Guide To Work In A Company 2024 | Must Watch | Salaries, Equity, Raises, Negotiations

01:27:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kgKMdSzVbE

Summary

TLDRIn the wake of the pandemic, and following significant shifts in the Indian market with advances like Geo, the expectations from employees have dramatically changed. The speaker emphasizes that modern employees must focus on execution rather than theoretical knowledge. Companies today look for individuals who can solve problems and deliver concrete results. The emphasis is on taking risks, as ownership or equity only comes to those willing to shoulder potential failures along with the rewards. The speaker contrasts traditional career paths with modern expectations and highlights the gap between perceived and tested potential among today's youth. Given social media’s consumption, many young professionals are discouraged by distorted realities and instant gratification models. The narrative includes discussions on financial dynamics within companies, the value of working for established brands versus startups, and real versus perceived challenges in entrepreneurship.

Takeaways

  • πŸš€ Post-pandemic job landscape favors risk-takers.
  • πŸ’Ό Companies value execution over theory.
  • πŸ“‰ ESOPs are often initially worthless.
  • πŸ’° Working for brand value can outweigh immediate pay.
  • βš–οΈ Risk vs. reward: foundational to career growth.
  • 🧠 Mindset shift essential for modern careers.
  • πŸ“Š Proven performance is key in modern work culture.
  • πŸ“‰ Common misconceptions fueled by social media.
  • πŸŽ“ Continuous learning critical in evolving markets.
  • πŸ“ž Networking and recognition contribute to career leverage.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In the modern post-pandemic workplace, equity is earned by taking risks, not just for work. Employees should focus on building products that solve problems as theoretical knowledge is less valued compared to execution. Interning at a reputable company like Apple can be more beneficial than high pay at an unknown company. The speaker notes the rapid increase in their company size and highlights the gap for young graduates who lack professional work insights due to the pandemic. The discussion aims to clarify employer expectations and how career pathways have evolved, using the speaker's personal growth and scaling experiences as a case study.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The speaker distinguishes between serious companies, which pay real money and deliver outputs, and unserious companies. Serious companies perform due diligence before hiring, seeking serious employees. The session will cover the perceived deterioration of the modern employee's mindset after the pandemic, clarifying the distinction between Founders and employees, explaining organizational financial operations, and outlining pathways for career acceleration.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The concept of a 'damaged brain' reflects frequent job changes and the influence of misleading online content, contributing to unrealistic success expectations among young employees. While social media glorifies minimal effort leading to high success, it omits the hard realities of professional commitments and the prolonged efforts required for substantial achievement. Social validation and perceived potential create a gap between reality and expectations, perpetuated by risk-averse older professionals obscuring the challenging truths of career paths.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Employing Socrates' allegory, the narrative argues that social media presents a skewed, incomplete picture of reality, propagating 'Lies by Omission.' The dramatized success stories don't represent the true dedication and resilient effort required over decades. The session intends to deconstruct these perceptions, focusing on the patience required for genuine success and highlighting the divergence between appearance and reality. It critiques the short-sighted pursuit of clout at the cost of long-term achievement.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Youngsters are often misled by the polished portrayals of success on social media, leading to distorted perceptions of easy success stories. The session emphasizes the importance of understanding the prolonged effort behind achievements and warns against overvaluing the trivialization of dedication. Success stories are frequently sensationalized, neglecting the consistent, mundane efforts behind them. The portrayal of exaggerated achievements without context fosters false aspirations among the young workforce.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The session highlights the misconceptions fueled by idolizing entrepreneurial icons like Elon Musk, who ostensibly multitasks shimmering success. However, his success story underscores the sustained effort and strategic progression over years. Icons like Musk aren't overnight successes; they embody decades of dedication which social media fails to articulate, underscoring the myth of effortless achievement.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Companies like Zomato and Flipkart exemplify long-term success built on a foundation laid decades prior, challenging the illusion of instant victories. The evolution of business models over years, adapting to shifting circumstances and technologies, shows that success is cumulative and strategic rather than instantaneous. The narrative illustrates how these business evolutions represent extensive, not overnight, achievements.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    The speaker further explores the business evolution narrative, emphasizing the necessity to adapt to market changes and understand the DNA of business foundations as determinants of success. Current successful models cannot be exactly replicated, underscoring the need for innovation and adaptability. Key success factors involve recognizing and adapting to current market demands rather than replicating successes of the past.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    The gap between the idea of success and actual execution is significant, as illustrated by differences in business models and market strategies over time. Social media and surviving biases distort the portrayal of business success, creating an unjustified hype around entrepreneurship without acknowledging the complexities involved. The discussion seeks to demystify illusions about business success, presenting a more grounded perspective on entrepreneurial ventures.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:50:00

    Entrepreneurship is highlighted as intrinsically challenging with a high likelihood of failure. Success requires resilience, courage, and extended efforts, refuting the notion of quick profit with entrepreneurship usually being less lucrative than stable employment. Longevity and persistence are essential in navigating business ventures, and humility is often instilled in successful long-term entrepreneurs through cumulative experiences.

  • 00:50:00 - 00:55:00

    Startup equity, typically misunderstood, represents the risk and ownership of potential success. Employees receive equity as acknowledgment of their potential and vested interest, though typically it's not valuable due to the high-risk nature of startups. The speaker emphasizes realistic expectations, the complexity of aligning motivations with equity, and the market dynamics that drive equity distribution in startups.

  • 00:55:00 - 01:00:00

    The disparity between employee compensation and company earnings stems from overlooked costs of running a business, including marketing, operational, and strategic expenses. The company's profit margins reflect risk-taking, building client trust, and maintaining relationships rather than mere service provision. Understanding these dynamics can resolve misconceptions about perceived inequities in employee compensation.

  • 01:00:00 - 01:05:00

    Startup operations entail multifaceted financial considerations beyond direct revenue, involving legal, marketing, and operational costs. These overheads justify the disparity in earnings distribution between company profits and employee salaries. The speaker dives into larger operational frameworks, illustrating how intricate operational management can be. Comprehensive financial management is crucial to sustaining business operations amidst inherent economic uncertainties.

  • 01:05:00 - 01:10:00

    Running a startup involves multifaceted financial burdens and responsibilities, emphasizing that founders primarily profit after managing extensive overheads. Entrepreneurs face enduring financial challenges, often burning out due to mismanaged expectations about entrepreneurship's profitability. Long-term strategies and thoughtful financial planning are critical for navigating the complexities of startup growth.

  • 01:10:00 - 01:15:00

    Entrepreneurship is characterized as demanding significant dedication and prolonged patience, driven by profit-centricity and authentic market engagement. The inflated entrepreneurial mindset, often fueled by external funding and misperceptions, overlooks the pragmatic challenges inherent in sustaining a company. Emphasizing actual economic contributions, the founder advises against adopting superficial entrepreneurial models detached from genuine market value generation.

  • 01:15:00 - 01:27:30

    Compensation negotiations involve recognizing the alignment between individual contributions and company performance metrics. Loyalty, performance, and understanding the company dynamics are influential factors in obtaining raises. The session underscores the importance of matching one's aspirations with the company's financial health and ongoing strategic goals. Founders value dedicated long-term engagement as a measure of an individual's potential contributions beyond immediate monetary results.

Show more

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What do companies expect from employees today?

    Companies expect execution rather than theories, focusing on solving problems and delivering actual results.

  • Why are ESOPs often considered worthless?

    ESOPs are considered worthless if they don't materialize into real financial value, which is rare without company profit or IPO.

  • How has the job market changed post-pandemic?

    The job market now favors those who take risks and are adaptable to changes, with a focus on result-driven work rather than just effort.

  • What is important to remember while taking risk in a job?

    It's crucial to understand that taking risks involves potential failures, but can lead to larger rewards, unlike guaranteed salaries.

  • Why is it better to work in a recognizable company even without high pay?

    Working in a recognizable company can provide significant career leverage due to brand association, which can be beneficial long-term.

  • How does social media influence young professionals?

    Social media often presents an unrealistic picture of instant success and wealth, which can mislead young professionals.

  • What is the difference between a founder and a regular employee?

    A founder takes on more risk and responsibility for the company's success, whereas an employee typically focuses on defined roles.

