if there's any reason why i'm so locked in today, it's because of this very experience.
Running a startup. not just locally, but internationally. not just tech, but business + marketing + logistics.
I've always been frustrated and stressed with india's education system. the constant grind and push to prepare for the JEE seemed like a lot of BS to me. being positioned in a system that favors admissions based on caste is already a failed game, buddy.
Lockdown was around the corner during this phase. i got my first laptop to attend online classes, and THANK GOD i did. that's where my mind literally started expanding. i got into a couple of good online communities by chance -- Elliot Choy, a youtuber at vanderbilt posting vlogs, was just something i randomly binged on.
I found their community on discord and spent a lot of my time there.
I don't know if it was luck, but i happened to find really motivating, uplifting people online. regardless of any controversies, it had a massively more positive impact on me than most of my IRL interactions did, in terms of self development.
I got into self development -- reading these books -- which really changed my character and how i prioritized and spent my time, day to day, month to month, year to year.
That's when i saw the US -- silicon valley -- and its universities as an opportunity, a place where i could truly evolve, or take on a bigger risk to find who i really might be.
Elliot Choy was a big factor in this motivation. watching those campus vlogs subconsciously made me want to pursue a similar direction.
The mistake i made here was understanding these unis' application process in the wrong way. it was supposed to be a balance of good academics and good ecs. what i actually did was focus only on ecs.
but again, there's something good in the bad: i focused a lot on ecs, which pushed me into a high-energy, high-output mindset -- a breeding ground for startups.
It wasn't long before i found YC on the web. reading their articles and watching their videos on how to run a company, another mistake i made was getting too focused on building a company rather than focusing on the product itself.
and then taking interviews and hiring people internationally taught me how to interview, how to validate people quickly, and how to tell who actually fits with me and who doesn't.
Through all this, my cofounder alok -- he was as new to startups as i was, but he knew his business and design. i can't count how many times he motivated me to push harder and become an absolute unit.
countless hackathons and building shit together was genuinely a priceless learning experience. all the constructive criticism and arguments really taught me about character, that soft skills matter more than hard skills.
I think hard skills are a threshold after which only soft skills matter. if you can't resolve an argument, accept criticism and work on it, or deal with people who have completely different mindsets and disagree with you, i don't think you can really succeed.
One thing i learnt here was to focus on being right, and on the bigger vision, rather than getting too absorbed by your emotions.
I think excessive emotion makes you act without thinking. there has to be a 50-50 balance between what you believe and what's actually right.
it's like that thin, highly volatile layer of fluid resting on top of your brain or whatever.
So yeah, it was one HELL of an experience that taught me a lot about how to run a startup, how to deal with people, and most importantly how to build without breaking yourself.
I think everyone should demand more of themselves and at least try building a startup -- they might find out how much potential they have. more self confidence, too.