Field Notes for Founders: How it started and where it's going
- Suzi Graham
- Jul 21
- 5 min read
Inspiration comes from odd places sometimes.
Nowhere more than when you're embracing a long-forgotten creative side, and a random streaming choice starts the ball rolling on a website blog delayed by award-winning levels of 'procrastifaffing' for two years. (I have my dear coaching colleague, Helena, to thank for that belter of a word.)
I hadn't heard of the 2014 British film 'Hector & The Search for Happiness' until I watched it over the weekend. A classic Simon Pegg gem, brilliantly shot, and a right shame I missed out on it for 12 years. But sometimes, timing is everything.
How it started
When I came stumbling into the New Year after a rough end to 2025, I shared my word for the year on a video call with my coaching community. That word was Bold. Not the on-stage, show-off sort of bold; more the intrepid explorer kind. If I've learned anything in entrepreneurship so far, taking risks and moving when you're only half-sure makes all the difference. Not that it necessarily comes easy. However, I did start out my previous career with a similar philosophy, which I've been dusting off and bringing it back into use lately.
Although I had a largely corporate career in policing, I'm proud to have cut my teeth on the frontline for the first five years of it. From blue light runs to breaking up random fights on patrol (ask me the one about the soup kitchen queue sometime), it's fair to say that policing tests your performance under pressure. Especially when the public are watching. That experience informed my approach in my policy and accountability roles. I was adamant about bringing the street-smarts to the palace of dreams (i.e. HQ) so that I didn't morph into a bureaucratic desk jockey - because context is everything when you're working with human behaviour (criminal or professional). So, when I started my own business in 2024, and found the clients I wanted to work with, getting out there was just as important to me. I wanted to cut my teeth in the same way - in the field (minus the uniform, and the authority that came with it, of course).
This year so far has been anything but bold. Frustrating would be a better word. A continuation of the stuff that life served up at the end of last year has left me more house-bound than in-the-trenches with other founders. But what I've lost out on in geographical explorations more recently, I've been making up for with digital endeavours and conversational adventures instead. And it hasn't disappointed. What the film on Saturday did was reinvigorate my love of field-based notes - even if they're gathered remotely for a little while longer. What I can draw upon is my experience of navigating a tough human journey, alongside others I've shared the path with, and bring different perspectives to experiences and observations in this new field.
While I no longer have my police pocket notebook, I still have what it left me. An appreciation for the 'contemporaneous log', and capturing human moments along the way.
Back in the job, my pocket notebook came with a big old dollop of unease - it was an official document, admissible in court, and every entry I jotted out filled me with dread. We had our ABCs drummed into us in training (Accuracy, Brevity, Clarity) and while a helpful mnemonic on duty, for me it piled on the pressure. I'm not only wordy, I'm also a [recovering] perfectionist.
More recently I've been unpacking the legacy of perfectionism and relationship to authority with my own coach (yes, coaches can have coaches too, as well as supervisors). What occurred to me was that the roots of it may start in early life and keep you tangled up in them as you move into adulthood, however, the job reinforced it: powers, policies, protocols... prosecutions. Hector mirrors this in the film: a white-coated psychiatrist with a perfectionistic streak, swaps patient records for field notes and on his global adventures discovers more about himself along the way than a lifetime of clinical practice could have ever shed light on.
Audit trails (see my LinkedIn post on that), evidence, and covering your ass for all eventualities became second-nature in the public sector. But what that pushes out in the process is the freedom to explore messy moments and thoughts on paper. If it's got to be right then there's no room to be wrong, and therefore no place for learning. Failing fast and bouncing back better is precisely what the startup life is about: rough and ready MVPs, pivots, innovation - and being okay with not nailing it first time round. This year I'm reclaiming my right to be wrong, to learn from experience, and to document it...publicly. Unpolished and unapologetic, like every good field notebook ever written.
Where it's going
Who knows? I'm open. That said, framing is useful. So as I've written on the blog page subheading, I'll be capturing whatever I find along the way. I'll definitely be doing some research interviews too, just like Hector.
Observations, conversations, insights, and honest reflections on founder identity, leadership, and scaling teams. (With some random notes to keep it human.)
What is my non-negotiable is that whatever the field notes contain, it will be useful to founders and interested readers. The internet is awash with articles and resources designed for consumption and dopamine hits. While I can't say I won't be SEO-ing it up a bit, boosting my posts a bit to be found in the Google wilderness won't come at the expense of writing authentically. Likewise, LLMs can quickly generate answers to any questions you have. I love AI, but what it can't replicate are wisdom and judgement. That's the human stuff that will only become more valuable over time.
So, expect typos, grammatical errors, and syntax that would give your high school English teacher sleepless nights. The draft is the craft here. Know that half-baked ideas and semi-derailed trains of thought will come your way from time-to-time as well. That's the human magic right there.
If you have topics you want me to cover, events you recommend I attend, or people you think I should meet then don't be shy. Let me know. My email and LinkedIn are below - I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for joining me on my founder's field-trip adventure.
Stay human,
Suzi x
Email me on: transform@cazimicoaching.co.uk
Come say hello on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/suzi-graham
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