Mahesh Muralidhar

National Party candidate for the Tāmaki electorate | OG @ Canva | AKL & NZ always | Subscribe for deep dives:

[STARTUP DAILY @StartupDailyANZ]

In my experience, having been a founder, an early leader at Canva, and a mentor to many startup founders, some of the best advice is quite contrarian, writes Phase One Ventures CEO Mahesh Muralidhar. Here are four things to keep in mind.

https://t.co/yNiH0Ho3jQ

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@edsuh I don’t think a traditional VC firm can ever be community first. A VC firm’s customers are the LPs. Integrity around that is critical - for the economic fly wheel. tThe primary customer of a VC is not a startup - this compromises the capacity to wholesomely deliver on community.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@edsuh We did - Phase One Ventures in NZ. We built a community first - just like YC did. And we didn’t do this to create a VC firm. The results are fantastic. 70% of startups have raised next rounds from global VCs. We are running over 3x in under 3 years.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

Thanks for bringing this up to my attention @david__booth . @matthewclifford good on you.
This is what I think about all the time ... but for NZ.

[Matt Clifford @matthewclifford]

The UK is a great country with an extraordinary history. Our stagnation is real, but it's fixable and worth fixing.

Enjoyed giving this talk at @lfg_uk last week and so encouraged by the optimistic responses I've had from people who are building a brilliant future for Britain 🚀

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

💯 The difference between 4% growth and 2% growth is doubling the economy every 18 years vs every 36 years. For the material welfare and living standards of the citizenry, literally nothing matters more than that.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@aniobrien 9¾ Make-Believe Boulevard, Never Never Land 000.🪄

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

Wonderful to see @canva keep winning. Proud to have been part of the early journey. Congrats to everyone who’s contributed to the success so far. 👏 to OG Aussie startup pioneers @liubinskas and @philmorle, for the groundwork for Aus startupland.
https://t.co/TbH2CL7dRB

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@sama It is a work of art. Incredible. Invest into the TV series or movie @sama

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@ChrisPenknz Wonderful @ChrisPenknz . Commons threads are many and afar.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

This. And so much more.

[Chris Koerner @mhp_guy]

Not one person on this planet can convince me this isn’t the greatest time to be alive.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

Imagine when you can build simple tools and automation through natural language.
Things start to move way faster…

[Reid Hoffman @reidhoffman]

"We are entering a new era of coding."

Nobel Prize Winner and @GoogleDeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis on coding with natural language.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@camrynpetebrown @aniobrien This survey, reporting of it - so much of it is a mess.
The comparison to Aus needs to acknowledge history, population dynamics etc.
And supposedly some of the results can be taken as ‘fibs by society’. Disappointing reporting all in all.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

@aniobrien Yup. He’s at a temple. It’s normal to wear this garment at this type of temple. He is being respectful. Being respectful is nearly always a good thing. It’s what we tell our kids. Nuff said.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

The AI revolution is probably going to take a decade to cement. New Zealand has a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of this on many levels. Education for one - our high schoolers and Uni students should have the opportunity to be the most AI savvy in the world. Let’s do it.

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

Great companies design incentives first, job roles second.

Full deep dive here: https://t.co/QWbAfrHrdb

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

💡 The most underrated hiring strategy? Incentive alignment over skillset.

Most hiring managers get it wrong. They hire for "experience" when they should be optimising for aligned incentives.

Let’s break this down 🧵👇

[Mahesh Muralidhar @maheshmurali]

Hiring the right people isn't just about skill. It's about aligning incentives:

✅ What motivates them?
✅ Do they want autonomy, mastery, or financial upside?
✅ Do they thrive in ambiguity or structure?
✅ Can they learn fast?