• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

3

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45

1

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

2

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

3

Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Commentary

Doing This Will Help You Make Tough Decisions

By
Suneera Madhani
Suneera Madhani
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Suneera Madhani
Suneera Madhani
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 5, 2015, 2:30 PM ET
Courtesy of Fattmerchant

The Entrepreneur Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question “When making a tough business decision, how do you know when to trust your gut?” is written by Suneera Madhani, founder and CEO of Fattmerchant.

Although being the CEO/founder of a rapidly growing company may be every entrepreneur’s dream, it comes with an immense amount of responsibility. Every day, you are responsible for dozens of decisions that directly impact your business, customers, employees, and investors, so it’s important that each decision is made for the greater good. Every leader has his or her own winning formula when it comes to making the best decision for his or her business, and for me, that winning formula is facts plus gut.

Whenever I’m faced with a decision, I first try to remove emotion and approach the situation extremely analytically and strategically. This way, I’m able to lay all of the facts in front of me and get a full picture of the situation. After finding and understanding all of the facts, I put together the classic pro-con list. Pro-con lists help me fully understand what the outcome of every decision could be and which could be best for the company. It is only after I have all of the facts and a solid understanding of the pros and cons that I then allow my gut to enter the equation.

See also: Here’s What Happens When You Don’t Trust Your Gut

I can analyze and quantify decisions all day long, but at the end of the day, I trust my gut to make the majority of the decisions I’m faced with. The facts can all point me in one direction, but if my gut is telling me to go the other way, there’s probably a good reason. As an entrepreneur, you know your business better than anyone, and a list of facts can’t always direct you to the best decision. If my gut is pulling me in a specific direction, I take the time to ask myself why that might be. What does my gut know that I don’t? By taking the time to understand my gut instincts and comparing them with the facts in front of me, I am able to make decisions that best benefit the company as a whole. More often than not, though, the facts end up validating what my gut knew all along.

Although I typically swear by my gut-plus-facts approach to decisions, there are certain times where it is necessary to just use one. For example, when I left my 9-to-5 job to start Fattmerchant, I left on a pure gut feeling. I had zero facts that the company would succeed, but it was built on customer analysis and customer demands—hence the validation of my gut. Raising almost $1 million in venture capital, on the other hand, was by no means a gut decision. That was a decision based entirely on analytics and tireless research into whether or not Fattmerchant was ready to scale. However, my gut agreed with the facts and I knew that it was the right decision for the company.

As an entrepreneur, you will constantly be faced with decisions that will ultimately impact the success of your business. By having a decision-making process that you can trust, you will be able to make the best decisions possible for your business. For me, that process is to trust my gut, but to balance it with the facts and solid analysis. In all of my experiences, facts + gut = the best possible business decision.

 

Read all responses to the Entrepreneur Insider question: When making a tough business decision, how do you know when to trust your gut?

Here’s What You Should Do When You Have to Make a Tough Decision by Alexander Goldstein, founder and CEO of Eligo Energy.

Never Make a Big Decision Without Doing This First by Feris Rifai, cofounder and CEO of Bay Dynamics.

Here’s How Questioning Decisions Can Ruin a Business by Pat Peterson, founder and CEO of Agari.

About the Authors
By Suneera Madhani
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Bethany Cianciolo
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

Three ways that Asia’s enterprises are adopting AI—and where they are falling behind
CommentaryOracle
Three ways that Asia’s enterprises are adopting AI—and where they are falling behind
By Garrett IlgJune 11, 2026
11 hours ago
gordon
CommentaryVenture Capital
Gordon Ritter: I predicted AI’s learning loop a decade ago. The doomers are still measuring the wrong thing
By Gordon RitterJune 11, 2026
20 hours ago
bessent
CommentarySocial Security
Social Security and Medicare are heading toward insolvency. Congress has 6 years to act
By Steve H. Hanke and David M. WalkerJune 11, 2026
22 hours ago
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
Commentarydata sovereignty
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
By Leonard LimJune 10, 2026
1 day ago
tim
CommentaryAirline industry
Merlin CTO: autonomy can rebuild the foundation of aviation — and national security
By Tim BurnsJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
dewar
CommentaryLeadership
I founded McKinsey’s CEO practice: Here’s why operational excellence is a liability right now
By Carolyn DewarJune 9, 2026
3 days ago

Most Popular

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
Energy
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
By Sasha RogelbergJune 10, 2026
2 days ago
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
Environment
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
By Catherina GioinoJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Innovation
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
By Amanda GerutJune 9, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 11, 2026
19 hours ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
4 days ago
SpaceX's record IPO has Wall Street torn between a Musk 'holy grail' and a $135-per-share leap of faith
Startups & Venture
SpaceX's record IPO has Wall Street torn between a Musk 'holy grail' and a $135-per-share leap of faith
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJune 11, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.