Aswath Krishnan

I have fancied starting a business for a very long time.   Finally after getting my green card, building a financial safety net, learning by working at other businesses, and being inspired by the recent breakthroughs in AI, I took the plunge recently!  I'm sharing some reflections from my first few months.  Fair warning: all of these may change over time as I experience more and grow wiser.  1. Businesses are incredibly hard This is repeated often, but we still often underestimate or forget it as we are constantly inundated with victorious stories of very, very few survivors.  Finding and sustaining the right partners, ideas, customers, business models, teams, and investors is a long and tough journey. By default, your business is dead. You have to will it into existence and life every day with perseverance, smarts, support, and luck. There are many ups and downs, and tricky and hard decisions along the way.  I now empathize and understand why founders...

Find some quiet and relaxed setting to think through these questions.  1. What would you advise a friend? We are more clear-headed when we step back from the situation.  2. What feels more exciting and fulfilling? What would you do if you weren't afraid and if others won't know?  Fear and norms often hold us back.  3. What kind of life and lifestyle do you want?  What option ranks higher in your rubric? Having a structured approach with top factors and coarse ratings for each path+factor lets us be more objective and increases confidence in the decision.  4. What is the best-case scenario, most probable scenario, and worst-case scenario? Can you protect the downside? Outcomes are usually non-deterministic, so think in possibilities and probabilities.  5. Is this a one-way door or a two-way door? Most decisions are reversible. Spend more time and focus on those that aren't.  6. What are the 2nd and 3rd order effects? What happens after this decisio...