The Pathways & Padlocks Conversation
00:15:27 · Sachin, Sid Dissanayake
[00:15:27] S0: what we're doing all the time, people don't really care that much, right? And I think that as we get older as well, doing your own thing is cool. Like it's actually cool. And I think that other people respect it more than they would put it down. [00:15:42] S1: Yeah, I think yeah, you mentioned, I mean, recently I was thinking about the same thing about how we overstate our own importance in other people's lives as well. So I definitely resonate with that there. I mean, a part of sharing those stories is facilitating access to the experiences of whoever you're interviewing. I think like in the bio of your YouTube page, you talk about democratizing those conversations for everyone. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't know what democratize meant before that, but my understanding is that essentially means to make it something accessible. So, was that sort of grounded in a personal experience about, you know, getting access to the stories of these inspirational and knowledgeable people and leveraging those experiences?
00:16:29 · Sachin
[00:16:29] S0: Yeah, 100%. So, as I mentioned before, most of my best learnings or most profound insights have come from people older than me and those kinds of conversations. And I've always been very passionate about equality of opportunity. And I felt that giving people an insight into these people's minds is one of the best ways I can facilitate equality of opportunity. Because I think that we should all have access to the same amount of information, then it comes then the onus is on the individual about what they do with that information. But I also think that as a podcast is developed, I don't think that insight is as profound as I may lead on because there's so many podcasts out there, there's so many amazing guests, there's almost an abundance of information out there. So I think that's led to Adam and I doing some soul searching of what's our unique value add, especially because we're operating that space, that kind of Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan space where we're interviewing people that have fairly big names now. And it's taking some soul searching of what's our unique value add compared to these other guests. And I think that as our podcast has moved towards that, that's something we've been considering more. But it almost operates as a juxtaposition of something like your podcast because I see it operating in a white space in the sense that there's no one really doing what you're doing right now. And I think you've identified a real kind of niche and then solving an important problem. But now because we're operating this more generalist space, it does take some self searching about what you're uniquely adding to the equation.
00:18:00 · Sid Dissanayake
[00:18:00] S1: Yeah, I suppose over time that definitely changes. We were talking off air about how, you know, over the last couple of years since you've been doing the podcast, you know, the substance, the format, who you're interviewing has changed naturally over time. So, I mean, I want to, I bring that up to bring up a more general point, which I wanted to get your thoughts on. Do you think there's, do you think, particularly with young people, there's this obsession with, you know, perfection and, you know, going into a certain endeavour or project with this idea that, oh, it has to be perfect, it has to cross all the X's and O's, dot the T's and the I's. For you, do you think that's an idea that's out there at all? Or I know you may not subscribe to that, but just want to get your thoughts on that.
00:18:46 · Sachin
[00:18:46] S0: Yeah, no, I think that that's the biggest kind of roadblock for people getting started with projects. And as I said before, it's all in your own mind. People don't notice those minor details a lot of the time. People don't seek perfection, right? And it's something that's never really bothered me. One, because I have really low attention to detail, but two, what's framed my thinking so much is the lean startup and that whole kind of fail fast, iterate fast mindset. So for me, like getting a quick MVP out, getting feedback, improving it, going through that constant iteration rather than spending a lot of time getting some of this 90% there. It may not even be hitting the nail on the head of what people want or what's important to people and then having to start again. I very much subscribed by that lean startup mentality, which is getting like an MVP out, is a minimal viable product or something that you can get feedback on quickly. So then you can continuously improve it, right? Yeah. I think a lot of people get stuck in their own preconceptions of what the things should look like rather than actually asking the people they're trying to serve.
00:19:48 · Sid Dissanayake, Sachin
[00:19:48] S1: And I think, yeah, what you're touching on is the risks of overthinking. And I suppose you can rationalize it all you want, but there comes a point when thinking comes counterproductive, I suppose. And I guess, you know, that sort of reminds me of a book I was reading this week, from the co founder of Netflix, Marc Randolph, and he was saying that, I mean, the quote was, you can learn more in an hour of doing something than a lifetime, you know, thinking about something. And I think that sort of, based on my conversation, that's something that, you know, you might resonate with as well. And I think for you personally, would you describe yourself more as like a doer than a thinker? Would you [00:20:28] S0: say A 100%. I think that the majority of time we can't think our way out of most things. And I think a lot of time spent thinking is counterproductive. And you, a 100%. As I said, I come from that startup world. My dad's studying business at the moment. I'm very much about trying something and seeing how it goes. And often it's like very, as I mentioned before with the story of how we started the podcast, it's often very, very like quick the way we try something. But I think that's led to kind of the journey is really important to how we are now, but I'm so glad that we started and just didn't really overthink it.
00:20:28 · Sachin, Sid Dissanayake
[00:20:28] S0: say A 100%. I think that the majority of time we can't think our way out of most things. And I think a lot of time spent thinking is counterproductive. And you, a 100%. As I said, I come from that startup world. My dad's studying business at the moment. I'm very much about trying something and seeing how it goes. And often it's like very, as I mentioned before with the story of how we started the podcast, it's often very, very like quick the way we try something. But I think that's led to kind of the journey is really important to how we are now, but I'm so glad that we started and just didn't really overthink it. [00:21:06] S1: Yeah, I mean, at this point in the podcast journey specifically, you've recorded over hundreds of hours of podcasts, you know, thousands of hours of listening. So I just wanted to get like some insights. It's not every day that you get to interview someone who has their own podcast. And you've interviewed, you know, so many people who have done some really cool things. So I mean, you know, I wanted to ask, know, has there been a standout conversation, a personal favorite? I know you can't choose a favorite child, but has there been a particular episode that stuck out with you or that's been particularly interesting?