Hi Damien — I suppose the short answer would be that I learned my lesson!

I used to joke to EF participants: “We went to McKinsey so that you didn’t have to…”

And, in all seriousness, I guess I’m surprised by how little the various badges I spent years collecting helped me relative to just getting started. When we founded EF, for every conversation where a McKinsey background helped, there was at least another where it was a hindrance. I’m certainly not saying the badges have been useless, but it’s easy to ignore the opportunity cost at the time you’re collecting them.

I do think the idea of “not being ready” is very dangerous for founders — particularly as all the societal, cultural and economic incentives push people to not get started at all.