Samir Vasavada is the Co-Founder & CEO of Vise, a technology-powered asset manager. Samir and his co-founder, Runik founded Vise from the Midwest at 16 years old. They bootstrapped the company before dropping out of high school and raising $128M in just 6 months from some of the best including Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The company achieved unicorn status when the pair turned 20 years old, making them the youngest founders of a $BN company at the time.
In Today's Episode with Samir Vasavada We Discuss:
1. The Biggest Hiring Mistakes That Broke Us:
- Why is hiring people who come with a playbook one of the most damaging things you can do?
- Why is it impossible to build a remote company that performs the same as in person?
- Why is it the worst thing to hire people who have a reputation they are obsessed with maintaining?
- Why do you never want to hire people who join because of who your investors are?
- Why does Samir regret not firing people faster? How much time is enough time to know?
- Why is hiring in a hot market one of the most dangerous things you can do?
2. Fundraising: 3 Rounds and $126M in 6 Months:
- Does Samir regret raising so much money so soon in the company life?
- What did Samir do that he regrets doing, having had so much money so early?
- How did the need for free food at an event lead to a term sheet and $50M from Sequoia?
- Did Samir feel that he could talk to investors when things were going really badly?
- Why does Samir believe that liquidation preference matters more than valuation?
3. The Depression, The Pressure and Wisdom From Jensen Huang:
- What did Jensen Huang teach Samir when it comes to wealth and leadership?
- How did Samir deal with the pressure of raising $126M in 6 months and being the youngest unicorn founder, ever at the time?
- Was Samir hurt when people he thought were his friends, no longer stuck with him when the company was no longer "hot"?
- What was Samir's darkest time? How did he overcome and get out of it?
- Does Samir blame his parents for the pressure they put on him from such a young age?
