ppl usually know each other for a long time, at least a year, to identify each other as compatible to be cofounders.
a few days ago i did a search online, a cto from georgia tech isn't someone meticously hunted down by a college dropout turned ceo nationwide. they did vex together, in the same team. they both lived on long island. they had a history. years of history. there was a clear build up. and the selection process came from both knowing each other's history and also (maybe?) rigourous evaluation of the other person's technical abilities. plus the ceo could really sell. he sold his slop for like $100K+ to another edtech company that now lost all its relevance, because that guy never wanted to be acqui-hired to be a edtech startup cmo.
idk if it's luck or just earlier discovery of passion, but dropping out of high school and immediately absorb a top talent without any networking needed in hubs like sf? that's absolutely crazy. a potential billion dollar company that hinges on a couple ppl who knew each other back in high school.
and then we look at the aviato & spermracing's ceo, who co-founded aviato with david razavi and harrison kessel while in high school. crazy right? not rly. if you do a little deep dive into him, he started esocial at 14 and was acquired just 10 months after its launch. then there is bachmanity capital, and climate credit card startup, and non-profits for coding. he figured out the startup game by relentlessly connecting with ppl in the startup world via discord communities. and it worked.
like how do these people do it at such an early age? they started the connection game (which is the most important game in life imo) at such a young age. latecomer cluely ceo founded his coo by asking everyone he sees in columbia whether they want to start a company together. this wont work for me because im in amherst, the cracked ppl at umass are busy with their own stuff, and the really cracked swes and mles at amherst are all in i2i, which operate not as a real incubator, but a club with notoriously bad reputation, where cracked technical ppl would steal good ideas for their own benefit, then abandon their business partners and graduate to become successful on their own.
actually wtf?
going back to myself. if i was two steps ahead of everyone like the ppl i talked about above did (excluding the cluely situation, which is just comms by sheer volume and dumb luck), i couldve leveraged my network during isef. but i didnt. i went there because for adding smth on my college resume and i was only hoping to win some awards. ofc that didnt happen, and thats what most ppl cared about, but i didnt see the bigger picture. that isef shouldve been my core platform and where i gain my initial connections.
because guess what? if we throw away all those jargons or niche market validations or product development directions or the specific GREAT ideas (which means absolutely nothing, absolutely dogshit level nothing), my industry is research. all of biotech industry and academia doing any, and i mean any wetlab stuff, is essentially research. they are either doing research or selling drugs. so why didn't i see that during isef 2023? plus, the research teachers at gns rly fucked me over by not slotting me to the lisef/nyssef roster after 2023. on top of that, why didnt i cold email enough labs to be absorbed as an intern in a top university lab so i couldve landed a potential opportunity to join isef 2024, where i couldve met someone like kyle, who is now in stanford, tackling ml, ai, biotech, and aging? isef should've been my launchpad all along but it was too late for me to see it. now im stuck in a place that is not close or far away from umass amherst. because of academic duties i cant go there everyday. and i cant even sign up for a umass class until next semester. everything is moving so slow, it's absolutely torturing me. i had the revelation to start conducting extensive research after college apps. AFTER COLLEGE APPS! I wasted so much time during high school just to think exclusively about college apps and college, that i forgot i should've been prioritizing maxmimizing my chance of going to the top high school fairs more than once to meet actually competent technical ppl, add their numbers, befriend them.
btw i have to talk about this, idk if this is some sort of discrimination or whatever, i went to harvard to visit natasha who i met during isef, and i literally saw her friends being turned off when i explained i wasnt at harvard as a incoming freshman, but a fucking visitor to see my friend, and that i was actually going to amherst. no one gives a fuck about me. i went to isef once, witnessed everyone else's greatness, and left there without awards and lasting connections. I didn't even get into rsi (might be too harsh on myself here cuz natasha also didnt make it). there were so many things i couldve have done to start early even as an immigrant, but i just didnt see it. i didnt see how i shouldve played the long game during that time. i was too fixated on what everyone else was fixated on. and now im stuck in the middle of nowhere, the only benefit is that i get top tier education, and a neighboring school with a potential lab collaboration site, talent hunt, and bio domain advisor.
