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

TL;DR

Side projects taught Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta to validate real problems, practice startup thinking, protect their time, and learn from founder mistakes before building Pulse. Buzz Web took two months to launch but fell from 200 downloads on its first day to 20 on its second. Their failed experiments show how small projects can prepare founders for consequential product decisions, which is why the specific lessons are worth examining.

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

• Failure produced usable evidence: Buzz Web did not merely fail in the abstract. Its demand collapsed from 200 first-day downloads to 20 on the second day, then to roughly two per day for the remainder of that week. That pattern gave Ankit concrete evidence that initial curiosity could not sustain a product built without a verified user problem.
• Technology created the opening: Buzz Web began with a specific product change, the iPhone 3GS gaining the ability to record video. Ankit and Evan Reas predicted that easier recording would create a stream of videos worth organizing on a map. The missing link was not technical possibility, but proof that people wanted to discover those recordings geographically.
• The business model rested downstream: Buzz Web expected advertisers to promote products or services appearing in user videos. That model depended on people frequently recording relevant subjects, uploading the footage, and attracting viewers through the map. Because the underlying consumer behavior did not develop as hoped, the advertising concept had no strong user activity on which to build.
• Problem discovery creates value: Ankit distinguishes everyday idea generation from discovering an unresolved problem. Creative people can produce many concepts and quickly become excited about starting companies around them. His lesson was to cross over from private enthusiasm to conversations with potential users, because those discussions can reveal whether a proposed solution addresses anything people actually struggle with.
• Course projects multiply repetitions: Graduate computer science students may take three to four courses, with a project commonly attached to each one. Viewing every project as a possible startup creates repeated opportunities to explore markets, meet different people, explain concepts, and assess assumptions. The startup does not need to launch for that repetition to strengthen a student's judgment.
• Virtual try-on had personal relevance: The glasses project addressed a difficulty Ankit experienced himself. Without his regular glasses, he struggled to see how another pair looked in a store mirror. The proposed system would render frames through a computer camera while allowing head movement, giving the concept a recognizable problem even though the implementation and market obstacles remained substantial.
• Promising concepts still face constraints: The virtual glasses try-on project failed for several distinct reasons. The computer vision technology was hard to make work correctly, completing it would demand considerable time, and competitors already crowded the market. The experience showed that identifying a plausible use case does not remove execution difficulty, resource limits, or market pressure.
• Startup framing changes behavior: Ankit's team initially approached virtual try-on as a normal class assignment completed for a grade. Reframing it as a possible product led them to persuade teammates, speak with many people, and investigate which computer vision problems might be solvable. The value came partly from adopting a more demanding standard for exploration.
• Time competed with exploration: In 2008, Ankit held a paid Stanford radiology research position involving image processing to classify breast cancer from scans. Although the work helped cover tuition without a large loan, it reduced his capacity to meet people, develop ideas, and build prototypes. He ultimately valued those opportunities more than continued earnings.
• Focus outweighed early revenue: A client was prepared to pay Pulse $30,000 during its first month, but the founders declined and continued building their own roadmap. They believed their chosen product direction could create something much more valuable. The choice applied the same time-versus-money principle that had led Ankit to leave his research position.
• Product identity reduced pressure: Akshay learned that identifying himself as an entrepreneur running a startup introduced pressure and distracted him from the underlying work. Thinking instead about building a product made the challenge simpler to reason about. The shift concentrated attention on what the team was making rather than on the status attached to entrepreneurship.
• Founder mistakes became preparation: Akshay worked on a late-notification app with four founders and roughly $30,000 from a Lightspeed grant. The team eventually had to fire one founder and made mistakes involving equity, legal structure, product decisions, and marketing. Those problems exposed organizational risks that technical side projects alone would not have revealed.

Questions & Answers

Q: What do side projects teach you about building startups?

Side projects let prospective founders practice discovering problems, evaluating ideas, communicating products, working with teammates, and deciding where to spend limited time. Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta found these lessons only after reviewing projects that had failed before Pulse. Buzz Web demonstrated the danger of building around an attractive assumption without confirming a user need. Other projects exposed technical limits, crowded markets, founder conflict, equity and legal mistakes, and neglected marketing. Because the experiments were real, their failures informed later decisions about Pulse's roadmap and focus.

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

Buzz Web was an app Ankit built with Evan Reas during a summer internship after the iPhone 3GS added video recording. It placed user videos on a map so people could see current activity, such as a celebrity sighting or a restaurant opening. The team also imagined advertisers promoting products or services shown in those videos. After two months of development, downloads fell from 200 on the first day to 20 on the second and roughly two per day afterward. Ankit concluded that the app offered a cool concept without solving a problem users had actually expressed.

