How a Startup Founder Who Built a Unicorn Thinks About Product | EP 38
Description
In this episode of UNinvested, Sahil sits down with Jason Zhang, a dynamic entrepreneur who founded a billion-dollar unicorn in his mid-20s and has since contributed to prominent startups like Upwork, StubHub, and Mesh. Jason shares his invaluable experiences on launching and scaling startups, balancing rapid product development with customer needs, and leveraging the unique agility of startups to outperform larger companies. Whether you're an aspiring founder or passionate about the startup ecosystem, Jason's insights offer a roadmap to navigating the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship.
What we explore:
Deciding the right time to join or start a startup: balancing youth and experience
The importance of launching products quickly and iterating based on user feedback
Differentiating between founding a startup and working within one
Evaluating bootstrapping versus seeking venture capital funding
Leveraging startup agility to outpace larger competitors
Strategies for preventing burnout and maintaining work-life balance
Utilizing competition to inspire and enhance product development
Practical advice for young founders on breaking down problems and iterating efficiently
Where to find Uninvested:
Website: https://www.uninvested.org/
In this episode, we cover:
[00:00] Introduction: Key questions on customer feedback and product perfection
[00:38] Meet Jason Zhang: From founding a unicorn to roles at Upwork, StubHub, and Mesh
[00:41] Timing the Startup Journey: Is there a right time to jump into startups? Balancing youth and experience
[02:05] Lessons from Founding a Startup: Prioritizing market needs over product perfection and the value of shipping early
[04:52] Embracing the Lean Startup Model: Balancing speed with product maturity and understanding user needs
[06:51] Founding vs. Joining a Startup: Decision-making processes and focusing on product strategy
[10:01] Bootstrapping vs. Venture Capital: Aligning incentives, growth strategies, and competitive advantages
[12:44] Product Development Insights: Utilizing qualitative and quantitative data to solve significant problems
[16:04] Feature Development vs. Core Refinement: Deciding when to expand product offerings or enhance existing features
[17:03] Maintaining Work-Life Balance: Preventing burnout through routines and balancing personal life with startup demands
[20:38] Leveraging Competition: Using competitors as inspiration and opportunities for partnership rather than threats
[22:55] Advice for Young Founders: Breaking down problems, iterating quickly, and balancing manual processes with technological solutions
[26:37] Evolving Routines: Adapting personal routines to maintain productivity and prevent burnout as life changes
[00:00:00] Sahil: Is the customer always right?
[00:00:01] Jason: You're never going to think your product is perfect. What are the biggest
[00:00:04] Sahil: differences when founding
[00:00:06] Jason: a startup and working for a fast paced one? The one superpower that startups have over larger companies. When to
[00:00:11] Sahil: add a new feature versus refining your core. Some things can be painful.
Today on Uninvested, I'll be speaking with Jason Zhang. In his mid 20s, Jason started a startup that went on to become a billion dollar unicorn. And has worked in multiple other startups like Upwork, StubHub, and most currently Mesh. If you can follow the podcast and enjoy this episode, please consider leaving a review, subscribing on your favorite platform, or just commenting to Reach.
Jason, you graduated in 07 and you jumped into startups pretty quick. In your mind, is there a right time to jump into startups? Should you get some experience first?
[00:00:46] Jason: That is a very interesting question. Uh, I probably would have told you something very different when I was 25, uh, than probably what I have like, uh, probably like lean towards today.
Uh, there's a bunch of benefits to like being able to get into startups, like when you're young. Um, I think, You're not attached. You can be able to dedicate a lot of time to it. Uh, especially if you're a founder, early employee of startups, it's always going to be evolving pretty quickly. Um, it's pretty ambiguous in terms of like what you work on and you're going to want to be able to dedicate a lot of time to be able to, um, to be able to kind of like harness that when I founded my startup, uh, you know, I was in.
