Thread by @AbhishekPonia

Ranveer’s (@BeerBicepsGuy ) podcast with Sahil Lavingia (@shl ) is a treasure-house of learnings!
Here are some gems I picked up:

A must-read THREAD for budding entrepreneurs & leaders

#threadsbyAP

Unlike many fields which need a certain level of qualification/ certification, Software is unique! As long as you can build something valuable & good, people will pay you money for it (irrespective of your qualifications)

If someone wants to startup, it is really hard to look for an idea externally! It is best to look around & solve a problem you are facing yourself! And therein lies the business idea!

Plenty of problems to be solved!

Pinterest became successful because it solved a problem! Even in the early days of the company the engagement metrics were exceptional & this was proof of the value it was providing to the users.

Pinterest’s growth was catapulted by the rapid growth of Facebook. It’s a platform of curation. Users were curating lots of content, FB’s algorithm wud pick it up!
A startup needs a few of these moments to go to the next level, especially in a timescale tht is rapidly compressed

Valuations of technology startups have grown immensely in the last 10 years... even in the last year.

Pinterest founder @8en is a phenomenal communicator! He makes sure everyone in the company is aligned on the company’s goals, objectives & culture. He ensures people are in the room for the right reasons.

INSANE FOCUS on product, insane focus on user-experience & making sure everyone who joins the company is a good human being (HR lessons here) - these factors played a big role in @Pinterest ‘s success

If you have a great team, if you care & if you are a technology company, you will likely figure out the monetisation over time.

The hardest things for success are the SIMPLE THINGS! When you do the simple things well over & over again, you succeed.

Product Dev - you should work on the core competency, the core skill! This comes from building, reiterating, speaking to the customers & rebuilding.. & doing this over & over again.

Ben (@8en) is obsessed with this process & was personally involved in customer care for many months, to be able to achieve the quality he wanted at Pinterest.

THERE IS NO SECRET SAUCE TO SUCCESS! You take a problem & you solve it well... there is no crazy method to success.

In the context of starting up or succeeding - “I don’t have the skills”, “I don’t have the qualifications”, “I don’t have the money”, etc are all excuses or lies told to us... which hinder our growth!

One of the best things about the Silicon Valley culture is “Failure is a good thing”.

Instead of looking at what you are building as a means to make quick money, look at it as a path to solve a problem, make a difference, build something impactful & become a better person in the process.

Silicon Valley appreciates talent & good work.. and is willing to back you with money & support! (Irrespective of your age, qualifications, background, etc).

Naval Ravikant, @mlevchin were among the early backers / investors of Gumroad!

Plugging in a quote from @naval -

“The tech industry goes where the entrepreneurs go, not the investors.
Today it is the SF Bay Area. Tomorrow, the internet.”

Your network is very very important!

People who want to startup are usually very excited about the idea & the thought of starting up!
But the business is really the PRODUCT that you are going to sell.
Everything else is just sprinkles on top of it.

DONOT outsource your core offering! It is like starting a band & outsourcing playing the instruments.

It shows a lack of conviction & sacrifice towards the business.

Idea of Gumroad emerged from @shl ‘s own problem where he wanted to sell products to his audience! In 2011, the process was cumbersome & involved manual work. Obviously not very efficient.

The internet has connected people the world over... Irrespective of your work, passion, etc everyone is now building an audience on social media. But there was no way to transact with your audience (to sell). Sahil decided to solve this problem.

If you think - if you find a problem to solve, build the solution & provide it to the people facing the problem you will be successful, then you are WRONG!

It is very very DIFFICULT TO CHANGE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR!! If you are doing something everyday for a long time, it is unlikely that you will change the habit.
This barrier to behavioural change is the biggest challenge for a lot of startups!

Anyone who is a creator or wants to sell digital content to an existing audience, @gumroad make is super easy & fast to create a digital storefront... and sell content. For a buyer Gumroad make it super easy to buy and consume that content.

If you are VC funded, you need to grow at an exponential rate to achieve the outsized targets.

Sahil had to fire 15 of his 20 team mates, & then 4 of the remaining 5. He rebuilt the company all by himself in 2016.

It is good to know how to be self-sufficient!

Business is the best teacher about yourself, you become extremely self-aware!
But it is a pretty brutal process for the prize of self-awareness!

A CEO’s life is very lonely. But when you fail & fail publicly, the experience is brutal to say the least!

It is vry difficult to get rid of or change ur identity! If u r thinking of somethn consistently, it is difficult to change tht!
It took Sahil 9-12 months & moving out of SF to realise tht failure is not the end. realised tht it was a very meaningful & valuable experience fr him

Address the failure when it happens rather than putting it off!

You should be incharge of your emotions! Not other people, not what you read on the internet... it’s all in your mind.

Tell stories which people want to hear, have experienced themselves but have no addressed or spoken publicly about!
RELATABLE CONTENT!

Sahil is an avid reader!

‘Where is my flying car’ by J Storrs Hall, ‘The Rational Optimist’ by @mattwridley , ‘The Fabric of Reality, & ‘Beginning of Infinity’ both by @DavidDeutschOxf are the books he recommends!

The more you learn about the world / earth, the more you realise how minuscule your problems are.

In the context of the universe, your control & power is really limited!

You have only the present moment to yourself, You are constrained by it! What may happen in the future is unfathomable or extremely crazy!

The Desi culture gives you a feeling of continuity within the family! You are expected to succeed, and it leads to the thought of not giving excuses, not giving up!

Our desi parents struggle, sacrifice & work hard so we have the option & freedom to do all that they could not! So you become mindful of what you do and how!

Africa & India are where the most growth is going to happen next!

The startup culture in a certain geography plays a big role in determining the success of the Eco-system there. Hong Kong & Singapore are great examples!

INDIA IS GOING TO EXPLODE (in the startup space).
Eventually the entire world will be at the same level that America is playing at.

India needs to ensure it keeps the right people in the country.

Indian youth are now defining success differently - starting up, entrepreneurship & building through coding etc are now aspirational career paths that many are considering. India could well become the outsourcing capital of the world.

Sahil has invested in the promising Indian startup @PestoTech founded by young gun @aayushjaiswal07

India will have a BIG ROLE to play in the AI revolution.
Indians are high on EQ due to the culture we grow up in.

As India realises what it will be a leader at, as people realise the growth, there are going to be more opportunities & then the reasons to leave will be wiped out altogether!

YOU ARE INCHARGE OF YOUR SUCCESS! You are not going to get help if you don’t ask or if you are not worth helping!

This is one of the most insightful podcasts I have listened to. Hope you got to learn too.

Thanks @BeerBicepsGuy and @shl for the MASTERCLASS!

END.