Amogha_IO

(I am a startup CEO, w/ technical background. Learnt a LOT from this book. Would probably not be in the same job if I hadn't read this)

Other good books that will give an intro into tech startup management for laypeople:

-Zero to One (Peter Thiel)

-The hard thing about Hard things (Ben Horowitz)

Talk to an EXPERIENCED lawyer. Experience matters here- Make sure they have worked on similar cases before. If you are doing your due diligence right, it will take some time to find a good lawyer. So, I would suggest starting on finding a good law-firm (w/ history representing clients like you) ASAP.

Try to get free consultations and take the advise you get during these meetings with a "pinch of salt"

There are many startup friendly law-firms that offer deferred payments or partial payments with stock compensation. Try to find one in/around your area.

Consult with at least 2-3 law-firms before you sign a retainer with the one you like.

Don't be afraid. Fear can be crippling. Pick your battles and live to fight another day. You will need to win many battles before you can win the "war"... and you are going into "war" right now.

Make an informed decision. There is a lot of "noise" on the internet and it is easy to get influenced by "bad advise" that seem good at first...So, it is important you find a good place for your information (an experienced law-firm)

You probably don't need more than 5-6 hours with a good lawyer to at least get an idea of how bad the situation really is. It is easy to think that things are worse than they are. Once you have a good handle on where you stand, you can then make the decision to sue, counter-sue, defend or drop-it and move on.

Keep in mind- the process to resolution might take months and sometimes even years! These things take time...

Good luck!

Finding a technical co-founder isn't that difficult if you know where to look for. couple resources/networks I have used successfully in the past:

   https://www.meetup.com/

-Meetups geared towards entrepreneurship, software dev, engineering.... are great places to find a technical co-founder. Prepare a simple pitch-deck, meet smart people, share your idea and see if they would be interested in joining the cause. (don't worry about someone stealing your idea... it's all in the execution. You can hold back some key features until you sign an NDA or something.)

-networking in general goes a long way. Start networking with any and all engineers you know (shouldn't be hard to find software engineers in Bangalore!)

   https://angel.co/

Be prepared to give up a considerable amount of equity (30%-50%) if you are looking for a "serious technical co-founder". Make sure to have vesting & a cliff in the contract.

Also consider talking/networking with friends, family, ex-colleagues.

they are both great resources for software engineers looking for jobs!

angle.co is a great place for finding a job in a startup (of all shapes and sizes).

I have personally never tried triplebyte.com, but I have head good things about it.

Also, go to meetups (meetup.com) around your area and start networking, it's never too late to start networking and meetups are a great place to start networking if you are new to it...

You can also start a blog+portfolio and go freelancing for a while. Most times freelancers get hired as full-time employees if they are working on large projects and the client recognizes the value you bring to the table and wants to retain you.

If you are someone who conducts a lot of business over the phone, voicemail is a must. If someone "important" is trying to call you / get hold of you and you are unavailable, your default goal should be to "reduce friction" for the other person to get the message to you! ("important" usually means they are really busy and they value their time a lot, and you should too.... Clients, Board, Investors, Counsel, Accountant, your managers, doctor, etc... ). Having voicemail disabled and requiring people to text you or email you after having tried to call you (which usually means it's time sensitive / important-ish) is adding more friction/resistance in the communications line. It also comes off as very unprofessional. What if you don't have their number saved on your phone or they call from an unknown number and you don't know who the miss call is from...adds a lot of lag in the communication pipeline.

Voicemail also allows you to take your time in getting back to someone if you don't want to / can't have a conversation right away, but you want to know what they might want to talk about. You can then prepare for the topic and call back.

My iPhone does a decent job at converting voicemail-to-text (at&t visual voicemail). I can quickly scroll through my voicemails, delete stuff from marketers/advertisements and call back important ones after reading/listening to the message. Voicemail has definitely help me prepare for important call-back more than a few times (especially while dealing with general counsel).

I would never disable my voicemail or let my inbox get full (voicemail inboxes filling up might be a "thing of the past" very soon!)

!For inspiration:! 1. Loosing my virginity (Richard Branson) - Richard Branson's Autobiography. From student magazine to Virgin to crazy ballooning adventures and space! I keep coming back to this when I feel like I need a morale boost. There isn't an audible version for this book, but there is a summary-type version on Audible "Screw it, Let's do it"- does a good job curating the exciting parts.

  2. The Everything Store (Brad Stone) 

  3. Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson) 

  4. Elon Musk (Ashlee Vance) 

  5. iWoz (Steve Wozniak) 

  6. How Google Works (Eric Schmidt, Alan Eagle & Jonathan Rosenberg) 

  7. Dreams from My Father (Barack Obama) 

!Business & Management:!

