What's a question you like asking — yourself or others?
“Does this move the needle?” You only have a limited amount of time for everything that needs to be done, and prioritization of tasks is crucial.
What was a pivotal moment where your business made a big leap forward?
We had studied the industry for a long time and understood there is a problem almost everyone has. This problem is complex to solve, but the prospective users desperately need a solution. This is when we realized that this is what we must build.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
Before becoming an entrepreneur, join a few scale-ups that have a great leadership team that will teach you what you need to know for running a business. Otherwise your learnings will be expensive, and many of the pitfalls could have been avoided.
What personal habit or behavior helped you accelerate your personal growth?
It’s very difficult for me to give up. This is also a curse, but it has forced me to be scrappy and quickly learn what needs to be done.
What shift in perspective has allowed you to see things differently?
For an engineer like me, it was easy to focus on solving the technical side of problems without considering if anyone would really benefit from the solution. Then I came across YCombinator’s slogan, 'build something people want.' This sentence sounds simple, but for me, it was an eye-opener: it’s about fundamentally understanding the problem the user or customer wants to be solved.
What's your secret sauce for building a great team?
Work with other leaders who don’t have a strong ego, and who can manage themselves. They will independently deliver exceptional results.
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Here’s More, From Other Founders Around the World
What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
When I was 16 (way before the internet) I founded a travel-partner agency to connect people from different backgrounds seeking travel companions. After a year, I had to close the agency due to a lack of customers and the confusion some callers had regarding the nature of the “service.” Despite this setback, I gained invaluable insights into sales, communication and people’s needs, solidifying my desire to run a business that helps people.
What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?
After graduating, I worked for an extremely well-paying automotive company. But I always had the feeling that there was more out there. So I quit and went into research with the aim of becoming a founder.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
There are no overnight miracles, it's very hard work: both physically and emotionally. Requires resilience, grit, strategic approach and grind.
What’s an important guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values is experimentation. Rather than get stuck in arguing about what solution may best solve a problem or play to our ego, we focus on the smallest step we could possibly take to learn whether that’s true. It moves our minds away from thinking too big without sweating the small stuff and from getting stuck in discussions rather than actually doing something to understand the possible solutions better.