koolhead17
There is a time in life when you stop for a moment and look back. The past makes you think about the journey and what has been the learnings. Our life is a mixed bag with good and bitter. Some learn from it, while others die in remorse.
We have to rethink these moments and pick up the learnings. Our future depends on pasts learning.
I have been in a few conversations off late, and becoming a VC or starting a fund seems like a new cool thing. The return takes a long time( 10-12) years. Every three years is new fundraising. It takes lots of patience, perseverance, and luck to find one unicorn.
There are many other professions where people have made more money than in the VC industry. The carry is a byproduct and success indicator. In India, only a handful of General Partners have seen it.
It looks on LinkedIn or social media profile adding a persona, bumper sticker associating with a Venture Capital, but in, reality the work, luck needed to succeed is far more. That is why you will see the 1st in a command being hyper-competitive and high on dopamine to win the best deals.
“Secrets of Sand Hill Road” written by Scott Kupor is a good book that can give you a glimpse of it.
In all essence Running a VC fund and running a startup both have few similarities.
Laughed reading Leo’s tweet, the comments thread sums it up.
Why do we have to give importance to things, people, or some belief so much. Does it affect us negatively?
Do we surrender our thoughts, thinking to that particular belief, ideology? Does it help us in the long run, or does it make us vulnerable and weak?
Tanha he to hai hum, dhund rahe hai apne parchai auroo me. Diya salai, kaagaj kalam aur suee dhagee ke mafik jor rahe hai khud ko auroo se.
Kya hum ayee nahi the akele is jahan me? Kya humne aasiyaana banane ka socha nahi tha khud ke liye?
Apne aap se ji nahi sakte kya hum, kyun nikal jate hai khud ki talash me? Kya milta hai miyushee aur tiraskaar ke awala?
Tanha kaise ho sakte hai hum jab humne khud me jeena seekh liya. Yae parchaii hamare he to hai, kyun jana hame auroo ki talaash me? Kya khud me khud ke saath nahi ji sakete hai? Apne akelepaan ko apne manmarzi ka zariya kyun nahi bana lete hai hum?
Manish came up with updated version with more rhyme in it.
Tanha hee to hum sab Dhoondh rahein hain apne ko, auron main Kisi dhaage say jodne ki koshish kar rahe hain.
Kya hum akele na aaye thhe jahan mein Kyun aashiyana banane lage jahan mein Kyun na jee sakte hum akele, tanha Kyun nikal jaate hain kisi ki talaash mein.
Wohee mayusi aur tiraskar ki talaash mein Kyun na jee sakte hum akele Apni parchai kay saath Kyun dhoondhein kisi aur ko Jab hum jee sakte hain akele – tanha
The evangelists of the startup world sermonized passion like a drug. Pick a blog, book, or podcast: passion trumps over everything. You have to be passionate about the idea, team, and what not build a successful startup.
A few years back, starting my own, I read Scott Adams’s post on the goal VS system. He stressed focussing on building system. The byproduct will be a success. I laughed at reading it and felt like Scott has gone nuts. We have to be passionate and have a goal when it comes to our startup, team, product, and everything.
What happens when your idea fails, the team leaves or the product you have been passionate about never takes off? How will you handle these?
My limited learning resonates with Scott Adam’s now. We should keep passion, goals, and profession separately. We will suffer less, and failures will not break us apart.
The past few weeks have been a little hard on me. It threw me into the self-introspection mode. The more I questioned myself, the I sulked deeper into emotions.
I spent time reading about emotions from science to philosophy. The summary was simple: it is manifest of our mind. How we see an incident and how we react to it.
Emotions are the byproduct of our ego, attachment, and perception. The meaning changes with the lens you are looking at it.
Bhagwad Gita talks about: Attachments are the cause of human misery.
Epictetus said: There are things in our control and things not in our control. Dwelling on things that are not in our control will make us miserable.
Murakami says: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
Many professional coaches say to be more rational in business. It makes me wonder how can a human life in this dual state where he/she has to buckatize their actions?
If in a business, we have to be more rational and less emotional, then why not automate that part too? Is singularity even achievable?
In Lifespan, David Sinclair writes about how we are going to live much longer. He also points getting old is a disease, and we can live much longer.
In the initial chapter, he cites how we started dying less at an early age because of advancements in medicine and science. With time and our sedentary lifestyle, we are getting sick from a heart attack, Diabetes, and other failures.
In later chapters, he mentions the newer research and experiments on the mouse and how they are living longer. He gave stress on metformin and resveratrol. He also cites how his father, based in Australia in his 80’s lived like a 60-year-old, trekked consuming these drugs.
I remember reading a section where he also mentions how we are making our planet worst by cutting trees, the plastic, and how we will witness more pandemics in the year to come.
The part I resonated with most was about intermittent fasting, restricted dieting, and regular physical exercise. The importance of eating leafy vegetables, fermented food. He advised avoiding non-vegetarian food. I am not sure about the importance of hot and cold baths.
Let’s build a startup book talks about Harpreet S Grover’s journey in building CoCubes. I could relate myself more to it because I grew up in a middle-class family in a small town in India.
These are some notes I took away from the book:
There is some part of emotions always associated with entrepreneurship. It could be with an idea, team, or journey. I have been talking to a lot of friends, and everyone agrees to it.
The experienced funders suggest being more rational and less emotional. We are dealing with humans, and there will be differences with co-founders, teams, customers, investors, and emotions will only affect adversely.
Building a startup should be like running a sports team: everyone knows what their defined role is and how their performance elevate or deprecate the team. That is what Reed Hasting’s analogy. I reluctantly agree with his view now.
Thanks to social media and Hollywood, love has become a utopia. We all expect something from the other half. The expectations and chek list have gotten bigger.
I was watching Alain de Botton Youtube video, and it got me thinking.