It was a bold plan, but Monish was convinced the sacrifices would be well worth it in the end.
Monish first met Bandana at the local school they attended in Nepal. He was an introvert with a passion for math and science and she was a driven student who Monish says “didn’t know how beautiful she was”. In the beginning they argued, but it wasn’t long before playful sparring turned into affection. They both fell deeply in love, and that was a tragedy.
Dayne stood in the carpark outside his office and wondered what to do with his life. He was a computer games programmer who didn’t love computer games programming. He spent every minute of every day staring at a screen, programming games at work before heading home and playing them late into the night. At 26, it wasn’t exactly the life he’d imagined for himself.
The moment it happened I knew it was no ordinary rugby injury. I could feel the shattered bones in the right side of my face grinding as I tried to move my jaw. A week later a titanium plate and a fresh batch of shiney screws followed me out hospital. The months that followed became a disorientated blur of painkillers, sleeping tablets and junk food. In what seemed like the blink of an eye I had transformed from professional athlete into an overweight depressive who rarely left my bedroom.
Monish and Bandana are from different castes. In Nepali culture, their relationship was condemned, so they kept their love for each other secret. Determined not to let their culture write their story, they concocted a plan. Bandana would convince her parents to allow her to study nursing in Sydney, and Monish would do the same, enrolling to study software engineering in Canberra, Australia. The plan worked, but there were many challenges to overcome. Monish had no financial support, and had to pay international student fees (nearly double the normal rate). He worked a full time job while studying, and still managed to complete his degree with distinction. Last year Monish and Bandana informed their families of their decision to marry.
Unsatisfied with the way his story was playing out, Dayne resolved to find something he enjoyed doing — he abandoned his programming career, enrolled in a creative writing course, and registered to perform at a local comedy club’s standup event. Dayne enjoyed meteoric success in comedy, winning the 2011 Raw comedy award to be crowned Australia’s best amateur comic before placing second in Edinburgh’s So You Think You’re Funny. Since then he’s gone on to write and perform in sell out shows across the country. Last year he starred in the web series Dayne’s World, which has picked up a few awards and gathered something of a cult following.
One day I mustered the motivation to go for a short walk around my neighbourhood, my walks turned into slow jogs, which turned into healthy eating, good sleep and positive social interactions. Slowly but surely I began taking control of my life. Three years after serious injuries had forced me into early retirement the phone rang. On the end of the line was an offer to trial for my old team, the ACT Brumbies. My comeback was successful, I played in the 2013 Super Rugby final and left the game on my terms, retiring in 2014.
What do these stories have to do with “the perfect startup team”? As a professional athlete for twelve years I grew up in teams, and I know that there is no such thing as a perfect team — because teams are made up of imperfect people. What makes one team succeed where others fail? I don’t really know, and I’m suspicious of people who believe they have concrete answers to that question.
What I do know is that I want people in my team who’ve had life happen to them. Who’ve faced challenges and who’ve found ways to overcome them. Dayne, Monish and I are an unlikely trio of founders — a comedian, a rugby player and a sherpa (just kidding, Monish!). We have different skill sets that manage to fit nicely into the criteria defined in other answers to the Quora question. But more than any specific skill or technical attribute, it is mindset that ultimately determines what a team achieves.
Karma is a huge project. Bringing it to life requires a series of good decisions. And teams that have faced and overcome many diverse and difficult challenges are well placed to solve new problems.
In the startup universe there are no guarantees, nothing is perfect, least of all the people working in them. But a group that loves each other as much as they love challenges, and embraces uncertainty and change while remembering to laugh along the way, that’s about as perfect as it gets.