Q: What does focusing on solutions, not ideas mean?

It means beginning with an unresolved user problem instead of assuming that an exciting concept will create demand. Ankit observed that creative people generate many ideas and can quickly imagine forming companies around them. Buzz Web followed that pattern by assuming people would record many videos and want to browse them on a map. The team had not established that this behavior solved a genuine need. Talking with people about problems they still face is therefore the step that connects creativity to real value.

Q: How can class projects prepare someone for a startup?

Treating a class project as a potential startup changes how seriously students test its usefulness. In the computer vision course, Ankit's team moved beyond completing an assignment for a grade by speaking with people and investigating potential products. Graduate students taking three to four project-based courses can repeat this process across several ideas. Each attempt teaches them to accept useful parts, reject weak ones, meet collaborators, and communicate what they are building. The venture need not launch for that practice to improve startup judgment.

Q: Why did the virtual glasses try-on project fail?

The concept allowed someone to sit before a camera, move their head, and view rendered glasses on their face. It addressed Ankit's difficulty seeing himself in new frames after removing the glasses he needed for vision. However, the computer vision technology was hard to get right. The work would also have required substantial time, and the team faced a crowded market. These combined execution and market constraints kept the class project from becoming a startup.

Q: Why did Ankit decide that time was more valuable than money?

Ankit took a paid Stanford radiology research role in 2008 to help avoid a large tuition loan. He worked on image processing that classified breast cancer from scans, but eventually became bored and noticed the position consumed time for people, ideas, and prototypes. He left the role and used roughly $5,000 to $6,000 of earnings for tuition, food, and rent while concentrating on the course that produced Pulse. The decision treated focused exploration as more valuable than continued short-term income. Pulse later reflected the same principle when the founders protected their roadmap.

Q: Why did Pulse reject a client offering $30,000?

The client was ready to pay $30,000 during Pulse's first month. Akshay and Ankit chose not to pursue that work because it would pull attention from their own roadmap. They believed the product they intended to build could become far more valuable than the immediate payment. The decision was therefore about preserving time and direction, not denying that the money was meaningful. It applied a lesson learned earlier, short-term income can carry a larger opportunity cost when it displaces the founders' highest-value work.

Q: What did Akshay learn from founder and product mistakes?

Akshay learned that calling himself an entrepreneur added pressure and could distract him from building the product itself. A late-notification app then gave him direct experience with a four-founder team and approximately $30,000 from a Lightspeed grant. The team had to fire one founder and made mistakes concerning equity, legal structure, and product decisions. It also skipped marketing entirely, which the existing account identifies as a fatal error. Together, these experiences showed why product focus and founder arrangements require attention alongside the technical build.

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

• Recognizing side projects' value: Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta met at Stanford, became close friends, and started Pulse during the final quarter of graduate school. After launching it, they reconsidered projects they had previously treated as assignments or entertainment. They discovered that these experiments contained substantial learning value. Their talk follows projects from their two years at Stanford, explains why those efforts failed, and shows how the resulting lessons later became advantages when they built Pulse.

• Testing Buzz Web's premise: During a summer internship, Ankit and Evan Reas, later the founder of Circle, built Buzz Web after the iPhone 3GS introduced video recording. They expected people to record extensively and wanted to display those videos on a map, while advertisers promoted featured products or services. Development took two months. The app received 200 downloads on day one, 20 on day two, and about two per day for the rest of that week before demand largely disappeared.

• Shifting toward real problems: Buzz Web revealed that enthusiasm for an idea does not prove that users need its proposed experience. The team assumed people would want to browse phone videos geographically, but it had not identified an unresolved user problem. Ankit concluded that founders should focus on solutions rather than ideas. Real value appears when creators talk with people and discover something those people genuinely need solved, instead of immediately forming a company around an exciting concept.

• Turning coursework into practice: In Sebastian Thrun's computer vision course, Ankit and several classmates explored a virtual glasses try-on product. A person could face a camera, move their head, and see rendered frames without removing the glasses they needed for vision. The project did not progress because the technology was difficult, development would require substantial time, and the market was crowded. Still, treating coursework as a possible startup trained the students to test ideas, meet people, communicate concepts, and reject weak directions.

• Applying lessons to Pulse: The earlier projects shaped how Akshay and Ankit approached product building, time, and commitment. Ankit left paid Stanford radiology research after deciding it consumed time needed for meeting people, generating ideas, and prototyping. Pulse later rejected a client prepared to pay $30,000 in its first month so the founders could follow their own roadmap. Akshay's projects also exposed pressure around the entrepreneur identity, founder conflict, equity, legal structure, product decisions, and the consequences of neglecting marketing.