My mid twenties, uh, so I had a lot of that time to kind of frame it. But, you know, I also think that like with, uh, experience, you also start getting a lot, um, better at being able to make the decisions that like, uh, allow startup to like be successful. And I think like the things that allow startups to really be successful is how do you figure out what you're prioritizing?
Well, how do you figure out what's important to work on? How do you figure out what's important to work on at that time? Um, and, um, uh, when you need it. And, uh, I think like, um, you know, when you're, uh, when you're younger you, uh, are gonna take a, you know, a lot of shots on goal And, uh, hope someone will hit.
And I think like, uh, when you have a little more experience, I think you Have a little more accuracy, uh, you know, a little more accuracy with your shots. Uh, and so like, uh, you have a little more, uh, a little more like, uh, certainty that like, uh, you're on the right direction.
[00:02:18] Sahil: Looking back at the startup you founded after working at some huge, fast growing startups, what do you think you would have done differently?
Were there any like specific decisions that you, looking back, you're like, Ah, I wish I had that one back. The biggest one is
[00:02:31] Jason: just the focus on being able to get something out to market. I think like a lot of people, when you're trying to a product out there, you overemphasize a little bit too much on like the perfection of it.
You want it to be exactly what you envision, like in your head. Um, and in reality, uh, what you envision in your head and what customers actually want are almost never, uh, the same thing. Uh, and the best way to be able to hone in on what customers want is to Is exactly that. Let customers use it. And it can be something that at least matches what they would expect.
If it takes maybe two extra steps that you don't like in the flow, that's okay. Um, and I think that's the biggest learning to, from like, um, you know, I would probably, Oh, it's not like necessarily like a take back, but it's just definitely a learning from like that experience. Um, over a course of time is get something out there, get something shipped.
Even if you don't think it's the perfect product, That's okay because you're never going to think your product is perfect. Um, but you end up making a lot of decisions very differently. Once users, uh, start interacting
[00:03:43] Sahil: with your product. It sounds like you really believe in the lean startup model, you know, ship something quick, learn from the customers, but how do you balance that trade off with, you know, pushing a product out there that's maybe immature and running the risk of losing a customer because your product just wasn't there.
You know, you could have spent an extra month, extra week on it.
[00:03:58] Jason: There's all these like various different definitions that like the lean startup model, kind of like puts it in a site. MVP, minimal level of product, whatever it might be. I think like my, my biggest thing is like, what is the main job that like that user you want that user to be able to accomplish and can that product, does it have the functionality to get them from point A to like point B and if they can do that, then your product is, uh, something that you want to be able to get feedback on.
Right. Um, and I think like that's the, that's like the, the, the biggest difference is. You could have spent an extra month because you know, like there was like three steps you wanted to take out. Cool. But if they could get the job that, that they needed to be done, you, those three steps might not be the ones that the users actually tell you are the important ones to take out.
It might be three completely different steps that you didn't think about, um, at all, and like, that's the entire emphasis around like how to be able to get a product out there, um, more quickly is you don't want to spend a Too much time in your own head, right? You want users to inform you on what you can beat and yes You do risk losing one or two users that get stuck in that flow But I think like that is part of early stage products as a whole you have to be willing to take some of those risks To be like those larynx
[00:05:16] Sahil: and does that same mindset when you're you know pushing our product initially is one thing But then adding features once you already have customers is another So how does that trade off work?
It's like, you know, you could test, test, test, make sure it's not going to break, but you know, end of the day, it still might break things. So that mindset. So there is there extra caution? It depends on scale at that point.
[00:05:35] Jason: Right. Uh, if you're talking about when I worked at like StubHub, every single feature that you put out there, uh, is impacting, you know, uh, billions in processing every single week, It's impacting hundreds of millions of users over the course of a month.
And so, yes, the downside is pretty big, right. Uh, of, uh, of bringing something. Um, most startups, when you like even first go and you'll, you're even in like your first hundred thousand users, you're in your first, like 250, 000 users. Yeah. It might seem like a ton to that startup as a whole, and you want to cherish every single one of those.
