unknown

We, humans, are still evolving. The fields of science, biology, and the human brain have just scratched the surface. We are still dying of bacteria and viruses. We are vulnerable like our previous generation. We are still working on finding the meaning of DNA and what it holds uniquely for us.

In short, we are living in so many unknowns. One thing which keeps us going out of all these is our will to live and hope for a better tomorrow.

We have to keep living in the world of unknowns.

outcome

I have been part of the VC industry for the past 7-8 years and have had my fair share of learning.

A founder should know what they are getting into and also the outcome.

You are one of the many founders your stakeholders are backing to maximize their wealth.

Our ecosystem had too much cash in the last few years, everyone or anyone ended up becoming an angel investor, and fundraising became easy. One could raise an idea and pedigree.

As a founder, you should know that your stakeholders are looking for a great outcome from their investment. It is risk capital for them, and clauses like drag along rights or liquidity preference as a few clauses added for the same.

As a founder, you have a few options.

  1. Build a monopoly and become a market leader
  2. Get acquired with a profitable exit
  3. Go IPO and give bombastic returns
  4. Get busted and let investors sell your company on peanuts
  5. Get yourself and team acqui-hired

In short, knowing the future outcomes: strategize and execute apart from paying yourself well, working hard, and breathing. In short, don’t kill yourself or live in misery. Enjoy every moment and learn from the journey. 

click

We don’t have to click with everyone.
It is perfectly alright.
We should focus on spending time with people with whom our chemistry matches well. We have limited time to live. We are not here to make everyone happy.

No two people are the same, and neither are their opinions or consciousness.

sales

I would recommend everyone to get into a sales role in their lifetime. The earlier one gets, the more experience it makes you better a person.

Sales teach us about rejection and celebrating our small win. It makes us more grateful and reminds us of the importance of personal relationships.

We become successful in sales by solving pain and delighting customers.

competition

Last few weeks, I have heard from a few friends about competitors and how one should run fast and whatnot.

In the last five years of building taghash, we have not gotten into FOMO of competition. The only thing that has worked for us is working closely with customers, solving their pain, and charging for the product.
We found everything else as a distraction.

As a founder, it becomes super important to stay focused and know where not to waste time.

matters

When we are in a team, we care about success together. It is more like an army working together for a cause. The incentive is the organization’s success above all. It is leadership 101.

We forget taking care of the team, treating everyone well, and keeping health above all are not something prioritized. Everything ends up being salary and shiny laptops and whatnot.

We are all different: work-life balance, an interesting problem to solve and respect matter to many others.

grateful

We are not grateful enough. We tend to focus on what we don’t have. Where or how someone did not help us. We are angry and burnt for what did not work for us.

Our life on this planet is limited, and going through what we don’t have or who did not champion our cause is not the right attitude.

What we should do it so work with our believers, and be grateful to those who stood by us when we had nothing or nowhere to go.

Everyone likes sailing with the course or prays to the rising son. A few misfits back people with no pedigree or history. We should be grateful to them all.

struggle

To get what we want in life requires a lot of hard work and struggle. Some would think it is easier to lead a life if born with a silver spoon. But that is not the case. They have challenges of different levels. Superstars or actors kids die fitting into the shoes of their parents.

Our life is a sum of happiness, pain, and misery. It is on us to decide what and how we lead it.

burnout

When we are angry or in a burnout zone.
It’s easy to blame or point fingers. We say things or take actions we don’t mean to, but we do that. Our rationality takes a back seat as the actions are emotion-driven.

We have to be empathetic and understand the state.

In the end, relationships and connections matter in life. This small phase of life gets forgotten soon.