Things I Believe
By Sayan Maiti
Shipping fast beats the best strategy
- Speed is a superpower
- Create a bias toward shipping
- Small teams ship faster
- AI-native teams will move 10x faster than those not willing to change
- Landings > launches (i.e. product adoption > shipping code)
- Listen, build, ship, tell the customer, then repeat forever
You have no career ceiling
- Grit > talent
- There's no substitute for putting in the hours
- Get 1% better every day
Be ruthlessly truth seeking
- The truth can be painful
- You can just change your mind if wrong
- Have strong opinions, loosely held
- Maximize your exposure hours
- Data informed (anecdotes, data) > Data driven
- Seek the collective truth, not just one opinion
Communication is the job
- Clear writing is clear thinking
- Everyone (yes, you) needs to become a better writer
- Leaders step up to provide clarity when absent
- Be the person taking notes, even if it's just for yourself
- Mismatched expectations lead to sadness
- Slack pro tip: anticipate objections before hitting send, then address them
Leadership means owning outcomes beyond the org chart
- Influence > titles
- Leaders have to do the work themselves and delegate
- You can write your own playbook
- Study what worked for others, then take your own path
- Be authentic and own your failures
- Being helpful compounds
Work can also be your hobby
- This doesn't mean you can't have other hobbies
- Passion + boundaries > mythical "work-life balance"
- Your best work comes from following your curiosity
Demos > memos
- You could have built a prototype in v0 during the meeting
- Only ship things you're excited about yourself
Hiring is what separates good leaders from great
- There are two hiring answers: hell yes or no
- Growth potential > current skill
- Hire people you can learn from
- Hire people you would someday be happy working for
- Favorite interview question: what work are you most proud of?
Always try to assume good intent
- Lead with empathy
- They might just be having a bad day
- Criticism is good feedback if you listen unemotionally