The discipline required to summit a mountain and the discipline required to close a difficult deal are closer than most people expect.
The mountain does not care about your credentials. It cares about your preparation, your judgement at altitude, and whether you chose the right people to climb with. Marathon running teaches something similar: the race is won in the weeks before the start line, not on the day. None of this is separate from the work of finance and venture-building — it is the same discipline in different terrain.
Shared challenge builds a particular kind of trust. You learn more about a partner on a twelve-hour summit attempt than in a year of meetings, and the relationships formed at altitude or over the final miles of a marathon tend to be durable ones. The endurance community runs on collective encouragement: you push others through the wall, and they push you. Your pace sets the standard for whoever is beside you.