But I think like, that is one of the things that like, I think in the larger scale. Your downside risk still is pretty low in general. And like the one superpower that startups have over larger companies is they can iterate quickly. They can be less afraid to break things and they, they can get to a point where they understand what users want a lot more quickly than the larger companies that they have to protect to that downside risk.
Like you, you, if you break it too much, you will lose enough customers or enough left enough revenue that you're going You will start going on a downslide and so that's what you don't want to be able to like do but when you're small You can take some of those risks and be able to iterate a lot more quickly
[00:06:51] Sahil: What are the biggest differences when founding a startup and working for a fast paced one
[00:06:56] Jason: biggest differences?
Depend it depend on like when you join Uh, if you are fairly early, you know, call it like first 20, first, uh, you know, uh, 30 employees, uh, at a startup and you are going into a role that, uh, you know, you're more or less like kind of establishing like what that function and what that role is. It does feel very much like, uh, being a founder, you are able to make decisions pretty quickly.
You are not necessarily going through, uh, the checks and balances that you would be at a much larger place to be able to make decisions. And so it does feel like you are, uh, you can be pretty independent in your decision making processes. I think, um, with being a founder, uh, the biggest difference, uh, to be honest, is the fundraising part.
Uh, and like that, how much time that actually ends up taking away from your ability to be able to focus on a product. Uh, I think that's one of the biggest benefits of, like, being, um, at Mesh is Like in my role, I'm able to concentrate and focus on product, product delivery, product strategy, uh, and product quality as 95 percent of my job.
And, you know, the other 5%, uh, I'm not, I don't have to spend 50 percent of my time trying to be able to, um, You know, uh, raise money to be able to keep the lights on, uh, and, you know, our CEO and co founder, uh, and our, uh, and our co founders do a great job of, uh, kind of be able to
[00:08:22] Sahil: support that. That's an interesting point.
You said, you know, you got to go out and raise money, but there is the other side of, you know, call it startups and that's bootstrapping, not raising capital because the incentives of the startup founder and the incentives of a VC in my mind are completely misaligned. You know, you, as a startup founder, if you bootstrap, you own a hundred percent of the business, you exit per.
A hundred million dollars, you know, that's a fantastic payout. You raise money and you guys are for a hundred million dollars. You're a failure. So what is your opinion on that take?
[00:08:50] Jason: One of the fundamental reasons that companies, small companies take BC funding is to be able to, um, grow more quickly, to be able to build more quickly, to be able to ship more quickly because more people allow them to be able to iterate faster, allow them to be able to, uh, to be able to actually, uh, approach and, uh, Go into markets a lot faster, right?
Um, and if you're in that space that you're able to do that without taking funding, that's fantastic. But traditionally, when you are following your revenue to be able to, uh, hire, hire in, you, uh, and you're in a fast growing pace that somebody else took money that can be able to grow faster than you, you're, you're gonna eventually at some point, uh, be at a disadvantage unless you can hit, uh, an asset point when you are, uh, you know, you're essentially On the, you're in the upswing of a hockey stick, right?
And those are not easy to predict when you can be able to get to those spaces. Right. Um, and so I think that that's the biggest, I think like that's the biggest difference that I've seen before is if you're in a space that like you feel like you, um, you can be able to like grow it into that at a fairly steady pace and be able to still make an impact in that industry and build it, make an impact in the market, or you have a niche enough product that like.
Your steady pace is going to be able to win, uh, or be able to, to grow, uh, grow enough. Then I think bootstrapping is fantastic, but if you are in a competitive and fast growing and lots of people are going to be coming at you with a lot of different, uh, potential ideas with a lot of potential partnerships with a lot of potential things, you want to have, uh, enough resources to be able to pursue the right ones because you don't know which ones are actually going to be the ones there.
I'm gonna be able to get you onto that grid.
[00:10:34] Sahil: In a highly competitive space, what if the space is massive, and you're just trying to grab a slice? You know, do you still run the risk that you have to raise because someone could try to, you know, come into your territory? Or do you think you can kind of main you know, startups can kind of maintain if the space is big enough?
