I Signed Up to Be in the Hot Seat. It Was Exactly as Warm as Advertised.

Last Friday I joined Sid Mohasseb of Anabasis Academy for their bi-weekly Hot Seat session. For those who missed the announcement: yes, I knew what I was signing up for. Sid asks the hard questions. That's the whole point.

I thought I was ready, but I was humbled — in the best possible way. Let me explain.

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First: The Wake-Up Call

Before Sid turned his attention to me, he spent the first half of the session delivering a talk on planning — specifically, why we over-plan, and why it often does more harm than good.

The short version: planning, especially in early-stage startups, is frequently less a strategic act and more a psychological one. It's how we manufacture a feeling of control in the face of uncertainty. It's insurance against regret. It's a signal of competence — even when it doesn't actually produce competence.

His most memorable line, borrowed from Mike Tyson: everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.

I'm no stranger to letting go of "the plan." I grew up in chaos. There was no plan. Every assumption about life could shift in a moment's notice. One minute I'd be playing with my siblings on the playground. The next, I might be on a Greyhound bus traveling clear across the country.

That kind of upbringing either breaks your relationship with planning entirely, or it teaches you a different kind of planning — one built on milestones rather than rigid roadmaps, where getting from one milestone to the next takes creativity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn as you go. That's how I've always operated. Hearing Sid articulate it so clearly was one of those moments where someone puts words to something you've been living for years.

The distinction he draws isn't between planning and not planning. It's between planning to learn and planning to feel safe. One moves you forward. The other just makes you feel better about staying where you are.

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Then He Brought Me In

Sid asked me to explain Elikonas in three to five minutes. Idiot-proof, he said. So he could understand it.

I have been pitching this business for months. I have a deck. I have an FAQ. I have a one-liner.

And yet, under the warm glow of a live audience and a very sharp questioner, I found myself talking in circles. Is it a credential platform? A social network? A learning catalog? An AI guide? A LinkedIn for education?

Yes. All of those. But also, as Sid gently and repeatedly pointed out:

What is the actual value to the person using it?

It was a fair question. It is the question. I got there eventually, but I didn't get there as cleanly or as quickly as I should have.

What did land — what really landed — was my personal story. When I stopped trying to describe the product and started talking about the people of my mom's hometown, the people who never saw college as an option, the ones who are smart and capable and completely overlooked by a system that only recognizes one kind of credential — that's when Sid leaned in.

That's the value proposition. Not the features. It's the people.

But here's where I struggle: I've been told that investors don't care about my story — that I need to lead with the market, the model, and the numbers. So how do I weave the human story in without losing the room, without taking too long, without making it feel like a TED talk when what's needed is a pitch? It's a balance I'm still working on. And Friday was a useful reminder that when I stop performing the pitch and just talk, something clicks.

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What Sid Told Me to Do — And What I'm Already Doing

We ran a little short on time in the session, so Sid's advice came quickly: stop planning and start validating. Get in front of real people. Build community. Prove that what you're building matters to someone before you worry about what it's built on.

His suggestion was to create a Facebook group, invite people in, and see what happens. If I can build an engaged community of people who show up because this thing matters to them, that changes everything about the story I get to tell investors.

Here's what I want to say to that: I hear you, Sid — and I've already started.

What's Your College Story? is a weekly show I kicked off a few weeks ago, and it's exactly that kind of validation work. Every episode, I sit down with a real person and have a real conversation about what their education journey actually looked like. Those stories are already building a community of people who recognize themselves in what we're doing — and we have some great ones scheduled: a drop-out pastor, a hall-of-famer boxer, people trying to find their way out of rehab, and even some of my own family who share their struggles with life and personal growth. We'll also have select experts and program leaders who offer alternatives to traditional education.

Watch the episodes and subscribe to catch live premieres on our YouTube channel, and read the story recaps right here on the site:

And yes — a Facebook group (and communities on other platforms) is on the list. The goal is to meet people where they already are, across every platform where this audience lives.

We're also still working on an early version of the Elikonas platform itself — and that may be where community-building finds its real home. More on that soon. Add your email to our list below to get updates. Here's an early teaser: elikonas.com/demo.html

Sid also reframed something I've been wrestling with: the tension between mission and money. His take was refreshingly simple: delivering genuine value to people and getting compensated for it aren't in conflict. If you're truly helping someone, you've earned the exchange. That's not selling out. That's a business. Over 90% of successful companies are never venture-backed — and that doesn't make them failures. It makes them businesses that work.

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What I'm Taking Away

I came into the Hot Seat thinking my biggest challenge was explaining the business clearly and balancing the mission with earning money to make it work. I left with validation that the work I'm doing to build community is the right place to be.

Sid and I have scheduled a follow-up. I intend to show up with proof that I've moved from planning to doing.

If you want to be part of what we're building — and I mean that literally, as an early community member who helps shape what Elikonas becomes — stay tuned. Something is coming soon that will give you a way to plug in before we launch.

In the meantime: thank you to Sid Mohasseb and the whole Anabasis Academy community for the warm welcome, the sharp questions, and the punch in the face.

It landed exactly right. 🥊

— Katie

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