Terrible Risk Calculus
Altman: People have terrible risk calculus in general. Even people who try to be really good about this are bad at it. The answer is almost always — you're wrong about what is risky and what is not risky, and most people don't take enough risk.
Especially early in your career. Being young and unknown and poor — that is actually a great gift in terms of the amount of risk you can take. People don't capitalize on that enough.
You're wrong about what's risky. Being young and poor is a gift for risk-taking.
Regret the Things You Didn't Do
Altman: What risk actually looks like is not doing something that you will then spend the rest of your life regretting. People regret way more the things they didn't do than things they did do.
If you really believe in something — an idea you're super passionate about — and you take a calculated risk to start a company, realizing you may forgo a couple of years of studying or a comfortable job — that's a great risk to take. If you don't take it, I think you have a very high chance of regretting it.
People regret what they didn't do, not what they did. If you believe in it, take the risk.
Be a Doer, Not a Talker
Altman: I think one really important thing is to be a doer, not a talker. People don't do stuff because one — it's hard, and two — it's risky. So you get people who dabble on a bunch of different projects but are never all-in on one.
History belongs to the doers. Take the risk. Actually do something. Don't sit around and talk and organize and go to thought leadership conferences. Just take the risk of committing to what you have conviction on.
History belongs to the doers. Don't go to thought leadership conferences. Build something.