About me:

1. I spent the last 10 years operating a startup, so I’ve been in your shoes very recently.
   • Managed KPIs, hired and managed our exec team.
   • Ran our fundraises ($35 million in equity and $8 million in debt).
   • Did IC work across all domains (engineering, marketing, operations, finance).
   • Heavy exposure to regulatory challenges (licensing and accreditation).
2. I’m not an expert on b2b sales.
3. I won’t be an expert in your domain, but I learn very quickly.
   • If you think understanding something in your domain is important, send me resources to read on slack.

How to get the most out of me:

1. Talk fast, it’ll help us do more in less time. I usually watch youtube videos at 2x speed :)
2. I love asynchronous communication.
   • If I can cover ground by reading information on slack before or at the start of office hours, that’s great!
   • If it’s a quick question, use slack. If it’s a discussion or brainstorm, use OH.
3. Cut to the chase. Start with the problem then share the context.
   • Long winded backstories will usually eat up time.
   • Caveat: if you do just need someone just to listen or do rubber ducky debugging, that’s fine too. Just know we won’t be able to cover as much ground in the 20m.
4. Focus on the highest leverage problems.
   • If a problem doesn’t have high impact on your main KPIs, it’s probably better to cover on slack than in OH.
   • Cofounder fights or challenges with key team members are usually high leverage. Don’t hide these, I promise I’ve dealt with worse.
5. Generating ideas is one of my superpowers (Desai == ideas ;) so use me for this.
   • Recognize that it’s your job to figure out which ideas are actually good ones.
6. I’ll be very direct about what I think the biggest problem with your startup is.
   • Sometimes this means I’ll take the discussion in a different direction than you were planning on, and this usually will lead to good insights. Feel free to bring the discussion back to your agenda as needed.
7. It may feel like I’m oversimplifying the problem when giving advice. That’s intentional.
   • In my experience, boiling things down to their essence and reducing scope and complexity is the best way to get to a clear answer. Clarity of thought is critical for good decision making.
8. It may feel like my advice is too general to be true for your startup.
   • It’s exceptionally rare that startups are so special that general advice doesn’t apply. I spent a decade in the intricate weeds of our domain, ultimately the general mechanics mattered most.
   • My job is to get you out of the weeds and look at things from a macro/systems lens and understand the laws of startup physics that are at play.
   • Your job is to apply these laws of physics to the nuances of your business.