01:15:27 · Akshay Chaturvedi, Anirudh A Damani
[01:15:27] S1: So I've I've just took enough shifting gears. So I dated my wife for eleven years before I married her. So I've been very kind of fortunate on that front. We still end up kind of doing silly things after 01:30, 2AM, and watching, like, multiple vlogs on YouTube. And she's a big and important critic of things that happen at Leverage as well. I kind of go back, tell her that, hey. You know what? This happened. And she would look at a campaign and say, hey. You know what? Things could happen like this. So I think you definitely need some form of support to essentially keep that mental peace coming in and being being able to kind of focus on your work. I think I have that superpower, if I might call it, to being able to kind of manage things and you know that if you have the right respect and the right timing in the relationship, you'll be able to kind of give more time to your startup as you're building that. I think a very important piece there also is that not to kind of solve it off in any different way that you give as much, if not as much, sorry, if you give more respect to the other person's career and profession. And you're going to put them on a podium and talk about their career. Career important So I think that's what I have done very successful in my life. So when we when we spend time, I talk more about her problems and what she face and how she... How can she essentially do things better. So my wife is a judge in... And she's in the public service in Bulandshahr in Uttar [01:17:02] S0: Pradesh. Her
01:17:02 · Anirudh A Damani, Akshay Chaturvedi
[01:17:02] S0: Pradesh. Her [01:17:03] S1: job is far more fascinating than mine is. So she comes back at the dinner table and says that you know what? I saw this guy walking in with the in his hand and he was a rapist and he looked me into the eyes. And I am an investor and investor like I feel so shallow about my word. He is my company essentially. [01:17:25] S0: Oh, man. I really hats off to her man hats off to her right her job is one of the toughest jobs that I can imagine right especially in our legal system and hats off to both of you guys to thank you this work right making this work Good. So I I guess the next question answer itself. Not making it too rapid. [01:17:42] S1: Sorry about that. Sorry? I'm saying I'm not making it too rapid. I realized that [01:17:48] S0: No. But I said that it's gonna... It is gonna be one answer which you're gonna get deeper into. Right? And I think there was... That we... I would have never known that your wife is a judge unless unless you... Unless I asked the first question. Right. So when do you get your best work done? Morning or night? And I'm guessing it's night. But... Yes. [01:18:04] S1: I I end up closing my day at about, unfortunately, 03:34. [01:18:10] S0: Wow. What time do you wake up? [01:18:12] S1: I end up waking at about nine, 09:30. My first review is at about 10AM. So I wake up just in time to gonna make my first review. [01:18:20] S0: Wow. Wow. So so guys, if you're if you're if you're tweeting, tweet around 2AM and you'll you'll be getting getting your answers before he goes to sleep.
01:18:20 · Anirudh A Damani, Akshay Chaturvedi
[01:18:20] S0: Wow. Wow. So so guys, if you're if you're if you're tweeting, tweet around 2AM and you'll you'll be getting getting your answers before he goes to sleep. [01:18:28] S1: All my all all my tweets are between 1AM and 2AM. Like, that's when I kind of take a break and I'm on the phone now. Now we set up a entity in The UK and Canada like I said. So we have folks in a different time zone who I'm talking to at the end of my day as well. So now it's kind of the days designed to essentially wean off into the late hours of the IST time zone. [01:18:49] S0: Amazing. Who's your favorite superhero? [01:18:54] S1: My favorite superhero is Spider Man. And and the reason for that is very interesting because I have seen all the Spider Man movies in Hindi. And the kind of impact that these dialogues have in Hindi is like absolutely fascinating. So when when when the same thing is said in English, he was like, okay, but when the same thing is said in Hindi, then I wish I would remember something to share right now. Even even the one about with Pavagam's responsibility and all of that. Right? Like, or the one about [01:19:26] S0: In fact, a new trailer just came out. Right? Far From Home. [01:19:29] S1: I think it's coming out. [01:19:29] S0: Yes. Yes. [01:19:30] S1: Yes. Yes. [01:19:31] S0: I did.
01:19:31 · Anirudh A Damani, Akshay Chaturvedi
[01:19:31] S0: I did. [01:19:31] S1: I just remembered I love, this was the initial Spider Man movie which I'd seen in Hindi, and my wife hates me for this. But there's this theme which spoke about, this Spider Man, Spider Man's enemy, who essentially says that destroy and it basically talks about the entire psychology in that scene about how like when you end up how you need to essentially have a very, very hard skin and a very, very strong heart to be able to go to do something, to essentially be able to make an impact. Because whenever you're doing... Whatever you're doing, whenever you're doing that, you will have at least at least 90% people throwing stones at you. And and I think that is just part and parcel of building a startup. How hard a skin can you really build through the entire piece? Because the problems are not gonna end. They're only gonna multiply with everything.
01:20:26 · Anirudh A Damani
[01:20:26] S0: Absolutely. Oh man, I think I wish I could just end the interview right here, because this is the peak if you ask me, because it is about having a really, really, really thick skin, right, as an entrepreneur. Like you said, there are so many, you know, I'm glad that I I've been in your shoes. Right? I'm I'm somebody who ran a company and you gotta deal with so many different things. Right? So many different processes, so many different people. And yeah, it just seems that, you know, if you, sometimes it happens, try to make one, one, you know, one faction of your entrepreneurial life happy, and that just sets another one off. And by the time you fix that one, a third one's off. And, and yeah, you gotta have really thick skin to to make it all work, to make make all that magic portion. I had
01:21:13 · Akshay Chaturvedi, Anirudh A Damani
[01:21:13] S1: I had an investor pull out when I was on my on the stage when my reception was happening. Reception and somebody walked up to me on stage. Congratulate me and said it was kind of helping put together the round. And I ended up kind of getting on the stage and just solving for that for thirty minutes and then getting back on stage. So, you know, shit can keep hitting you at all different points of time and if if there are 10 different parts to entrepreneurship, like you rightly said, these five don't even know what these five are doing, and this one doesn't know what this is doing. So... And these are all different facets. So there's so much context switching that is happening all that time. And I think that just makes things incredibly hard. But I think that's also the joy of it. That's why you do it. That makes it more fun. And you would not do it any other way. [01:22:00] S0: Yeah. If it was if it was easy, I don't think we we would be doing it. [01:22:03] S1: Correct. Absolutely. [01:22:07] S0: Share a quote that inspires you the most. [01:22:10] S1: Very interesting. So it's it's a longer way, in fact, Anirudh. I don't know if I have it right now, but it's a quote by... If you have the time, I'll read it out to you. I have it saved in my note. It's by Teddy Roosevelt, who was one of The US presidents, and it's called... It's not the critic that counts. You want me to read it out to you in about thirty seconds? [01:22:33] S0: Yeah. Sure.