet everything on eight months earlier.
For 18 months O'Brady pitched a $500,000 expedition he hadn't yet started, to anyone who'd listen, while holding $10,000. A thousand people said no. Two months out from departure he'd raised only $30-40k of the target and was getting nervous, but kept knocking.
→ By the thousandth rejection his pitch, confidence and articulation were sharp enough that 30 seconds with the right stranger converted.
Common mistakes
Letting the gap make the decision
'I have 10 grand and it costs 500 grand, therefore no' is arithmetic masquerading as strategy. The gap is the starting condition of every ambitious project, not a verdict on it.
Letting ego filter your opportunities
O'Brady almost skipped the spin class because a professional athlete doesn't do LA Fitness group classes. The single most valuable connection of his career was in the room he thought was beneath him.
Waiting until you need the artifact to build it
The window between 'do you have a website?' and 'email it Monday' is too short to build anything. The asset has to already exist when the yes arrives.
Is it for you?
Best for
Bootstrappers and first-time founders staring at a funding gap they think disqualifies them.
Not ideal for
Ventures where the gap is a hard structural constraint (regulatory, physical) rather than a resourcing one.
From the transcript
“The scarcity mindset says, well, I have 10 grand and the thing I wanna do costs 500 grand. I'm never gonna be able to do…”
“That mindset of abundance starts to go wait a second. Okay. I've got 10 grand right now, but what else do I have?”
“My mom said to me, and I love this line. She goes, luck comes to those who are prepared.”
From the episode
Colin O'Brady: Conquer Your Mind
Colin O'Brady