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  • 00:00:00
    something happened after the pandemic
  • 00:00:01
    something happened after Gio in India uh
  • 00:00:03
    the modern employees brain is gone case
  • 00:00:05
    you actually don't get equity for doing
  • 00:00:07
    work you get equity for taking risk
  • 00:00:09
    companies don't want Theory anymore they
  • 00:00:10
    want execution can you build a product
  • 00:00:11
    that solves a problem for most of you
  • 00:00:13
    any ESOP you get in any company whether
  • 00:00:14
    here or outside just assume it's worth
  • 00:00:16
    zero today you would rather intern at
  • 00:00:19
    Apple for zero than get paid 30k a month
  • 00:00:22
    at some Lalu Prasad company it will take
  • 00:00:24
    you 20 years to make serious money if
  • 00:00:25
    you work here or anywhere
  • 00:00:28
    else so
  • 00:00:30
    I'll repeat why I'm doing this I think
  • 00:00:32
    we have rapidly
  • 00:00:34
    scaled uh last year this time we were
  • 00:00:38
    like six people or something like that
  • 00:00:40
    uh and now we're a lot of people and a
  • 00:00:44
    lot of you are fairly young this is your
  • 00:00:45
    first job this is your second job and I
  • 00:00:48
    think this is not just true for you but
  • 00:00:51
    it's also true for the people that
  • 00:00:52
    follow me on Instagram or YouTube and
  • 00:00:55
    generally youngsters today right which
  • 00:00:57
    is nobody has ever told you
  • 00:01:00
    how to work in a
  • 00:01:02
    Workforce cuz most of you graduated
  • 00:01:04
    during the pandemic most of
  • 00:01:07
    you have never worked professionally in
  • 00:01:09
    your job and when you get fired nobody
  • 00:01:10
    actually tells you why you're getting
  • 00:01:11
    fired they say misper performance or
  • 00:01:13
    this or that right so what is happening
  • 00:01:15
    and this is something I've noticed from
  • 00:01:17
    a very zoomed out perspective that
  • 00:01:19
    you're getting information from the
  • 00:01:21
    wrong sources and you are taking what
  • 00:01:25
    other people are creating as content and
  • 00:01:27
    thinking your life is supposed to be
  • 00:01:28
    like that which is not not really how
  • 00:01:30
    it's supposed to be so hopefully this
  • 00:01:32
    session teaches you two things one what
  • 00:01:34
    we expect as employers and not just us
  • 00:01:38
    but I think General companies in India
  • 00:01:40
    right most startups most companies in
  • 00:01:41
    India what we expect and number two how
  • 00:01:44
    you can actually progress in your career
  • 00:01:46
    cuz careers today are very different
  • 00:01:48
    from careers a decade ago a decade ago
  • 00:01:51
    or 20 years when my my mom let's say was
  • 00:01:53
    working in banking it took her many
  • 00:01:55
    years like 30 years of grinding same
  • 00:01:58
    company maybe one company shift after 15
  • 00:02:01
    years it's very different now you have
  • 00:02:03
    plenty of options you have like the
  • 00:02:05
    world has changed so hopefully this is
  • 00:02:07
    useful for you because I think in
  • 00:02:10
    general I've thought about how can this
  • 00:02:12
    be how can this lead to success for you
  • 00:02:14
    so it's called Rules of Engagement which
  • 00:02:16
    is what do companies expect from you and
  • 00:02:18
    what you expect from what you should
  • 00:02:19
    expect from companies and yeah it's a
  • 00:02:22
    guide to the to working in the modern
  • 00:02:23
    Indian Workforce can we go to the next
  • 00:02:25
    slide please okay now serious companies
  • 00:02:29
    and that two kinds of companies okay you
  • 00:02:31
    you'll see see this now there are two
  • 00:02:32
    kinds of companies where there's some
  • 00:02:34
    companies who are serious who are
  • 00:02:35
    scaling who pay employees real cash
  • 00:02:39
    where they have real clients and you
  • 00:02:41
    have you provide a service or you build
  • 00:02:43
    a product or something and there's a
  • 00:02:44
    bunch of unserious companies as well and
  • 00:02:46
    more and more unserious companies are
  • 00:02:47
    popping up we'll talk about this um
  • 00:02:49
    serious companies only want to work with
  • 00:02:51
    people who understand the roles of
  • 00:02:52
    Engagement it's like I don't know if you
  • 00:02:55
    know this but today let's say if you
  • 00:02:57
    leave here and go work at another
  • 00:02:59
    company
  • 00:03:00
    do you know what the first thing the
  • 00:03:02
    other company will do after you
  • 00:03:04
    interview anyone has any
  • 00:03:08
    guesses yeah so mum want to answer that
  • 00:03:10
    so what mdom said is they do a process
  • 00:03:13
    called due diligence how many of you
  • 00:03:15
    have not heard of due
  • 00:03:18
    diligence okay just so you know suppose
  • 00:03:20
    you leave here and you join another
  • 00:03:22
    company or forget about us right like
  • 00:03:24
    suppose you worked at Flipkart and you
  • 00:03:25
    left Flipkart and went to another
  • 00:03:26
    company the HR at the new company will
  • 00:03:28
    call your old company
  • 00:03:30
    and they will ask them how is this
  • 00:03:31
    person did this person behave well like
  • 00:03:33
    was he useful right and we get lots of
  • 00:03:36
    such calls right people who join us and
  • 00:03:38
    then move on Etc and it's not just here
  • 00:03:40
    but in every other company so stuff like
  • 00:03:42
    that serious companies only want to work
  • 00:03:44
    with serious people so when they call
  • 00:03:45
    they mostly asking about seriousness
  • 00:03:47
    right does is this person worth hiring
  • 00:03:50
    so we're going to cover four things
  • 00:03:53
    today the first one is the invasion of
  • 00:03:55
    the modern employees brain I think
  • 00:03:57
    something happened after the pandemic
  • 00:03:58
    something happened after in India uh the
  • 00:04:01
    modern employees brain is is gone case
  • 00:04:05
    hopefully we can correct some of that
  • 00:04:06
    today and what is a founder and what is
  • 00:04:09
    the difference between a founder and
  • 00:04:10
    employee because today being a Founder
  • 00:04:12
    is cool but it wasn't always so third
  • 00:04:15
    one is organization structure and
  • 00:04:16
    expenses like if we are charging a
  • 00:04:19
    client let's say five lakhs or 10 lakhs
  • 00:04:21
    how much money do we make out of it how
  • 00:04:22
    much money do you make out of it how do
  • 00:04:24
    we calculate the expenses all of that
  • 00:04:26
    we're going to reveal all of that cool
  • 00:04:27
    stuff today and how you you can really
  • 00:04:30
    make
  • 00:04:31
    money okay so we're going to cover all
  • 00:04:33
    four of this how you can accelerate your
  • 00:04:35
    career how you can grow whether you want
  • 00:04:36
    to become a Founder tomorrow whether you
  • 00:04:38
    want to become a senior executive here
  • 00:04:40
    or at any other company we're going to
  • 00:04:42
    cover all four of it next
  • 00:04:44
    slide this is a healthy
  • 00:04:47
    brain and see
  • 00:04:49
    nice pink
  • 00:04:52
    pink smooth brain okay let's see an
  • 00:04:55
    unhealthy brain now
  • 00:05:02
    this is a damaged
  • 00:05:04
    brain
  • 00:05:09
    uh okay this might sound like a joke
  • 00:05:12
    especially this last one here 10 jobs in
  • 00:05:15
    two years plus six
  • 00:05:16
    agencies but it's not actually a joke
  • 00:05:19
    like me Rohit ronit Lavina we sit in
  • 00:05:23
    that room sometimes hiring people I'm
  • 00:05:25
    sure you know AOS slabs is also hiring a
  • 00:05:26
    bunch of people uh and when we see the
  • 00:05:30
    number one thing that most people say is
  • 00:05:32
    yeah you know I did this then 3 months
  • 00:05:34
    later I did this then 3 months later I
  • 00:05:35
    did this and then you know I've started
  • 00:05:38
    a company and then I'm I also run this
  • 00:05:40
    company and we've had so many of these
  • 00:05:42
    people now that it's like now become
  • 00:05:44
    like a chronic pattern and it reminds me
  • 00:05:46
    of when I was like 20 years old and
  • 00:05:48
    confused and I wish somebody just like
  • 00:05:50
    picked me up by the year whacked me one
  • 00:05:52
    time and said no this is not how you do
  • 00:05:53
    things here is the better way to read
  • 00:05:56
    your career so I think everyone has a
  • 00:05:58
    damaged brain but it's not your fault
  • 00:06:00
    you know whose fault it is it's our
  • 00:06:02
    fault the people who make
  • 00:06:05
    content right because and not us
  • 00:06:08
    specifically but content creators right
  • 00:06:09
    in general today Instagram is flooded
  • 00:06:11
    with content saying you know buy 25
  • 00:06:13
    you'll be millionaire mindset driving a
  • 00:06:16
    Rolex or sorry a Lamborghini and like
  • 00:06:19
    wear a Rolex and you know you'll be
  • 00:06:22
    working four hours a week or whatever
  • 00:06:24
    nobody here who's made it I I I get to
  • 00:06:27
    work with some really Fascinating People
  • 00:06:28
    has have you seen any of them work 4
  • 00:06:30
    hours a week no they're here like a long
  • 00:06:34
    like a lot of the time and they're here
  • 00:06:35
    Saturdays and Sundays as well so it's
  • 00:06:37
    really different from what people think
  • 00:06:39
    it is next slide so I'll tell you why no
  • 00:06:43
    one tells you the truth on social media
  • 00:06:46
    you would expect by now people to tell
  • 00:06:47
    the truth on social media to come out
  • 00:06:48
    and be like what what it's actually like
  • 00:06:50
    to work at a company but there's a pro
  • 00:06:52
    I'll tell you the challenge challenge is
  • 00:06:55
    today social media is mostly young
  • 00:06:57
    people mostly people that 20s 21 22 23
  • 00:07:01
    some something in that age range right
  • 00:07:04
    young people are mostly playing status
  • 00:07:05
    games as an extension of college most of
  • 00:07:07
    you went to college yeah and in college
  • 00:07:10
    you had status
  • 00:07:12
    games
  • 00:07:15
    popular Branch you know you're just
  • 00:07:19
    extending that most of these people are
  • 00:07:20
    just extending that in the social world
  • 00:07:22
    I see one tweet every day of somebody
  • 00:07:23
    else you know saying oh you know this
  • 00:07:26
    person got placed for this but why am I
  • 00:07:27
    not getting a job for this whatever
  • 00:07:29
    right it's an extension of college and
  • 00:07:33
    the this is the most important thing
  • 00:07:35
    right the third thing and it's something
  • 00:07:36
    I suffered from when I was very very
  • 00:07:38
    young everyone here if especially if we
  • 00:07:40
    have hired you you are super high
  • 00:07:43
    potential and everyone sitting watching
  • 00:07:45
    this kind of content especially online
  • 00:07:47
    you're super high potential but there's
  • 00:07:50
    a gap between potential and tested
  • 00:07:53
    potential and I wish I understood this
  • 00:07:55
    when I was younger I'll tell you what
  • 00:07:56
    this means in your head you might think
  • 00:07:58
    okay I can do this and this I'm the best
  • 00:08:00
    video editor I'm the best software
  • 00:08:02
    engineer but being tested is
  • 00:08:06
    hard like most people when they get
  • 00:08:09
    faced with this test and we'll talk
  • 00:08:10
    about the test later right in every
  • 00:08:12
    person's career you have to go through
  • 00:08:13
    this one test with tests not just can
  • 00:08:16
    you do the skill but can you provide
  • 00:08:18
    outcomes there's a very big gap between
  • 00:08:21
    the two and every year that passes I see
  • 00:08:23
    this gap for most people like widening
  • 00:08:27
    and lastly older people the reason no
  • 00:08:29
    one tells you the truth is that older
  • 00:08:31
    people people in their 30s they have no
  • 00:08:33
    incentive to go on social media and tell
  • 00:08:35
    the truth a because they don't want
  • 00:08:36
    competitors to come like do the same
  • 00:08:37
    thing that they're doing and B there are
  • 00:08:40
    people like Naran morti who have tried
  • 00:08:42
    to tell the truth that you have to work
  • 00:08:43
    X number of hours or whatever it is and
  • 00:08:45
    really got cancelled for it nobody wants
  • 00:08:47
    to take the risk and I know lots of
  • 00:08:49
    founder friends right they're all like
  • 00:08:51
    damn scared they're all like you know
  • 00:08:55
    if I say this world people say of
  • 00:08:57
    me will they go cancel my app that stuff
  • 00:09:00
    happens that's a real fear in many
  • 00:09:01
    Founders heads so they just don't say
  • 00:09:03
    anything online so what happens this
  • 00:09:06
    first crowd the first two crowds right
  • 00:09:08
    people playing the status game the young
  • 00:09:09
    people playing the status games are
  • 00:09:10
    flooding social media with all sorts of
  • 00:09:13
    things that are not really true because
  • 00:09:15
    you only find out what works or not in
  • 00:09:16
    your career by the time you're 30 I'm 31
  • 00:09:18
    today and I had to go through I had to
  • 00:09:21
    do a lot of wrong things to then
  • 00:09:22
    eventually do the right thing all right
  • 00:09:25
    next slide this is a picture of Socrates
  • 00:09:27
    you know Socrates this a this of
  • 00:09:30
    probably an artist rendition okay I'll
  • 00:09:32
    tell you a very interesting story about
  • 00:09:34
    Socrates I'm butchering the
  • 00:09:37
    details
  • 00:09:38
    but Socrates
  • 00:09:41
    was exiled and then eventually he was
  • 00:09:44
    asked to take like a cup of poison this
  • 00:09:46
    is Poison by the state do you know
  • 00:09:50
    why cuz Socrates told the
  • 00:09:53
    truth Socrates told his students I'm
  • 00:09:55
    just I'm making a very simplistic story
  • 00:09:57
    out of this he told his students go
  • 00:09:59
    question
  • 00:10:00
    everything if there's somebody being
  • 00:10:02
    religious go question them why why and
  • 00:10:06
    you know how young people are right they
  • 00:10:07
    started questioning
  • 00:10:08
    everything they went to all the priests
  • 00:10:10
    they started questioning them this that
  • 00:10:12
    so the state found him guilty and said
  • 00:10:14
    boss you're making everything unruly and
  • 00:10:17
    uh you know just throw away everything
  • 00:10:20
    you've said just say you know I was
  • 00:10:21
    wrong about everything and we'll let you
  • 00:10:23
    go but if you don't if you stick to your
  • 00:10:26
    ideals we're going to make you drink
  • 00:10:28
    some poison so stood for the truth he
  • 00:10:31
    stuck to his ideals he ended up having
  • 00:10:32
    to drink poison the lesson from this is
  • 00:10:35
    not stick for stick for the truth and
  • 00:10:37
    drink poison or whatever the lesson to
  • 00:10:38
    learn from this is a lot of people are
  • 00:10:41
    put in this especially people who are
  • 00:10:42
    successful are put in this position
  • 00:10:44
    where they can't go out publicly tell
  • 00:10:46
    what made them successful or what the
  • 00:10:48
    rules of success are because firstly the
  • 00:10:50
    rules are not as like do 1 2 3 4 five
  • 00:10:53
    it's a little bit complicated and it's a
  • 00:10:54
    lot of hard work stick around for 20
  • 00:10:56
    years and it's not good content if I
  • 00:10:58
    made a video saying here's how you get
  • 00:11:00
    successful and I said it takes 20 years
  • 00:11:03
    or 10 years all of you would click away
  • 00:11:06
    be like n a trick faceless Channel what
  • 00:11:09
    is the trick today to be successful so
  • 00:11:11
    nobody nobody says it because there's no
  • 00:11:13
    incentive you'll just shout at them in
  • 00:11:15
    the comments anyway next slide so social
  • 00:11:18
    media therefore is Lies by
  • 00:11:21
    Omission which means and this is Plato's
  • 00:11:24
    it's a it's a it's this allegory of the
  • 00:11:27
    cave where there are some
  • 00:11:29
    prisoners and you can see
  • 00:11:32
    some uh they can see some
  • 00:11:34
    Shadows but what they're seeing is
  • 00:11:37
    somebody holding up like a cat or
  • 00:11:38
    whatever and they're seeing a cat here
  • 00:11:39
    so they think there's actually a cat
  • 00:11:41
    there so you're not actually seeing
  • 00:11:43
    reality for what it is you're seeing
  • 00:11:45
    social media which is a mirror of
  • 00:11:46
    reality so reality is here it's a mirror
  • 00:11:49
    and it's coming back to you but reality
  • 00:11:51
    is different it's messy and hopefully
  • 00:11:53
    through this deck we are able to you
  • 00:11:55
    know tease out reality a bit so for
  • 00:11:57
    example the one person or the few people
  • 00:11:59
    that go out and actually say it takes
  • 00:12:01
    hard work and energy and really lots of
  • 00:12:04
    failure and lots of you know careers ups
  • 00:12:06
    and downs when they go say these things
  • 00:12:09
    nobody likes it and it becomes national
  • 00:12:11
    news next
  • 00:12:13
    slide okay now again I'm repeating this
  • 00:12:16
    for the nth time but most this is what
  • 00:12:18
    most youngsters think how many of you
  • 00:12:20
    think you'll be a millionaire by
  • 00:12:23
    25 millionaire 8.4 crores okay we have
  • 00:12:27
    one person there yeah this might sound
  • 00:12:29
    like a joke but especially if you go to
  • 00:12:31
    tier 2 tier 3 India a lot of people
  • 00:12:32
    really believe that cuz you can see from
  • 00:12:35
    their feed no ultimately whatever is on
  • 00:12:37
    your feed you end up thinking that that
  • 00:12:39
    is true some of you especially Engineers
  • 00:12:42
    right believe that you build some
  • 00:12:44
    magical X technology it's going to make
  • 00:12:46
    you super rich and that can be reached
