Akshay Kothari: What You Learn by Doing [Entire Talk]

TL;DR

Side projects train founders to reject weak ideas and validate real solutions before committing. Focus on solving actual user problems rather than chasing cool ideas, treat every class project as a potential startup to practice startup thinking, and protect your time because it is more valuable than short-term money. Pulse grew directly from these lessons.

Transcript

Thanks a lot. Really, really excited to be here. It's always a pleasure to be back on campus. I think we need more opportunities to come back. But thanks a lot for the lovely introduction and for those of you who did not raise their hands, you have about an hour to download Pulse, because I want a full raise of hands at the end of the presentation.... Read More

Key Insights

• Focusing on solutions, not ideas, is what creates real value. Buzz Web assumed people wanted to see phone videos on a map, but it solved no actual user problem and quickly stalled after 200 downloads on day one.
• Treating each class project as a potential startup trains your mind to accept certain parts of an idea, reject others, and communicate them, so you get better at launching real ventures when you choose to.
• Time is more valuable than money is the core trade-off Ankit faced when giving up a paid radiology research position to spend roughly $5,000 to $6,000 on tuition and focus fully on the Pulse course.
• Pulse turned down a client ready to pay $30,000 in its first month because the founders knew building toward their own roadmap was more valuable than immediate revenue.
• Buzz Web took two months to build and launch, then failed, teaching that a cool idea without a validated user problem does not sustain downloads or engagement.
• The virtual glasses try-on project failed because the technology was hard to get right, would take significant time, and targeted a very crowded market, showing execution and market context matter beyond the concept.
• Thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur adds pressure that pulls focus away from the core work of building products; framing work as a product is simpler and easier to reason about.
• Founder dynamics carry real risk. On one project with four founders, one founder had to be fired, and the team made mistakes around equity, legal structure, and product decisions.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why do side projects matter for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Side projects carry a huge amount of learning value that founders often overlook because they do them for a grade or for fun without stopping to ask why. Akshay and Ankit realized after launching Pulse that their earlier projects trained them in how to accept and reject parts of ideas, communicate them, and meet many different people. Each project made them better at doing a real startup when they chose to.

Q: What was Buzz Web and why did it fail?

Buzz Web was an app Ankit built during a summer internship with Evan Reas, later founder of Circle, timed to the iPhone 3GS launch that added video recording. The idea was to show people's videos on a map to spot what was happening, with advertisers promoting products featured in videos. It got 200 downloads the first day, 20 the second, then nearly none. It failed because it chased a cool idea rather than solving a real user problem.

Q: What does 'focus on solutions, not ideas' mean?

It means real value comes from finding an actual problem users have not solved, rather than getting excited about creative ideas. Ankit notes that everyone generates loads of ideas daily and gets thrilled about starting companies around them, but the turning point is talking to people to discover a genuine unmet problem. Buzz Web assumed people wanted videos on a map without confirming that need, which is why focusing on validated solutions matters more.

Q: How can treating class projects as startups help you?

Ankit's computer vision course project, a virtual glasses try-on taught by Sebastian Thrun, shifted from being just a project for a grade toward an actual startup. Since graduate students take several courses each with a project, treating each as a potential startup means meeting many people and cycling through ideas. This trains your mind to accept or reject parts of ideas and communicate them, so the more you practice, the better you get at real ventures.

Q: Why did the founders believe time is more valuable than money?

Ankit took a paid radiology research position at Stanford in 2008 to afford tuition without a large loan, working on image processing to classify breast cancer from scans. Toward the end he grew bored and realized the job cut into time for meeting people, generating ideas, and prototyping. He gave it up, spending his roughly $5,000 to $6,000 earnings on tuition, food, and rent to focus fully on the Pulse course, concluding time outweighs money.

Q: Why did Pulse turn down a $30,000 client early on?

When Pulse launched, a client was ready to pay $30,000 during its first month, but the founders decided not to pursue it and instead worked on their own roadmap. They made this choice because they knew they were building something far more valuable long term. It illustrates their broader principle that protecting time and focus for the more valuable product outweighs taking immediate money, the same logic Ankit applied to his research job.

Q: What did Akshay learn about being an entrepreneur versus building products?

