THINKDROP 7: Don't believe the Hype!

Why Sustainable Beats Sensational. Always.

Split image with a Wired magazine cover on the left featuring Adam Neumann of WeWork holding a red sign, and a bold red background on the right with Flavor Flav pointing toward bright green text that reads “DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE,” alongside the Thinkdrop logo and tagline: “Unexpected thinking for unusual builders.”

🎤 From Me to You

In 1988, Public Enemy dropped a warning that still hits hard today:

“Don’t believe the hype.”

Flavor Flav and Chuck D weren’t just talking about media spin — they were calling out the machinery that sells illusion over truth.

Fast forward to now: a startup lands a glossy magazine cover, only to file for bankruptcy within a few years. A founder raises millions for a product that can be outperformed by hand. A media company boasts inflated metrics, leading to legal consequences.

Meanwhile, the real winners? They’re not chasing headlines. They’re building quietly, sustainably, and effectively.

This edition of Thinkdrop peels back the layers of hype to reveal the substance beneath. Let’s dive in.

Pierre Stanghellini.

HARi.wtf founder.

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1. The Trend Delusion

Some startups launch into fame. Others disappear into courtrooms.

The startup on the Wired cover might be bankrupt in four years. It’s not a metaphor—it’s happened, again and again. Think Theranos, Juicero, WeWork. The media narrative was flawless. The investor decks were airtight. And yet? The businesses weren’t. The deeper story here isn’t fraud. It’s perception. When media attention becomes a proxy for legitimacy, we stop asking hard questions. The result? Bad bets, broken trust, and a graveyard of once-iconic brands.

Hype might sell the story, but it won’t keep the company alive.

Try This: Before getting swayed by media hype, ask: “What’s the core value proposition, and does it stand up without the spotlight?”

Further Reading:

• The 9 Fiascos That Have Pretty Much Doomed Theranos

• The Downfall of Juicero: The Overhyped High-Tech Juicer

• WeWork Just Filed for Bankruptcy

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2. The Instagram Company

Your feed is not your financials.

A polished brand presence, a curated grid of team photos, a founder doing the podcast circuit — it all feels impressive. But what lies behind that image? In the case of Ozy Media, it was fraud, inflated numbers, and performance theater. The problem isn’t just dishonesty — it’s how easily we fall for surface-level excellence. Aesthetic bias is powerful. But sustainable businesses are built on fundamentals, not filters.

A pretty feed might win followers. It won’t fix a broken model.

Try This: Evaluate a company's fundamentals: revenue streams, customer retention, and product-market fit, rather than just its online persona.

Further Reading:

• Why Fake it until you make it might sabotaging your career - Forbes

• The Rise and Fall of Ozy Media – NYT

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3. Boring Beats Brilliant

Forget the pitch deck. Fix the plumbing.

There’s something powerful about companies you’ve never heard of quietly dominating entire categories. Waste management, compliance automation, B2B billing — these aren’t topics that go viral, but they’re essential. They scale through function, not fanfare. The lesson here isn’t to avoid innovation, but to redefine what success looks like. The founder who’s too busy serving customers to post on LinkedIn is probably winning.

Real problems don't always trend — they just pay.

Try This: Identify industries with consistent demand and less competition. Focus on solving real problems rather than chasing trends.

Further Reading:

• ‘Boring’ Businesses Are Making Millionaires — and You Can Borrow Their Strategies for Success

• Unsexy, Unstoppable: The Real Path to Business Goldmines

• The World's Most Boring Business Is a Blueprint for Startup Success

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4. The Influence Mirage

Social proof is not strategic proof.

We’ve entered an era where social validation is confused with market traction. If your company’s launch video gets 100,000 views but no one uses the product, is it really a win? The Juicero saga reminds us that hype can lead to overfunding, overconfidence, and ultimately, collapse. Visibility can be deceptive. It’s what happens when we mistake noise for progress. Social proof isn’t a business model—it’s a side effect, not a strategy.

What looks loud can be hollow. Don’t confuse followers with fundamentals.

Try This: Focus on customer feedback, retention rates, and actual sales figures to gauge success.

Further Reading:

• What Startups Get Wrong About Social Media Strategy

• The Fake metrics that kill Startups - Frederik Today

• How Marketing Hype hurt Boeing - HBR

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5. The Quiet Compounders

The loudest aren’t always leading.

The most successful founders you’ve never heard of are too busy compounding. No rebrands. No big launches. No viral tweets. Just a consistent product, loyal customers, and sustainable growth. These companies aren’t just flying under the radar — they’re redefining what “winning” looks like: recurring revenue, a tight team, and enough optionality to ignore trends altogether. In a world chasing noise, the compounding quiet ones build wealth.

Being consistent isn’t glamorous. It’s just profitable.

Try This: Ask: What if I stopped trying to look successful and focused only on being useful — every day, to a small number of real customers?

Further Reading:

• Silent Compounding: The Business Growth No One Talks About – Venture Magazine

• The power of boring business

• Making the case of silent leadership

  
  

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🌀 Food for Thought

“Substance is often silent. Style shouts. Listen closely.”

Every era has its illusions. This one rewards optics over outcomes — until it doesn’t. The companies that last don’t chase headlines. They build, compound, refine. As Flavor Flav warned back in ’88: Don’t believe the hype.

What’s loud today might be gone tomorrow. What’s quiet today might be printing cash by next quarter.

Choose wisely.

→ Let’s connect at www.hari.wtf or drop me a line directly at pierre@hari.wtf .

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About the Creator

Pierre Stanghellini is a creative strategist, systems thinker, and curator of mental rabbit holes. He created Thinkdrop Weekly to feed the brains that don’t want the same old startup advice. If you’re building something bold, beautiful, or strange—this is your corner of the internet.

Connect on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/pierrestanghellini

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About HARi.wtf

HARi.wtf is a creative strategy studio for businesses that hate business-as-usual.

Born in Hong Kong in 2017, we work with restless founders, operators, and teams who’d rather break things thoughtfully than grow them blandly. We don’t do generic decks or bloated strategies—we build clarity, guts, and traction.

From street-level restaurants to global brands, from Asia to Europe, we help shape ideas that move fast when it matters, and slow when it counts.

→ Explore more at hari.wtf