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Identity Before Goals: Why Every Startup Pivot Starts in the Mind
- Shreya Chaturvedi
- Jan 17
- 5 min read
10 years of the National Startup Day in India, conversations revolve around ideas, funding, growth metrics, and success stories.
All of that matters.
But three years into building the Alter Ego Community, I’ve come to believe that most startup journeys don’t break or succeed because of ideas or execution.
They hinge on something far more internal.
Identity.
Becoming Someone New
To run Alter Ego, I had to create an alter ego that wasn’t typically me.
I call it the INVINCIBLE (Yes, I'm an Arsenal Football Club Fan)
She isn’t typically me yet, but we’re integrating.
Like, I don’t enjoy socialising much.
I live alone.
There are days when I don’t speak to a single human, and the 90-second video you might see online is all the speaking I do that day. That is a lot for me.
Yet, when I show up, it doesn’t feel fake.
It doesn’t feel like performance.
Because it’s intentional.
It feels like a different identity stepping forward, one that the work demands.
That distinction matters.
Why Identity Shifts Change Everything
We often underestimate how powerful identity shifts are.
Not just as a founder, but in life, identity shifts make way for everything.
A friend of mine couldn’t quit smoking for years. He became a dad this year and quit instantly.
No habit tracker.
No motivational hacks.
Nothing changed externally.
His identity did, and the intent followed.
The dad in him beats the smoker in him.
This is where most people get stuck.
They try to force behaviour change without addressing identity.
And most people confuse intent with goals.
A goal sounds like:
“I want to lose weight.”
“I want a better job.”
“I want confidence.”
Intent sounds like:
“Why does this matter enough for me to act even when it’s uncomfortable?”
When you commit to an identity rooted in strong intent, intent feels effortless.
You don’t need to constantly remind yourself why something matters.
It’s already embedded in who you are becoming.
Things don’t become easy; they become inevitable.
What Stops Mattering Along the Way
What surprised me most wasn’t what changed but what stopped mattering.
A few years ago, as a middle-class corporate employee, a couple of years after my MBA, it felt like I had arrived. I was finally earning enough to not kill my little joys for family responsibilities.
I lived for what you could do with your salary — travel every other month, finally afford five-star hotels, expensive brands, and monthly hair spas.
That life didn’t disappear out of sacrifice or discipline.
It dissolved through detachment.
You simply stop caring.
People often ask me where I take inspiration and motivation from. I say, sports.
One of the most valuable lessons sport teaches is not to dwell on success.
Celebrate a big win for a night.
If it’s a World Cup, maybe take a week off.
Then you reset — next match, next point.
From ZERO.
That mindset stayed with me.
Sachin Tendulkar was already the greatest and the highest scorer when he scored the first double century at 37.
Djokovic is arguably the GOAT and continues to work relentlessly to improve.
Ronaldo and Messi are nearing 40 and still evolving.
So what makes us believe we’ve arrived and it’s done?
Detachment from the current version of yourself is essential to grow closer to your dreams.
Today, someone who wouldn’t use anything less than Kérastase washed her hair by mixing two regular shampoos.
Why People Don’t Start
I see so many people stuck in the conflict of wanting to do something, then imagining what it would take, getting scared, and returning to the same life.
I hate making reels. I prefer writing.
But people don’t read as much anymore.
So though the typical me dreads doing it, the INVINCIBLE founder does it.
The problem isn’t a lack of planning.
It’s waiting for certainty that never comes.
You can't plan everything to a T and then start.
You start with a basic initial plan and then figure it out on your way.
Again, much like parenting.
You can’t wait to learn everything there is to know, fix all your traumas, and then reproduce.
It’ll never happen.
Similarly, you can’t think like a corporate employee who prioritises what their salary can get them, values stability and predictability, and expects to build a startup.
Identity shifts come first.
Thinking changes next.
Habits follow later.
Trying to reverse this order is what exhausts people.
Goals and habits don’t sustain without identity shifts (Atomic Habits).
And identity shifts require intent.
The why matters — especially at the beginning, when habits and systems don’t yet exist.
Building in Parallel
I’ve been using alter egos for over 15 years — building in parallel.
Whatever I wanted to do or say but couldn’t, I didn’t give up on it; I did it in parallel.
I loved science, so I studied it, but I also loved history, arts, and psychology.
So these subjects became leisure.
When I thought I didn’t have the space to open up about my depression and traumas, I started writing anonymously on Quora, long before I thought it was okay to say it publicly. I became a Top Writer and learned how complex and broken the world really is.
I wanted to solve this problem but couldn’t afford to quit my job. So I used solo travel breaks to plan and explore my ideas.
Alter Ego Community was born from a simple thought:
You don’t have to give up when you can build in parallel.
It helps bypass the fear of failure and judgment — the two most common reasons people never start.
An alter ego gives you permission to start, to practise becoming who you need to be, instead of resenting who you currently are and developing a victimhood mindset, blaming your current circumstances.
It helps you transition through identity shifts.
It obviously is easier said than done.
That’s why we created a 10-step framework — to move from intent to transformation, step by step.
And once transformation begins, your approach to everything else changes.
Like I used to run away from kids.
I also thought you lose friends when they get married.
But the INVINCIBLE figures it out.
I haven’t lost friends.
I’m close to their spouses also now.
Now, when I visit my friends with kids, I literally prepare for it as you would prepare for an interview or pitch.
Learn new riddles on my way.
Take a science experiment kit.
Decorate cakes with them.
Evangelise them all to follow Arsenal and convince them Sachin is God.
Basically, you figure it out.
You always find a way.
Whether it’s a startup or relationships.
One of my favourite sporting minds is Kobe Bryant. When he was asked if he plays to win or not lose, he said neither. He played to figure things out.
That’s the point.
It’s neither the journey nor the destination. It’s who you become along the way.
Invincible isn’t about defeating the world.
It’s about not being defeated by it — by narratives of teh world, and the limits we set for ourselves because we hold our labels too close: “I’m an introvert.” “I hate maths.” “I hate kids.”
When intent is strong — when your why is real — you change.
You just have to give yourself permission to start.
On National Startup Day and forever, my only message to all the dreamers is :
START.
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