[00:10:49] Jason: I think if the space is big enough, definitely able to be able to maintain it, but it's not I don't think it's necessarily, uh, you know, like people do traditional startup math for like VCs. They're like, Tam, divided by, I can take this small percentage and like be able to, you know, be able to generate X amount.
I think all that math is, you know, purely just hypothetical. I think it's very much like, what slice are you trying to take? What niche are you trying to like be able to solve? What problem are you trying to solve? If that problem is strong enough, and you're solving it well enough, and your customers are going to stick with you long enough, because you're doing something for them, that they can't find other places, then you're going to be in a good, you're potentially going to be in a good spot.
Uh, now, if you try to solve, uh, a much bigger problem, and you will see other people try to get into taking slices of that problem away from you, slices of that market away from you, That is going to, uh, become things that you're going to have to, uh, be able to counter, uh, counter.
[00:11:47] Sahil: Seems like in your journey, you know, you started a startup, started working at a bigger startup, you know, then an even bigger one, and then you went to a smaller one.
Is that, you know, intentional? Or is that you just kind of naturally found your way there?
[00:11:57] Jason: It was very intentional, uh, to be able to join Mesh. Um, you know, my, like, my last two jobs were publicly traded, uh, the leaders in a space, and I think that It gave me a lot of experience what this looks like at scale, uh, what this looks like at the optimization mode.
But I think like the biggest thing that I really kind of missed was that rapid pace of development. Um, once you get to, you know, we talked about this like earlier. Uh, once you get to a certain point, the downside risk is actually bigger, is actually more important than the upside, like potential, uh, with a lot of these companies.
And like, that's, that's very, very reasonable decision making. That's very, very reasonable math, uh, for those companies to be able to make, uh, but you know, I think like with some people that are, uh, in, in, in product roles, you want to be able to like take a lot more, uh, risks to be able to put a product out there that you might not be able to prove with any.
You know, business case that's like, Oh, this is going to be fantastic because you need users to help you be able to prove that case. Right. And at startups, you can be able to do that.
[00:13:02] Sahil: When you're building a product, is the customer always right? Or can they
[00:13:06] Jason: sometimes be wrong? Depends on who the customer is.
If their customer is a specific, uh, enterprise client, and they want a very, very specific thing, and they are willing to be able to sign a very large contract for you to be able to do it. Uh, you might think they're wrong, and it's still ROI positive for you to be able to build something, uh, for that. I think if we're talking, if you're talking about a consumer grade product, Uh, there are definitely situations where what you ask a customer, and then what you actually see, what like a larger scale of people do, are completely opposite.
And that's where I think the art of product starts coming in, is how do you make those decisions. You have to. Use a blend of, here's the data saying one thing, it could be qualitative data, it could be quantitative data. And then there's also a product sense of like, is this actually solving a problem that's like big enough?
Is this actually solving a problem that's important enough for these people to take their, uh, take it away from the traditional thing they're doing? And do something that is slightly different than what they've done.
[00:14:11] Sahil: Do you have any examples of when, you know, you, people kept asking to build this certain feature, but you were like, you know, you look more at the long term and you ended up going a different route than what, you know, the
[00:14:20] Jason: initial data was telling you, like step up in some of the places that we had, like a lot of quantitative data kind of like pointing, uh, in that, uh, singular direction, we saw a lot of things like pointing to how we should be able to like potentially let people like select data.
Seats like in like a specific like arena. Uh, you heard that like quantitatively or you heard that qualitatively from people. It's like, I wanna pick a very, very specific seat. Uh, I you heard that you, you would see that from like other, uh, partners be like, Hey, why can't people actually like, pick like very, very, very specific seats?
Um, and, uh, we started like going down a route of like building a feature to essentially be able to like do that. Um, I think like what we ran into at some point was like, uh, both what you can be able to pick. And what's your inventory that you have available are insanely tied to each other. And if you don't actually own like the vast majority of seats in a stadium, people are not, even if they can pick a very specific seat, they can't get what they want.