  • 00:12:47
    through pure skill maximization as of
  • 00:12:50
    the MD of Google in of YouTube uh a week
  • 00:12:54
    ago or something like that we were at
  • 00:12:55
    Google marketing live and interesting
  • 00:12:58
    interesting thing he said is Google is a
  • 00:12:59
    product company but in India we have so
  • 00:13:01
    many people it's like a services company
  • 00:13:03
    but everyone still especially Engineers
  • 00:13:06
    have that myth that you build a
  • 00:13:07
    technology and you do something and then
  • 00:13:11
    like that Social Network movie that you
  • 00:13:13
    get rich some of you on the other side
  • 00:13:16
    creators think you create content every
  • 00:13:18
    day it's going to make you rich um I
  • 00:13:21
    think ronet told me this very funny
  • 00:13:23
    thing he told me which is the minute I
  • 00:13:25
    see one of our employees creating
  • 00:13:27
    content I'm like has he left
  • 00:13:31
    so everyone thinks that creating I mean
  • 00:13:33
    everyone does like so many people have
  • 00:13:35
    done this right we are a very very young
  • 00:13:36
    company we just started but like people
  • 00:13:38
    will leave us sometimes and then very
  • 00:13:41
    next week there's like they start doing
  • 00:13:42
    content right and they do it exactly for
  • 00:13:44
    2 weeks and then they give up because
  • 00:13:46
    obviously as you know in two weeks
  • 00:13:48
    nothing happens so people think creating
  • 00:13:51
    content is going to make you rich and
  • 00:13:52
    famous some of you who want to be
  • 00:13:54
    entrepreneurs think funding is easily
  • 00:13:55
    available you know this is very specific
  • 00:13:59
    to the online audience More Than This
  • 00:14:00
    audience but this idea that you can just
  • 00:14:03
    go to an investor and it'll give you
  • 00:14:05
    like 1 CR 5 crores 10
  • 00:14:07
    crores it just doesn't work that way
  • 00:14:10
    especially now it just doesn't work that
  • 00:14:11
    way it's actually really hard to raise
  • 00:14:12
    funding and uh it's very rare for you to
  • 00:14:16
    be able to raise funding in this climate
  • 00:14:19
    without having like history of building
  • 00:14:21
    something reasonably
  • 00:14:22
    successful next thing is you can have
  • 00:14:24
    the ideal life without trade-offs or
  • 00:14:27
    sacrifices actually
  • 00:14:29
    the people who work 4 hours a week and
  • 00:14:31
    are rich the people I know let's say
  • 00:14:33
    have actually spent a decade
  • 00:14:36
    working 10 hours a
  • 00:14:39
    day it's like it's almost like you first
  • 00:14:41
    have to do the hard work the extreme
  • 00:14:43
    hard work and then you can spend the
  • 00:14:45
    time
  • 00:14:46
    chilling I've
  • 00:14:48
    actually I mean there are examples of
  • 00:14:50
    people working 8 hours a day and doing
  • 00:14:52
    reasonably well but it's very hard to
  • 00:14:53
    start your career saying I'll work 4
  • 00:14:55
    hours a day for the next 30 Years but
  • 00:14:56
    get rich it's very very difficult to do
  • 00:14:58
    that
  • 00:15:01
    the last problem which is the system is
  • 00:15:03
    broken I was like this when I was young
  • 00:15:06
    it's like government sucks these guys
  • 00:15:09
    suck politicians don't know anything
  • 00:15:10
    nobody knows anything my teachers are
  • 00:15:13
    idiots system is completely broken I can
  • 00:15:15
    fix it I think my ideas are better but
  • 00:15:19
    what I didn't realize when I was 20 and
  • 00:15:21
    between 20 and 30 is the gap between
  • 00:15:23
    ideas and execution is huge it's massive
  • 00:15:27
    and we'll go through why it's hard and
  • 00:15:29
    lastly there's Elon Musk itis the most
  • 00:15:32
    popular influencer in the world is not
  • 00:15:33
    Mr Beast in my opinion it's Elon Musk he
  • 00:15:35
    has the he has like hundreds of millions
  • 00:15:37
    of
  • 00:15:38
    followers and Elon Musk has convinced
  • 00:15:40
    everybody that you can start five
  • 00:15:43
    companies at one time and do really
  • 00:15:45
    really well and make a ton of money
  • 00:15:47
    and be really popular on social media
  • 00:15:50
    and he's done like deep tech companies
  • 00:15:52
    right so it's not easy and if you look
  • 00:15:53
    at Elon musk's like career graph he
  • 00:15:56
    started very very early and his first
  • 00:15:58
    success was actually
  • 00:15:59
    X right the PayPal what they did with
  • 00:16:02
    PayPal so he's had time to become Elon
  • 00:16:05
    Musk it's very hard to be an Elon Musk
  • 00:16:07
    at 20 or
  • 00:16:08
    22 okay next slide so I want to tell you
  • 00:16:12
    what reality is really like some stories
  • 00:16:14
    of successful companies how long it
  • 00:16:16
    actually
  • 00:16:17
    takes this 2008 this is I'm sure this
  • 00:16:19
    picture is not from 2008 but I couldn't
  • 00:16:21
    find an old picture of zato this is a
  • 00:16:25
    old uh article about flip cart uh
  • 00:16:29
    Flipkart opens his first office in
  • 00:16:30
    bangaluru pin code
  • 00:16:33
    56034 they delivered 3,400 shipments
  • 00:16:38
    successfully okay and there's some
  • 00:16:40
    factors that led to success today
  • 00:16:42
    Flipkart is massive sorry uh zomato is
  • 00:16:45
    massive so is Flipkart flipcart IPO
  • 00:16:47
    billions of dollars zomato billions of
  • 00:16:50
    dollars and it's look at the gap 2008
  • 00:16:52
    and 2024 you're hearing about zomato
  • 00:16:54
    Flipkart now it's been popular in the
  • 00:16:57
    last like 3 4 years it's really been in
  • 00:16:58
    your
  • 00:16:59
    business case studies are made of out of
  • 00:17:01
    it but look at the Gap what's the what
  • 00:17:03
    is 2024 minus
  • 00:17:05
    2008 16
  • 00:17:07
    years the guys who made money the guys
  • 00:17:10
    and girls who made money at zomato and
  • 00:17:11
    Flipkart in the early days have probably
  • 00:17:13
    worked there for a very long
  • 00:17:15
    time and they've been there
  • 00:17:17
    early right they have thousands of
  • 00:17:19
    employees now but I'm sure the first 100
  • 00:17:21
    are treated like royalty but more
  • 00:17:24
    importantly the factors that led to
  • 00:17:26
    success of zato Flipkart it's very hard
  • 00:17:29
    for you to replicate them today in the
  • 00:17:31
    same way the software methods and
  • 00:17:34
    Frameworks if a zomato guy 10 years ago
  • 00:17:37
    like I I remember there is one very uh
  • 00:17:40
    interesting article by Shopify about how
  • 00:17:42
    they shifted from a monolithic service
  • 00:17:44
    to microservices have you guys heard of
  • 00:17:47
    this thesis you heard of this right that
  • 00:17:48
    Shopify that famous article where they
  • 00:17:51
    shifted from monolithics this thing to
  • 00:17:53
    microservices and everyone said Ah
  • 00:17:54
    that's the way to do things right and
  • 00:17:57
    there's so many debates I'm sure sure
  • 00:17:58
    there are debates even today of zomato
  • 00:18:00
    uses this or Z or or Flipkart uses this
  • 00:18:03
    but remember that's probably not why
  • 00:18:04
    they got successful they use it because
  • 00:18:06
    it's a relic of the fact that it's so
  • 00:18:08
    complicated as a system now it's hard
  • 00:18:10
    for them to change next is the type of
  • 00:18:13
    marketing you know there are many
  • 00:18:15
    businesses that grew purely on ads
  • 00:18:19
    actually that was a primary way to grow
  • 00:18:21
    in India or any other country you would
  • 00:18:23
    run ads you know how You' run
  • 00:18:25
    ads you put them in the newspaper social
  • 00:18:28
    media I mean Instagram faceb Facebook
  • 00:18:31
    Google ads how old are these
  • 00:18:33
    companies what happened before that what
  • 00:18:35
    happened 100 years before that so
  • 00:18:38
    advertising as a medium has changed in
  • 00:18:40
    my opinion now ads are also dead like
  • 00:18:43
    today if you see ranir Singh in another
  • 00:18:45
    ad you're like whatever you scroll
  • 00:18:48
    like right so advertising has also
  • 00:18:51
    changed and in fact you guys know the
  • 00:18:54
    d2c companies that we're now seeing that
  • 00:18:56
    are becoming very very successful are
  • 00:18:57
    becoming successful on the back of
  • 00:18:59
    influence of marketing right so they're
  • 00:19:01
    the way they are growing the way they
  • 00:19:03
    are scaling has become completely
  • 00:19:04
    different now and I think in the last
  • 00:19:06
    one year we have been seeing this rise
  • 00:19:08
    at least in India of like YouTube driven
  • 00:19:11
    businesses we've seen this in the US 3
  • 00:19:13
    four years India is always lagging
  • 00:19:14
    behind us for a bit but we've seen this
  • 00:19:16
    in the US right Mr Beast you go to any
  • 00:19:18
    store in New York you go to any store in
  • 00:19:20
    La there is a damn Feast tables right on
  • 00:19:23
    the table Prime in every fridge so
  • 00:19:27
    building distribution first first free
  • 00:19:29
    advertising you spend zero your cost of
  • 00:19:31
    acquisition is zero and then you build a
  • 00:19:33
    business on top seems to be the way that
  • 00:19:35
    people are doing it now but if you go
  • 00:19:36
    back a lot of people like sometimes you
  • 00:19:39
    know Saga and shans have to deal with
  • 00:19:40
    this all the time right where we work
  • 00:19:41
    with some Brands and they're like What's
  • 00:19:42
    the treatment of this
  • 00:19:44
    video right where they're still thinking
  • 00:19:47
    like 20 years ago where they're still
  • 00:19:48
    thinking like 30 years ago uh Market
  • 00:19:51
    opportunities changes and
  • 00:19:53
    challenges Market has also evolved a lot
  • 00:19:56
    like today you would find it very
  • 00:19:58
    difficult
  • 00:19:59
    to make
  • 00:20:01
    a d2c brand that does what let's say um
  • 00:20:07
    I don't know like a nikar does cuz it's
  • 00:20:09
    already clogged it's already saturated
  • 00:20:11
    like the reason we I think got some
  • 00:20:13
    traction is because AI became a new
  • 00:20:15
    inflection point and we said okay we can
  • 00:20:16
    create content around this it might be
  • 00:20:18
    useful but Mo many people with ideas
  • 00:20:21
    often say okay we'll do the same as
  • 00:20:22
    somebody else but like 500 people doing
  • 00:20:25
    the same thing okay and lastly even the
  • 00:20:27
    founding DNA
  • 00:20:29
    right the founding DNA that you needed
  • 00:20:31
    back then was like a proper dhundha pnl
  • 00:20:33
    guy like in India this is a known fact
  • 00:20:36
    right if there's some laa type guy
  • 00:20:37
    sitting there thinking
  • 00:20:40
    through that's like the way to succeed I
  • 00:20:43
    still believe you need some of that but
  • 00:20:45
    I think the DNA of the founders now has
  • 00:20:46
    started to change more in terms of this
  • 00:20:48
    is my opinion whoever is able to
  • 00:20:50
    advertise and Market best get their
  • 00:20:52
    product in front of as many eyes as
  • 00:20:53
    possible wins this is why our clients
  • 00:20:55
    really come to us right at Yas where
  • 00:20:57
    they want us to do you for them it's for
  • 00:20:59
    the same reason because they're starting
  • 00:21:00
    to realize actually Building Products is
  • 00:21:02
    getting easier over time building
  • 00:21:03
    distribution is getting harder it's it's
  • 00:21:05
    something that people have started
  • 00:21:06
    realizing over time hardik Panda from
  • 00:21:09
    not from the Indian cricket team but
  • 00:21:11
    from um uh unacademy has a great thread
  • 00:21:14
    on this I'll read it out for you because
  • 00:21:16
    I think the screen size is small I've
  • 00:21:18
    interacted a bit with the genzi
  • 00:21:20
    workforce in the last few months you
  • 00:21:22
    would see a consistent pattern around
  • 00:21:24
    their casual disregard for hard work
  • 00:21:27
    longevity of a career and the trade-offs
  • 00:21:29
    involved the their argument and I I know
  • 00:21:32
    many of you are argument and many people
  • 00:21:34
    online as well is that work has
  • 00:21:36
    evolved it has but here's what hasn't
  • 00:21:41
    jenzi speaks fondly about setting their
  • 00:21:42
    own terms for time
  • 00:21:44
    commitment not making as many sacrifices
  • 00:21:47
    defining their own benchmarks of success
  • 00:21:49
    I'll create my own agency how many of
  • 00:21:51
    you think you'll create your own agency
  • 00:21:52
    or business at some point honest truth
  • 00:21:54
    from
  • 00:21:56
    everyone everyone else come on
  • 00:21:59
    I know I've spoken to some of you who
  • 00:22:00
    wanted to start your own agency or
  • 00:22:01
    company at some point there's a lot of
  • 00:22:02
    hands right so I'll create my own agency
  • 00:22:05
    I'll freelance from Goa how many people
  • 00:22:07
    ever thought at least once I'll
  • 00:22:08
    freelance from Goa just look at the
  • 00:22:10
    number of hands in the room how many of
  • 00:22:12
    you have thought I'll build my own
  • 00:22:13
    YouTube
  • 00:22:16
    channel okay that's literally every hand
  • 00:22:18
    in the room I want to build a community
  • 00:22:20
    and Mentor
  • 00:22:21
    people right lot of hands problem is
  • 00:22:25
    when proded enough you learn that their
  • 00:22:27
    willingness usually stems from the pride
  • 00:22:29
    of having figured out a market
  • 00:22:31
    Arbitrage okay you know what a market
  • 00:22:34
    Arbitrage is it means you've learned
  • 00:22:35
    something that nobody else
  • 00:22:36
    knows that's what an Arbitrage is
  • 00:22:38
    basically you're you're saying I have
  • 00:22:40
    some information that nobody else does
  • 00:22:41
    I'm going to take advantage of this
  • 00:22:44
    information and as if they landed on
  • 00:22:46
    this asymmetric advantage that wasn't
  • 00:22:48
    afforded to the folks before them the
  • 00:22:50
    problem about market arbitrages and he's
  • 00:22:52
    very right about this because just so
  • 00:22:53
    you know I wrote a book in 2018 called
  • 00:22:56
    pajama profit where we literally covered
  • 00:22:57
    lots of this
  • 00:22:59
    it's called pajama profit it's about
  • 00:23:00
    literally sitting and freelancing
  • 00:23:02
    obviously we didn't talk about companies
  • 00:23:03
    as much but we spoke a lot about
  • 00:23:04
    freelancing we also spoke about building
  • 00:23:06
    a personal brand there's a chapter in
  • 00:23:07
    the book
  • 00:23:09
    2018 6 seven years ago right the problem
  • 00:23:13
    with Market Arbitrage is they spread
  • 00:23:14
    like wildfire and in no time everyone
  • 00:23:16
    knows about them now you all know the
  • 00:23:18
    techniques of how to build a Channel or
  • 00:23:20
    how to go freelance or whatever right to
  • 00:23:23
    exploit an Arbitrage you still need to
  • 00:23:25
    be in the top 1% of what you do so not
  • 00:23:27
    only do you need to find an advantage
  • 00:23:28
    you also need to be in the top 1% of
  • 00:23:30
    that Advantage it's really hard and the
  • 00:23:33
    last thing is no Arbitrage is enough to
  • 00:23:35
    sustain a 25y old career let's say you
  • 00:23:37
    build an agency on something new how you
  • 00:23:39
    going to sustain it 25
  • 00:23:41
    years right so these things are not
  • 00:23:45
    unique to you like sometimes some people
  • 00:23:47
    wake up and they're like oh you know I
  • 00:23:48
    have this unique idea I'll build this
  • 00:23:49
    agency or I'll do this YouTube or I'll
  • 00:23:51
    freelance from go
  • 00:23:53
    out this is now the most common thought
  • 00:23:55
    on social media especially in India you
  • 00:23:58
    need to find find something new next
  • 00:23:59
    slide so the problem is you are not only
  • 00:24:02
    getting wrong information you're also
  • 00:24:04
    getting delayed information like I said
  • 00:24:06
    from the zato story your takeaways from
  • 00:24:08
    what framework they use what stack they
  • 00:24:10
    use how they did things are so old that
  • 00:24:13
    you're making life decisions on what
  • 00:24:15
    worked one or two decades ago there are
  • 00:24:17
    some people who making life decisions
  • 00:24:18
    based on what worked even before that
  • 00:24:20
    like all the guys going to entrance
  • 00:24:21
    exams right now nothing against them if
  • 00:24:23
    you're in the top 1% you'll win but if
  • 00:24:26
    you're not in the top 1% your life is
  • 00:24:27
    going to be hell there's a reason
  • 00:24:29
    today's Founders for example are
  • 00:24:30
    building on top of YouTube and WhatsApp
  • 00:24:33
    we're not stupid we know how to build
  • 00:24:34
    products we built scenes a couple of
  • 00:24:36
    years ago right where we built out the
  • 00:24:38
    entire expans by ourselves but we
  • 00:24:39
    learned a very important lesson which is
  • 00:24:42
    that building on top of YouTube and
  • 00:24:44
    WhatsApp are much more valuable because
  • 00:24:46
    you're taking advantage of their
  • 00:24:47
    inherent distribution and your costs are
  • 00:24:49
    lower right like you want to do video
  • 00:24:50
    streaming by yourself tesis will tell
  • 00:24:52
    you all the bills if you want to build
  • 00:24:53
    video streaming by yourself this is for
  • 00:24:55
    more for the engineers but the last gen
  • 00:24:57
    did things differently
  • 00:25:00
    but you have to keep evolving with the
  • 00:25:01
    times right and the algorithm only
  • 00:25:03
    surfaces successes and flashy
  • 00:25:06
    Lifestyles your algorithm will not show
  • 00:25:08
    you some struggler it will show you beer
  • 00:25:10
    biceps and then Dru rati and then the
  • 00:25:13
    next success and the next success and
  • 00:25:15
    then ktic Arian McLaren car whatever the
