I used to believe that seeking my own total annihilation was a form of fearlessness. It was not. Fearlessness comes from the realization that what you fear is mind made, it is not separate from you. You are also mind made.
A magically produced being does not go to miserable planes of existence, nor are they reborn in the heavens above, and they do not realize nirvฤแนa. Gaแน gottara! Is this so of you as well?
@durdfarm So for the longest time I thought I was lactose intolerant, then a friend recommended A2 milk and once I switched all my symptoms of the intolerance went away! It was a protein allergy. A2 is a different protein than A1. Ymmv
I now declare to the Tathฤgata
As Avalokiteลvara has said:
Just like someone dwelling in calm seclusion,
Hears rolls of drums from the Ten Directions,
Hearing all ten locations at one time,
This is complete, True Reality.
The reason itโs incredibly hard to break out of a โkind lieโ doom loop is because the longer itโs gone on, the more unkindness is needed to get back on track. And the fact that youโre in this situation to begin with probably means your culture will hate that.
I spent $1.5M building our office after raising a seed round. My co-founder thought I was crazy. Here's what changed his mind...
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฑ๐ญ:
After our seed round, I looked at our team. Mostly immigrants. Working 6-day weeks. Building something incredibly hard. The office wasn't just where they worked. It was becoming their home.
So I made a bet, what if we actually designed for that?
The requirements I gave our real estate agent:
- Shower (for ocean swims between meetings)
- as close to the beach as possible, ability to quickly go surfing/kiting etc.
- Big enough kitchen for a chef
- Room for an actual sauna
People thought I was building a vacation house, I thought: I am building a place worth the sacrifice.
๐๐๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค:
- Found one of SF's best real estate lawyers. Negotiated hard.
- Negotiated Tenant Improvements + First year for free
- Effective cost: $250k (not $1.5M)
Then I was extremely prescriptive with design and construction. No endless back-and-forth. I drew what I wanted. Told them to build it.
Cut iteration time by 80%.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ:
- Nordic vibes (keeping our European souls)
- Industrial kitchen
- Sauna room (yes, like our product: https://t.co/ntQmb5KL1h)
- Ocean access
- Space that feels like home
Conclusions:
- This "expensive" decision already paid for itself.
- In SF, recruiters charge $100k per engineer. We've closed multiple hires -because candidates walked in and said: "I want to work here."
But the real ROI isn't only financial.
It's this:
- We do Friday AMA as a BBQs on the beach.
- People actually use the surfboards.
- The team's lifestyle supports the intensity of the work.
EVERYONE WANTS IN, doesnt matter if events, hiring or using the space as coworking (@bertie_ai and I open it up for our portfolio companies)
My co-founder's response after 3 months:
"You were right."
Some founders optimize for low burn rate.
I optimize for: Can great people sustain this pace for years?
Because great companies aren't built in one sprint.
They're built by people who can go the distance.
We're hiring: https://t.co/jk4qr2VRc2
(Comment if you want intros to our real estate agent, lawyers or construction team - happy to connect)