There's usually, I want four seats together in a very specific area. It's like, okay, cool. You limit that down. There's literally nothing available that does resolve anything. To be able to pick something in particular, as opposed to is like, great. Hey, do you want us to just be able to find you on X, Y, Z parameters of like by an aisle somewhere in the upper deck for this year, here's a seat to be able to go do it.
I think that those were like some of the things that I think like we started like learning when we started building out a product that we're actually like somewhat surprising. You see it and you get it and you think that people want it. But then in actual like reality of when you like build it, when you, it doesn't match up to like some of the things that you have on like the other side.
It actually fails to meet the final need, which is I need to buy a ticket to actually be able to attend this event.
[00:16:04] Sahil: When you're building the product and you were constantly talked about adding features here and there, but how do you determine when to add a new feature versus refining your core product?
[00:16:14] Jason: Probably a better way to be able to position that is more along the lines of when is it the appropriate time to. Be able to build into a tendential like product area. Uh, and as opposed to continue to like focus and hone in on like your core product. Right. And I think like, that is not, uh, that is not like, there's like no one, like true answer, uh, for that.
I think a lot of like what you end up like seeing is once you have figured out that like, Hey, this is maybe something that people want to do. Uh, you are getting into a world where this is maybe something that people will pay for, right? Whatever that something is. Now you need to like, be able to like, meet like, a minimal like, quality expectation, like, bar.
They need to be able to do this regularly on, above a certain rate. Like, it's never gonna be 100%, right? Uh, but should probably be above X, right? And your product, when it first like, getting to that point of like, what people want, it's probably not above X at that point. The biggest question that you want to be able to ask yourself is like, how much do you want to be able to invest to be able to get to that number of why that you think is like good enough, or how do you take that product that you have and try to be able to expand it into like other, uh, other service areas answer for that is different for every single startup.
And the only time that I would probably like gauge a flag for it is if you end up starting to build a product that is very, very different than your core product, because, um, the unknown costs with that. are not just the time to be able to build something that is feasible, but now you're also needing to support and maintain something.
[00:17:53] Sahil: When you spend as much time building products as yourself, you must get to a level of obsession when you're building these products. Do you think? Startup founders can ever reach an unhealthy level of
[00:18:03] Jason: obsession. You could definitely get to an unhealthy level, uh, of deception. When is the best optimal time in your life to be able to like build a product?
I think like now, like a lot of, uh, my life is around trying to find like balance between working. Uh, I have like two kids under four. Uh, so I spent a lot of time with them. Um, I, uh, have a lot of other activities that like allow me to be able to unplug from, uh, my like day to day like life or day to day work life, allow me to come back to it with like, you know, uh, a fresher perspective around things.
Right. Whereas like, you know, when I was younger and it was basically just the startup and, um, you know, very few other distractions. Um, I think like that was like a, that was like a, Potentially getting onto like the borderline of like maybe being a little bit unhealthy, right? because you don't have enough other things that are kind of allowing you to be able to unplug and be able to come back because I've been amazed at the number of times when i've obsessed about something and then Step away for even if it's like taking a walk or going and doing something for an hour and you come back It's like oh wow, like maybe I was just not going the right direction and thinking about this thing Right?
It's like, okay, cool. Like, let's, let's write something else down. Let's like put something else on paper and like be able to kind of like map this out. I think like, uh, when you're too hyper focused on like trying to solve one single problem or the solution that you already have in your head, trying to like be able to execute that, you get into the problem where you, uh, uh, you know, that, that constant, like that, that constant, like, um, quote, where it's like, you can't see, like, you, you can't see the forest from the trees.
Like you're just staring ahead of that one single tree that you're trying to go get after and chop down. Don't see that there's like literally a gigantic like opportunity area for you to be able to, uh, to be able to solve other things. So
[00:19:52] Sahil: you've been in startups for a number of years. How have you prevented yourself from burning out?