  • 00:25:18
    algorithm is built for that and it's
  • 00:25:21
    giving your brain like like cancer or
  • 00:25:25
    something so and there's also massive
  • 00:25:27
    amounts of surviv ship bias right right
  • 00:25:28
    the people that did the exact same
  • 00:25:30
    things but failed you can take what I've
  • 00:25:32
    done in the last like 6 months 8 months
  • 00:25:35
    or you can take let's say what roit has
  • 00:25:38
    done and you can find five other guys
  • 00:25:40
    who've done exactly the same thing with
  • 00:25:41
    the exact same steps but because they
  • 00:25:44
    missed one or two things they weren't
  • 00:25:46
    able to make it you know how many clones
  • 00:25:48
    there are of some of the businesses we
  • 00:25:50
    have here the minute we make something
  • 00:25:52
    work we'll see one clone and you
  • 00:25:55
    know it's it's so strange right like
  • 00:25:57
    there's nothing against the Clone it's
  • 00:25:58
    just they're doing exactly the same
  • 00:26:00
    thing but there are some factors or
  • 00:26:01
    timing that made our thing work at the
  • 00:26:05
    time that it worked so I feel like and I
  • 00:26:07
    we're still not a big company we're
  • 00:26:09
    still a very tiny company right but I
  • 00:26:11
    don't think copying another business
  • 00:26:13
    would work so easily and a change in
  • 00:26:15
    what is school so what is what was
  • 00:26:18
    school 10 years ago entrepreneurship was
  • 00:26:20
    not cool 10 years ago Suddenly It's
  • 00:26:22
    become cool so you're also tracking what
  • 00:26:24
    is on TV and what is on social media
  • 00:26:26
    today next slide this is a picture of me
  • 00:26:28
    from
  • 00:26:30
    2015 it's almost 9 10 years ago that is
  • 00:26:33
    me in Delhi with three other co-founders
  • 00:26:37
    running a company called job Spire this
  • 00:26:38
    is a makeshift microwave I mean this is
  • 00:26:41
    a microwave but it's a makeshift
  • 00:26:43
    standing table I had a back cake back
  • 00:26:44
    then and enjoyed my back or something
  • 00:26:46
    it's my MacBook and this is like a
  • 00:26:50
    really old building in Delhi I started
  • 00:26:53
    there I'll tell you one thing in 2015 it
  • 00:26:55
    was uncool to to run your own company in
  • 00:26:57
    India you looked at as unemployed my
  • 00:27:00
    parents didn't know how to explain what
  • 00:27:01
    I did to their friends and everybody
  • 00:27:02
    else and startups there was some hype
  • 00:27:06
    around startups but it was still seen as
  • 00:27:07
    a an uncool thing to do okay and then we
  • 00:27:12
    had social network pictures Silicon
  • 00:27:14
    Valley media started talking about
  • 00:27:18
    it funding suddenly it became
  • 00:27:22
    cool
  • 00:27:24
    right next
  • 00:27:25
    slide and that's why in my head and I
  • 00:27:29
    know this is true for some of our
  • 00:27:30
    leadership as well there are two kinds
  • 00:27:32
    of Founders okay like I told you there's
  • 00:27:36
    one kind of like this is that's Shar
  • 00:27:37
    Bambu I have crazy amount of respect for
  • 00:27:39
    him he has hundreds and zo is a client
  • 00:27:41
    as you all know hundreds of thousands of
  • 00:27:43
    employees he's working full-time he has
  • 00:27:46
    a real board real consequences I don't
  • 00:27:48
    know if he has a board but there are
  • 00:27:49
    real consequences he's actually made
  • 00:27:51
    money he looks at everything in
  • 00:27:52
    tradeoffs right money time Peace of Mind
  • 00:27:55
    much less concerned about status because
  • 00:27:56
    he already has the serious people
  • 00:27:59
    already know who he is and very
  • 00:28:01
    respected in the
  • 00:28:02
    community right now I'm making some
  • 00:28:04
    assumptions but I'm saying that in
  • 00:28:06
    general this kind of founder these
  • 00:28:08
    Founders I look up to as well right now
  • 00:28:10
    there's another kind of founder which
  • 00:28:11
    I've been seeing a lot of lately and
  • 00:28:15
    there's nothing wrong with this but this
  • 00:28:17
    is this is
  • 00:28:18
    generally what social media encourages
  • 00:28:20
    where you're founder for the status you
  • 00:28:23
    just want to you know be cool and you're
  • 00:28:25
    doing a lot of things at once and
  • 00:28:27
    there's nothing wrong with doing a lot
  • 00:28:28
    lot of things is runs but one thing has
  • 00:28:29
    to work one thing has to generate cash
  • 00:28:33
    for you to be able to take multiple bets
  • 00:28:35
    you can't do too many things and that's
  • 00:28:36
    the Nuance right you can't do four
  • 00:28:39
    things together unless one thing is
  • 00:28:41
    absolutely crushing it and we are a good
  • 00:28:43
    example of this by the
  • 00:28:45
    way yet to breach any reasonable Revenue
  • 00:28:48
    has no employees therefore no real cost
  • 00:28:51
    okay very young therefore lower risk do
  • 00:28:54
    you know the risk of a Founder who is 30
  • 00:28:56
    years old who has two
  • 00:28:58
    kids or let's say 35 years old two kids
  • 00:29:01
    parents to take care of three
  • 00:29:04
    employees versus a 20-year-old who's
  • 00:29:06
    like I started a agency today do you
  • 00:29:08
    know what the risk profile difference
  • 00:29:09
    between these two is massive Gap you
  • 00:29:12
    can't even call them the same type of
  • 00:29:14
    the the odds for the the stakes for both
  • 00:29:16
    these kinds of Founders are so
  • 00:29:18
    different that's why when somebody's 35
  • 00:29:21
    and they start a company I take them
  • 00:29:22
    seriously I'm like oh big deal for
  • 00:29:24
    you and I think Main thing is and this
  • 00:29:29
    is the thing that really confuses us
  • 00:29:30
    many of these guys are looking for jobs
  • 00:29:32
    it's like wait aren't you like a Founder
  • 00:29:35
    like run your company why why you
  • 00:29:36
    looking for a job unless you've shut
  • 00:29:38
    down your company then then it's fine
  • 00:29:39
    then it makes sense but yeah it's just
  • 00:29:42
    confusing and they yet to earn the
  • 00:29:43
    respect of existing Founders but that's
  • 00:29:45
    okay that's a
  • 00:29:46
    technicality all respect can be
  • 00:29:49
    earned like it might take you half a
  • 00:29:52
    decade 5 years 10 years 15 years but you
  • 00:29:55
    can earn other people's respect so this
  • 00:29:57
    is just a temporary pit Stu stop next
  • 00:29:58
    slide please the reality is that
  • 00:30:00
    entrepreneurship is really
  • 00:30:01
    hard uh it takes 10 plus years to make
  • 00:30:04
    real money 2015 is when I started I
  • 00:30:06
    think I still haven't made like crazy
  • 00:30:09
    money it takes a long time to make real
  • 00:30:11
    money most people will
  • 00:30:14
    fail 90% of people will fail the ones
  • 00:30:17
    who succeed make very little money worse
  • 00:30:20
    than a job there not a false stat just
  • 00:30:23
    because you hear of the same 50
  • 00:30:24
    companies in the news half of which are
  • 00:30:26
    going to dive they're unicorns but they
  • 00:30:28
    don't have real profit so they might die
  • 00:30:30
    there's so many
  • 00:30:31
    Founders
  • 00:30:34
    who it looks like a success but they've
  • 00:30:36
    not made real
  • 00:30:39
    money it's worse than a job honestly and
  • 00:30:42
    they' just wasted their time it's not
  • 00:30:44
    real risk if you're hedging with a job
  • 00:30:47
    good Founders will not take you
  • 00:30:48
    seriously and like I said family and age
  • 00:30:51
    shoot up the risk and the thing about
  • 00:30:53
    being a Founder is you have some good
  • 00:30:55
    months and you make zero on the other
  • 00:30:57
    months
  • 00:30:59
    everyone there at least knows this right
  • 00:31:01
    some good months but you make zero on
  • 00:31:03
    other months and you'll often have
  • 00:31:05
    radical pivots you look foolish for
  • 00:31:07
    decades earlier I used to look at
  • 00:31:09
    somebody like let's say a G mjal right
  • 00:31:11
    and I look at them pivoting I like ah
  • 00:31:14
    why they pivoting but now I get it I'm
  • 00:31:16
    like yo what you're trying to seek is
  • 00:31:17
    not the validation of other people
  • 00:31:19
    you're trying to seek something that you
  • 00:31:20
    can build that works that people pay for
  • 00:31:23
    and sometimes you will get it wrong so
  • 00:31:26
    sometimes I will come to you and be like
  • 00:31:27
    sorry this was not the way to do it
  • 00:31:29
    let's do it this way it's not because
  • 00:31:30
    I'm dumb or scatterbrained or whatever
  • 00:31:32
    it's because I'm looking for something
  • 00:31:33
    that the market will pay for cuz I've
  • 00:31:35
    learned the hard way that if you build
  • 00:31:37
    something just based on your conviction
  • 00:31:39
    and you don't make money out of it
  • 00:31:41
    everyone Burns Out you will all run out
  • 00:31:42
    of motivation you'll leave two years
  • 00:31:43
    later or 6 months later whatever it is
  • 00:31:46
    so you have to look for pmf and
  • 00:31:48
    sometimes you look foolish for a long
  • 00:31:49
    time doing
  • 00:31:50
    that your friends would make more money
  • 00:31:52
    than
  • 00:31:54
    you this is kind of obvious anyone with
  • 00:31:56
    a job stable job especially your company
  • 00:31:58
    doing well will make more money than you
  • 00:32:00
    and this is more for the engineers but
  • 00:32:02
    courage and staying power are far more
  • 00:32:04
    important than intelligence Twitter now
  • 00:32:07
    is like filled with like oh if you're
  • 00:32:08
    not like 190 IQ and this and that you're
  • 00:32:11
    not going to make it that's not true
  • 00:32:13
    like go talk to any real estate guy or
  • 00:32:15
    anyone any broker or something they're
  • 00:32:17
    making far more money than many of these
  • 00:32:18
    engineers and they're not really over
  • 00:32:21
    reliant on intelligence they're actually
  • 00:32:23
    reliant on Courage relationships and
  • 00:32:25
    staying power and like I said the arena
  • 00:32:28
    will knock humility into you if you're a
  • 00:32:31
    Founder for 10 years I've never met a
  • 00:32:32
    Founder who's been around for 10 years
  • 00:32:36
    and
  • 00:32:37
    cocky never seen never seen that
  • 00:32:41
    especially if they bootstrap right like
  • 00:32:43
    but the ego and arrogance of a Founder
  • 00:32:45
    who just raised 5 million oh my God it's
  • 00:32:47
    next level but the minute you've been in
  • 00:32:48
    this game for 10 years whether you've
  • 00:32:49
    raised money or not you're like anything
  • 00:32:52
    can take me out
  • 00:32:54
    anytime right so it will knock humility
  • 00:32:57
    into you and and that's why I love
  • 00:32:58
    spending time with Founders who've been
  • 00:33:00
    around for like a decade longer than
  • 00:33:02
    that because they just know so much and
  • 00:33:04
    they're also so
  • 00:33:05
    humble it's the opposite of you know
  • 00:33:08
    what you get to see at least on social
  • 00:33:10
    media next slide
  • 00:33:12
    please okay so now let's get into your
  • 00:33:16
    parts of the equation has anyone
  • 00:33:17
    wondered why you don't have Equity
  • 00:33:19
    Equity no nobody else knows what Equity
  • 00:33:22
    is I see bat I see
  • 00:33:24
    Vishal okay I see mdom I see a bunch of
  • 00:33:27
    other people okay so I'll tell you the
  • 00:33:29
    difference between why Founders get
  • 00:33:30
    equity and how Equity works as Founders
  • 00:33:33
    cuz I've had weird conversations with
  • 00:33:36
    this over the year because this is just
  • 00:33:37
    not taught in college this is not taught
  • 00:33:39
    this topic is not taught in college so
  • 00:33:41
    you have no idea especially because like
  • 00:33:44
    startups happen slightly later than when
  • 00:33:46
    College curriculums sort of froze in
  • 00:33:48
    India people think you get equity for
  • 00:33:51
    doing work you actually don't get equity
  • 00:33:53
    for doing work you get equity for taking
  • 00:33:55
    risk this is a very
  • 00:33:58
    important concept to drive home okay
  • 00:33:59
    this has nothing to do with
  • 00:34:00
    foundershield
  • 00:34:27
    profit and we are only like whatever 6 8
  • 00:34:30
    months old
  • 00:34:33
    right most companies are bootstrapped
  • 00:34:35
    and funding is an anomaly I did some
  • 00:34:38
    research on the math I don't know how
  • 00:34:39
    accurate this is this is from whatever I
  • 00:34:41
    found on Google there are 1.66 million
  • 00:34:43
    active companies in India barely any are
  • 00:34:46
    F
  • 00:34:47
    funded so this entire like Equity you
  • 00:34:51
    have a percentage of the company and
  • 00:34:53
    then you know when the company IPOs you
  • 00:34:56
    make crazy money
  • 00:34:58
    that barely happens in India actually
  • 00:35:00
    investors get Equity this is investors
  • 00:35:02
    not Founders who just put in cash get
  • 00:35:04
    equity for taking Capital risk not for
  • 00:35:06
    doing work okay and a lot of people get
  • 00:35:09
    pissed off sometimes like especially
  • 00:35:11
    when I was younger and I didn't know
  • 00:35:12
    what Equity really stood for and I was
  • 00:35:14
    negotiating equ with other people the
  • 00:35:15
    thing that whenever the conversation
  • 00:35:17
    broke up let's say I want to start a
  • 00:35:19
    company let's say selling candles and I
  • 00:35:22
    was talking to another guy and he wanted
  • 00:35:23
    50% I said no I don't think you're worth
  • 00:35:25
    50% I'm worth 70% whatever it is
  • 00:35:26
    whatever the number is
  • 00:35:28
    and the guy says no I will go start my
  • 00:35:29
    own thing if an equity conversation
  • 00:35:31
    breaks down between Founders they move
  • 00:35:33
    on one of the founders moves on and
  • 00:35:36
    either he starts the same business or
  • 00:35:37
    different business or go gets gets a job
  • 00:35:39
    or whatever but the math is simple 100%
  • 00:35:41
    of zero is
  • 00:35:43
    zero so a lot of people really optimize
  • 00:35:45
    for ownership without realizing actually
  • 00:35:47
    and I'm a good example of this
  • 00:35:48
    especially now right where I'm not
  • 00:35:50
    optimizing for ownership in any company
  • 00:35:52
    I just want to own enough but I want
  • 00:35:54
    other people to be heavily incentivized
  • 00:35:55
    as well because I realize that 100% of 0
  • 00:35:58
    Z what's the point of owning everything
  • 00:35:59
    but not you know making profit not
  • 00:36:01
    having other people
  • 00:36:02
    contribute now here's the part that is a
  • 00:36:06
    little bit hard to digest for most
  • 00:36:07
    employees but y combinator will Echo
  • 00:36:10
    this most other companies most thiss
  • 00:36:12
    will Echo this right if you are paid a
  • 00:36:14
    market rate salary the amount of equity
  • 00:36:16
    you take home is
  • 00:36:18
    zero it's a controversial point but it's
  • 00:36:20
    a true Point Equity is a measure of risk
  • 00:36:23
    okay let's say you could either get a
  • 00:36:25
    job at TCS or some other com company
  • 00:36:27
    whatever some let's say the some of you
  • 00:36:29
    might be working at some other agency or
  • 00:36:32
    whatever right and let's say you know
  • 00:36:34
    you were paid 3 lakhs anim plus one lakh
  • 00:36:38
    stock I'm just giving some random
  • 00:36:39
    numbers so let's say four lakhs anim you
  • 00:36:41
    were getting okay now the question to
  • 00:36:43
    ask is is that market rate for you would
  • 00:36:46
    the market pay you more okay I'll give
  • 00:36:48
    you an example of somebody taking risk
  • 00:36:50
    there's a guy that I really want to hire
  • 00:36:53
    he's superb guy but very expensive right
  • 00:36:57
    it might run into 40 50 lakhs which I
  • 00:36:59
    can't afford at this point in our career
  • 00:37:00
    considering a bootstrap right so I'm
  • 00:37:03
    like yo take a 90% salary cut and come
  • 00:37:06
    work with us but I'll give you Equity
  • 00:37:08
    how much Equity well we'll value the
  • 00:37:10
    thing and we'll figure it out now
  • 00:37:12
    whether he'll say yes or no I don't know
  • 00:37:14
    but that's a big deal he's 35 years old
  • 00:37:16
    he has two kids and y y he's he already
  • 00:37:19
    has a job an active job with very he
  • 00:37:21
    spent n number of years with them so
  • 00:37:25
    generally we don't give Equity to people
  • 00:37:27
    who are paid market rate or very close
  • 00:37:29
    to market rate okay but we are trying to
  • 00:37:32
    change that right in the sense that we
  • 00:37:34
    still like let's still incentivize you
  • 00:37:36
    to play the long game with
  • 00:37:38
    us right in some cases not in all cases
  • 00:37:40
    in some of our companies so employees
  • 00:37:43
    with market rate salaries are still
  • 00:37:45
    given some amount of equity to align
  • 00:37:47
    motivation right just so you're still
  • 00:37:49
    motivated to do the thing now in the way
  • 00:37:52
    we are structured some of our companies
  • 00:37:53
    Equity is actually valuable some of our
  • 00:37:55
    companies Equity is completely useless
  • 00:37:56
    especially in ag gencies my opinion is
  • 00:37:58
    equity is not very useful unless you
  • 00:38:01
    know you decide to IPO tomorrow like a
  • 00:38:02
    TCS or a vipro or something like that we
  • 00:38:04
    have no plans of IPO in N9 out of 10
  • 00:38:07
    times though Equity is worth
  • 00:38:09
    zero so the guy who's coming in from
  • 00:38:12
    Google or whatever company right let's
  • 00:38:14
    say whoever I convinced to come at one/
  • 00:38:15
    Tenth of the salary and come do a very
  • 00:38:17
    big role here nine out of 10 times he'll
  • 00:38:20
    probably make zero out of that it'll
  • 00:38:22
