Published inEntrepreneur's Handbook·PinnedMember-onlyWhy The Top 1% of Founders Quit Their StartupsFramework of quitting from a YC Founder, ex-MBB consultant, and Softbank Investor — “If you can just avoid dying, you get rich. That sounds like a joke, but it’s actually a pretty good description of what happens in a typical startup.” That quote from Paul Graham’s essay How Not to Die stuck with me during my struggles as a 3rd-year founder backed by…Startup11 min readStartup11 min read
Published inThe Startup·PinnedMember-only3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Take That Startup Job Offer — From a VC who Invested $500m in StartupsLet me do the math for you — Imagine. You’re employee #1 of Google. Heck, let’s say #100. Even if you owned 0.01% of the now $1.6 trillion company, you’d have $160 million. Hundred still seems too unlikely? What about Facebook’s IPO in 2012 that created an estimated 12,000 millionaires? These seem like ages ago? What about recent…Startup11 min readStartup11 min read
Published inEntrepreneur's Handbook·PinnedMember-onlyA Crash Course on Venture Capital From an Ex-investor at a $100 Billion FundThe only industry that pays you millions even if you lose money — Venture Capital is probably one of the few industries in the world — if not the only one — that, on average, loses money. A TechCrunch article from 2017 reported that 50% of venture capital funds make less than a penny on what they invested.Venture Capital10 min readVenture Capital10 min read
Published inEntrepreneur's Handbook·PinnedMember-onlyThe Only Cheat Sheet You Need for Early-Stage Investor MeetingsFrom a former Softbank investor and YC founder — Cheat sheets were permitted in some of my finance courses back in college. The great thing about cheat sheets is that it helps free my brain space from propositional knowledge, so I can focus on solving complex problems. Of course, knowing all cause-and-effect relationships to derive my own formulas would…Startup10 min readStartup10 min read
Published inOriginal Philosophy·Oct 23Member-onlyFind Your Significance in the “Grand Scheme of Things”Why you still matter — Original Philosophy A space on Medium for serious philosophers to post their research and thinking for a broader audience.medium.com “But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.”, is not the answer you want to hear when you go to your friends with a problem. Or worse. One of those “Oh that’s nothing. Let me tell you about when I…” But how does the knowledge of someone else…Existentialism4 min readExistentialism4 min read
Published inBetter Humans·Oct 17Member-onlyIf You Feel like an Imposter, Maybe You Are One (and That’s Okay)The nitty-gritty details about imposter syndrome: what it is, what it’s not, and how it helps you grow — In your 20s…let’s be honest, you were an imposter because you had no skills. — Justin Kan In Justin Kan’s recent video, Why Your 30s Are Better Than Your 20s, he talks about his old self and owns up to being an imposter, even after selling Twitch for $970m in…Imposter Syndrome7 min readImposter Syndrome7 min read
Published inEntrepreneur's Handbook·Sep 27Member-onlySorry, You Need the “Tech” in Your Tech StartupsNo offence, non-technical founders — Most of the most successful tech entrepreneurs were technical. Zuckerberg, Gates, and Bezos, along with many successful founders, single-handedly built companies because, well, they can build. Almost all successful solo founders in tech were technical. This makes sense. That’s the tech in tech companies. As a non-technical founder, I’m tempted…Startup8 min readStartup8 min read
Published inThe Startup·Sep 19Member-onlyHow to “Tell You About Myself” and Crush Any Interview — ex-MBB Consultant and Softbank InvestorA practical guide to “be yourself” during an interview — “Tell me about yourself”, says the pompous middle-aged man, as he slumps in his chair, and glances at his phone with body language that seems to say: impress me. Or at least, this is how I imagined a job interview back when I was a freshman in college. We’ve all…Career Advice10 min readCareer Advice10 min read
Published inThe Startup·Aug 31Member-onlyOnce-a-Month Writer’s Guide to Zero to $1K With Writing: Applying Startup Rules That Raised MillionsFinding your writer-market-fit writing once a month — Claiming that you can pay rent in Los Angeles by writing just once a month sounds like a scam. Surely you have to write every day and post on every platform to make it as a writer right? Startups question commonly accepted knowledge like this, and find more efficient ways…Startup Lessons8 min readStartup Lessons8 min read
Published inBetter Humans·Jul 7Member-onlyHow to Raise Millions and Actually Get Work Done While Traveling the WorldFrom a founder who raised a few million on the road. — With the rise of remote work, there is debate on whether it’s conducive to productivity or not. What we can’t deny is that remote work continues to grow at a fierce rate with over 25% of professionals in North America working remotely. Whether we agree with the productivity of remote…Travel10 min readTravel10 min read
