Donal Chomal

An optimistic nihilist | Nerd on the inside | Sucker for mental models

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

"Go to bed smarter than when you woke up"
- Charlie Munger

[@levelsio @levelsio]

how to build a bootstrapped startup without funding:

1. pick a problem you personally have. if you don't use your own product daily, quit now

2. skip the pitch deck. open your code editor. ship something ugly in a weekend

3. charge money from day 1. free users give you nothing but support tickets

4. use boring tech. PHP, SQLite, vanilla JS. frameworks are a trap that mass waste your time

5. host on cheap VPS ($5-20/mo). not AWS. you don't need kubernetes for 1,000 users

6. do customer support yourself. it's the fastest product feedback loop that exists

7. automate everything you do more than twice. cron jobs > employees.

8. grow on Twitter/X by building in public. your journey IS the marketing

9. keep your burn rate near zero so you never need to raise. ramen profitable > series A

10. say no to investors, cofounders, and "advisors" who want equity for intros

i've been doing this for 10+ years now. no employees, no funding, no board meetings

the entire VC game is designed to make you think you need permission to start

you don't

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@JasonKPargin @G_S_Bhogal Basically, Asian parenting

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@PrajwalTomar_ @Lovable Lovable

[Joe Hudson @FU_joehudson]

https://t.co/yLWVfOSQa7

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@anothercohen Given this is my hometown, this tweet makes me really happy :’

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

You can ship features for other startups now, just in your own browser with https://t.co/gWSBFj2Z6W

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

https://t.co/u26Q3XMnPt

Kinda one of the best psychologist videos I’ve ever seen

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@zomatocare Havent heard from your support team on any channel @zomatocare @zomato

[George Mack @george__mack]

5 magical Japanese words:

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@IncomeTaxIndia I paid my penalty for late filing last week and got a challan receipt for the same (clearly showing a successful transaction) and the website till date shows the penalty is pending. When I try to reach out to the 4 contact numbers provided, 3 don't exist and 1 isn't answered.

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@IncomeTaxIndia Hi, as much as is expected from taxpayers to pay their taxes in time, when we do so, your website fails to load up successful transactions and there is no one to reach out to for help.

[Kevin Yien @kevinyien]

Your career is not a ladder, it's a game. Those who treat it like ladder will make linear progress at best and let their fear hold them back. Those who treat it like a game will collect the resources, find the people, and build the skills that compound — and have fun doing it!

[adriane schwager @aschwags3]

Charlie Munger did life right.

Here are the 10 best Mungerisms from the architect of Berkshire of Hathaway.

[Navin Kabra @NGKabra]

Who are Indians descended from? Aryans from Europe? Dravidians who've been "here" forever? The Indus valley civilization?

A controversial question for 150+ years, but now we have DNA evidence that answers these questions with a high degree of certainty.

🧵

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@ParvSondhi sounds interesting! count me in.

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

Probably the best thread I've read since Twitter became X

[EDDIE CHENG @ecomEddie]

I’m obsessed with learning how to learn.

So, I spent 100+ hours studying how Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Naval Ravikant absorb information.

Here’s what I found on becoming a learning machine:

[Donal Chomal @DonalChomal]

@NagariaAshutosh Best thing I could open the app to (after months)

[Zafar Mirzo @zafarmirzo]

First there was physics, then biology, society, and spirit. Spirituality involves knowing the physical, overcoming the biological, and elevating the social.

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

Even if it doesn’t seem like it, and no matter how much you justify it, the people you surround yourself with (online and offline) subtly influence your actions. Slowly, then all at once you become someone you may hate.