    just be pure risk for him it would
  • 00:38:23
    basically be like he's thrown his money
  • 00:38:25
    into the and whatever he currently has
  • 00:38:28
    into the fireplace that's his risk to
  • 00:38:31
    take that's why I no longer Hard Sell on
  • 00:38:35
    this I'm like yo it's your choice here's
  • 00:38:36
    the risk you want to come come here's
  • 00:38:39
    what you're giving up and nine out of 10
  • 00:38:41
    times they say no to me which is fine
  • 00:38:43
    but they need to be very clear about
  • 00:38:44
    what the risks are before coming in
  • 00:38:46
    aligning motivations of several people
  • 00:38:48
    even with money is damn hard in fact if
  • 00:38:50
    I would argue what the Crux of
  • 00:38:51
    Entrepreneurship is this it's two things
  • 00:38:54
    right one is finding a market Gap and
  • 00:38:56
    number two is getting the first 10
  • 00:38:58
    people to come work with you for lower
  • 00:39:01
    price and incentivizing them in whatever
  • 00:39:03
    way possible is the hardest part because
  • 00:39:06
    I'll tell you one thing when you start
  • 00:39:07
    you have nothing you start from A500 squ
  • 00:39:10
    foot house we had nothing anyone taking
  • 00:39:13
    a risk on us back then was
  • 00:39:15
    foolish but again it's very hard with
  • 00:39:19
    money but there it's easier to do with
  • 00:39:21
    something like an equity or a profit
  • 00:39:23
    share be like I don't know where it's
  • 00:39:24
    going to work out but at least you have
  • 00:39:25
    a chunk of it at least you try it hard
  • 00:39:28
    at least we tried hard we gave it a shot
  • 00:39:30
    next
  • 00:39:31
    slide okay the next question that most
  • 00:39:34
    of you have is why does the company get
  • 00:39:36
    paid so much more than
  • 00:39:38
    me have you ever thought of this how
  • 00:39:41
    many of you thought of
  • 00:39:42
    this hands up come on want to see more
  • 00:39:45
    hands a lot of people online have
  • 00:39:46
    thought about this this is a subar
  • 00:39:48
    called developers India
  • 00:39:49
    where the this thing says just got to
  • 00:39:52
    see today how much my boss charges the
  • 00:39:54
    client I'm working at a services company
  • 00:39:56
    and I'm the old developer in one of the
  • 00:39:58
    projects I'm working on I'm paid well so
  • 00:40:00
    can't really complain my boss doesn't do
  • 00:40:02
    anything besides just talking to the
  • 00:40:03
    client and understanding requirements
  • 00:40:05
    but yesterday I got to see how much he
  • 00:40:06
    charges the clients and blew my mind
  • 00:40:08
    it's more than five times I'm getting so
  • 00:40:10
    I wrote to the client if he wants to
  • 00:40:11
    hire me directly but he forwarded the
  • 00:40:13
    email to my boss and I got questions why
  • 00:40:15
    I did
  • 00:40:17
    that don't clients know how much it cost
  • 00:40:19
    to hire their own developers if I were
  • 00:40:21
    to do freelance work how can I get
  • 00:40:22
    clients like this this has 620 likes by
  • 00:40:24
    the way which is pretty good engagement
  • 00:40:26
    for developers India are for a Reddit
  • 00:40:28
    Community is pretty good engagement
  • 00:40:30
    first comment honestly I'm still
  • 00:40:31
    surprised your boss hasn't fired you the
  • 00:40:34
    premium they pay is for the trust
  • 00:40:35
    associated with the company past
  • 00:40:36
    experience and so on I'll tell you what
  • 00:40:38
    I think I think this Gap comes from not
  • 00:40:42
    knowing how much it costs to run a
  • 00:40:43
    company that's the thing right like when
  • 00:40:45
    you've been a Founder for a while then
  • 00:40:46
    you kind of get this thing of the cost
  • 00:40:49
    every week when we discuss pnl with the
  • 00:40:51
    team it's almost like we paid for
  • 00:40:54
    that also when did this expense
  • 00:40:56
    come up now we have to pay deposit
  • 00:40:58
    oh the last house that we vacated
  • 00:41:00
    deposit only half came back cuz the
  • 00:41:02
    owner scammed us all of that like it's
  • 00:41:05
    just every week it's like it's like I
  • 00:41:09
    sit with the teams and I'm like
  • 00:41:11
    uh I'm like where did the money
  • 00:41:13
    go but it's important to understand this
  • 00:41:16
    because we'll break down the math next
  • 00:41:18
    slide okay so I just want to briefly
  • 00:41:22
    explain why do I get paid X when company
  • 00:41:23
    makes y first thing is business
  • 00:41:26
    relationship shs are built on Discovery
  • 00:41:30
    okay first you the client has to
  • 00:41:31
    discover you let's say you running an
  • 00:41:32
    agency let's say you were running an
  • 00:41:33
    agency all of you started an agency
  • 00:41:35
    tomorrow
  • 00:41:36
    called YouTube ABCD
  • 00:41:39
    agency okay there are four things you
  • 00:41:41
    have to do first you have to get
  • 00:41:43
    Discovery you need to get a client to
  • 00:41:44
    know who you are to be attracted to you
  • 00:41:47
    okay then you need to convert them just
  • 00:41:51
    being attracted is not good enough just
  • 00:41:53
    bringing someone into that room is not
  • 00:41:54
    good enough they have to convert you do
  • 00:41:56
    a sale okay then you have to do first
  • 00:41:59
    time proof of delivery you to do one
  • 00:42:02
    video like as a video agency we do one
  • 00:42:04
    video as the um as AOS slabs we have to
  • 00:42:07
    do one you know AI campaign for
  • 00:42:10
    them and then there's continued trust if
  • 00:42:13
    you've done one good one with them then
  • 00:42:14
    they're like okay let's do it again
  • 00:42:15
    let's do it again let's do it again I'm
  • 00:42:16
    going to break this down because this is
  • 00:42:18
    we are talking about businesses here
  • 00:42:20
    Discovery is
  • 00:42:21
    marketing how do you get a client to be
  • 00:42:23
    attracted to you is marketing now there
  • 00:42:25
    are many ways to do marketing but
  • 00:42:26
    whatever it's marketing conversion is
  • 00:42:28
    sales it's what gurmit does right it's
  • 00:42:32
    like somebody's already coming there's a
  • 00:42:33
    lead but GM's got to go close that
  • 00:42:36
    lead then there is first time proof of
  • 00:42:39
    delivery which is almost always
  • 00:42:41
    discounting we probably lose money on
  • 00:42:44
    the first thing we do for any client
  • 00:42:45
    there are some rare exceptions but
  • 00:42:47
    usually we lose money on the first
  • 00:42:49
    delivery for any client okay continued
  • 00:42:51
    trust which is relationship maintenance
  • 00:42:54
    quality of service meeting them once in
  • 00:42:55
    a while making sure that you know if
  • 00:42:57
    somebody leaves we replace that person
  • 00:42:58
    is a continued headache okay now
  • 00:43:01
    remember four rules Discovery is
  • 00:43:04
    competitive versus other service
  • 00:43:07
    providers we are not the only company in
  • 00:43:09
    India that does AI campaigns we are not
  • 00:43:13
    the only company in India that does AI
  • 00:43:15
    Business Solutions we're not the only
  • 00:43:16
    company in India that does uh video
  • 00:43:19
    editing or uh YouTube as a service so
  • 00:43:23
    discover is competitive versus other
  • 00:43:24
    service providers sales and conversion
  • 00:43:27
    of are
  • 00:43:27
    unreliable just because gurmit has 5,000
  • 00:43:30
    leads it doesn't mean he will get 5,000
  • 00:43:33
    conversions right it's unreliable
  • 00:43:35
    sometimes it works out sometimes it
  • 00:43:37
    doesn't and even gurmit can't walk into
  • 00:43:38
    a sales meeting knowing will this guy
  • 00:43:40
    convert or not it's very challenging
  • 00:43:43
    discounting loses the company money the
  • 00:43:45
    first time I do anything for a client we
  • 00:43:47
    probably lose money it's we know we're
  • 00:43:49
    losing money but it's okay we're like
  • 00:43:51
    we're hoping that we do such a good job
  • 00:43:53
    that the client does a second thing with
  • 00:43:55
    us a third thing with us whatever it is
  • 00:43:57
    Trust erods on the tiniest of things
  • 00:44:00
    okay I'll give you an example the
  • 00:44:03
    example was of kosek okay Kosik is young
  • 00:44:06
    but Kosik is not a very good
  • 00:44:08
    communicator he's very very good at what
  • 00:44:10
    he does but not a very good communicator
  • 00:44:12
    and when Kosik spends less time
  • 00:44:14
    communicating with the client even if we
  • 00:44:16
    doing work it erods the client's
  • 00:44:19
    trust and you might think but that's so
  • 00:44:22
    silly I I'm doing a good job yeah but
  • 00:44:24
    the client's not seeing it from the
  • 00:44:25
    client's perspective it's like these
  • 00:44:26
    guys
  • 00:44:27
    they told me 2 weeks ago this is going
  • 00:44:28
    to be done but 2 weeks later I haven't
  • 00:44:31
    even heard from them right and then the
  • 00:44:33
    next day if you send them the final
  • 00:44:34
    footage they're actually surprised
  • 00:44:35
    they're like wait you actually worked on
  • 00:44:37
    this right so trust erods on the tiniest
  • 00:44:40
    of things so there's this overhead
  • 00:44:42
    communication overhead of how can we
  • 00:44:43
    keep you know telling the client every
  • 00:44:45
    day every week what we're up to and
  • 00:44:48
    keeping them a breast right and if
  • 00:44:49
    things are not working out telling them
  • 00:44:50
    things are not working or you shouldn't
  • 00:44:51
    be doing this or you should cut your
  • 00:44:53
    losses next slide so I'll tell you how
  • 00:44:55
    the internet and most of you do the math
  • 00:44:56
    for for a 10 lakh deal let's say we're
  • 00:44:58
    getting a 10 lakh deal okay one let's
  • 00:45:00
    say per quarter we're getting a 10 lakh
  • 00:45:01
    deal first GST will go Modi sir will
  • 00:45:05
    come remove 18% you know 8.2 lakhs fine
  • 00:45:10
    okay now the way we let's say we do the
  • 00:45:13
    math and these are not our numbers but
  • 00:45:15
    I'm just saying let's say a sales gets
  • 00:45:16
    paid 30 30k a month okay let's say a
  • 00:45:20
    project manager gets paid 60k a month
  • 00:45:22
    okay let's say an engineer gets paid 50k
  • 00:45:24
    a month let's say it's an engineering
  • 00:45:25
    project let's say we're doing something
  • 00:45:27
    let's say one of our clients let's say
  • 00:45:28
    dwat okay let's say roughly this is the
  • 00:45:30
    math I'm I'm taking average math now you
  • 00:45:33
    do quarterly so quarterly that sales rep
  • 00:45:36
    is being paid 1.2 lakhs project managers
  • 00:45:39
    being paid 2.5 lakhs Engineers being
  • 00:45:41
    paid 2 lakhs so total is 5.6 lakhs
  • 00:45:44
    correct what's the profit 8.2 minus 5.6
  • 00:45:47
    what's the profit okay whatever the
  • 00:45:49
    profit is next slide okay the real math
  • 00:45:53
    which most smart people will think for a
  • 00:45:56
    10 lakh deal it's still fake math but
  • 00:45:58
    I'll tell you why so you have sales rep
  • 00:46:00
    project manager engineer then you have
  • 00:46:02
    an internet fee we spend like Martin
  • 00:46:05
    what's our internet fee what is
  • 00:46:08
    it yeah we spend 7 and a half lakhs a
  • 00:46:10
    year on internet just internet for the
  • 00:46:13
    office okay so let's say whatever I'm
  • 00:46:16
    breaking it down I'm just saying 10K a
  • 00:46:17
    month or a quarter it's 40K electricity
  • 00:46:20
    bill our electricity bill is huge but
  • 00:46:22
    whatever there's an electricity bill
  • 00:46:23
    then there's office rent we forgot in
  • 00:46:25
    the last mon month that there's office
  • 00:46:27
    rent so there's office rent on this then
  • 00:46:29
    there's a marketing cost remember we
  • 00:46:30
    said Discovery is a cost how do you get
  • 00:46:32
    visible in front of another client in
  • 00:46:33
    our case let's say if it's hosting a
  • 00:46:35
    dinner hosting a conference whatever it
  • 00:46:37
    is whatever the way you acquire ads so
  • 00:46:40
    you can do this math whatever this math
  • 00:46:41
    comes up to okay and still looks like
  • 00:46:43
    it's profitable but I'll tell you this
  • 00:46:46
    is still fake math I'll tell you what
  • 00:46:48
    the real math is like the math that I
  • 00:46:49
    see and China sees and Hara sees and
  • 00:46:52
    whatnot next slide I've added
  • 00:46:55
    some I've added some descriptions
  • 00:46:57
    through chat GPD because I didn't want
  • 00:46:58
    to write it down but I'll tell you what
  • 00:46:59
    all it is there's legal fees you
  • 00:47:01
    incorporate a company there's some cost
  • 00:47:03
    that's a onetime cost but fine it's
  • 00:47:04
    there's still ongoing cost in some some
  • 00:47:06
    cases right contracts with clients every
  • 00:47:08
    contract we do the client is reviewed by
  • 00:47:09
    a legal team it's not here the team is
  • 00:47:11
    not here but we have a client we we have
  • 00:47:13
    a legal team then there's licenses and
  • 00:47:15
    permits in some cases our business maybe
  • 00:47:18
    not but we you need specific licenses to
  • 00:47:20
    sell stuff then there's office rent
  • 00:47:22
    there's security deposit there's
  • 00:47:23
    utilities okay then there's furniture
  • 00:47:25
    and Equipment you think the are free
  • 00:47:28
    they're not free these are expensive so
  • 00:47:31
    there's desks chairs computers printers
  • 00:47:33
    software licenses there's every day I I
  • 00:47:36
    wake up see the pnl it be an adobe bill
  • 00:47:38
    on the pnl I'm like right
  • 00:47:42
    telecommunication systems Etc then
  • 00:47:44
    there's recruitment cost do you know
  • 00:47:45
    there's a cost to hiring a
  • 00:47:47
    person especially people who are wasting
  • 00:47:49
    who come in and don't end up getting
  • 00:47:51
    hired sometimes we work with agencies to
  • 00:47:53
    help us hire people right so there's
  • 00:47:55
    entire recruitment cost here then
  • 00:47:57
    there's advertising online ads print
  • 00:48:00
    media promotional materials and we do
  • 00:48:03
    spend such a news spend on ads right
  • 00:48:05
    where suchin yeah you spend on ads so
  • 00:48:08
    there's advertising cost then there's
  • 00:48:09
    website cost obviously we don't we we're
  • 00:48:11
    a video company we don't give two shits
  • 00:48:13
    about websites anymore then there's
  • 00:48:15
    networking which is if you want to get
  • 00:48:17
    to an industry Association you want to
  • 00:48:19
    go to a conference you need membership
  • 00:48:21
    to go into some of those and some of
  • 00:48:22
    those conferen are very useful Hara will
  • 00:48:24
    tell you the cost of flying to that
  • 00:48:25
    conference and probably getting deal and
  • 00:48:27
    coming back is worth it right so there's
  • 00:48:30
    some networking costs then utilities
  • 00:48:32
    we've already spoken about then
  • 00:48:34
    insurance right all our companies have
  • 00:48:36
    some form of insurance or the other
  • 00:48:39
    right then there is maintenance which
  • 00:48:41
    is somebody cleaning this on an everyday
  • 00:48:44
    basis somebody walks in cleans this
  • 00:48:46
    walks out right and I'm just going to
  • 00:48:49
    keep going through this right because
  • 00:48:50
    these are all real expenses there's
  • 00:48:51
    accounting and bookkeeping sushmita
  • 00:48:53
    where
  • 00:48:54
    susm yeah susmita is there she she book
  • 00:48:57
    she does bookkeeping for us then there's
  • 00:49:00
    office supplies postage travel expenses
  • 00:49:02
    whatever then there's bloody AWS in
  • 00:49:04
    Cloud flare that that walk in the room
  • 00:49:06
    right AWS should be like I want this
  • 00:49:08
    much
  • 00:49:10
    gpus and every every week we have that
  • 00:49:12
    discussion should we buy the gpus or
  • 00:49:13
    should we you know use an AWS but
  • 00:49:15
    eventually it always comes down to AWS
  • 00:49:17
    because of ease of convenience it's just
  • 00:49:19
    easy to use an AWS spin up something or
  • 00:49:21
    use a replicate or something like that
  • 00:49:23
    right then there's software I'm sure you
  • 00:49:25
    guys use some software or the other I
  • 00:49:27
    was seeing tesis look at the linear
  • 00:49:28
    website I was like please not one more
  • 00:49:30
    subscription by the way you you guys
  • 00:49:33
    spend like 50k a month on
  • 00:49:36
    Zoom do you know
  • 00:49:39
    that spent 50k a month on Zoom then
  • 00:49:42
    there's we don't have data security
  • 00:49:44
    right now uh because we don't you know
  • 00:49:46
    have any client data uh then there's an
  • 00:49:49
    emergency fund and I think that's the
  • 00:49:51
    most important thing right remember we
  • 00:49:53
    did quartly math and the reason we did
  • 00:49:54
    quartly math is you need to make sure
  • 00:49:57
    you have enough money in the bank
  • 00:49:58
    because if you have a bad quarter you
  • 00:50:00
    need to be able to use that previous
  • 00:50:01
    month to be able to pay for this month
  • 00:50:03
    because for you and this is slightly
  • 00:50:06
    different in the US with many jobs but
  • 00:50:07
    for you it's like this this thing of I
  • 00:50:09
    get a salary every month for me and the
  • 00:50:13
    core team here it's always like okay we
  • 00:50:14
    need to make sure across the year we are
  • 00:50:16
    able to pay this person this much right
  • 00:50:18
    it's almost like ours is more one shoted
  • 00:50:23
    and we absorb the risk to to give you a
  • 00:50:25
    chronic consistent salary it's much
  • 00:50:28
    easier for funded companies to do much
  • 00:50:29
    harder for bootstrap companies like ours
  • 00:50:31
    to do then there's expansion cost
  • 00:50:34
    sometimes you're planning for growth you
  • 00:50:35
    want to hire more people and every day
  • 00:50:37
