Why you don't know what you want

Delivered May 30, 2025 @ 5:00pm ET

Weather in Bloomington, IN - Partly Sunny, 19⁰ C / 62⁰ F

Table of Contents

• Doriot® product innovations 🧧

• This week in the democratize venture movement 🚀

• Mindset Corner: Why you don’t know what you want

My name is Gerry Hays, Founder & CEO of Doriot® (pronounced “Doe-ree-oh”), a movement to break open the gates of venture and expand innovation and wealth beyond an elite few. Democratize Venture is my platform to explore the venture markets and share the insights, strategies, and frameworks I bring into the classroom. It’s where education meets execution—for anyone ready to play the startup game.

Doriot® product innovations 🧧 

VentureStaking™ - a zero-to-one innovation in venture investing — designed to put the smallest investors on the same playing field as the largest.

FantasyStartup® - #1 global startup investing simulation with more than 14,000 downloads worldwide.

QAI - Qualified Accredited Investor™ - An exam and certification program for anyone serious about launching a venture-backed company or investing in high-growth startups.

This week in the democratize venture movement 🚀 

• The SEC released two reports this week: 1) Analysis of the Regulation A Market: A Decade of Regulation A; and 2) Analysis of Crowdfunding Under the Jobs Act. Our take: A decade in, Regulation A is still the scrappy underdog of capital raising—offering promise but falling short in execution, with only $9.4B raised out of $28B sought. RegCF is proving its might as a community-builder, less so of a capital engine. But engagement and democratization are real. We are still very, very early in this game but all signs point towards expansion.

• Rohit Yadav just released a report entitled Rethinking Venture Capital. In his opinion, Venture capital is stuck in a strategic lag—flush with $848B in dry powder but constrained by outdated structures and drying exits. We couldn’t agree more. Which is why VentureStaking™ has a very promising future.

• Our good friend Brian Belley interviewed Paul Lovejoy who make 366 RegCF investments in as many days on Superpowers for Good Blog. The most interesting take from Paul is that a large social following isn’t as a strong a signal as one might think. This is an area of research worth exploring.

Mindset Corner: Why you don’t know what you want

Alan Watts once said,

It’s 5:00 p.m. on a Friday, and I get it—most of us are ready to unplug. But this quote gripped me this morning. It felt like a breadcrumb—a quiet signal pulling me out of the daily noise and into a much wider view of life. Because like many of you, I get frustrated with the slowness of progress on things I care deeply about.

At first glance, that quote feels like a riddle. How can you not know what you want if you already have it?

But really think about it.

We’re constantly chasing, striving, pushing for more. How often do we pause to look around and realize… we’re already living inside the very life we once asked for? The job we prayed for. The partner we hoped for. The opportunities we only imagined. They’re here now—but sometimes we’re too focused on what’s missing to notice.

Then layer in this gem from Aristotle:

What I take from that is this—our true power doesn’t come from IQ, talent, or even our network. It comes from focus—our ability to concentrate attention and effort.

And whether we realize it or not, we’re doing this all day, every day. We are focusing. We’re putting attention somewhere. The only question is where?

So if focus is this powerful, we need to start thinking consciously about what we’re choosing to focus on.

Take abundance, for example. We all want it. But what does it mean to you? For some, it’s about money—and that’s totally valid. But abundance might also mean having deep relationships, good health, laughter at the dinner table, or time to create. It’s not either/or. It’s and. But you won’t get it unless you’re clear on what it is you want—and you focus on that.

We all know people who are singularly focused. They become incredibly successful at “one thing,” and for a while, it seems like they’ve found the golden ticket. But sometimes, they wake up and realize that their myopic focus cost them their health, their marriage, their joy.

And others? They never quite reach their goals because they’ve never truly focused on them. Not really. Their energy is scattered. Their days are reactive. They’re moving, but they’re not moving toward anything.

The point is, we’re being told to do more, hustle harder, mimic success—but few people are asking the first question: What do I actually want?

Only then can you give it the sustained attention it deserves.

Here’s what I’m learning: When I look at my life, I do have everything I want—because that’s where I’ve placed my focus. But I also know there are new things I want to bring into my world. And that requires next-level discipline. Not just discipline to work on it, but to focus on it—to give it the same energy, intention, and care I gave everything else I’ve built.

So if you’re not where you want to be right now, start by accepting this truth: you are where your focus brought you. And if you don't own that truth, you'll always feel like a victim of circumstance. And no one wants to be around a chronic complainer.

Here’s the absolute key:

There are two types of focus:

• You can focus on what you want as if it’s already yours—walking through your day with quiet confidence, grounded in the belief that everything is aligning in your favor. That kind of focus attracts momentum. It sharpens your energy. It opens doors.

• Or… you can focus on its absence—moving through your day with a sense of lack, comparison, and frustration, watching others seemingly have what you don’t. That focus breeds scarcity. It clouds your clarity. It repels the very things you want.

Same energy, different direction. And the direction you choose shapes everything.

If you're focused on the lack, you're telling yourself (and the world) that what you want isn't real, isn't possible, or isn’t for you. And you'll get more of that.

But if you focus on the reality of the thing you want—feel it, believe it, behave like it's unfolding—you start to align with it. You draw it toward you. This isn’t magic. It’s attention. It’s momentum. It’s how focus works.

This world gives all of us access to abundance. But it's up to us to decide whether that’s an abundance of wealth, health, love, and meaning—or an abundance of stress, scarcity, and heartbreak.

It all comes down to one word: Focus.

And it’s never too late to change yours.

Wishing you a focused and fulfilling weekend,

– Gerry ([email protected])