When so many founders in today's world just burn out from startups completely.
[00:20:00] Jason: I think it's like making sure that you have other things, um, that are allow you, allow you to be able to pull away from it. Even if it's for, uh, you know, even if it's for a short time period during the day. Uh, or, uh, it's, you know, making sure that you're kind of protecting your own, you're, you're kind of like protecting your own, like, time to like, uh, be able to make sure you can spend time with your family, you can be able to spend time, uh, with your friends, you can be able to, like, do that.
And not have to worry about that, like interruption of that Slack message that you're going to be like, I have to leave like right now until I go do all these things. And if you can be able to do that, you can be able to, uh, push off that burnout,
[00:20:37] Sahil: uh, quite a bit. You talked about, you know, walking in with a new perspective.
How much do you allow competition to affect your perspective? Like do you, you know, some people say ignore as a founder, ignore competition completely. Others will say the complete opposite. Where do you stand on that?
[00:20:51] Jason: I think if you're not looking at your competition, you're not doing your product service.
Uh, you're, you're doing your product a disservice, right? Because you're thinking that the way you're solving a problem is the singular best way in the world to be able to solve it. And that is not necessarily true. Uh, your competition can be able to enlighten you on different things that they might be thinking about.
The way they might be like thinking about like solving something. And if you can be able to approach that with an open mind of that, like, Oh, I hate that. Uh, I hate that, like what they're doing and the flip it into like the, that does actually seem like a potentially reasonable way to do it. Is there a way to be able to merge that into like, well, my customers want to do or why customers are saying what they like want to be able to like approach.
If you can be able to do that, uh, in an effective manner, your product is better for it. Right? Because you're getting, you're, you're able to, I think like looking at competition is also one way for you to be able to step away from your own day to day. Right? Like, you're not staring at that tree anymore, you're actually like, oh, there's kind of a little grove over here, they might be doing something different, uh, they're in the same forest, and maybe that is cool, maybe that is reasonable.
[00:21:56] Sahil: Yeah, awesome, no, that makes a lot of sense. And when you're looking at competition, do you look at it from the lens of like, How can we beat them? Or like, how can we be inspired by them? I
[00:22:03] Jason: think there's competitors that are directly, uh, in your space. Right. Uh, I think like at, uh, like when I was at StubHub, there's very, very clear ticket, uh, uh, companies that are also ticket marketplaces.
Like there's Ticketmaster. Uh, there's like, uh, you know, there was like Viagogo. There was, um, uh, SeatGeek, all those. So like, those are like very, very, very, very direct, uh, competitor. Right. Uh, but then you're also able to like, look at like. Uh, there's like, uh, indirect, uh, competitors that like were baseball teams selling tickets, like directly.
Right. And they're trying to figure out how to like, be able to like do this. And you're like, well, like they are kind of stealing tickets that could be sold on my site. But like, what if I could help them sell tickets better? Like that's actually a better, like way to be able to like think about it. So yes, they're competition in the sense that like they're stealing ticket sales from you.
But like, if there's an opportunity for you to actually be able to help them succeed. By making your, uh, by making your product, uh, by having them, having them use your product and making your products as a whole better, then there's opportunities to kind of be able to kind of like, so there's a partnership angle.
Yes. There's a like direct part, there's like the direct competition, but then there's like the, how do you see, uh, inspiration from like some of those other like product experiences that you could be able to adopt.
[00:23:22] Sahil: So taking a more retrospective look, you know, you worked at, you know, call it five plus startups.
What is the number one thing you've learned along the way?
[00:23:28] Jason: At every single startup, probably the most consistent thing that I would probably say when at the end of being at that startup was always asking myself, was there a way for us to be able to. Iterate faster. Was there a way for us to be able to ship faster?
Was there a way for us to be able to break the problem down smaller? I still do that today at Mesh. It's how do I break the problem down like smaller? How do I break it down into, uh, something that can be able to get out faster?
[00:23:56] Sahil: Providing advice to young startup founders. How do they go?