    someone or the other comes here and says
  • 00:50:39
    oh I want to hire this one more person
  • 00:50:40
    because my back is aching I can't do
  • 00:50:41
    this whatever it is right so that's a
  • 00:50:44
    cost right then there's tax corporate
  • 00:50:48
    tax comes in uh then there's whatever
  • 00:50:52
    Professional Services if we need
  • 00:50:53
    advisors if we're not sure about
  • 00:50:55
    something and we need somebody else's ad
  • 00:50:57
    advice okay there's also an employee
  • 00:50:59
    that doesn't work out cost one of the
  • 00:51:00
    biggest costs if I hire somebody let's
  • 00:51:02
    say 5 laks anim and you don't work out
  • 00:51:06
    for the company and you've been there
  • 00:51:07
    for 6 months because now we're starting
  • 00:51:09
    to scale and we don't have time to sit
  • 00:51:11
    on top of everybody's head it's just a
  • 00:51:14
    waste of
  • 00:51:15
    money it's almost like somebody else is
  • 00:51:17
    doing one deal just to keep your salary
  • 00:51:19
    alive then there's income tax
  • 00:51:22
    rate 30% in India there's also a search
  • 00:51:25
    charge of 7% % of your income ranges
  • 00:51:27
    from 1 CR to 10 crores so yeah basically
  • 00:51:30
    my point is you should run a company
  • 00:51:33
    once it's not that's why I said right
  • 00:51:36
    serious founder that that's where I
  • 00:51:37
    started from because the minute you're a
  • 00:51:38
    serious founder it's like you're going
  • 00:51:39
    through this one every week and then you
  • 00:51:43
    know every day somebody will come to you
  • 00:51:44
    and be like compan is doing well
  • 00:51:46
    whatever it is right next slide okay
  • 00:51:49
    after all this the founders get paid
  • 00:51:51
    being a bootstrap founder is the most
  • 00:51:54
    inconvenient way to make money and I
  • 00:51:56
    don't know why you guys want to start
  • 00:51:58
    agencies the minute it works it will
  • 00:52:00
    burn you out that being said I'm a
  • 00:52:02
    Founder so I love people who want to be
  • 00:52:03
    entrepreneurs and do it themselves but
  • 00:52:05
    also prepare for 10 years of pain if
  • 00:52:08
    you're not prepared for 10 years of pain
  • 00:52:09
    don't do it you can still have like you
  • 00:52:12
    can still work from 20 to 25 make good
  • 00:52:14
    money have fun make the network Etc and
  • 00:52:17
    then start a company you know my biggest
  • 00:52:18
    regret at 20 when I started job Spire I
  • 00:52:21
    was like the problem is I don't know
  • 00:52:23
    anybody in the ecosystem
  • 00:52:27
    today a lot of our success whatever said
  • 00:52:29
    and done is because I know people in the
  • 00:52:30
    ecosystem I'm able to just call up
  • 00:52:31
    people and be like hey can we do XYZ for
  • 00:52:33
    you can we do YouTube for you or can we
  • 00:52:35
    do AI business solutions for
  • 00:52:38
    you but I didn't have that at 20 and I I
  • 00:52:40
    feel like if I done a job till like 24
  • 00:52:43
    25 it would have been much more
  • 00:52:44
    beneficial for me but then I would have
  • 00:52:46
    probably been successful at 35 5 years
  • 00:52:49
    later and I I still don't feel I'm
  • 00:52:50
    successful I still feel there's another
  • 00:52:52
    five years left so maybe I'd make money
  • 00:52:54
    at 40 right so just saying every this
  • 00:52:57
    it's this is the worst way to make money
  • 00:52:59
    next slide so again the problem is many
  • 00:53:01
    youngsters have not tried this seriously
  • 00:53:03
    full-time for sustained periods of
  • 00:53:05
    time okay fundraising has convinced a
  • 00:53:08
    cohort of Founders that these
  • 00:53:10
    miscellaneous expenses should not be
  • 00:53:11
    kept in mind while determine unit
  • 00:53:13
    economics they're like bottle
  • 00:53:17
    manufacturing I'm selling it for
  • 00:53:19
    70 okay and all of us do this like
  • 00:53:22
    especially the people who do business
  • 00:53:23
    case studies I get damn angry with them
  • 00:53:25
    cuz they're like they only take the cost
  • 00:53:27
    of the item the manufacturing the item
  • 00:53:28
    and how much the margin is I'm like bro
  • 00:53:30
    you're running a business no in the
  • 00:53:31
    middle of this you're running
  • 00:53:32
    acquisition all of that in the middle of
  • 00:53:34
    this no how why are you why are you just
  • 00:53:36
    taking the cost of how much it cost to
  • 00:53:38
    manufacture like people keep making this
  • 00:53:40
    claim with apple oh Apple manufactures
  • 00:53:42
    their phone at whatever price margin but
  • 00:53:45
    they run a business huge business it's
  • 00:53:47
    the best advertising business in the
  • 00:53:49
    world you don't think that cost
  • 00:53:51
    money Engineers today can build ml
  • 00:53:54
    models this is especially true for
  • 00:53:56
    Twitter where many Engineers will be
  • 00:53:58
    like yeah you know I can build this
  • 00:53:59
    model I can do this but cannot
  • 00:54:01
    understand Excel okay and this is
  • 00:54:02
    especially true for our experiments team
  • 00:54:04
    right Shashank and
  • 00:54:07
    Vishal continually
  • 00:54:10
    dumping no offense to you guys I'm just
  • 00:54:12
    saying in general any experiments team
  • 00:54:13
    we have we we would ever have right
  • 00:54:16
    continually dumping non-profitable risk
  • 00:54:18
    on the company for personal exploration
  • 00:54:20
    which is status need this is not a
  • 00:54:22
    trivial problem I'll tell you why uh
  • 00:54:24
    there was a Labs there was a kid I'm not
  • 00:54:27
    going to take his name but he really
  • 00:54:29
    wanted to do research at the company and
  • 00:54:32
    while I really respect that okay here's
  • 00:54:37
    my thesis around it why do you want to
  • 00:54:39
    do the
  • 00:54:40
    research okay and if you really PR deep
  • 00:54:43
    enough they want to do the research
  • 00:54:45
    because they want to post post a tweet
  • 00:54:46
    about it they're like see I I built this
  • 00:54:48
    I made this whatever it is have status
  • 00:54:51
    among their peers but
  • 00:54:53
    really research like especially if you
  • 00:54:55
    start with research
  • 00:54:57
    it doesn't make any profit for us your
  • 00:54:59
    salary is basically just a cost and
  • 00:55:02
    you're getting brownie points off of it
  • 00:55:04
    you're putting up an open source GitHub
  • 00:55:06
    repository that you know I I saw one guy
  • 00:55:08
    do it for another company where he
  • 00:55:09
    didn't even mention the company's name
  • 00:55:11
    and he didn't on the company's salary
  • 00:55:13
    like what is wrong with you
  • 00:55:14
    guys right so it's for your own status
  • 00:55:17
    need and the way we do research is very
  • 00:55:19
    nice at Labs where we like first we'll
  • 00:55:22
    we'll use third party models if it
  • 00:55:23
    really works you know then we'll see can
  • 00:55:26
    we can we make a better model out of
  • 00:55:27
    this can we fine tune it for our needs
  • 00:55:29
    cuz we are a bootstrap company we are
  • 00:55:30
    still in the philosophy that first let's
  • 00:55:32
    make cash after we make cash you'll have
  • 00:55:35
    excess then you can now we have a
  • 00:55:37
    experiments team but I'm very this thing
  • 00:55:39
    that experiments team has to be two
  • 00:55:41
    people and not 50
  • 00:55:43
    people right but there are some startups
  • 00:55:45
    that do this completely inverted by the
  • 00:55:47
    way where they're like okay first we'll
  • 00:55:49
    do research and experiment so many
  • 00:55:50
    people who have been funded so many
  • 00:55:51
    people who are building uh local
  • 00:55:53
    language
  • 00:55:54
    llms I'm like where is the business it's
  • 00:55:58
    better to do a business use case for it
  • 00:56:00
    sell chat GPT Plus+ do F tune one of
  • 00:56:03
    those existing models prove that there's
  • 00:56:06
    money in the market for this then build
  • 00:56:07
    the model but no everyone's like doing
  • 00:56:09
    it the other way around next slide and
  • 00:56:12
    this is true for the people who want to
  • 00:56:13
    work on the hardest problems this is
  • 00:56:14
    true for filmmakers who how many of you
  • 00:56:16
    are filmmakers in the companies in the
  • 00:56:18
    company who want to like make films
  • 00:56:21
    theyan like he put his hand up and then
  • 00:56:23
    he put his hand on he's like I know I'm
  • 00:56:25
    going to get
  • 00:56:28
    okay I'll tell you the problem this true
  • 00:56:29
    for filmmakers and like really really
  • 00:56:31
    deep tech people right you have to
  • 00:56:33
    choose between not getting paid for
  • 00:56:35
    decades starting your own company or you
  • 00:56:37
    know taking a huge risk and you know
  • 00:56:39
    doing it at a company where you're not
  • 00:56:41
    really getting paid cash up front or
  • 00:56:43
    you're getting Equity instead or go work
  • 00:56:45
    at Google in the filmmaker case go work
  • 00:56:47
    at Hollywood or Bollywood or something
  • 00:56:50
    okay if you can get
  • 00:56:51
    in early stage startups who haven't
  • 00:56:54
    raised too much money and this is more
  • 00:56:55
    for the startup and angle should be
  • 00:56:58
    careful of absorbing expensive Talent
  • 00:57:00
    without cash inflow from customers or
  • 00:57:02
    exceptional fundraising ability some
  • 00:57:04
    people are able to fundraise like I look
  • 00:57:05
    at them and I'm like wow the company
  • 00:57:08
    doesn't even do anything and you've
  • 00:57:09
    raised like 50 million wow I don't know
  • 00:57:11
    how they do it and that's my lack right
  • 00:57:14
    like I just maybe I don't know the
  • 00:57:15
    internal workings of this system but
  • 00:57:17
    still unless you have exceptional
  • 00:57:19
    fundraising ability you should avoid
  • 00:57:21
    absorbing expensive talent that wants to
  • 00:57:23
    do things for personal exploration like
  • 00:57:25
    film Mak we are in the game of
  • 00:57:26
    efficiency can we do it in a studio in
  • 00:57:28
    as short a period of time as possible
  • 00:57:30
    can we use existing models and build use
  • 00:57:32
    cases that customers pay for much
  • 00:57:34
    simpler problem statement right it's
  • 00:57:37
    wise to solve problems first that don't
  • 00:57:39
    require too much upfront investment and
  • 00:57:41
    there are enough and more problems in
  • 00:57:43
    this country to be solved without you
  • 00:57:45
    having to go invest 20 crores into the
  • 00:57:48
    business till now we've never done that
  • 00:57:50
    invest crazy amount of money or anything
  • 00:57:52
    we're not a real estate
  • 00:57:54
    company NeXT slide so this is not just
  • 00:57:57
    true for you in this room but it's also
  • 00:57:59
    true for everybody watching this online
  • 00:58:02
    which is now everything will be
  • 00:58:03
    performance-driven 2001 we had this time
  • 00:58:05
    where everyone could come people have
  • 00:58:07
    worked in unprofitable companies for
  • 00:58:09
    five six years of their lives they've
  • 00:58:10
    never seen they've never worked at a
  • 00:58:11
    company making profit your marketing has
  • 00:58:14
    to now Drive conversions if you're a
  • 00:58:15
    marketing person now it has to drive
  • 00:58:17
    conversions your content now has to get
  • 00:58:19
    views and engagement time pass you can't
  • 00:58:21
    do content saying I want to do this
  • 00:58:22
    everyone comes to us and says now I want
  • 00:58:23
    to start this kind of Channel like you
  • 00:58:25
    get us views in engagement then we'll
  • 00:58:26
    talk about it right after that we'll
  • 00:58:29
    we'll take the risk but till then you're
  • 00:58:30
    on your own your code has to make money
  • 00:58:33
    can't be code for the sake of code right
  • 00:58:36
    so I there's this temptation with most
  • 00:58:38
    Engineers to build the next build a
  • 00:58:40
    framework or and this happened in Google
  • 00:58:43
    where they incentivized people to go do
  • 00:58:45
    experimental projects and people just
  • 00:58:47
    did that for promotions just build
  • 00:58:48
    experimental projects that made no money
  • 00:58:50
    your salary has to make sense in the
  • 00:58:52
    p&l so some of
  • 00:58:55
    you I won't say you guys because we have
  • 00:58:57
    been pretty careful about this but when
  • 00:58:59
    people come in they're like some crazy
  • 00:59:01
    salary expectation that they've heard on
  • 00:59:03
    Instagram that and that's the problem
  • 00:59:05
    with marketing one guy will make a post
  • 00:59:07
    saying oh you know
  • 00:59:09
    today this role let's say um let's say
  • 00:59:13
    typist is now making three lakhs a month
  • 00:59:15
    or whatever or 30 lakhs an here's how
  • 00:59:17
    you can make that's everyone's hook
  • 00:59:19
    right
  • 00:59:20
    that's
  • 00:59:22
    hook here's how this guy is making 75
  • 00:59:25
    lakhs and
  • 00:59:26
    doing
  • 00:59:28
    this this Baki it's not his fault it's
  • 00:59:31
    the game that's the problem with social
  • 00:59:33
    media so 20 21 free hits are over okay
  • 00:59:37
    uh Theory and a lot of you are very
  • 00:59:39
    Theory this thing right like I know many
  • 00:59:42
    people both on the content side as well
  • 00:59:44
    as on this side I know how to do this
  • 00:59:46
    crazy effect
  • 00:59:48
    video or someone on the engineering side
  • 00:59:50
    who will be like yeah you know we should
  • 00:59:52
    do this theory is no longer sought after
  • 00:59:55
    companies don't want Theory anymore they
  • 00:59:56
    want execution can you build a product
  • 00:59:57
    that solves a problem or can you give a
  • 00:59:59
    service that solves a problem it's so
  • 01:00:00
    simple it's so easy but yet we go back
  • 01:00:04
    and we like maybe you know what we're
  • 01:00:06
    lacking is Theory it's the entire Indian
  • 01:00:07
    education system problem it's like a vaa
  • 01:00:10
    system you know what the W system like
  • 01:00:13
    it's the W fication of work I have to go
  • 01:00:17
    I read cracking the uh coding interview
  • 01:00:20
    I go into the engineering you know
  • 01:00:22
    interview and I have to answer these
  • 01:00:23
    question 10 questions right answer that
  • 01:00:25
    once specific pair programming Challenge
  • 01:00:27
    and then I'm in but that's not what
  • 01:00:29
    people want anymore people are like I
  • 01:00:31
    don't care you work here you give me
  • 01:00:33
    output client is happy with your work or
  • 01:00:35
    you're building a product and you're
  • 01:00:36
    doing it fast enough great that's all I
  • 01:00:37
    want so world is changing and the gap
  • 01:00:41
    between potential what you think in your
  • 01:00:43
    head that you are and success is proven
  • 01:00:46
    performance now you need to prove sain
  • 01:00:49
    now needs to prove that he's good at ads
  • 01:00:51
    he can't just
  • 01:00:52
    say now he has to prove that he's good
  • 01:00:54
    at it
  • 01:00:56
    right so I call this the test because to
  • 01:00:59
    be honest for many years I I had this
  • 01:01:01
    idea in my head that I have crazy
  • 01:01:03
    potential when I was young but I got
  • 01:01:04
    belted by the test and at some point
  • 01:01:08
    it's inevitable everyone has to go
  • 01:01:09
    through the test in your career and I
  • 01:01:11
    can tell you in this company everyone
  • 01:01:13
    who's done well has been through the
  • 01:01:16
    test something where they were really
  • 01:01:18
    put on the spot and they had to pull a
  • 01:01:19
    miracle off for the client or whatever
  • 01:01:22
    they're building right and most
  • 01:01:24
    youngsters have been far disconnected Ed
  • 01:01:26
    from commercial outcome of the business
  • 01:01:28
    an editor is completely disconnected
  • 01:01:30
    from the outcome of a Creator's earnings
  • 01:01:32
    do you know this do you know what that
  • 01:01:35
    means you don't
  • 01:01:37
    know and same for engineers right an
  • 01:01:39
    engineer at zomato doesn't know well
  • 01:01:41
    this line of code that I shipped how
  • 01:01:43
    much is it making or saving for zomato
  • 01:01:44
    same with an editor do you
  • 01:01:47
    know Video Edit how much does that
  • 01:01:50
    increase the top line of the Creator's
  • 01:01:51
    earning you have no idea but sales guys
  • 01:01:54
    on the other hand
  • 01:01:57
    they damn well
  • 01:01:59
    know right a sales guy knows I have
  • 01:02:01
    contributed this much to the company I
  • 01:02:03
    have cost the company this much I've
  • 01:02:04
    contributed this
  • 01:02:06
    much right and sales is ultimately what
  • 01:02:09
    makes the company money
  • 01:02:11
    so I wish everyone was able to work in
  • 01:02:14
    sales for a few week of of their lives
  • 01:02:16
    so they just got this this thing of
  • 01:02:19
    actually few months of their life so
  • 01:02:20
    they at least knew know how much it
  • 01:02:22
    costs to do what they do on a daily
  • 01:02:24
    basis and just be given the freedom to
  • 01:02:25
    do creative
  • 01:02:28
    stuff next slide so this is the test
  • 01:02:32
    okay this is a I'm I'm I'm this is hyper
  • 01:02:37
    buly but nine out of 10 youngsters I
  • 01:02:39
    meet think they'll be the next Elon Musk
  • 01:02:40
    roit was telling me this we're sitting
  • 01:02:42
    in the room and we had some guy come in
  • 01:02:45
    and he was like uh he said something and
  • 01:02:47
    he left and Ro was like Elon Musk like
  • 01:02:49
    me and Ro just have this thing we we
  • 01:02:51
    pointed guy and we're like this guy is
  • 01:02:53
    like Elon Musk right in their mind that
  • 01:02:56
    potential is unlimited like me when I
  • 01:02:57
    was young I was I'm also guilty of this
