Why resilience is the most underrated metric for startup success

Startup Widness is a new series from TNW that offers practical lessons from experts who have helped build great companies. This week, global traction strategist Nina Aziz Justin, founder of The resilience mentor — shares her approach to building resilience.

In the startup world, we are taught to obsess over metrics. burn rate, CAC, MRR – dominate the panels and drive decisions. And yes, data matters. But there’s something quietly more essential that rarely gets the same attention: resilience.

This piece offers a balanced perspective, leaving room for both sides. While execution metrics are essential for traction and scale, resilience is not just a soft skill. It is a core operating system: the invisible force that allows a founder to keep showing up, building wisely, and navigating uncertainty with strength and clarity.

The Case for Metrics: Why Data Absolutely Matters

Let’s be clear: in today’s fast-moving, high-stakes environment, numbers matter. Metrics help us validate our ideas, measure momentum, and make informed decisions. This is how investors evaluate risk and how we, as founders, understand if our vision is really landing in the real world.

You need to know your CAC. You need to track attrition. You need a pulse on retention and cash flow. These aren’t vanity statistics: they’re the lifeblood of your business’s sustainability.

But here’s the problem: Strong metrics alone don’t guarantee stickiness.

Time and time again, I’ve seen startups with impressive initial numbers fall apart because of what was happening. inside – misaligned founders, decision fatigue, burnout, or simply loss of joy and vision. That’s why real traction must include more than what’s on the spreadsheet.

The Power of Resilience: It’s More Than Just Determination

Resilience is often confused with blind persistence: getting ahead, trying harder, staying “strong.” But in truth, resilience is more elegant and multidimensional than that.

In my work, I use a proprietary concept I developed called ““Resilience Triangle” – a way to build resilience from the inside out.

It weaves together three vital threads:

• Internal resources – emotional regulation, clarity of identity and the ability to stay strong through ups and downs.
• Business scaffolding — systems that support you: smart offers, sustainable pricing, clear time limits and a circle of support that has your back.
• Restorative rhythm — recovery, reflection and recalibration. Because constant, non-stop hustle leads to erosion, not excellence.

This is not just philosophical. TO Harvard Business Review 2023 One study found that startups led by resilience-conscious founders were 38% more likely to survive more than five years. TO McKinsey Global Survey linked building resilience to a 21% increase in innovation outcomes.

Most convincing of all is the 2024 Founders Resilience Research Report. Produced by Foundology in collaboration with the UCL Management School and supported by Enterprise Educators UK, the report offers powerful confirmation of what many of us have experienced in the field. The study, the largest of its kind, involving nearly 400 entrepreneurs, revealed that a staggering 92% of founders rank resilience as the most essential business trait, even ahead of communication and problem-solving.

It reminds us that resilience is not just a factor of well-being: it is a practical and proven lever for startup success.

Resilience and execution: not opposites, but intertwined

This is where we close the gap.

Resilience is not the opposite of execution: it is what drives effective execution over time. Founders who cultivate resilience make decisions with greater clarity, recover from setbacks more quickly, and stay focused under pressure. That 92% figure from the Foundology study says it all: resilience is no longer optional, it’s essential.

The two are not in conflict: they are codependent. The metrics tell the story. Resilience allows you to continue writing the next chapter.

Let’s talk about common criticisms.

“Resilience without execution = stagnation”
TRUE. But that’s not the kind of resilience I’m talking about. True resilience moves: it experiences, learns and adapts. Especially in troubled and underfunded startups, it’s often the only reason a founder finds creative solutions instead of quitting.

“Not all founders need to be emotionally balanced”
Fair: Not everyone leads from a place of calm. But those who lack resilience are four times more likely to feel overwhelmed and twice as likely to abandon their startup early. Emotional chaos may be survivable in the short term, but it rarely escalates.

“Resilience is a byproduct, not a main indicator”
In reality, it is both. Yes, resilience is forged in fire, but it can also be cultivated proactively. Teams that intentionally build resilience are more responsive, more resourceful, and less likely to crumble under pressure.

“Market conditions, not mindset, determine success”
External factors matter, absolutely. But it’s the resilient founders who adapt faster, pivot wisely, and find ways to survive when others stagnate. In today’s world of polycrisis, the mentality is strategy.

A More Balanced Lens: Metrics + Resilience = Real Traction

We’re seeing a shift: a new generation of investors and advisors are starting to evaluate both execution metrics and human metrics. It is not to be frivolous, but to avoid betting on businesses with brilliant numbers and crumbling foundations.

Founder resilience, adaptability, and alignment are now considered risk-reducing assets, and rightly so. They do not replace numbers. But they give numbers lasting meaning.

Do you want to start strengthening resilience in your business?

Here are some simple, high-impact places to start:

• Schedule time to rest and recalibrate. Think of it as business hygiene.
• Align your offers and prices with your energy, not just the market.
• Build a tribe. Not just advisors, but humans who encourage and challenge you.
• Check your model. Is your business still compatible with the life you want to live?

These are not soft things. They are strategic.

The business that can contain you can contain more

This is not a call to abandon metrics. It is an invitation to expand what we tell.

Startups that thrive not only perform well, they hold up under pressure. They evolve without breaking. They grow in ways that include the founder, not just the forecast.

So keep tracking your KPIs. Take care of your track. Run the numbers.

But also ask: Can I still breathe inside this business?

Because if you can, you will have the stamina, clarity, and fire to keep building, not just faster, but better.

This is not nonsense. It is essential.