Fake It Till You Make It: The Startup and Career Pivot Survival Skill Nobody Admits They’re Using

I didn’t really understand the phrase “fake it till you make it” until I was sitting in an MBA lecture surrounded by people throwing around finance jargon like second nature. I had already made the leap from clinical work into healthcare management, and I thought I was ready.

I wasn’t. I felt naked.

Everyone around me seemed fluent in strategy frameworks and valuation models. I wasn’t. So I did what most people do in new territory: faked it. Nodded along. Talked like I knew what I was saying. Built the swagger first, the skills second.

And that same skill—faking it till I made it—became essential when I stepped into healthcare management. The first time you’re managing people, budgets, and operations, there’s no manual. If I had waited until I felt “ready,” I’d still be waiting today.

That’s the part nobody likes to say out loud: you can’t pivot, lead, or build without faking it first.

What Faking It Actually Means

Let’s clear something up. Faking it isn’t lying. It’s not bluffing your way into something you’ll never deliver.

It’s projecting readiness while you’re still building it.

Founders do this every day: pitching investors before the product is finished, hiring employees before revenue is steady, announcing roadmaps that’ll take months of late nights to deliver. That’s not fraud. That’s survival.

Career pivoters do it too. You walk into an interview for a role you’ve never officially held. You speak the language of the industry, even though you’ve only been fluent for a few months. You act like you belong—even when imposter syndrome is screaming otherwise.

Done right, faking it just means moving before you’re ready. You bet on yourself in public, then scramble to catch up in private, a concept backed by research on behavior shaping confidence (Psychology Today).

Founders: Living in the Fake-It Zone

If you spend any time around startup founders, you realize quickly: they’re constantly faking it till they make it.

I’ve seen it across different communities. The founder who pitches with polished confidence, then goes home to scramble and actually build the product. The operator who hires a team without having all the processes in place. The CEO who reassures investors while privately worrying about payroll.

It’s not deception. It’s selling the dream, then sprinting like hell to make it real.

And it’s contagious. If the founder walks in like they believe, the team believes. If they act like the future’s already here, people start working like it is.

That’s why investors like Y Combinator openly talk about “acting bigger than you are.” It’s not arrogance—it’s the bridge that carries you from fragile idea to functioning business.

Career Pivoters: Different Stage, Same Playbook

When I moved into healthcare management, I had to learn quickly. People expected me to know the answers. The reality? I was Googling, asking mentors, piecing things together behind the scenes. But in the room, I projected calm and clarity.

That’s the same game career pivoters play every day.

If you’re breaking into product management, operations, or marketing, you’ll never walk in feeling “ready.” The first time you open Jira as a new PM and pretend you know what an epic is? That’s faking it.

The people who land the role aren’t smarter. They just accept that faking it is part of the deal. They show up like they belong, then backfill the gaps through relentless learning.

This is something I wrote about in Warren Buffett’s Recession Playbook: survival in uncertain times is about adapting fast. Faking it is part of adaptation.

The Guardrails: How to Fake It Without Falling Flat

Here’s the line you can’t cross: fake confidence, not competence (as Harvard Business Review points out, authenticity in leadership doesn’t mean waiting to feel ready).

• Don’t say you can code if you can’t.

• Don’t guarantee revenue projections you know are fiction.

• Don’t overpromise deliverables you can’t possibly back up

The right version of faking it looks like this:

• Pitch your ability to learn fast, then learn fast.

• Project leadership presence in a new role, while quietly working double-time to catch up.

• Sell the vision, then work like hell to make the reality match.

Think of it like scaffolding. It holds you up just long enough to pour the real foundation underneath. Stay there too long and the whole thing collapses.

Why This Matters Now

In 2025, nobody’s got the luxury of waiting. Runways are short. Industries are shifting mid-interview. If you wait to feel ready, you’ll never move.

That’s why tools and systems matter. I wrote about it in the Confluence & Jira Implementation Guide: when you put the right systems in place early, you don’t just fake confidence—you build it into the process.

Same goes for marketing. In my SEO tool showdown, I compared two tools that startups and pivoters use to punch above their weight. Early on, you’re “faking” authority by leaning on tools and frameworks. Over time, the results become real.

Takeaway: The Cycle Never Ends

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: you don’t stop faking it once you “make it.”

Every new level, every pivot, every big leap resets the cycle. Founders live in this space constantly. Career pivoters get used to it if they want to keep climbing.

The goal isn’t to avoid faking it. The goal is to get good at it—while making sure you’re filling in the substance as quickly as possible.

The people who win? They don’t wait. They show up, act like they belong, and figure it out while everyone else is still on the sidelines.

📚Further Reading

• Y Combinator: How to Convince People When You’re Just Starting Out — Why early-stage founders need to project confidence before proof.

• Harvard Business Review: The Authenticity Paradox — Why “just be yourself” isn’t enough in leadership.

• First Round Review: The Art of the Startup Hustle — How successful founders sell vision while scrambling behind the scenes.

• Forbes: Why Fake It Till You Make It Works (And When It Doesn’t) — Practical breakdown of when this mindset helps and when it backfires.

• Psychology Today: The Science Behind Fake It Till You Make It — Research on how behavior shapes confidence.

TL;DR

• Faking it till you make it isn’t lying — it’s projecting readiness while you’re still building it.

• Founders live in the fake-it zone daily: pitching, hiring, selling vision before execution catches up.

• Career pivoters face the same challenge: if you wait until you feel “ready,” you’ll never move.

• Guardrails matter: fake confidence, not competence.

• Every new leap? You’re back at square one, faking it all over again.