Five Years of Nothing
Baiju Bhatt and his co-founder had been entrepreneurs for five years. They had nothing to show for it. Then they came up with Robinhood: free stock trading on your phone.
The thesis was that mobile would become everyone's computer. In 2013, investors thought that was crazy.
We had been entrepreneurs for the better part of 5 years and didn't have a whole lot to show for it.
The Rejection Marathon
Seventy investors said no. Maybe 110. Both numbers sound painful because both numbers are painful. You don't know how to build consumer products. You're math people. The objections piled up.
How did it feel? Bhatt says motivated. He feeds off rejection. It's fuel.
A lot of nos. It was very difficult. Over time I've learned to channel that as positive motivation.
The Tim Draper Story
They walked into Tim Draper's office. A Tesla cut in half sat in the middle of the room. Draper wore a Spider-Man tie. He listened to the pitch. Then he said: great idea, never going to work.
Then Draper asked how much they were paying themselves. Sixty to eighty thousand a year. Draper said that's way too much.
Great idea. Never going to happen. You guys are paying yourselves too much.
The Zero-Salary Gambit
They left the meeting confused and dejected. They got burgers across the street. Then the idea hit: we'll pay ourselves nothing until we get our broker-dealer license. If Draper invests.
He said yes. Then the gut check hit. Can I still afford gas? Am I biking to work now?
We'll tell him we're going to not pay ourselves until we get this approval. He said yes.
The Clarifying Power of Desperation
Bhatt says those zero-salary months were clarifying. When you can't afford gas, you focus. When the stakes are real, the work gets better.
The setbacks didn't break them. The setbacks sharpened them. That's the difference between founders who make it and founders who don't.
You have to take the setbacks and use it to bring out the best in yourself.