I skipped school to go to San Francisco

Welcome to Curious Jay, a weekly newsletter where I share actionable ideas on life, work, & business.

This past week, I spent two days with a group of ambitious startup founders at an event in San Francisco.

The group collectively had dozens of Ivy League degrees, multiple exits, and millions of dollars raised. I felt like an imposter the entire time.

On the flight home, I went through my pocket notebook and tried to synthesize my learnings from the event.

My 10 key learnings (on startups, career, and life):

#1: Be impossible to explain

The first thought that struck me was how curious everyone was.

It was difficult for them to summarize what they did because they had so many interests. I met a:

• Professional magician who traded NFTs
• Basketball player who created 3 consumer apps
• Neuroscience major creating virtual reality video games

When you mix things that “shouldn’t” go together, people pay attention.

Instead of shying away from your natural curiosities—lean into them.

Because often, what makes you weird makes you unique.

Embrace being impossible to explain.

#2: Sales is a superpower

Whether you want to raise money from investors, hire your first employee, or close a strategic partnership—sales is everything.

The higher up you go in any field—the more your job becomes sales.

Learn how to sell yourself in different situations:

• At casual dinners
• In investor meetings
• During 1:1 conversations

Especially if you aren’t technical, learning sales is a superpower.

#3: Create value with no expectations

Life rewards those who consistently create value for others without any expectations.

The most successful entrepreneurs at the event were extremely generous with their time. They went out of their way to meet and talk with every up-and-coming entrepreneur.

The best way to receive value is to first create value for others.

#4: Hard work is table stakes

The common debate of hard work vs. smart work is a myth.

The truth is you need both.

Entrepreneurship is hard. You can’t expect to get extraordinary rewards without extraordinary effort.

For high-achievers, hard work is table stakes. It’s a given.

I was amazed at how disciplined many entrepreneurs took their business. They treated their work like a professional athlete treats their sport.

#5: Find your intersection

Entrepreneurs encounter an inflection point when they find the intersection between three things:

• What makes money
• What’s growing in popularity
• What they’re naturally talented at

You can tell when someone’s operating in their zone of genius. If you haven’t found your intersection yet—keep looking. Don’t settle.

#6: Own your distribution

More and more people are realizing the power of having a direct line of communication with your audience.

I met a former editor for TechCrunch, a media company. He had tens of thousands of readers reading his articles every day. But when he left to start his own thing—he lost them all and had to grow his readership from scratch.

If your business is reliant on a third party to communicate with your customers—you’re building a castle in the sand.

Especially since ownership of social media platforms is so fluid—owning your distribution has never been more important.

#7: Be a student of history

The most successful entrepreneurs at the event—like the founder of YouTube and the founder of Owner.com—had an insane recall of the history of entrepreneurship.

They knew when a company failed, why it failed, and how the founders bounced back (or didn’t).

It was like listening to a human history book.

The best way to avoid the pain of needing to learn from your own mistakes is to learn from the mistakes of those who have come before you.

There’s no excuse for not being the most knowledgeable about your field.

#8: Be your own cheerleader

If you don’t root for yourself, why would you expect others to root for you?

Many of the entrepreneurs at this event had dropped out of college, dealt with company-crushing catastrophes, and faced negativity from everyone around them.

The world sometimes likes to glorify the solo entrepreneur battling against all odds. But the truth is entrepreneurship is sometimes lonely.

If you don’t learn how to self-motivate yourself, you won’t make it.

Be your own cheerleader.

#9: You’ll never fully ‘figure it out’

Everyone—even those who exited multiple startups—found it difficult to predict where they would be in 5-10 years.

I talked with a guy who sold two startups by the age of 19. Yet he was anxious about what he was going to do next.

We often think we’ll be happy after we have an exit or raise a bunch of money—but the reality is it will only give you a momentary high.

As Naval Ravikant said, “If you can’t be happy with a cup of coffee, you won’t be happy with a yacht.”

Instead of trying to predict where you’ll end up in the future, focus on pointing your compass in the right direction and taking daily action.

#10: Intensity is contagious

Ambitious energy is infectious. It’s addicting.

When you get a bunch of ambitious thinkers into a room, incredible things happen.

When you witness people light up when they explain what they’re working on, you can’t help but also get energized.

Note to self: Find and create more spaces like this.

Get In The Room

While I don’t have a specific 10-year plan, I trust that if I continue to get in these rooms and create value for others with no expectations, I will be just fine.

As Sahil Bloom wrote, “If you put yourself in rooms with smart, ambitious, kind people, great things will happen.”

Life Hack: Find the room with big thinkers. Get in the room. Help others with no expectations.

See you next Sunday,

Jay Yang

PS — The cable cars are incredible!

PPS — For those curious, the event was hosted by Z Fellows, a startup activator for ambitious, young technical founders.

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