  1. The Upstarts (Brad Stone) 

  2. Zero to One (Peter Thiel)

  3. The power of Habit (Charles Duhigg)

  4. How to win friends & Influence people (Dale Carnegi)

  5. How to win at the Sport of Business (Mark Cuban)

  6. Finding the next Steve Jobs (Nolan Bushnell)

  7. The hard thing about hard things (Ben Horowitz)

  8. Start with the Why (Simon Sinek) 

  9. Art of the Start (Guy Kawasaki)

!Escaping Reality! 1. Hatching Twitter (Nick Bilton) -Sooooo much drama! Definitely learnt what not to do! Very interesting read.

  2. The accidental Billionaires (Ben Mezrcih) 

  3. The Martian (Andy Weir)

  4. Harry Potter Series. 

  5. Jurassic Park || The Lost world (Michael Crichton)

  6. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) 

  7. Ready Player One (Ernest Cline)

!Other honorable mentions:! Actionable Gamification (Yu-Kai Chou) I invented the Modern Age (Richard Snow) Inside the tornado (Geoffrey Moore) Jony Ive (Leander Kahney) Sprint (Jake Knapp) The lean startup (Eric Ries) The selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins) Titan (Ron Chernow) The inevitable (Kevin Kelly) The Innovators (Walter Isaacson) Scrum (Jeff Sutherland)

!Most if not all have an audio-book version!

If you are in a startup or plan to start one soon, reading/listening to books should become a routine. I try to get through at least one book a week, sometimes two.

Good luck!

You are experience a Dip. You might be able to get out of this mode / phase fairly quickly, if you “change your perspective” on life. As a founder in a startup, you have to worry about a lot of things and most of the time you are doing this alone, at least until you find a good co-founder. Even with co-founders, it sometimes feels extremely lonely and depressing, especially when things slow down or grind to a halt.

Here are some tips & tricks:

1. There is nothing wrong with your situation. You are not alone. Almost every startup founder goes through this. Push through it, you will come out a stronger founder. Keep saying this to yourself as a mantra: “This is just part of the startup grind. You are stronger than this, you can push through this, you are going to make it!”

2. Keep in mind that eventually when your team grows from one to many, and the company experiences another dip like this one, you will have first hand knowledge on how some of your teammates might be feeling and you will be able to guide them out of it. So, think of this as an opportunity to learn.

3. Ask for help. There is nothing wrong in opening up to close friends and family about this. Try to make friends who are in other startup companies. (big small or just getting started… they will be able to relate to your situation and sympathize with you much better than friends or family who have no clue about how startups work / how startups are created)

4. Read books. (at least one every week) Biographies and business books that dive into startups. This is a great way to ground yourself in reality and see that you are not alone, many founders before you have gone through similar phases.

5. Take a break- do something that stimulates your mind positively. This is very different for everyone. Try to cultivate a new hobby or learn a new skill. Something different from your project.

6. Change in environment (location, people and problems) might be all you need. Try working from a library or coffee shop for a couple hours a day. Go to meetups or other startup events… see if you can find a startup co-working space. Try to help others, listen to their problems. I have personally noticed that when I help others solve their problems, I sometimes end up realizing solutions for my own…

7. Exercise, sun and fresh air. Go on a long walk / jog / bike outside (preferably in the morning) Listen to the wind and birds, take in the fresh morning air.

8. Meditate. This really helps me clear out the “noise”. Try to meditate at least 20 minutes a day. Focus on the process of pushing away thoughts. Once you get a hang of how you can “push away” thoughts and noise, apply that technique when you start feeling like things are getting “out of hand” or when your brain gets foggy / mope.

9. Break the problem into bite size chunks and CELEBRATE every time you successfully solve a bite of the problem. Having a sense of progress goes a looong way in keeping the motivation levels high. Track your progress and award yourself for hitting goals. You have to win many battles to win the war. Don't try to fight them all at once. Live to fight another day. You are in a marathon and not a sprint. So take it slow and steady. knock out one part of the problem at a time and before you know it you will have momentum again!!

Good luck! (May the force be with you!)

However, 40+hrs/week after a while, might probably lead to some sort of burnout / dissatisfaction (something adverse), if it is only for capital gain.

  I consistently “work” over 60hrs/week. -> Sustainable for long term if executed well. 
  During “rush-weeks” I have been able to push 90hrs/week. -> Short bursts of 1-2 weeks at a time…. 4-5 times in a year (usually before a launch or an important event)

  60+hrs/week schedules are more likely to be sustainable if:
  1. YOU  LOVE YOUR WORK. 
  2. YOU LOVE YOUR TEAM. 
  3. You have an excellent support structure (Family & Friends)

  My schedule changes quite a bit depending on what's going on that week (events, travel, off-site meetings etc). But, I am able to follow this schedule for the most part:

