How do I know if starting a business aligns with my values and not just greed?

This is the question I'd ask first, before the business plan. Zera Yacob taught me that reason demands we examine our motives honestly. Start by asking: *Why* am I doing this? If the answer is only money, sit with that discomfort. Money itself isn't corrupting—it's the fuel for dignity and choice. But if you're building a business to escape people, dominate them, or prove something to others, you'll feel that toxicity compound with every success. Instead, ask: What problem am I solving? Who benefits? What kind of person do I become by building this? The business that survives and feels *right* usually serves something beyond itself—it creates value others genuinely need, it treats people fairly, it builds something you'd respect if someone else owned it. I've seen wealthy people miserable and modest people at peace. The difference wasn't the money—it was whether they could look at their work and say, 'This is mine, and I'm proud of it.' That clarity saves you years of building the wrong thing. Write down what success looks like that has nothing to do with revenue. That's your north star.