My Baseline Beliefs
- Keep it transparent. I don’t need another ass-kisser around me. And if you are all about ass-kissing, whether it’s on the giving or receiving end, you can bet I won’t be getting my hands dirty with you. No pun intended.
- Make something valuable. Making something ‘cool’ that doesn’t add any inherent value to your ecosystem makes you a douchebag; and shows me that you’re not intelligent enough to create something that’s real- You’re just running after the entertainment value.
- We don’t do it JUST for the money. If you’re in it just for the money, you’re in the wrong space. There are far easier and faster ways to acquire wealth.
- Don’t make excuses or shoulder off responsibility. If your mother had a heart attack and you needed to rush to the hospital, yes, that’s where you should be. But if you’re making excuses for why you aren’t where you want to be in life, that’s just called laziness- and our generation is plagued with it. In India, I’ve seen talented, driven and incredibly intelligent people who have never been given the opportunities we have here in the U.S. … So let’s make something of it.
- Don’t put people on pedestals and waste their time. I don’t give my time to people want to meet just to meet- If you want to meet someone, make it a real conversation and come with specific questions or a good reason for why it’ll be insightful for both parties. Vague questions like ‘How did you build your company?’ or ‘What made you want to quit your job?’ make me cringe. Instead of drooling over successful people, take the opportunity to get inside their heads and see what their thought process is like.
- It’s foolish to think you can run two or more startups at once. If anyone knows that being multi-faceted is important, it’s me. But there’s only one of you; you can’t be in two places at once. So when push comes to shove and you have two incredibly vital opportunities coincide for both startups, where will you be? I will never buy into someone who thinks they can do justice to too many things at once. And if you think you can, it just tells me that you’re unfocused. If you’re running one startup and taking a side seat on couple others, however, that’s understandable.
- Being in stealth is silly. In my start up, I waited too long to file provisional patents so I could ‘get it right’, which hindered my ability to speak freely about our work. It’s a great way to shoot yourself in the foot. Moving forward, the first thing I’ll do is file provisional patents so I can talk to anyone without worrying about it. It’s also a huge turn off to potential partners (or really anyone) when you’re insinuating that you can’t trust them with your concept. But it’s also silly to speak without covering your grounding- So get ‘er done.
- If you’re constantly at events, it’s clear to me that you never do any real work. Deal screenings to get your gears going? Events where there’s someone you want to meet who can help you and your company grow? Events to develop a relationship with a potential partner? A meet up to recruit good talent? Sure. The rest is just a waste of time and a shitty excuse for getting away from real work. And if you’re spending that much money in tickets, parking, drinks and transportation to unnecessary events, it makes me wonder where else you’re being too spendy.
- Crowdfunding is a great validation tool, but not a funding tool unless you’ve got great margins. Read up, here.
- The grunt work never ends. And if you think that it does, you’re doing it wrong. If you think that by attempting to become an executive it will, you’ve got another thing coming.