[00:23:59] Jason: Breaking down and iterating fast.
I think like one way to be able to think about is not everything has to be, uh, technology built. Not everything has to be beautiful. Some things can be manual. Some things can be painful. Some things can be, I just want to get something out there and let's see if anybody does it. Back to like my very first points.
Like, can they accomplish the job? Can they get to the end and they get the expected result? Can they get like the check mark, even if it's like completely fake, right? Uh, if they can get there. And then you see a lot of growth and you see a lot of activity. Now you're giving a lot of reason and a lot of data to be able to build something that is better, faster, easier for them to be able to use.
And then also you're motivated by, uh, your own, like, operational, uh, burden. You're like, I can't, I can't, like, process this 100 cities anymore. It's like, I have to actually do something or, like, I can't keep up with this anymore. Uh, and so, like, it gives you a lot of motivation, but also gives you way more direction than you could have ever gone.
If you first go into like that world of like, Oh, well, let me think about like the 15 different ways that, uh, this could go right or wrong for, uh,
[00:25:01] Sahil: for me. Do you have any examples of a time you did something super manual before you went ahead and made it,
[00:25:05] Jason: you know,
[00:25:05] Sahil: built it with technology?
[00:25:06] Jason: One, uh, worked at a, uh, e commerce company called Choice.
Uh, we worked with, uh, a lot of, uh, dropshippers, right. And so like dropshipping and e commerce was basically, you're never actually taking, uh, the items. You're essentially basically saying you're taking the order. And then, uh, they are basically shipping it, but you're not ever taking, like, custody of that into your, like, warehouses.
One of the, you know, things that we want to be able to understand is like, Hey, we're not the biggest platform in the world. We have, you know, a subset of people that do care about, like, the way we do it. It's video shopping. Uh, video, uh, online video shopping more than anything. And so, like, what if we do what we're good at, which is making videos about these things?
Uh, can we be able to get dropshippers to, like, be able to join the platform? Right? And we could have built the great and beautiful, like, uh, you know, drop shipper portal for them to be able to enter all these things and be able to learn everything. We basically just asked them first, like, here's a spreadsheet, tell me how many of these you have, tell me what these are called and tell me what you want to sell and ship me one and we will make a video on it.
And we did that for, uh, we did that for a few months. And, uh, we found out that a lot of people actually wanted to be able to use us. And it became so overburdened. It became such a huge burden to be able to like, actually do all this manually that we were uh, incentivized to be able to build a portal for them to be able to like, uh, kind of like manage this on their own.
It was a lot of spreadsheets for a couple months, right? Uh, it was a lot of organizing, a lot of this stuff, for a couple months. So then eventually, we were able to, uh, hone in on what we needed to be able to build, uh, that actually allowed them to, uh, to be able to solve their needs.
[00:26:37] Sahil: That's awesome. I ask everyone the same question.
Has there been any routine that you've maintained throughout the years?
[00:26:42] Jason: Before having kids. The main routine I probably, like, uh, maintained, uh, was I would always carve away, like, my winters. Uh, I would probably be up in Tahoe or be skiing, like, a vast majority of the winter. Um, uh, And so like, that was like something that I kept for at least like 10 to 15 years.
Now the routine with kids, very different. Uh, now the routine with kids is like birthday parties and, uh, birthday parties and preparing dinners and all that kind of stuff. But, um, Yeah, I think like, there's always gonna be, uh, those type of things that I think, like, are good to be able to, like, maintain, but I like changes.
I think, like, your routines also change
[00:27:20] Sahil: a little bit. Awesome. I love skiing. I'm so jealous that you have to carve out your winters. That's just a dream. But anyways, I'm Sahil. I'm Jason. And this has been Uninvested. Thank you. This is a personal video, any views or opinions represented in this video are personal and do not represent those of people, institutions, or organizations we may or may not be associated with in a professional or personal capacity.
The views are expressed are for entertainment purposes only and not to be misinterpreted as actionable investment advice.