  • 01:02:59
    this is not unique I started consuming
  • 01:03:02
    content far before anyone else did
  • 01:03:04
    because I got an internet connection
  • 01:03:05
    early in my life and it was us Reddit
  • 01:03:08
    in my head when I was younger
  • 01:03:10
    right so that potential has to meet
  • 01:03:12
    ground
  • 01:03:13
    reality okay this is measured in
  • 01:03:16
    commercial performance how much money do
  • 01:03:17
    you guys make the company or how much
  • 01:03:18
    money you make
  • 01:03:19
    yourself most collisions of your
  • 01:03:22
    potential in your head and ground
  • 01:03:23
    reality leads to ground reality winning
  • 01:03:25
    it's actually damn hard to build a
  • 01:03:26
    successful business right and a lot of
  • 01:03:29
    people who have left us to go start the
  • 01:03:31
    exact same thing are realizing this now
  • 01:03:33
    it's actually damn hard to make
  • 01:03:34
    everything play together and make money
  • 01:03:36
    seasoned tested Talent is humble because
  • 01:03:40
    they know the test is
  • 01:03:41
    hard and has lower expectations when
  • 01:03:44
    you're seasoned now you come in and
  • 01:03:46
    you're like okay now I know this is hard
  • 01:03:49
    I know this is not worth taking on like
  • 01:03:51
    that's why I love working with people
  • 01:03:52
    like haran and Tas right they're like
  • 01:03:54
    yeah we can build a product
  • 01:03:56
    but that's crazy amount of risk for the
  • 01:03:59
    company to absorb right now and the ROI
  • 01:04:01
    is
  • 01:04:01
    unclear most people go decades without
  • 01:04:04
    the test you could live your entire life
  • 01:04:07
    not being tested on whether you have
  • 01:04:09
    driven leads conversion anything for the
  • 01:04:12
    company but the minute you align you're
  • 01:04:14
    like my job whatever I'm doing has to
  • 01:04:16
    align to give leads to the company when
  • 01:04:17
    you're editing let's say for the waron
  • 01:04:19
    Maya Channel and you're like okay we're
  • 01:04:22
    doing a brand deal for this company can
  • 01:04:24
    we drive can we do something that
  • 01:04:27
    doesn't piss off our audience but drives
  • 01:04:29
    more conversions for the company what's
  • 01:04:30
    a better narrative instead of somebody
  • 01:04:32
    else telling you that if you can think
  • 01:04:34
    through that you have passed the test or
  • 01:04:37
    you're getting close to testing yourself
  • 01:04:39
    sagur is a great example of this Saga
  • 01:04:42
    literally scaled a channel by himself
  • 01:04:43
    and he was like like he's very confident
  • 01:04:46
    he can do it again that's the thing
  • 01:04:48
    about the test once people have pass the
  • 01:04:49
    test they're confident now I can do it
  • 01:04:51
    one more time I can do it two more times
  • 01:04:52
    next slide okay I'm going to change the
  • 01:04:56
    table till now I've been speaking as an
  • 01:04:57
    employer now I want to tell you how you
  • 01:04:59
    can take advantage of
  • 01:05:01
    me and all of them this is how employees
  • 01:05:04
    can now leverage and take advantage of
  • 01:05:06
    their employers right this also for
  • 01:05:09
    people online it all flips around once
  • 01:05:12
    you passed the test once something you
  • 01:05:14
    have done has led to commercial
  • 01:05:17
    meaningful commercial outcomes whether
  • 01:05:19
    directly or as directly as possible some
  • 01:05:21
    of you are slightly indirect like an
  • 01:05:22
    engineer would be slightly indirect but
  • 01:05:23
    still you'll know whether you've
  • 01:05:24
    contributed to some outcome you have a
  • 01:05:27
    new asset the asset is
  • 01:05:30
    leverage you have proven leverage if you
  • 01:05:32
    can perform again and again you gain
  • 01:05:34
    even more leverage you know why people
  • 01:05:35
    really come to us today at least on the
  • 01:05:37
    content side we do the AI side and the
  • 01:05:38
    content side people really come to us on
  • 01:05:40
    the content side
  • 01:05:42
    because we get people
  • 01:05:45
    performance eight out of 10 times sure
  • 01:05:47
    we still fail 20% of the time because
  • 01:05:48
    this content so hard but eight or 10
  • 01:05:51
    times when a client comes to us we get
  • 01:05:52
    them the views on the AI business
  • 01:05:55
    Business Solution side when a client
  • 01:05:57
    comes to us like Amazon Prime for
  • 01:05:59
    example we do such a good job on the
  • 01:06:01
    first one and we' lost money on the
  • 01:06:02
    first one where the second time they
  • 01:06:04
    come back and they love us they built a
  • 01:06:06
    relationship and that relationship
  • 01:06:08
    continues to compound so if you can
  • 01:06:10
    perform again and again you get even
  • 01:06:12
    more leverage and people with leverage
  • 01:06:14
    can demand any price they want and are
  • 01:06:15
    widely sof sought after the table is not
  • 01:06:18
    like once you gain leverage it's not
  • 01:06:20
    that you make 10% increment 20%
  • 01:06:22
    increment you can ask for whatever you
  • 01:06:24
    want once you have real leverage and
  • 01:06:27
    this cannot be faked with credit taking
  • 01:06:29
    we have too many people who go out there
  • 01:06:30
    and say I built AOS I
  • 01:06:33
    built Labs we really have these kind of
  • 01:06:36
    people by the way it's so stupid because
  • 01:06:38
    everyone like I said they do D they call
  • 01:06:41
    us so you cannot fake this with credit
  • 01:06:44
    taking because eventually okay even if
  • 01:06:46
    you get a deal saying I'm really great
  • 01:06:48
    at content Ed for this other company and
  • 01:06:49
    I did everything end to end the other
  • 01:06:51
    company can you perform for them because
  • 01:06:54
    if you don't perform for them then
  • 01:06:58
    next slide there are nine types of
  • 01:07:00
    Leverage okay
  • 01:07:03
    skill management
  • 01:07:06
    ability experience in a specific
  • 01:07:09
    domain relationships and distribution
  • 01:07:12
    cash data assets technology brand next
  • 01:07:15
    slide okay skill and Technology are
  • 01:07:18
    getting commoditized and maybe also
  • 01:07:21
    because of how we've built the company
  • 01:07:22
    right uh video editors is not a like
  • 01:07:25
    finding a skilled video editor is not
  • 01:07:27
    like a like an insane challenge for us
  • 01:07:30
    it's getting commoditized finding a very
  • 01:07:32
    skilled developer today especially after
  • 01:07:33
    lots of people are being laid off is not
  • 01:07:35
    too much of a challenge and even the
  • 01:07:37
    technology it's not like today Hollywood
  • 01:07:40
    has some you know there was a time by
  • 01:07:42
    the way when I was younger I went to
  • 01:07:43
    this some animation Academy when I was
  • 01:07:46
    like very very young right to learn
  • 01:07:47
    animation and that time they had
  • 01:07:49
    exclusive licenses of Maya I don't know
  • 01:07:51
    whether they had pirated it or what but
  • 01:07:54
    that was like 3D software 3ds Max and
  • 01:07:56
    Maya I was like crazy these guys have
  • 01:07:59
    this software how do I don't I don't
  • 01:08:00
    know how to get it at home and they are
  • 01:08:02
    on discs and all today everyone has
  • 01:08:05
    blender in 3D so the tech there was a
  • 01:08:09
    time where live streaming only few
  • 01:08:10
    companies can do now everyone can do so
  • 01:08:13
    technology is getting commoditized over
  • 01:08:14
    time so you have to rely on one of these
  • 01:08:17
    few
  • 01:08:18
    things next slide okay let me tell you
  • 01:08:21
    something about skill okay Supply demand
  • 01:08:23
    economics exists in all kinds of
  • 01:08:25
    Leverage to okay for example we posted a
  • 01:08:28
    post recently about we have a job board
  • 01:08:31
    do you know this on super DM we got
  • 01:08:34
    1,600 rums for full stack developers but
  • 01:08:38
    just four rums for VFX artists if you
  • 01:08:41
    are and this is more for people online
  • 01:08:43
    right because everyone here already has
  • 01:08:44
    a job if you're looking for a job why
  • 01:08:46
    would you do add one more number here
  • 01:08:48
    why not add one number here sure the
  • 01:08:51
    number of companies here hiring is
  • 01:08:52
    lesser but the competition here is so
  • 01:08:54
    much more I think it's better to do this
  • 01:08:57
    and do Discovery a little better no you
  • 01:08:59
    can't go where the traffic is if you're
  • 01:09:01
    looking for a job especially and this is
  • 01:09:03
    even for people here who might be
  • 01:09:04
    looking for a job outside for Whatever
  • 01:09:06
    Whenever 3 years later 5 years later
  • 01:09:07
    whenever it is tomorrow whenever it is
  • 01:09:10
    you can't go by the traffic is you have
  • 01:09:11
    to do something sufficiently different
  • 01:09:13
    from the rest of the world that the
  • 01:09:14
    world really needs being early to a new
  • 01:09:18
    industry or solving a problem for Less
  • 01:09:20
    sexy industry is better and again more
  • 01:09:22
    for the people online where
  • 01:09:26
    there's a line of people outside of cred
  • 01:09:27
    saying I want to be a designer for cred
  • 01:09:30
    but that same line isn't standing for a
  • 01:09:31
    real estate company and if you're a good
  • 01:09:33
    designer and you're able to build a
  • 01:09:35
    relationship like I said relationship is
  • 01:09:37
    a leverage you can get paid just as much
  • 01:09:40
    in a good real estate company helping
  • 01:09:41
    them sell their products they make more
  • 01:09:42
    money they make real hard cash for VCS
  • 01:09:46
    in 2021 and this is the other side of
  • 01:09:48
    the table right cash was not the
  • 01:09:49
    leverage as Supply demand got
  • 01:09:50
    temporarily skewed in 2021 if you went
  • 01:09:53
    and said you know one VC is ging me 3
  • 01:09:56
    crores 10 other VCS are standing in line
  • 01:09:58
    saying 3.1 CR 3.5 CR that time is over
  • 01:10:02
    but that time cash stop being The
  • 01:10:03
    Leverage for a short period of time so
  • 01:10:05
    you need to find what has leverage
  • 01:10:07
    now okay so and this is also all these
  • 01:10:11
    lever also the intangibles you get from
  • 01:10:12
    working in the company when people look
  • 01:10:14
    at
  • 01:10:15
    package okay you see okay I'm getting
  • 01:10:18
    whatever X number of laks per 10 lakhs
  • 01:10:20
    inm 20 lakhs inm 5 lakhs inm but you're
  • 01:10:23
    not seeing that every company gives you
  • 01:10:24
    intangibles
  • 01:10:25
    not only is a company helping you gain
  • 01:10:27
    skill okay because you're working on the
  • 01:10:30
    job that's the only that's the best way
  • 01:10:31
    to learn you're also Learning Management
  • 01:10:33
    ability because you're managed by people
  • 01:10:35
    above you you learn okay like a Barat
  • 01:10:37
    will say okay this is how Harsha is
  • 01:10:38
    doing this okay maybe I should learn
  • 01:10:40
    from that because Hasa has had a few
  • 01:10:41
    years doing management right but you
  • 01:10:44
    also get the opportunity to manage
  • 01:10:46
    down right so for example in Ian would
  • 01:10:49
    be like okay how do I handle how do I
  • 01:10:51
    manage dops or theyan should be like how
  • 01:10:54
    do I manage the dops
  • 01:10:55
    you learn that experience the hard way
  • 01:10:58
    right okus has learned the hard way how
  • 01:11:00
    to manage people
  • 01:11:03
    downwards how do I deal with this so you
  • 01:11:05
    gain that experience right some this not
  • 01:11:07
    this cannot be taught it's very hard to
  • 01:11:09
    teach this experience in a specific
  • 01:11:11
    domain so if you're working let's say
  • 01:11:13
    with us you gain experience with content
  • 01:11:15
    we are mainly focused on content and you
  • 01:11:18
    learn a lot right if you're a developer
  • 01:11:19
    and you're here you still learn so much
  • 01:11:20
    more about content if you're a filmmaker
  • 01:11:22
    you're like oh this is how VFX is done
  • 01:11:24
    you see all the experiments happening
  • 01:11:26
    life so you learn stuff then there's
  • 01:11:28
    relationships and distribution tomorrow
  • 01:11:30
    if you want to start a company the best
  • 01:11:31
    people to start a company with even
  • 01:11:33
    though I'm shooting myself in the foot
  • 01:11:34
    for saying this is people around you I
  • 01:11:36
    didn't have this network when I was
  • 01:11:37
    young
  • 01:11:39
    Engineers you know software Engineers
  • 01:11:43
    designers uh VFX artists video editors
  • 01:11:47
    some robotics guys sitting there right
  • 01:11:50
    so you have like this relationship set
  • 01:11:52
    that you build and even if if it's not
  • 01:11:54
    like you going and starting a company
  • 01:11:55
    with them that's too risk that that's
  • 01:11:57
    high risk it could also be like maybe
  • 01:11:59
    you move on and you need some help from
  • 01:12:00
    somebody somebody who in the industry
  • 01:12:02
    who know something you have people
  • 01:12:03
    around you very hard to do especially
  • 01:12:05
    lots of kids who want to do this work
  • 01:12:06
    from home you have zero like you're
  • 01:12:09
    basically losing this entire leverage
  • 01:12:12
    even the experience you're losing
  • 01:12:13
    leverage because some you can just walk
  • 01:12:14
    to our studio and be like okay what are
  • 01:12:15
    you guys up to right which you don't
  • 01:12:18
    gain work from home this is for the
  • 01:12:19
    people online especially then there's
  • 01:12:22
    cash there's a difference between doing
  • 01:12:23
    something by yourself and doing
  • 01:12:24
    something with company resources all the
  • 01:12:26
    filmmakers here the equipment we have
  • 01:12:29
    today which we built over the last let's
  • 01:12:30
    say 4 months how how would you get this
  • 01:12:34
    otherwise be expensive right so you're
  • 01:12:36
    basically using the assets and the cash
  • 01:12:39
    of the company to do things that you
  • 01:12:40
    wouldn't have been able to do otherwise
  • 01:12:42
    right and even I see it the same way by
  • 01:12:44
    the way my company's assets are not mine
  • 01:12:47
    my company it's not like I own the
  • 01:12:48
    company's assets and you know it's like
  • 01:12:50
    I get to take it home every day it's
  • 01:12:52
    like okay this is an asset I use it and
  • 01:12:55
    it's also for use for everybody else
  • 01:12:56
    let's see if we can use these to
  • 01:12:58
    generate more cash if we have better
  • 01:12:59
    green screens or whatever it is right
  • 01:13:02
    then there's of course data and I think
  • 01:13:05
    we have now some data here and there to
  • 01:13:08
    know not just in terms of insights data
  • 01:13:10
    as in which clients but also in terms of
  • 01:13:14
    we have our backend YouTube
  • 01:13:16
    dashboards we know roughly what works
  • 01:13:18
    what doesn't you know for many years I
  • 01:13:20
    used to go to many creators I've done
  • 01:13:21
    this with sharan I've done this with tan
  • 01:13:24
    I've done this with probably every
  • 01:13:25
    Creator I've met show me YouTube
  • 01:13:27
    dashboard I want to see your
  • 01:13:29
    stats I'm notorious for doing this so
  • 01:13:31
    I'll go I'll see the stats I like I'll
  • 01:13:33
    be like okay why is this low why is that
  • 01:13:35
    high why did this video do well so data
  • 01:13:38
    is very valuable and data only comes
  • 01:13:39
    from proximity right like sitting next
  • 01:13:41
    to somebody then of course technology
  • 01:13:43
    which again in our case is assets and
  • 01:13:45
    then there's a brand today you would
  • 01:13:49
    rather intern at Apple for
  • 01:13:51
    zero for zero pay then get paid 30k a
  • 01:13:55
    month at some Lalu Prasad
  • 01:13:59
    company
  • 01:14:00
    why cuz your next employer will look at
  • 01:14:02
    Apple on your CV and say oh my God he
  • 01:14:05
    worked at Apple I'll tell you one thing
  • 01:14:06
    we have also been guilty of this if
  • 01:14:09
    there's a big name on a CV we will take
  • 01:14:11
    an interview like theying like let's see
  • 01:14:13
    if he's good or not like the one way to
  • 01:14:16
    be uncluttered in interview is go to a
  • 01:14:17
    company that people recognize serious
  • 01:14:19
    companies like I spoke about so if you
  • 01:14:21
    worked at any serious company from the
  • 01:14:23
    zero of the world to the blinket of the
  • 01:14:24
    world whatever if we recognize the name
  • 01:14:27
    and to be honest with
  • 01:14:29
    AOS we are now even though we're very
  • 01:14:32
    young we starting to become more
  • 01:14:33
    recognizable so AOS on your CV means
  • 01:14:35
    something it's not baked into your CDC
  • 01:14:36
    but it's meaning something to your life
  • 01:14:38
    but the minute you stay there for three
  • 01:14:39
    months and then say I built AOS that
  • 01:14:41
    doesn't work you got to be there for a
  • 01:14:42
    while and people look at how long you've
  • 01:14:44
    been at a certain place somebody's gone
  • 01:14:46
    to like you know like a Facebook but
  • 01:14:49
    work there for 2 months even we don't
  • 01:14:50
    take it seriously employers are not dumb
  • 01:14:53
    next slide yeah this is a truth you
  • 01:14:55
    can't say on social media by the way I'm
  • 01:14:58
    taking a risk by saying it one of you is
  • 01:15:00
    going to feed me
  • 01:15:02
    poison which is that actually interning
  • 01:15:05
    for zero at an apple will do more for
  • 01:15:06
    your career we don't have an internship
  • 01:15:08
    I don't think we do internships at the
  • 01:15:09
    company we just do full-time salaries
  • 01:15:11
    for everyone we just like let's not get
