Alexandr Wang on why optimism and momentum matter most when you're starting out. Early wins build belief in your team and customers. For a company solving data problems in machine learning, that momentum becomes the fuel that gets you through the hard part.
I think that early on it always is helpful to be wildly optimistic, I should say, or at least dare maybe the proper terminologies to dare to dream big, which is that even early on I think this sort of like this thread of thought which was, hey, if we actually do solve this sort of like data problem for the machine learning community, that is big, and I don't know exactly what it's going to look like to build from that point, but we're going to be able to do a lot of interesting stuff if we get there. And so that thread of idea did emerge and it didn't become, it honestly wasn't relevant for us for the first many years of the company because we're just focused on data labeling, data annotation, we're just focused on solving that. But then you sort of, you know, we solve that problem, we really focus and we got scale and then we picked our heads up, we're like, wow, we're actually at this sort of like the promised land that we thought at the very beginning that like we can, we actually have a shot at like building a lot more, doing a lot more and more industries to sort of accelerate AI and machine learning development. And so, you know, I would say that it was a. Maybe early on it was a pipe dream and then it was sort of like, you know, many years later before it actually felt like, hey, this is like a real, a real opportunity for us. And the second part of the question, which was, at what point did I decide I was ready to pursue it, building it full time? I actually, like, I wish I could say, oh, I was just like so convicted. And so I just. And so, and so I just like went for it. But actually it was, I really started working on it in earnest when school ended. I remember even like I put, I put working on all of it on hold, what to get through, like my finals and my final projects and all that stuff. And then the summer started and I was like, all right, I have nothing else to do. And then, and then I was very fortunate that we got over the course of the summer months enough momentum where I was like, hey, there's kind of no option but to just, you know, keep going at this thing. And so I think it's, I think it's sort of like this big barrier, this mental barrier feels very large oftentimes around like, hey, I have a life right now. At what point am I going to be ready to like sacrifice my life today and then, and then go do, and then go approach this other life? I think the. And I think a lot of times I'll still seem very irrational. And my. Maybe my advice is to, like, not, not actually be, quote, unquote, trapped in that false dichotomy, but actually just put yourself in situations where you have sort of freedom and flexibility to explore and then, like, see how you gain momentum in that scenario.
O processo de reconhecer limites, mesmo quando a vida parece exigir sempre mais.
Depois de tantas histórias, aprendizados e pausas necessárias, o @interior_iza está de volta
