Mohammed Rashik

Empathy is key.

[SMB Attorney @SMB_Attorney]

POV:

You are a large law firm attorney who just graduated from one of the best law schools in the country.

You make $250K a year as a first-year lawyer… crazy. Your parents are really proud, and you feel like you’ve won the lotto.

Yes, the expectations are high, but you have $100K+ in student loans, so it’s worth it.

Plus, you’re learning a lot, and that’s important.

A firm called Milbank just announced a salary increase, and firms are matching… how exciting! You check @atlblog every day to see if your firm will match.

But as your compensation rises, so do your rates and client expectations.

You feel your practice becoming an expectations race to the bottom.

If you’re not willing to work nights, weekends, holidays, grandma’s funeral, and Christmas Day, some other associate will, and the work will migrate to them (or so you fear).

You still have your student loans (shoot… should have prioritized them over that expensive car!) and you’re a rational actor, so you work. Endlessly.

You justify this to your family as a “short-term sacrifice.” Your partner handles things with the kids.

You move up and are now a mid-level making almost $400K per year! Insane!

You now have associates under you to handle some of the grunt and late-night work… score.

But those associates aren’t very good, and their time is demanded by others. So you still do a lot yourself.

“If you want something done right, do it yourself!” right?

The years go by fast. “Two more years,” you tell yourself over and over.

Close enough to feel optimistic, far enough to not be scary.

You occasionally check job openings, but they come with a big pay cut… not yet.

Time flies, and you’re now a senior associate making $500K+. You make so much you can’t even tell anyone.

But everyone knows because of your expensive house, private school for the kids, exotic vacations, and paying for every meal.

You still check the job market periodically. Nothing pays enough…

Hell, let’s keep going for partner. We’ve come this far, right?

So you grind. Maximize hours. Develop client relationships. Double duty! Ouch.

You justify this to your family as a “short-term sacrifice.” Your partner handles things with the kids.

You make it! The “brass ring” has arrived!

But it’s non-equity. Time to show your chops!

Maximize hours, BD and a leadership committee. Triple duty. Ouch!!

Another 2-3 year sprint.

You justify this to your family as a “short-term sacrifice.” Your partner handles things with the kids.

Now you start learn the “business of law”

Wait…

Associates are expensive, they churn constantly, and clients always want you, the relationship.

Your work is project-based. Some recurring but no recurring revenue. So you’re constantly selling, and your pipeline fluctuates.

Transactions close and die; litigation matters are decided or settle.

These things are hard to predict, and you don’t want work to dry up. So you keep taking new work, even when you shouldn’t.

Rates rise dramatically: $1,000 per hour becomes $1,500, then $2,000.

You earn awards and designations: Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners.

You become a practice group leader. Dozens or hundreds of lawyers report to you. Pretty cool.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t increase your income. It actually hurts it because you’re distracted by admin tasks.

You “step back.”

Your kids leave for college. Finally, you can really focus.

You’re now 55 and work 12 hours per day, even on Sundays, to close big matters.

You’re at the absolute tippy top of your profession. You’re made a “Star Individual.”

Finally, you approach retirement age and are forced to retire.

The value of your “equity” is insignificant and is cashed out by the firm.

You retire high net worth, but short of many friends who are ultra-high net worth.

You begin exploring non-work hobbies again. Pickleball sounds fun! You worry about your knees though.

You go look for your spouse and see what they’ve been doing all these years.

[Mohammed Rashik @morashik]

@bryantchou @ployai @ycombinator This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it out.

[John Hu @JayHoovy]

The Founder's Experience:

Getting wrecked on one call, taking a breath, shaking it off, and hopping on your next call with a smile.

[E-go @EgoDriv]

If you’re a hyperactive, high agency type of guy, the only path where you don’t go insane is entrepreneurship. It’s the only life that will stimulate you enough and put you in different situations and problems that actually make your brain function. The more you try to tame that energy the less you will feel alive. Some of us were made for complexity and ambiguity. The safe path is the most dangerous one. You know deep down you’re made for something different. Business is what gives you that. Avoid traditional jobs at all costs. Of course the price is high stress, uncertainty and lots of ups and downs… but let’s be honest, would you have it any other way? No. It’s too boring.

[Clint Awana @clintoptions]

I have a secret to share

After your first $2–$3 million, a paid off home and a good car, there is no difference in quality of life between you and Jeff Bezos. Both of you have limited amount of time on earth; you have twice if not more than Jeff, so you are richer than him. A cheeseburger is a cheeseburger whether a billionaire eats or you do.

Money is nothing but a piece of paper or a number in your app. Real life is outdoors.

Become financially independent; that’s usually 2–3mil. Have good food. Enjoy the relations. Workout. Sleep well. Call your parents. That’s all there is to life. Greed has no end.

Repeat after me: Time is the currency of life. Money is not.

Sooner you figure this out, happier you will be.

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

What did removing Saddam, Gaddafi, Assad get us? Chaos, civil war, genocide.

The rule for regime change operations in the Middle East is that they don’t flip a country from bad-to-good. They flip a country from bad-to-worse.

[Matt Slotnick @matt_slotnick]

something most software market predictions miss is that you buy software for accountability. you can’t hold code or a prompt accountable. you hold the people that stand behind it accountable. as a provider of technology, you’re in the business of accountability

[Le'Veon Bell @LeVeonBell]

nobody cares about hydration more than a kid who JUST got tucked in 😒

[Mohammed Rashik @morashik]

@drewfallon12 Fin

[Drew Fallon @drewfallon12]

Introducing Fin: The world’s first AI Chief Financial Officer.

Fin outperforms humans 100% of the time.

RT + Comment “FIN” and I’ll send you an AI agent that saves 6-7 figures/year.

[𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 @homemakinghunny]

3 year olds desperately want you to play with them but if you do anything at all to actually play they will correct you and immediately take over so you can’t actually play with them but you can get bossed around whilst pretending to play with them.

[Hubert Thieblot @hthieblot]

Everyone loves the idea of being a founder until you’re 1 year in, no traction, broke, and your family is asking when you’ll get a “real” job

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

A hill I’m willing to die on: Nothing will improve your quality of life more than proximity to people you love. It’s worth more than any job will ever pay you.

[Joshua Kushner @JoshuaKushner]

people who make non-consensus decisions to join a company make non-consensus decisions at the company

[Austin Hughes @austinh___]

Every startup has like 4 contractors in the Philippines that low-key hold the entire company together.

[Stijn Noorman @stijnnoorman]

Don’t sell like you need them.

Sell like they need you.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Voice memos are a form of assault.

[Hiten Shah @hnshah]

The hardest part of being a founder is realizing the next version of you is already overdue.

[Brian Halligan @bhalligan]

I think a good vibe to have as a CEO is to be “constructively dissatisfied.”

[Sherry Jiang is at ai engineer wf (sf) @SherryYanJiang]

a lot of sf startups work 996 bc deep down they know they’re not building anything differentiated. speed is the only edge left when you’re making the 57th lovable for excel.