  Monday-Thursday [44h, 11h/day]
  5:30am - 6:30am     -  Morning routines ||  
  6:30am - 8:30am     -  Creative Work Block-1 (home) [2h] ||
  8:30am - 9:30am     -  Breakfast + Get to work ||
  9:30am - 11:00am    -  Meetings- internal. [1.5h] ||
  11:00am - 12:00pm   -  Email Block-1 [1h] ||
  12:00pm - 12:30pm   -  Lunch ||
  12:30pm - 2:00pm    -  Meetings, calls & emails [1.5h] ||
  2:00pm - 3:00pm     -  Afternoon routines ||
  3:00pm - 5:00pm     -  Meetings- internal [2h] ||
  5:00pm - 7:00pm     -  Creative Work Block-2 [2h] ||
  7:00pm - 8:00pm     -  Email Block-2 [1h] ||
  8:00pm - 10:00pm    -  Family / social ||
  10:00pm - 11:00pm   -  Night routines || 
  11:00pm - 5:30am    -  Sleep  ||
  
  Friday [9h]
  5:30am - 6:30am     -  Morning routines ||
  6:30am - 8:30am     -  Creative Work Block-1 (home)[2h] ||
  8:30am - 9:30am     -  Breakfast + Get to work ||
  9:30am - 11:00am    -  Meetings- internal. [1.5h] ||
  11:00am - 12:00pm   -  Email Block-1 [1h] ||
  12:00pm - 12:30pm   -  Lunch ||
  12:30pm - 2:00pm    -  Meetings, calls & emails [1.5h] ||
  2:00pm - 3:00pm     -  Afternoon routines ||
  3:00pm - 4:30pm     -  Creative Work Block-2 [1.5h] ||
  4:30pm - 6:00pm     -  Email Block-2 [1.5h] ||
  6:00pm - 10:00pm    -  Family / Social ||
  10:00pm - 11:00pm   -  Night routines  ||
  11:00pm - 7:30am    -  Sleep  ||

  Saturday [3.5h]
  7:30am - 8:30am     -  Morning routines  ||
  8:30am - 6:30pm     -  Family / social   ||
  6:30pm - 10:00pm    -  emails, catch-up work  ||
  10:00pm - 11:00pm   -  Night routines  ||
  11:00pm - 7:30am    -  Sleep  ||

  Sunday [7h]
  7:30am - 8:30am     -  Morning routines ||
  8:30am - 9:30am     -  Breakfast + Get to work ||
  9:30am - 12:00am    -  Creative Work Block-1 [2.5h] ||
  12:00pm - 12:30pm   -  Lunch  ||
  12:30pm - 2:00pm    -  Creative Work Block-2 [1.5h] ||
  2:00pm - 3:00pm     -  Afternoon routines  ||
  3:00pm - 5:00pm     -  Creative Work Block-3 [2h] ||
  5:00pm - 6:00pm     -  Emails and calls [1h] ||
  6:00pm - 10:00pm    -  Family / Social ||
  10:00pm - 11:00pm   -  Night routines  ||
  11:00pm - 5:30am    -  Sleep ||

  Definitions- 

    Creative Work: 
  -Product related work.
  -Prep for meetings
  -Prep for pitches 
  -Prep for demos
  -Skimming through user logs
  -Reading engineering logs and commenting.
  -Skimming through code
  -Technical stuff 
  -Research (customers, competitors, market, strategies, etc…)


   Morning routines: 
  -Brush, wash, get ready. 
  -Cardio & stretches

   Afternoon routines: 
  -Meditating for 20 min or taking a power-nap (depends on mood) 
  -Run / walk outside in the sun (usually tagalong a teammate)
 
   Night routines: 
  -Meditate for 20 min
  -Get ready for bed (brush, wash, etc)


   Some “bio-hacks” I use: 
  -I try not to get distracted in the mornings (I turn off my notifications before going to bed). I FOCUS on the most important work on hand. I feel most creative in the mornings before everyone in my family wakes up and in the evenings when work day ends for most of the company and I don't have any meetings scheduled for the rest of the day. I also find that my creativity goes up after an exercise. It took me a while to figure out my “sweet spots”. Figure out when your body and mind will be “most creative”....
  -I make sure to get at least 5-6 hours of sleep every day and 8 hours over the weekends. Sleep is soooo underrated. It is key for optimal performance. Probably the most important “bio-hack” is SLEEPING (Quality of sleep matters. Also, I try to keep bed time and sleep-period consistent)
  -I eat HEALTHY (I am a vegetarian). I follow a healthy and holistic diet that gets me ALL the nutrition I need (no supplements or meat)
  -Exercise and the SUN. Can’t stress enough how important this is! I feel energized and creative after my workouts (especially if I am running outside in the sun).  
  -I Meditate at least once a day (for 20 min). I find that the techniques I use to “clear my mind” while meditating are very similar to the techniques I use to FOCUS and clear my min of other thoughts... 
  -I try to minimizing noise and other distractions as much as possible. (I sometimes listen to sounds of rain or waterfall or a stream flowing....)
  -I spend high-quality time with my family / friends. Every second counts. This is when I am living in their world and not mine.

  Getting on a schedule and cultivating healthy habits make a world of difference.

  I have been going 60+h/week since 2014. I have learnt a lot, I have come very close to burnouts and depression. Be careful. Your health is very very important. It is easy to loose track of the real world, so make sure you ground yourself in reality and have checks and bounds for your mental and physical health.

  Good Luck!