All In, Alone
I thought working at Anchor would be hard because someone else built my dream. I was wrong. It was hard — but for entirely different reasons.
I thought working at Anchor would be hard because someone else built my dream. I was wrong. It was hard — but for entirely different reasons.
After two years of trying to build something of my own, I went back to looking for a job. The one I found was building exactly what I couldn't.
At 19, I told myself I'd join the 27 Club. But first, I had things to do. Today, I'm 27.
A VC I respected. A startup that felt made for me. A meeting I prepared for like my life depended on it. And the question I still can't answer.
After losing my co-founder, I did the only thing I knew — I built. A browser extension, a landing page, a LinkedIn presence. Everything except the one thing I was actually afraid of.
We had the passion, the ideas, and 500+ conversations. What we didn't have was a single person willing to say yes.
Before we had an idea, a product, or a plan — we had a Notion doc. A structured framework for radical honesty between two people deciding whether to build a company together.
I was bored, stagnant, and job hunting on autopilot. Then I visited a friend at the Google for Startups Campus and everything changed.
When building software or starting a company, it's tempting to go broad. While this approach feels efficient, it can often backfire. Whether it's developers overusing generics or startups failing to find a niche, the lesson remains the same: focus on solving one problem well.
The cold air bit my cheeks as I stood atop a rugged peak in Nepal, gazing out over a sea of mountains. It was here that a profound realization hit me: the only thing stopping me from living a fuller life was me.