Henk Pretorius

Exited founder, psychologist and investor. I write about the problems with following the status quo in life and business. New book out end of 2023.

About

I became a start-up founder in my early 20s, successfully building a digital market research firm to the point of acquisition 10 years later.Now from my perspective as entrepreneur and Psychology PhD I write about what I’ve learnt during that time, both personally and professionally. I’m also open to a select number of investment and advisory projects with start-ups that I find interesting and meaningful.My latest project is a book on the powerful, but often unconscious, effect of the status quo in our lives. Sign up to my newsletter to receive updates and extracts from the book before the release at the end of 2023.

Status no

NEW BOOK OUT END 2023In this “fast-changing world” with constant “disruption” there is remarkably little being said about the subtle yet profound role of the status quo in defining our outcomes.But if we pay attention the gravity of the mighty status quo is ever-present. We form habits that keep us stuck in routines, we obey and conform to social norms and we actively choose inferior status quo options. We live on autopilot, we follow business-as-usual practices, and we prefer the devil we know. When confronted with our irrational preference for what is over what could be we are prone to ignore or justify our actions.In Status No I explore how this bias affects everything from the partner we choose to our beliefs about how justified torture is to the brands we choose to buy and how we run our businesses and lives. It is a call to reject the self-imposed rules that keep us stuck in these default settings.Sign up below for weekly ideas and excerpts from the book.