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History is the most powerful lesson.
It tells us what has happened, why it worked, why it may not work now and what is needed to change.

When we join a new company and do not ask what’s happened before, we ignore history.

When we start a new relationship and do not ask how the earlier ones were, we ignore history.

When we start a new life and do not reflect upon our past to see what happened, we ignore history.

And when we ignore history, we end up creating the same history.

Truths about being a founder that are rarely spoken about. 

A thread…

When was the last time you bought a product or service, because the founder is from IIT, or because the founder hasn’t drawn a salary for the past 6 months, or that the founder is going through depression?

You couldn’t care less! No one cares a fuck about who you are. The market is the market! 
It doesn’t care about who you are, as a founder. Which school you went to. What you have given up to get to this point. 

And that is hard hitting for a lot of people who are used to things working their way because of where they come from in life.

As a founder, you are a celebrity, whether you like it or not. Every word you speak will be analyzed, every action of yours will be reproduced, every standard you allow will set a new standard.
Think of how you speak, how you act and the standards you accept.

Investors are in the business of entering and exiting businesses.
They are not in the business of making your business work.
If entering your business works for them, they will enter. But they will also eventually exit.
They NEED to exit.
That’s the business they are in.

Even a bad team can work in a good market.
But a good team can’t make a bad market work.

The market is (almost) everything.

As a founder, the only time you are called successful is when you take unpopular decisions and they work out.

Taking popular decisions is “easy”. 
And If your decisions don’t work out, then you are as it is good for nothing.

That’s massive odds against you.

Early on, the only hiring technique that works is
Attitude >> Experience >> Education

At some point in your evolution, you will need 
experience >> attitude. 

But… you won’t know when precisely. 

So you will continue to hire for attitude, fuck up, put pressure on yourself to make them work and blame yourself a lot more than you ought to have.

Everyone is fucked! EVERYONE!
But it is only in close quarters that they will admit to it, or you will be able to see it.
Until then, you will drown yourself in self doubt everyday, thinking you are the only fucktard who doesn’t get it, when everyone else around you does.

Your emotional and mental state as a founder has a direct impact on your startup.

People see that you are anxious.
They know when you are depressed.
Don’t pretend to wear red underwear over your pants.
Act human. Be human.
Its ok – no one was born knowing how to be a founder

Entrepreneurship is fucking hard.
The early excitement of building a team, planning a name, launching the first version will fade away.

And insane details that life has, will begin to emerge.
At that point, there is only one thing that will help.
The stories you tell yourself.

Usain Bolt prepares for his race.
And then he runs the race. And wins.
That moment – when he crosses the finish line. That’s etched in history.

Such moments are rare, if at all, when you are a founder.
It is the journey you have to fall in love with. There is no destination!

You will have to layoff people. At some point.
And tell you what – it will be your fucking fault.
Not a pandemic, not your investors, not your customers.
YOUR FAULT.
And that will kill you within, the first time it happens. You will feel like a murderer. An asshole.
And nothing would have prepared you to deal with it.

It will be the first thing you will think of every morning.
Until one day, when it won’t be.

People will come to you with problems.
You’ll think they have come for solutions.
No – they have come with problems.
But you will burden yourself with the search of the solution.
And if you don’t find it, which most likely you won’t, you will knowingly offer a lousy solution.

You will take everything personally.

The stapler not working – your fault.
People leaving – your fault.
Office is far for people – your fault.
You are not growing – your fault.
You will share credit for all the good things.
And kill yourself within for all the things gone wrong.

The world will continue to define success and failure for you
Raised money – success
Forbes list – success
Shut down – failure
Not growing – failure

You will live someone’s life, unless you realize it.
And start living yours.

In the end, keep reminding yourself of why you became a founder in the first place.

You wanted to be happy doing it, feel fulfilled being one, desired peace from it.
Or whatever else was it.

Because that is the only thing the matters.
Fuck the market. Do what is right for you.

When I entered college, being part of the Debating Society was an aspiration. This is where all the cool kids hung out (or so I thought!) and this is where the hottest ideas were endlessly debated.

And I thought that the critical measure of success for a debater was to have a point a view.
A point of view so rigid and firm, that you could defend it till death.

What else would make a good debater? What else could possibly give you the ammunition to take down the opposition in a verbal fight?

And the first lesson I was taught, was

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald

This changed everything.

It wasn’t what I knew that mattered, or my point of view that was the key to effective communication.
It was my ability to entertain both sides of the house and be able to debate from either.

And that meant detachment.

Detachment from all ideology, all assumption, and all bias.

For, it is the mark of an educated person to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
– Aristotle

Debating taught me how communication isn’t about how well you know what you know. It is about how well you know what the person you are communicating with knows.

You have an army ready to fight. The weapons ready to kill. The preparation ready to show. An opposition that doesn’t intimidate.

Going out to the battle field in such a scenario isn’t exactly an act of courage. There could be nervousness, yes. But courage isn’t the missing piece here.

Now imagine, you have a joke of an army. No weapons. Hardly any preparation. And an opposition that has plenty. Across everything.

Choosing to still go out and fight calls for courage. You may have a choice to submit, to surrender, but if you still chose to ignore that choice and exercise your choice to face the enemy, rest assured courage will be called for.

Courage is not when you face what’s in front of you, while being fully armed.

Courage is when you face what’s in front of you, knowing that you are weaker.

And this may just be that time!

In times of crisis, it is wise to remind oneself that people are not data points on an excel sheet.

They are people.

But then, it is also true that everyone is a data point on someone’s excel sheet.

This simply means that everyone gets a shot at taking the tough decision. Executing excel sheet decisions, or dealing with people.

This also means, in every crisis, true leaders will emerge. And we will all get to see them, as clearly as we would have wanted to.

Leaders think people. Managers think data.

“Before helping others, make sure you have your own oxygen mask on!”

Before helping others, before trying to save others, help yourself, save yourself.

“Your nearest exit could be behind you”

You may have to go back in life, to start all over again.

“In case of an emergency landing, brace yourself”

You are who you need, the most. Especially during tough times.

You are walking with a friend on a dark street and out of no where a robber comes, points a knife at you and asks both of you to get rid of your wallets.

You fight the robber, without getting hurt.

You have never done this before. Never got into a physical fight.

You surprise yourself.

You have lost your job. Loans are to be paid, people have to be fed. You are the only earning member.

You start taking online dance classes, earning from all across the world.

You have never done this before. Never danced publicly. You were good, but always danced for yourself.

You surprise yourself.

You go through a health check up and realise you have high cholesterol. Dangerously high.

You cut down on all junk. All sugar. Exercise daily.

You have never done this before. Never got up early. Never stretched a muscle. You loved sleeping.

You surprise yourself.

We will never know how strong we are, until being strong is the only option we have.

This morning I saw a couple of egrets flying in the sky.

Beautiful white egrets, against the green trees, in a seamless flight.

It was a sight to watch, as I stood there in my balcony, admiring them.

And I wondered

Have they always been there and it’s only today that I have seen them?

Or

Have they come only today, because we have created the space for them to do so?

It’s the same with every beautiful thing in life

Has it always been there and it’s only today that I have seen it?

Or

Has it happened today, because I created the space for it to happen?

Peace happens when we wish to be peaceful

Peace happens when we create space for peace

During the time of crisis, it is not the dollars that earn you brand loyalty.

Instead, when you chose to listen, to be patient, to go out of your way, to help, to display empathy, to solve, it builds a brand name that stays forever.

When you fight against all odds to serve the customer, it tells them that they can trust you.

With their money, with their time.

Marketing in the time of crisis does not exist in the marketing department.

It exists in the customer service department.