Life’s Lessons As An Entrepreneur In Silicon Valley

When I read Sam Altman’s fantastic essay — The days are long and the decades are short, I thought I should write a somewhat similar essay on the things that I learnt in the valley.

So here it goes:

Nobody gives a shit who you are

It doesn’t matter where you studied or what you achieved in the past. As an entrepreneur, it is important to realize and accept this. What most folks care is whether you’re solving a great problem, or building something awesome.

Your product matters, not you.

Therefore, solve a real problem

The only thing that matters in when you’re starting up, is that if you’re solving a real problem for which there is a demand.

Know when to move from solving a problem stage to running a startup stage

When you’re in solving a problem mode, it is easier to keep costs low. You won’t have a team, you’re probably working away from home. But once you’ve established your business, your costs are going to go up and you have to focus on product, team, revenues and growth. Therefore it is important to decide when to move into running a business mode.

Get a Co-founder

Running a startup is hard and as much as smart as you think you are, you most certainly will fail at it yourself. Few exceptional founders have been able to build it all alone. I was fortunate enough to work with a co-founder who balanced my view and shared my work load.

Get Advisers & Mentors

It is important to get mentors who can tell you how to go about doing things, especially when it doesn’t feel right.

Love what you do

It is quite difficult to succeed in what you’re doing without loving what you’re doing. If you don’t like what you’re doing, the answer is simple — go find a job.

Don’t do fake work

Don’t network for the sake of networking

Make friends, especially a few good ones

I was lucky enough to make some great friends through out my life. And especially during my time in the valley, I made a lot of great friends. Friends can be an invaluable asset in your life and form an important part of your support system.

It is all or nothing if you want to succeed!

Have fun; Go outdoors

I think it is important to go out and have fun, be social and have a balanced life. Taking breaks like this breaks the any monotonous work cycle that you might have, will refresh you and helps clear your perspective. I would especially encourage going outdoors because, well there’s nothing like outdoors!

Restate your goals, frequently

It is very easy to lose the big picture unless you keep clarifying it. It is important to keep restating it, as frequent as possible, explaining it to yourself and others so that you do not lose focus and you know where you’re headed.

Get healthy & be healthy

Being healthy is a important part of life and the importance of this to an entrepreneur cannot be understated.

Learn; Repeat

Startup school, various books, mentors, courses, self study, Coursera, lectures from accelerators like YC, meetups that train, etc were various opportunities that I had to learn from and I did. Also, Silicon valley had a great combination of immensely talented work force, cutting edge technology innovation that was pushing past the boundaries and world class universities such as Stanford and this presented a great opportunity for being able to learn and grow.

The other important thing that I learned about Silicon Valley was that people were always willing to share and teach without expecting anything in return. Use such opportunities if available to grow, and remember to pay it forward.

It is okay to fail

Failure is overrated, and some people tend to get seriously impacted by failure. You should accept that it is okay to fail. Silicon valley embraces failure. A large number of startups fail. That is just the way it is. Even if your startup succeeds, sometimes you may fail independently and the best thing to do is to keep moving.

And finally, your problems are irrelevant and the stress will pass

As entrepreneurs, you will face many problems. You may have got sued, your loved ones may have separated or you may have had personal / financial losses. You may not be able to afford to live the previous lifestyle or you may go through  humiliation that you never faced earlier. All of this is okay.

I lived through a lot of stress and I realized that I will live through to see it through. You have nothing to lose in life, except life itself.

Remember this very important thing Steve Jobs said,

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

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