Whenever I hear someone say something isn’t possible, I think about a conversation I had with the founding CTO of a publicly traded Atlanta company. Jim helped scale that company from five people to an IPO with thousands of employees. He’s a problem solver at heart and always believed the impossible was possible. I asked him what the secret to his company’s and his team’s success was, and he said his team didn’t blindly trust anybody or anything. Their motto was “prove it.”

As the company grew, it was pitched every product and service imaginable. Whenever they asked why they should buy the product or service, the answer was “All the big companies are using it.” To Jim, that answer was illogical. He and his team gave that rationale zero weight in their decision-making process. Instead, they tested everything to figure out what was possible and which products and services were the best. Often, they found that the big companies weren’t using the best product. Jim and his team would find better products, often at lower prices because the companies were smaller and hungrier. Knowing which companies were using subpar products helped his company understand others’ shortcomings and gave his team insights on how to differentiate their company to their customers.

In the end, this prove-it mentality became a huge competitive advantage for Jim’s company, but only because Jim and his team did the tedious grunt work of vetting everything to truly understand what was possible and what products were the best. Over time, that work compounded to the point that their technology platform was lightning fast and the best in their industry. When customers got a taste of how much better their platform performed, they were hooked, and the company developed a cult following.

Just because someone says something isn’t possible, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. And just because everyone says something is the best, that doesn’t mean it is the best. If the decision is material, it’s worth digging in yourself. Often you’ll find that what others say is impossible is very possible or what others say is the best is far from it.