Every January, millions of people make resolutions to become healthier. They join gyms, hire trainers, and put themselves in an environment designed for progression. The formula is obvious: the right expertise, the right structure and the right people make improvements inevitable.
But when it comes to our companies, the engines that employ people and shape industries, we often act in isolation. We struggle alone, convinced that the need for input is somehow an admission of weakness. And having built multi-million pound businesses, we tell ourselves we should have all the answers by now.
But the founders who grow the fastest understand something important. The health of a business requires continued investment, expertise, and a community strong enough to hold you accountable to your ambitions.
Running a scale-up company means making decisions that are rarely easy and can never be solved with a quick internet search. Should you expand internationally? How do you retain a key employee who is wavering? What capital structure will get you through the next phase of growth?
Is now the moment to acquire or the moment to acquire?
These are not questions that you will eventually find out through trial and error. These are questions that become more difficult the longer you hesitate. Meanwhile, competitors are moving forward, seeking support, challenging their thinking and moving quickly.
I’ve watched extraordinary founders debate for months over a move that a colleague, someone who has already walked the same crossroads, could have helped them make in a single afternoon. This lost time is not hypothetical. It’s about loss of sales, loss of positioning and loss of momentum. And once momentum is gone, it is incredibly difficult to regain.
When you consistently work with other founders who operate at your level, everything changes. Problems that felt overwhelming shrink in size. Blind spots become visible. Opportunities that you would have missed suddenly come into focus. You begin to recognize patterns because you learn from the lived experience of others who have already paid the price for these insights.
This is not networking in the traditional sense. It’s not about exchanging business cards for canapés. It’s about building a trusted circle of people who carry the same weight, face the same pressures, and understand the risks in a way that no investor, advisor or team member can ever understand.
In our community at Helm, I’ve seen founders reduce their decision-making time on important strategic decisions by more than half. Not because they rush, but because they move clearly. They test assumptions under pressure, harness collective intelligence, and learn in hours what would have taken years to uncover alone.
The gym analogy is more literal than it sounds. Showing up once doesn’t change anything. Constantly showing up changes everything. The founders who add real value view peer engagement as a discipline. They block time for forums in the same way they block time for investor meetings. They come prepared. You contribute to it. They understand that a community only works when each member is committed to the health of the whole.
As you determine your priorities for the coming year, ask yourself one simple question: Are you investing in your company’s health with the same intention as you are investing in your own?
If you want to move faster in 2026, you won’t achieve your goal by working harder in isolation. Surround yourself with the right people. Founders who have overcome their challenges. Founders who challenge your assumptions and push you to think bigger and achieve better results.
The companies that will dominate the next decade will not be run by lone wolves. They are led by founders who understand that speed comes from shared intelligence and accelerates growth when you stop trying to solve every problem the first time.
Your business deserves the same commitment, discipline and care you give your body every January. Make 2026 the year you properly invest in his health.