i emailed kyle. he doesnt gaf. just like everyone else. like sophie, like the other cracked kids. because i dont belong. im stuck in the middle. im more mission-driven and obsessed about building with clarity than 90% of high school graduates, yet i dont belong to the top 10% of the talented social circle because im simply not cracked enough, or i havent talked to ppl. the biggest reward i got out of going to texas back in 2023 was having the lisef group to help me with the stupidiest student government vp election. what the fuck. that's all i did? now thinking back i was really retarded. that vp election won me nothing substantial in the grand scheme of things, even for college app it didn't help much (i think). i shouldve been walking in the convention center all day and stalk all the poster booths in the comp bio section. i didn't do that!! WHY DIDN'T I DO THAT??? idk i think im lowkey retarded. at the same time ruminating about regrets and past mistakes are equally retarded, so i should stop.
ok now i've stopped, let's look forward. what can i do?
- i2i ppl are either incompetent, not mission-driven, or insanely cracked but have zero morality.
- umass undergrads are hard to hire. i faced one person ghosting me (larissa), the other being rly nice (tiffany) but ultimately rejected the offer because of other commitments.
- because im not a umass undergrad, i can't go to their startup events and network with everyone. im stuck with i2i ppl and my own computer.
- ppl have mixed reviews of yc cofounder matching. there are some ppl who said they clicked the moment they matched, others saying everyone on the platform is obnoxious. i dont want to be that obnoxious business guy looking for ctos. im desperate, but selectively desperate. i wont risk ruining my venture because im desperate. i will see how that goes since i have just created a profile awaiting for platform approval so i can start blind dating ppl online. i selected the target range to be in the us. so im expecting a lot of google meet & zoom sessions with ppl.
- i will still try to email phds and professors from umass and see if i can get somewhere.
im not in a good spot. i dont belong anywhere right now. not in the research world, not in the ai/sf/cs hub, not in the biotech industry, and also not in the business/finance world. i dont consider myself a polymath, but a person who is trying to do everything besides the technical part. my two biggest moat are my conviction and idea. but conviction worths nothing if my body cannot handle allergies every single fucking day (my sneezing and rhinitis getting bonkers) or stress coming from all sides. and from what i have seen online, idea is the least important thing i can put on the table. ctos care about the business person's ability to pitch. obv i have zero track record. my stuff never got bought, and i've never been acqui-hired. my only real advantage is that i know the underlying logic behind the intersection of the ml/ai domain and the bio/research domain and i do have track record in research because i've won research awards. and im relentless to conduct customer research, and understanding the fundemental challenges regarding organoids.
ppl found their ideal dates during high school and im just getting started. im falling really really behind. these people form these relationships really early, and because they know each other to be very qualified, these two-people team expand their team by naturally attracting qualified strangers from elsewhere in the country to join their startups. this includes build and cluely.
at this point, i can only bet on luck. i need to take the cluely approach of just meeting as many people as possible and find the right fit. i have to. there is no other choice. irl locally, yc cofounder matching nationally, and ofc agentic searches and linkedin recruiting. i need to try everything. no one wants to invest in a deep tech without a tech person.
let's see if i can find a successful date anytime soon. but the i2i situation seems shaky. there is no way that these ppl only want their names be put on my company website. that's fantasy. that's fairy tales. without equity there is nothing that would motivate ppl to work with me.
i started late. but i will still be in the game if i never give up. lol this is actually what i put in the yc cofounder match profile in the "extra/other" section:
Other
To me, losing and failing mean giving up. I give my 100% to everything I do - that includes what I build, who I connect with, etc. This contributes to my intense focus and obsession on what I'm building. And I'm not the type of person to give up. I think that's my biggest personal moat.