00:21:44 · Waseem Daher
[00:21:44] S0: And I think we were a little too early. Okay. Which is... I mean, obviously, we were the right amount of early. We were not too early. We, like, are in in prime position to take advantage of all the new stuff that's coming out, like all the capabilities that are available via LMs. And our thesis was the computer has always been the computer is eventually going to do 99 of it. And I think in 2017, had you asked me, would have said, well, deep learning, neural nets, because that's what everyone talked about back then. But it's like there was a very clear path from the computer does none of the work, which was the status quo at the time. Even if you got the computer to do 70% or 80% of the work, that's still tremendously impactful. And I think the thing that LMs have unlocked is like, well, fine. Now it's probably not 80%. It's probably 95%. Maybe it's 99%. It's like, Okay. But that's like a difference of degree rather than a difference of overall capability in this specific domain. And I think for us, it's like, okay. Well, when this stuff becomes available, you sort of have to lean into it. And then you also need to be kind of thoughtful about, like, well, what is the moat or, like, what is your defensible kind of advantage? Like, every single Y Combinator batch for the past eight plus years has had, like, an AI accounting company in it. At least one. It's just, like, literally every batch. It's like, someone's like, we should do AI accounting. No one's doing AI accounting. Or I don't know. I guess we think we can do it better than Pilot. And there's a certain amount of just... You kinda just, like, wait it out. Yeah. Like, actually, there are real advantages to brand and size and scale and, like, install base, and there's a bunch of, like, hard learned lessons that we've had to contend with that, at first blush, you don't see. So there is a little bit about you kind of just have to outlast the other people in the space.
00:23:29 · Aditya Agarwal, Waseem Daher
[00:23:29] S1: So maybe sticking on that theme around perseverance, surviving, having grit, nine years is a long time, right? Especially in startups because you go through a lot of ups and downs. The classic, every startup is dog years. But how have you maintained, think, your energy and your optimism as well? Because I'm sure it goes through ups and downs. So if you had to mentor a fellow founder on how to deal with the emotions of it, what would you say? [00:24:05] S0: There are times in the company's life where it's like you feel like your success is definitely assured. Of course, you're going to be [00:24:14] S1: It's like 10AM every morning.
00:24:14 · Aditya Agarwal, Waseem Daher
[00:24:14] S1: It's like 10AM every morning. [00:24:15] S0: Yeah. Totally. Exactly. And then there are times when you're like, oh god, this is not working. 2PM every day? Yeah. And everyone feels like that all the time. And so I think one is exactly just actually acknowledging that. That's the experience of every company, even the companies that outwardly appear super super successful. And then thing two is this sounds trite, but I think it is true, which is, like, it really is the journey and not the destination, which is, like, you have to understand kind of why you're playing the game and sort of, like, what you hope to get out of it. Because at every point, it feels like, well, if you just hit this milestone, like, you will have succeeded. Like, oh, if we can just raise that series A, like, it'll really feel like it's working. And then you do that. It's like, well, if we can just raise that series B, like, it'll really feel like it's working. And then you do that. It's like, well, if only we could raise that Series C. The game never ends, actually. [00:25:01] S1: The game never ends. [00:25:02] S0: Even at IPO, it's like that's people... If you talk to CEOs that have IPO ed their companies, with the founders that have IPO ed their companies, they'll tell you the IPO is the beginning, it's not the end.
00:25:02 · Waseem Daher, Aditya Agarwal
[00:25:02] S0: Even at IPO, it's like that's people... If you talk to CEOs that have IPO ed their companies, with the founders that have IPO ed their companies, they'll tell you the IPO is the beginning, it's not the end. [00:25:13] S1: The first thing after probably the first, you know, evening of champagne is that, fuck. We better have two good quarters. You know? So, like, you know, because, like, lockups and two... We need to make sure that we hit our numbers. Right. In fact, the game actually becomes a lot more intense. Short term. Yeah. Short term, intense. Exactly. Yes. [00:25:31] S0: So I think, like, Insight one as well, you cannot beat the game. And so if you're if you're playing it, like, I just need to get to the final boss and beat the final boss, and then I'll have to finish the game, you're gonna be pretty unhappy because, like, the game, in fact, never ends. Right. And so instead, I think you have to say, well, how do I make the day to day one that is on balance enjoyable and fulfilling for me? Like, am I learning? Am I being stretched in ways I like? Am I being challenged? Am I working with people I like? And this... Again, it kinda goes back to the thing we talked about at the very beginning, which is like, if the day to day elements are ones you find kind of enriching and rewarding, you will have the endurance to slog through. Yeah. If the day to day stuff starts to suck and it remains bad for an extended period of time, you will give up. It's just like it will grind you down eventually.
00:26:19 · Aditya Agarwal
[00:26:19] S1: Yeah. It's... Before you get on to... I think you had multiple points there. I'll I'll add a couple of things. One of the things that Mark said to us at Facebook that has always stuck with me, he's like, there will be a lot of stuff about us externally. Right? There'll be lots of times when people are saying we are awesome. There'll be lots of times where people say we suck. It is rarely as... Like, we are never as good as the world thinks we are. We are never as bad as the world thinks we are. It's all just kind of like more muted. And the external world is kind of used to amping up either signal up or down. So it really is just about finding that constancy. And the second thing I often think about, and this is a little I think as... And I I think of SPC as a startup. As a startup founder, you're not allowed to use this language, but you almost have to disassociate yourself a little bit from the start up. Right? So the way I tend to think about it is that it's very hard when, like, you think you are the start up because that means the game in some ways... If the game ends, that means the start up dies or you die. I mean, thank... You know, but that sucks. But I tend to think of it as, listen, I hope I'm at SPC for a very long time, but this institution will continue after me. And my goal is that as long as I'm here, I leave it better than where I found it. And having that distance actually, I think, allows you to manage your own emotions as being a little bit separate from the company. And I'm still learning how to do this, but I think it's something that I've had to develop over the years where I am not the startup. And I think it's tricky because in some ways, in the early days, you are the startup. There is nothing. The IP is you. The product is like you. You need to both believe that, but have some distance.
00:28:11 · Waseem Daher
[00:28:11] S0: I strongly agree with that. You have to take everything very personally and deeply care. Right. And you can't let it be the soul defining thing of your existence in the sense that, like, this is an adjacent point, which is in general, I think when folks get to the point where they raise the the series B or the series C, and you have an opportunity to take a little bit of money off the table, like a little bit of money, you definitely, definitely, definitely should. Because it allows you to swing for the fences. It allows you to take bigger bets. Because there is something very important about being able to say, well, if this thing totally fails, and obviously I hope it won't fail and I don't think it will fail, I would see Daher as a person like, I'm not gonna be homeless. It'll be fine. My family will still be okay. And it's a sort... Like, again, it's like separating you and the start up. You sort of... To let the start reach its full potential, you need to be at peace with a world in which it doesn't succeed. Because if you're operating from a place of downside minimization, you're not going to actually be successful. You have to be willing to place bets that may or may not work.