Also released as part of the Sequoia Moonshot podcast

https://www-india.sequoiacap.com/eruditus-powering-growth-with-an-a-plus-team/

Pick downstream or tailwind businesses

Ashwin: “…go after large ideas, large opportunities, because I think that even if you execute very poorly but the opportunity is large, you’ll still build a sizable outcome versus if you have a fantastic team, and execute amazingly well, but if your opportunity is small, you’ll have a small outcome. And when I say “opportunity is small”, it’s not just about the TAM (Total Addressable Market). It’s also about who is your competition? How big is the incumbent? What are your unit economics, etc.?

To give you a better analogy, let’s say you’re an expert kayaking person or a rowing person. You assemble one team with a bunch of experts, and you assemble another team with a bunch of novices, people like GV and me, and ask the experts to paddle upstream. So, they’re going against the current and measure how far they get in an hour. Ask GV and me to paddle downstream — we are novices. I bet you, GV and I will get further than the guys who are the experts and doing it, but they’re going upstream. And so, the talent is helpful, and of course, the ideal situation is you have the experts paddling downstream, but the point is about going after very large opportunities. “

SPW: Pick downstream opportunities or tailwind spaces to go after. Opportunities w slant.

“…the best form of cash is actually from customers. It’s very tempting for entrepreneurs to think that the best form of cash is from Sequoia, or Accel, or whoever else it is that you have in your list. Sequoia is a great place to raise money, and that is one form of cash. But cash from customers is better because it also validates your model. When you have paying customers, it tells you that you actually have product-market fit. It makes it so much easier to raise money from investors, but also it gives you a leeway to build the company without too much dilution, so that as owners, as founders, you have ownership. “

Box 1, 2, 3

“Sometimes there is this question about — I call it ‘box one’, ‘box two’, ‘box three’.

Box one is about managing the present. It’s about, “What do I need to do today to manage the business?”

And most importantly box two — “what do I need to get rid of? So, what do I need to forget?…Hey, what should I do differently?”

Box three is about, “What do I need to do today to create the business for the future? What new products, what new markets, but also as an individual leader, what new skills do I need today to be developing, to lead in the future?” And most importantly box two — what do I need to get rid of? So, what do I need to forget?”

….you need to keep time for yourself. So, usually, on a Friday the first half is my ‘box three’ time or ‘box two’ time. What am I thinking about in the future? “Hey, is there a Netflix model for education that we should think about?” Today it doesn’t exist, but if I want to make it exist five years from now, I need to be thinking about it.