This might sound crazy coming from an entrepreneur, but I've always had a thing for honesty. I despise lying and misleading because they inevitably cause more problems and create unnecessary challenges, both in one's personal life and in one's business endeavors.

Admittedly, it's not a common sentiment in the world of business, where the "fake it till you make it" mantra continues to ring loud, where the vast majority of business owners are deathly afraid of any failure and where it takes courts to extract admissions of guilt, incompetence or malfeasance.

As a former investment manager at a VC fund, I've had a front-row seat to entrepreneurship in the startup scene, which trades in smoke and mirrors like a commodity. Let me tell you — it's almost never about blatant lying. Most commonly, it's about twisting reality to craft a suitable narrative, e.g., cherry-picking growth metrics to aggrandize one's company, gaslighting customers despite legitimate complaints, making promises that are nigh-impossible to follow through, etc.

Some companies, like Theranos, manage to fool everyone—even investors—and become massive success stories, albeit sometimes short-lived. But most startups cannot keep up the charade. In the U.S., half of all startups don't make it to their fifth year.

Related: Defend Your Brand With These Strategies to Combat Misinformation in Business

Of course, failure isn't always........

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