  • 01:15:12
    into this junj but interning at Apple
  • 01:15:15
    for zero will do more for your career
  • 01:15:16
    than a 50k per month job at some no-name
  • 01:15:19
    company because it's apple and apple
  • 01:15:21
    rarely hdes that's such a that's such a
  • 01:15:24
    filter right
  • 01:15:25
    so that's brand leverage in action and
  • 01:15:27
    this is a truth you can't say on social
  • 01:15:29
    media right that's why I said you can't
  • 01:15:32
    say enough truths on social media next
  • 01:15:35
    slide now I'm going to tell you
  • 01:15:36
    important part how to negotiate for a
  • 01:15:39
    race okay I'm telling you a little bit
  • 01:15:42
    of founder psychology so I'll tell you a
  • 01:15:44
    little bit of my my psychology and the
  • 01:15:45
    founders we have here and also the
  • 01:15:47
    founders outside most Founders are
  • 01:15:49
    lonely they've been through a 5 10 year
  • 01:15:52
    Journey before they are in a position
  • 01:15:53
    where they can give you good cash or
  • 01:15:55
    they're VC funed and you know I don't
  • 01:15:56
    know what works for them because they're
  • 01:15:58
    not really thinking it through they're
  • 01:16:00
    not stable companies either bootstrap
  • 01:16:03
    Founders will never part with cash up
  • 01:16:04
    front unless there's appropriate value
  • 01:16:06
    provision okay so if you come to me and
  • 01:16:08
    you say vun there's this project and
  • 01:16:11
    it's making X and
  • 01:16:13
    I'm I'm why in this and then after all
  • 01:16:16
    your whatever costs you're still making
  • 01:16:19
    good this thing or you're expanding
  • 01:16:20
    revenue for us if you come in and you
  • 01:16:22
    expand revenue for me that's a very big
  • 01:16:23
    deal for me like with the Hardware team
  • 01:16:25
    now with the experiments team now we're
  • 01:16:26
    trying some VFX because if that works
  • 01:16:28
    that expands revenue for us right so
  • 01:16:31
    that I don't mind taking up The Upfront
  • 01:16:32
    risk for it because I'm like okay if it
  • 01:16:34
    works I can see how it expands Revenue
  • 01:16:36
    Founders really value loyalty there used
  • 01:16:38
    to be a time where how many of you
  • 01:16:40
    believe so there's two things right
  • 01:16:42
    loyalty and meritocracy you know what
  • 01:16:43
    meritocracy is what's a meritocracy
  • 01:16:47
    basis Merit basis skill there if I were
  • 01:16:50
    to promote choose between two people and
  • 01:16:52
    promote them or or give them benefits
  • 01:16:55
    who would I choose Merit and loyalty
  • 01:16:59
    what should I choose
  • 01:17:02
    rationally okay everyone said
  • 01:17:05
    Merit some people are saying loyalty
  • 01:17:07
    okay somebody who said Merit tell me why
  • 01:17:10
    Merit mhm because like one paper is
  • 01:17:15
    better than skill wise okay why would
  • 01:17:18
    the other people choose loyalty actually
  • 01:17:20
    one of the one of those guys there tell
  • 01:17:21
    me Hara why would you choose actually
  • 01:17:23
    will any of you choose loyalty
  • 01:17:25
    yeah okay why would you choose loyalty I
  • 01:17:27
    choose loyalty
  • 01:17:33
    longy
  • 01:17:38
    ISM loyalty
  • 01:17:41
    longm yeah so because I have a mic on
  • 01:17:45
    I'll just repeat what he said he said in
  • 01:17:46
    the short-term meritocracy works in the
  • 01:17:49
    long-term loyalty is better I'll tell
  • 01:17:50
    you what the one of the challenges of
  • 01:17:52
    being extremely
  • 01:17:53
    meritocracy with being a pure Merit Aug
  • 01:17:56
    right so people come in they're
  • 01:17:57
    extremely you know good at what they do
  • 01:18:00
    but the problem is like I said skill is
  • 01:18:02
    commoditizing right and actually it's
  • 01:18:04
    finding I'm finding it harder to keep
  • 01:18:05
    people for like 2 years 3 years whatever
  • 01:18:07
    we're young and we mostly we've managed
  • 01:18:09
    to keep everybody but most Founders have
  • 01:18:11
    a hard time keeping really good talent
  • 01:18:13
    because really good talent right now is
  • 01:18:15
    is very distracted so it doesn't matter
  • 01:18:17
    how good you are if you aren't willing
  • 01:18:19
    to commit for a year or two years right
  • 01:18:21
    for a while what's the purpose of being
  • 01:18:23
    good if you can't commit it's like
  • 01:18:25
    saying I'm getting married but for one
  • 01:18:28
    month but she's the best girl
  • 01:18:31
    ever it's useless it's like it's not a
  • 01:18:35
    it's not something that's valuable
  • 01:18:37
    especially through the hard years just
  • 01:18:38
    like we're having good times today we
  • 01:18:40
    will have bad times at some point I'm
  • 01:18:41
    damn sure of it because I've eaten dirt
  • 01:18:43
    for 10 years so Founders really value
  • 01:18:46
    loyalty especially during the hard times
  • 01:18:48
    right and extraction of value from a
  • 01:18:51
    relationship again I'm batting for your
  • 01:18:53
    side is best done after few years cuz
  • 01:18:56
    it's very hard to say they go one month
  • 01:18:58
    you know I've done this I'm very loyal
  • 01:19:00
    to you now give this thing there have
  • 01:19:01
    been people around for a year two years
  • 01:19:03
    actually people who are making the most
  • 01:19:05
    amount of money in this company are
  • 01:19:06
    people who' have been with me for many
  • 01:19:07
    many years and I'm sure they will treat
  • 01:19:09
    their employees in the same way you've
  • 01:19:10
    stuck around with them for 3 four years
  • 01:19:11
    you get everything especially as the
  • 01:19:13
    company does better you get more and
  • 01:19:14
    more and more if you've been around for
  • 01:19:16
    a while cuz we know we can trust you we
  • 01:19:17
    know we can count on you that's the
  • 01:19:18
    hardest thing today actually and
  • 01:19:21
    knowledge of a company situation is
  • 01:19:22
    valuable if a particular company company
  • 01:19:25
    and especially because we are a bunch of
  • 01:19:26
    companies if you know that the company
  • 01:19:28
    is doing well it's easier for you to ask
  • 01:19:30
    for a raise if you know a company's
  • 01:19:31
    margins are lower it is harder for you
  • 01:19:34
    to ask for a race right and it's best
  • 01:19:36
    done after a few years so our race cycle
  • 01:19:38
    is once a year so let's say you join on
  • 01:19:41
    Feb first you you can only talk about a
  • 01:19:43
    raise Feb first the next year so
  • 01:19:46
    whenever you join one year from there
  • 01:19:47
    you can ask for a raise we don't do
  • 01:19:49
    Midway Rays we're not too big for that
  • 01:19:51
    to you know continuously revise numbers
  • 01:19:53
    or whatever and we're also not there was
  • 01:19:55
    a time when we started where we didn't
  • 01:19:56
    have crazy budgets but now we don't have
  • 01:19:58
    we still don't have crazy budgets but we
  • 01:20:00
    pay everyone Market salary or close to
  • 01:20:02
    Market salary what you're looking for
  • 01:20:04
    for success in general this is not just
  • 01:20:07
    related to you is you're looking for a
  • 01:20:09
    fast growing company fast growing in
  • 01:20:11
    terms of profit not in head count profit
  • 01:20:14
    with close proximity to decision makers
  • 01:20:17
    there are companies you would work at
  • 01:20:19
    maybe real estate and all that where you
  • 01:20:20
    wouldn't even be able to talk to the
  • 01:20:21
    founders you won't even know what's
  • 01:20:22
    going on in their head you won't even
  • 01:20:23
    know what's important to them right so
  • 01:20:25
    fast growing company close proximity to
  • 01:20:27
    decision makers in profit successful
  • 01:20:30
    Founders are tested and hence value
  • 01:20:32
    humility dude I had a guy come the other
  • 01:20:34
    day to the office I'm not going to take
  • 01:20:36
    names but the most 20 years old obvious
  • 01:20:40
    normal I was like that probably where he
  • 01:20:43
    came and he's like you know we're doing
  • 01:20:45
    this we know this zero humility right of
  • 01:20:47
    understanding that this is damn hard and
  • 01:20:49
    doing this 10 20 years it'll burn you
  • 01:20:51
    out anyway whatever so good Founders
  • 01:20:54
    values humility if you come to me and
  • 01:20:55
    say this is 100% going to work I'll be
  • 01:20:57
    like
  • 01:20:58
    really you'll prove it to me 100% will
  • 01:21:00
    work but I prefer people who come and
  • 01:21:01
    say there's a 50% chance this will work
  • 01:21:04
    and these three parts I don't know but
  • 01:21:05
    we'll figure it out right I love people
  • 01:21:07
    who can figure it out I love working
  • 01:21:09
    with people who can figure it out not
  • 01:21:11
    just me every founder if you say vun I
  • 01:21:13
    will take time but I'll figure it out
  • 01:21:15
    and if it's not possible I'll tell you
  • 01:21:16
    it's not possible and you want an
  • 01:21:18
    accurate assessment sometimes Vishal
  • 01:21:20
    comes to me and like it's not working
  • 01:21:22
    it's a problem with this system I'll be
  • 01:21:24
    like no I've tried it before it works
  • 01:21:26
    and then he'll tweak it and it'll work
  • 01:21:28
    and he'll be like yeah it's working now
  • 01:21:30
    so as much as I respect Vishal for like
  • 01:21:34
    always eventually figuring it out it
  • 01:21:36
    also worries me when he gives me an
  • 01:21:38
    inaccurate
  • 01:21:40
    assessment right sometimes okas does
  • 01:21:42
    this inaccurate assessment of where
  • 01:21:44
    it'll go so I I I'm I like optimism most
  • 01:21:48
    Founders like optimism but you have to
  • 01:21:51
    we don't mind people saying we don't
  • 01:21:53
    know or we'll figure it out
  • 01:21:55
    uh but you can't use that for everything
  • 01:21:57
    Steve Jobs has this quote between the
  • 01:21:58
    janitor and the CEO excuses stop
  • 01:22:01
    mattering so the janitor you know what
  • 01:22:03
    that means like if maid comes in and
  • 01:22:05
    Maid says door B fair I understand our
  • 01:22:09
    argument but if you the CEO and you say
  • 01:22:11
    I wasn't able to add whatever my Target
  • 01:22:14
    in Revenue nobody's going to save you
  • 01:22:16
    you can't give an excuse if you're an
  • 01:22:17
    executive and you're being paid an
  • 01:22:19
    executive you have to get results by
  • 01:22:21
    hook or crook last thing staying in the
  • 01:22:22
    company for long periods of time is a
  • 01:22:24
    hidden level leverage and we have proof
  • 01:22:26
    of that in the company Tas Hara they've
  • 01:22:29
    been with me in previous companies also
  • 01:22:31
    sidhant uh you know staying staying
  • 01:22:34
    around really matters and actually
  • 01:22:37
    having lower expectations also really
  • 01:22:38
    matters because Ron is an example of
  • 01:22:40
    this where he came in he had low
  • 01:22:42
    expectations and then he did just did
  • 01:22:44
    such a good job that we like you you
  • 01:22:47
    have won my trust right let's do
  • 01:22:50
    something cool together okay this is the
  • 01:22:53
    last slide I think
  • 01:22:54
    of but one slide so you now can go break
  • 01:22:57
    out for lunch dinner whatever it
  • 01:22:59
    is uh there are three ways to make big
  • 01:23:02
    money the first one is you stay in a
  • 01:23:05
    fast Growth Company for years and hope
  • 01:23:07
    for your esops to materialize most of
  • 01:23:10
    the time it doesn't work out so you
  • 01:23:11
    could join like a the next startup that
  • 01:23:15
    raises $30
  • 01:23:16
    million straight out the bat join them
  • 01:23:18
    hope the esops materialize you're not
  • 01:23:21
    betting on anything apart you're not
  • 01:23:22
    betting on the founders ability to build
  • 01:23:24
    technology
  • 01:23:25
    you're not betting on the Founder's
  • 01:23:26
    ability to do marketing you're betting
  • 01:23:27
    on the founders ability to make profit
  • 01:23:30
    okay and not just profit but also IPO
  • 01:23:32
    because most people who I'll tell you
  • 01:23:33
    the problem the problem is most people
  • 01:23:35
    who can make profit won't IPO especially
  • 01:23:38
    if you know how to make good profit do
  • 01:23:40
    you know
  • 01:23:42
    why why would you want to be controlled
  • 01:23:45
    by the
  • 01:23:46
    market every day anything you do
  • 01:23:48
    anything you say the market saying good
  • 01:23:50
    things bad things about you you can't
  • 01:23:52
    live your life it's like being in
  • 01:23:53
    shackles private company bootstrap is
  • 01:23:55
    the best the minute you've raised
  • 01:23:56
    funding also you have to listen to
  • 01:23:57
    investors so most people who can turn a
  • 01:24:00
    profit they to them esops is not as
  • 01:24:03
    meaningful but still if you look at zero
  • 01:24:05
    that they do BuyBacks they buy back some
  • 01:24:07
    of the esops over time so there are ways
  • 01:24:09
    it can work out but you're really
  • 01:24:10
    betting on somebody's ability to do
  • 01:24:12
    profit for most of you any ESOP you get
  • 01:24:14
    in any company whether here or outside
  • 01:24:16
    just assume it's worth zero toilet paper
  • 01:24:19
    basically the next thing is start a
  • 01:24:21
    company at an inflection point something
  • 01:24:22
    has just changed and you think there's a
  • 01:24:24
    company required here it's very risky
  • 01:24:26
    takes 10 years to work out timing has to
  • 01:24:28
    be perfect actually I don't know if you
  • 01:24:29
    know this but I've been doing 3D avatar
  • 01:24:32
    stuff now for like four 5 years much
  • 01:24:36
    longer than that I started with game
  • 01:24:37
    engines when I was with reality Factory
  • 01:24:40
    like I was 13 or something 13 14 or
  • 01:24:42
    something and there are videos of me old
  • 01:24:44
    videos where even before metahuman we
  • 01:24:46
    were doing like a 3D avatar right so
  • 01:24:49
    we've been doing this Avatar replacement
  • 01:24:51
    for a long time it's just now it's
  • 01:24:53
    become good on on reals on and
  • 01:24:56
    shs
  • 01:24:58
    um so you need to also time it such that
  • 01:25:01
    what will be popular in 10 years take
  • 01:25:02
    the risk now and then play out those 10
  • 01:25:04
    years in life very very hard to do it's
  • 01:25:07
    really hard to do and last the easiest
  • 01:25:09
    way in my opinion gain leverage and get
  • 01:25:11
    to a senior position at a well-known
  • 01:25:12
    company and work for 20 to 25 years this
  • 01:25:15
    is something never told on social media
  • 01:25:18
    it will take you 20 years to make
  • 01:25:19
    serious
  • 01:25:20
    money if you work here or anywhere else
  • 01:25:23
    and I can guarantee you you for most of
  • 01:25:26
    you it will take this much time to make
  • 01:25:27
    good
  • 01:25:28
    money retirement level money 20 25 years
  • 01:25:31
    just like it was for your
  • 01:25:32
    parents nobody wants to hear this you're
  • 01:25:35
    like 5 years how do I get a lambogini
  • 01:25:37
    and get out of
  • 01:25:39
    this but it takes time even if you're
  • 01:25:41
    damn smart even if you're damn connected
  • 01:25:43
    it takes time last thing is gamble
  • 01:25:46
    invest in some crazy risky thing some
  • 01:25:49
    new coin this that whatever some or
  • 01:25:52
    the other keeps coming out but there
  • 01:25:54
    the risk is almost certain and you but
  • 01:25:56
    you'll still find one guy you know who
  • 01:25:58
    has invested in like some something and
  • 01:26:01
    they've made 100x their money or
  • 01:26:03
    whatever and then you'll be like but
  • 01:26:05
    that's the problem by the time the guys
  • 01:26:06
    invested it's already too late now you
  • 01:26:08
    can't invest and make that money but
  • 01:26:09
    you'll have such people you should never
  • 01:26:11
    look at them and say oh he's doing
  • 01:26:12
    better in life than me he gambled and
  • 01:26:14
    won it's like looking at a guy who won a
  • 01:26:16
    lottery ticket and being like and
  • 01:26:18
    envying his life it's so strange I I've
  • 01:26:22
    seen it with some of you right
  • 01:26:23
    especially with the crypto boom and you
  • 01:26:24
    looked at your friends making some crazy
  • 01:26:26
    money in crypto like oh you made so much
  • 01:26:27
    money but it's like looking at some guy
  • 01:26:30
    who won a lottery ticket and saying why
  • 01:26:31
    does he have oh he made so much money
  • 01:26:33
    you don't envy a lottery ticket guys
  • 01:26:34
    lifestyle so why are you envying the
  • 01:26:36
    crypto guys lifestyle it's fine it's one
  • 01:26:39
    wins 100 day anyway do you have any
  • 01:26:42
    other
  • 01:26:43
    slides that was long and I'm sorry for
  • 01:26:47
    taking so much time but I
  • 01:26:49
    think it was important that I told you
  • 01:26:52
    how youngsters were thinking because 90%
  • 01:26:54
    % of you were kind of thinking something
  • 01:26:55
    along these lines I thought might as
  • 01:26:57
    well tell you what it took for us and
  • 01:26:59
    how long it'll generally take nobody
  • 01:27:01
    wants to plan out 20 years of their life
  • 01:27:04
    but you need to right and we don't know
  • 01:27:07
    what's going to happen in 20 years AI
  • 01:27:08
    might come anything can happen but
  • 01:27:11
    long-term loyalty really matters in any
  • 01:27:12
    company especially as AI comes around
  • 01:27:14
    the corner and skill becomes less and
  • 01:27:16
    less important loyalty and just being
  • 01:27:18
    around being able to absorb
  • 01:27:19
    responsibility and risk
  • 01:27:22
    matters yeah that's it
  • 01:27:24
    for everyone online bye
Tags
  • Pandemic
  • Indian workforce
  • Risk-taking
  • Equity
  • Social media influence
  • Career progression
  • Company expectations