Had a chance to talk with a Gen Z (a new college grad) recently. She said the pressure to fit into certain career types and roles is probably at all time high for her generation, with the prevalent use of social media etc. We’ve all seen Youtube vlogs from a young Googler who just graduated … Continue reading Gen Z And The Pressure Of Fitting In
For early stage founders who want to set up a strong company culture: 1/ Be consistent about your decision making. Someone said culture is how people behave when their managers are not around. In early stage startups, the founder constantly makes small and large decisions; over time, how the founder thinks and makes decisions becomes … Continue reading Startup Culture
It’s a good thought experiment to imagine (a service category) didn’t exist today, AI came first, and you’re now thinking about creating a new service that serves a specific purpose using the power of AI. For example, what if Salesforce didn’t exist today, AI somehow came first, and you’re imagining creating a software that brings … Continue reading What If AI Came Out First
I recently met a founder who had to shut down his company, and asked what he regrets the most. He said – absolutely nothing. Because he knows he did his absolute best. He poured in 120% of effort every single day, 24/7. He put everything on the field. Along the way, he learned so many … Continue reading No Regret
For those who are moonlighting to launch a startup while having a full time job: 1/ It’s a legitimate way of starting a new startup; Fubu’s founder worked at a restaurant not just when he was launching Fubu, but until year 5 or 6, well past Fubu’s initial success 2/ That being said, you should … Continue reading Q: How To Launch A Startup On The Side
First time founders – focus on productSecond time founders – focus on distributionThird time founders – focus on meaning and purpose Continue reading Product, Distribution, Meaning
The Open AI/Sam Altman saga seems to have died down for the most part – at least for now. This was another case where a TV script writer couldn’t have written a more dramatic story than what actually unfolded in the real world. Tech is increasingly becoming dramatic, and when drama happens in tech, it’s … Continue reading The EQ/IQ Balance
People who haven’t built great things: Flex with cars and watches People who built a service or a product used and loved by many people: Casually mention the product and humbly say “By the way, I built that.” Continue reading People Who Built A Great Product
I have had firsthand experience with this for many years. Just to share a few lessons I learned: 1/ Give goals the team can completely own and deliver People feel motivated and empowered when they feel they own a task from start to end. If the message becomes like this, you’ll be surprised how much … Continue reading Q: How do you run a remote dev team effectively?
When Mitch Kapor started Lotus 1-2-3 in 1983, he projected the company’s first year revenue as $3M. That was all good, except he was terribly off with his projections. Lotus had the first year revenue of $53M. Two quick thoughts: 1/ Pick the right market. Lotus could have an immense success only because the PC … Continue reading Underpromise and Overdeliver