Akshay found that framing himself as an entrepreneur doing a startup added a lot of pressure and moved his focus away from the core work of building the product. He concluded that working on a product is simpler and easier to think about than chasing the identity of being an entrepreneur. This reframing helped him concentrate on what actually mattered rather than the label or status of running a startup.

Q: What mistakes did Akshay's team make with founder dynamics?

Akshay's late-notification app, funded by a roughly $30,000 Lightspeed grant, had four founders, and during that summer the team had to fire one founder. They made mistakes in how they thought about equity, legal matters, and product. They also spent nearly ten weeks building the app but ignored marketing, simply putting it on the App Store expecting thousands of downloads, which never happened, showing marketing must be planned deliberately.

Summary

In this video, Ankit and Akshay share their experiences with side projects and how they turned them into successful ventures. They discuss their failures and learnings from past projects, such as the importance of focusing on solutions rather than just ideas. They also talk about the value of time and how it is more valuable than money. They emphasize the need to iterate and prototype ideas quickly to make room for new ideas. The duo also touches on the importance of founder dynamics and the impact of having a diverse team. They share insights on product marketing and monetization strategies, as well as their journey in fundraising and the importance of staying focused on the product. Overall, they encourage taking side projects seriously and learning from each experience to create successful startups.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the main topic of discussion in the video?

The main topic of the video is side projects and how to turn them into successful ventures.

Q: What is the biggest learning from the failure of Buzz Web?

The biggest learning from the failure of Buzz Web was the need to focus on solutions rather than just ideas.

Q: How did Ankit and Akshay approach their side projects at Stanford?

Ankit and Akshay approached their side projects at Stanford by thinking of each project as a potential startup. They met with different people and learned how to accept or reject certain parts of an idea.

Q: What was Ankit's motivation to value his time over money?

Ankit realized that time is more valuable than money and decided to spend the money he earned from a research project on a D-school class that helped him build Pulse.

Q: How did Ankit and Akshay expand their team at Pulse?

Ankit and Akshay initially hired people they had worked with before or friends from Stanford. As they raised more funds, they were able to hire more team members.

Q: How did Ankit and Akshay maintain their startup culture post LinkedIn acquisition?

Ankit and Akshay mentioned that LinkedIn has allowed them to maintain their culture and values. They still sit together, work on Pulse, and have access to LinkedIn's resources.

Q: How did Ankit and Akshay fund Pulse in the initial stages?

Ankit and Akshay funded Pulse by selling their app for $4 each, which generated about a quarter million dollars. They were able to expand without relying on investors initially.

Q: What is the value proposition for publishers to be on Pulse?

The value proposition for publishers on Pulse is reaching a broader readership and using content marketing and commerce strategies to monetize their content.

Q: How did Ankit and Akshay rethink advertising on Pulse?

Ankit and Akshay believe that advertising should be content-driven and not interrupt the user experience. They focus on content marketing and making ads feel like valuable content.

Q: How did Ankit and Akshay approach fundraising for Pulse?

Ankit and Akshay focused on building a great product and gaining traction before seeking investment. They got lucky with fundraising as investors were interested in their product.

Takeaways

Ankit and Akshay share their experiences and key learnings from their side projects. They emphasize the importance of focusing on solutions rather than just ideas and the need to iterate quickly. They also highlight the value of time and the impact of having a diverse team. Ankit and Akshay talk about their approach to product marketing and monetization, as well as their experience with fundraising. They encourage taking side projects seriously and learning from each experience. Overall, they believe in the potential of side projects to turn into successful startups.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, co-founders of Pulse, met at Stanford and started the company in their final grad school quarter. They argue side projects deserve to be taken seriously because they carry huge learning value that they directly applied to building Pulse.

• Ankit's three projects taught distinct lessons: Buzz Web showed you must focus on solutions to real problems, not just cool ideas; a computer vision glasses try-on taught treating class projects as startups trains startup thinking; and paid radiology research taught that time is more valuable than money.

• Akshay's projects reinforced that framing work as building products beats chasing the entrepreneur identity, which only adds pressure. A late-notification app with four founders exposed founder dynamics, equity and legal mistakes, and the fatal error of skipping marketing entirely.