Demo day. Weeks 8 and 9 in SF

I’ve worked harder than ever before in the last 4 weeks. Was it worth it?

I worked on different ideas, different projects. At every opportunity, as long as I was learning, kept pursuing it. I would work 12-15 hours every day non-stop. Not because, if i didn’t, my company would lose clients or because its a cool thing to do.

In my head, I had this 4 week timer where I HAD to be successful. I would literally avoid some interactions thinking I need to be more productive. I was really just coping.

Guilt is good, not at the cost of living life though.

Now as the program got over, here are the benefits of locking in— I picked up so many different generalist skills. I created a side project that went semi-viral on twitter.

People are actually posting about and showing love. Without me telling them to do so lol

But, there is something I would change.

Last night, I was chatting to a really good friend of mine. He’s co-founded a space company that’s competing with SpaceX. Yeah, he’s crazy smart.

Surprisingly we actually had something in common -- We both had limited time in US. He’s getting his O1 visa, but we were both discussing what’s the best way to spend our (possibly) limited time here.

While having his hand-made South Indian chai, he said something that hit so hard.

I was telling him if I go back in 2 months without incorporating a company here, I’ll view myself as a failure. As someone that literally had the opportunities and resources, but still couldn’t do it.

He replies, if i wake up everyday and measure success by whether of not I’m hitting certain numbers, I will end up hating the thing I’m building.

So you really have to optimize for enjoying the journey. There is no finish line, the numbers to hit keeps increasing.

That was like taking a mountain of stress off my shoulders. That one little moment made the demo day so beautiful.

Me and 100 other builders got on stage 1 by 1. We pitched our projects, some their life’s works. People came from around the world to watch.

Btw you can watch the demo video here: https://lnkd.in/g3vPUJYy
My pitch is at 2:24:00

I pitched https://coldemails.world/ and got so much love on it. About 100 people are already on the newsletter

The people I met here are truly going to be my MOAT. Some I stayed overnight with ,some I figured out problems with, some I complained about lows with. All together.

We all got wasted after demo day. No other group of people I would rather build alongside and celebrate with.

Anyways, I’m glad to be done with the 4 week sprint. I’m going to continue working on the cold emails side project. At the same time, I'm working with another company here on something I’ll reveal in time

I’ll be continuing to work out of Founders Inc. This time, optimizing for enjoyment.

Enjoy some of the photos below, they’re from working late nights here, meeting some of my closest friends, and trying to make this experience something I can smile at looking back :)