Why Founders Fall in Love with Their Ideas: A Neurocognitive Explanation and a Framework for Objective Idea Evaluation

This working paper examines the neurocognitive mechanisms that cause founders to become emotionally attached to their startup ideas, including reward anticipation, identity fusion, loss aversion, and motivated reasoning. It argues that founder attachment is not a personal flaw but a predictable cognitive phenomenon, and that objective idea evaluation frameworks function as necessary safeguards against these biases. The paper is intended for academic and practitioner audiences and may be revised, expanded, or adapted into a future book.