It’s amazing how my personal flaws and biases manifest themselves at our company, NextDrop. To be fair, so do my strengths, but it’s crazy how your company is pretty much a mirror of yourself (+ other co founders).
One of the things I’m absolutely horrible at is asking for help. Lo and behold, which of our investors or advisors has heard from us recently? And usually we only go to them way later than we should. Luckily, no major disasters have come about (yet), but really, we could be doing much better on this front. And it would make me feel a heck of a lot better anyway, knowing we have a team that has our back (BECAUSE WE DO). Which makes me realize, on a personal front, I need to ask for help when I need it- BECAUSE I HAVE THAT TOO. I don’t know why, and I am still in awe that I have the friends that I have (they are so cool!), but I need to just accept that fact, show them a lot of love, know they’re going to be there for me, and use it to help me live a happier and more joyful life. (Why don’t I do this again?)
Second: contrary to Silicon Valley lore, I think trying to be a martyr and sacrificing your personal needs for that of the company is the worst possible thing you can do. Because subconsciously, you devalue your own company. If you’re ok with your personal needs not being met, you’ll be more likely to be ok with your company’s needs not being met by the outside world. I’m just thinking back, and had I put my own personal needs first, I would have made better decisions for the company. Let me take that back. No outcome would have changed at Nextdrop, but I think the process would have been much faster and smoother. And at a startup since time is money, that’s HUGE.
Anyway, I think the first step is realizing your blindspots. The second thing is doing something about it. Check on step one. Not sure how to go about step two but…it’s on the to do list.
Why is there always so much work to do again?
So I Quit My Job and Moved to India 