Siddharth Shrivas

21, building a startup to help you buy premium products for 90% cheaper ( uc berkeley alum. posting insights I find useful.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

India has a huge problem. Our e-commerce Industry is littered with white-labled products being sold at ridiculously high prices.

This means you save less money, and can buy fewer products.

To fix this, I created https://t.co/vgZeIT7hRM

It is a consumer to manufacturer platform with a selection of premium products of the same quality as brands, but at 1/10th of the price.

Check it out :)

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Character can only be built by overcoming adversity. I wish upon you pain and suffering.

- Jensen Huang

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Koenigsegg is going to build 1.5x as many cars in the next few years as they have in the last 20.

Todd Graves (raising cane’s) is opening more stores in year 30 than he has in all other years combined.

“No matter what it takes and no matter whether there is any light at the end of the tunnel, you need to keep on walking where other people may have stopped.”

- Christian Von Koenigsegg

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

We try to leave nothing to chance. We try to put our best effort to every aspect.

That is what gives us the right to exist in this very tough market.

- Christian Von Koenigsegg

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Action creates information

- James Dyson

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

“I made so many mistakes at the beginning of Tesla, almost every decision we made was wrong.”

- Elon Musk

At PayPal, whenever they had to choose between two equally appealing decisions, they just picked one and moved on instead of debating it. Most times they would choose the suboptimal version, but they moved on with speed.

It is ok to make wrong decisions to start, but it is important to fix what you did wrong and adapt to reality.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Navajo rugs are imperfect.

The reason the Navajo don’t try to make them perfect is because they believe it’s part of the journey.

They were making something they love, a mistake happened, and they let it stay because it’s part of the journey.

Not retroactively trying to erase errors and accepting mistakes as part of the journey - even though they will be a part of the final product helps the Navajo keep their peace of mind and keep making rugs.

There’s a lesson in there for anyone trying to build anything.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

“The only way to succeed is by failing repeatedly.

In fact, success represents 1% of your work, which results only from the 99% which is called failure.

I believe your final success can only be achieved if you face challenges with this pioneer spirit.”

- Soichiro Honda

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Any industry is full of brains - what it needs is people with vertebrae.

Courage builds people’s trust in you and your company unique identity.

Show courage, earn trust - and repeat to scale.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

“God is with those who persevere”

- David Ogilvy

Great work is never done by temperamental geniuses, but by obstinant donkey men.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Like a nail is only driven out by another nail, a habit is only driven out by another habit.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

The best ad is a story.

Your ad should be just as entertaining to watch / read as a story.

Human beings love stories.

When they discuss these in natural conversations - your brand will be remembered.

Ex: Nike’s mid 2010’s football ads.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Joseph Pulitzer came in every morning and checked the stats of his newspaper.

How many people bought it, how much did they spend on printing it, where did it sell well and where did it not.

Pulitzer asked questions that gave him the most realistic take on the financial health of his paper.

He broke his questions down to a short list that gave him an idea of where things stood in a single glance.

He would never give up this habit throughout his life.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Hire a paid critic to make your startup better.

Their only job should be to poke holes in your product and tell you how to make it better.

“A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her form.”

- Norio Ogha, first paid critic hired by Sony; later their president and chairman.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

@dharmeshba Meesho

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Sometimes we tend to ignore advice / info when it comes from someone close to us or someone we interact with daily.

That’s why Steve Job’s word was taken so seriously at Pixar.

He was an outsider, spoke concisely and came with the added baggage of being one of the greatest tech founders in the world.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

@CheeraagMishra Congrats

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Johny Ive’s father kept talking to him about design - small things like nothing why certain street lamps were designed the way they were.

This uncovered a genuine curiosity in the boy for design.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Build your company like engineers build bridges and airplanes.

Bridges and airplanes are built with backup systems and redundancies to meet extreme stresses, so too should corporations be built to withstand supply shortages, pressures from competitors and failsafes in case of a rainy day.

- Charlie Munger

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

What playing poker taught Charlie Munger about business:

1- Fold early when the odds are against you.

2- If you have a big edge, back it heavily because you don’t get a big edge often.

Opportunity comes, but it doesn’t come often so seize it when it does come.

[Siddharth Shrivas @SiddharthS768]

Magnus Carlson knew the most chess trivia at a competition he went to as a teenager.

The greats study the ones who came before them.