Anand Sinha’s journey is truly inspiring. As an early member of Zomato, he played a key role in launching Zomato Gold, a game-changer in food tech. Over 8.5 years, Anand Sinha built and scaled startups while also becoming an angel investor. He co-founded leap.club, a paid network for women that fosters genuine social-professional relationships.
Now, after 13 years in startups, Anand Sinha shares his key lessons. These insights, shaped by both successes and setbacks, offer a candid look at startup life. Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or just starting, Anand Sinha’s reflections are essential reading.
Highlights
Reflections on Anand Sinha’s 13 Years of Entrepreneurship
In May 2024, I will complete 8.5 years as a founder. Add to that 5 years at Zomato (I was the ~30th employee back in 2011 and then rejoined in 2018 to launch and lead Zomato Gold) → 13 years of being part of early-stage teams and launching new products. Over these years, my learnings, beliefs, and leadership styles have gone through a massive change. I recently moved to Bombay where I don’t know many people and hurt my back while working out, so I had lots of time to think deeply about my time as a founder and at startups. Here are some thoughts on people and leading teams, shaped by my experiences and in no particular order.
Define Your North Star
Being a founder is extremely tough, so why should you fight this battle? Is it to change the world, make money, or own your time? Don’t let any tweet tell you what’s right and wrong. It should work for you. Ruthlessly prioritize yourself, and don’t feel guilty about it. Do you know what’s tougher than being a founder? Failing at it. So, define your success and where you want to get.
The Challenge of Defining Success
Defining success is super tough. We always want more. Rajat Gupta spoke about how he felt unsuccessful in a room full of billionaires (he was worth ~$100m). 15 years back if God had given me an option to take where I am today, I would have happily taken it. But today, I want more. And talking about failing – in 2014, I was 27 years old and raised good $$ for my first startup from Sequoia Capital and other investors. I remember there were 3 companies that raised from Sequoia around the same time: Oyo, Grofers (now Blinkit), and us. I think about this a lot. Oyo and Blinkit are running a different race today, and in all honesty, on some days, my heart breaks to not be in that race. But then, we are all running our own races, and I am lucky to be where I am. If I want to change orbits, I can only do that myself. I am sure there will be many people who will be happy to run my race. That’s life.
The World Sees Only Outputs
The world sees outputs and judges you by that. No one cares about the input, and frankly, it doesn’t matter. When we talk about greats, we talk about their accomplishments and not how hard they worked. Only you, your family, and your coaches know the struggles. Work hard on your inputs and keep sharpening them, but don’t take too much pride in it. That will hold you back.
Perception vs. Reality
The world is very random, and there is no way we can really predict anything. 9/10 ideas won’t work, and if there is one that does – chances are we would not have known that. Don’t try to over-engineer or over-protect the downsides. Instead, focus on shipping fast, learning fast, spotting, and optimizing the upsides. Upsides will make us win. Covering risks or protecting the downsides will not move the needle.
If anyone tells you that they don’t care about what the world thinks about them, they are probably lying. The world does not think of us, but we are always thinking about what the world thinks of us. Another point that makes defining success + not changing goals posts super tough.
It’s Okay to Fall Out of Love with Entrepreneurship
It’s okay to fall out of love with entrepreneurship/starting up. The startup keeda is overrated, and it’s okay to take it easy and do whatever you want to do. We don’t have to kill ourselves about it. I have many founder friends who are just done and much happier.
The best gift you can give yourself is to not take yourself (and your ideas) too seriously. This will instantly make you more likable, and life will become a lot easier.
Letting Go as a Founder
As founders, we suck at letting go/letting people be. We want to be involved in everything and want things our way. I understand we are obsessed; it’s part of our DNA, and we might think this helps the team learn and the org to grow, but nothing slows down teams and orgs more. We have to focus on hiring the right people, training them on the macro goals + our learnings, and then letting them be. We think we hire the best people, invest time in the interview process, and then keep telling them what to do. Delegation and hands-off leadership style is one of the best skills we can learn, and we should not feel guilty about it. It’s a feature, not a bug.
Make smart folks and leaders captain of their teams/pods. It’s impossible for founders to be the captain of every team. There can never be 2 captains in the same room, and the chances are if you, as the founder, choose to be in a meeting, then everyone is looking at you. Understand the difference between a coach and a captain. The fewer meetings you attend, the better.
Creating a Culture of Openness
It is extremely rare for people to speak their mind openly in meetings/or with founders. It doesn’t matter what you wrote in your culture blog – no one remembers it. Humans are just wired that way. Create an environment where the team is comfortable talking to their captains, and the captains can have a no-filter chat with you.
Leading large teams/managing many people is not the best use of our time. Create pods that work. I would rather invest time in myself, in creating captains and deep macro thinking. No one understands and thinks about the biz as much as founders do, so make sure you do a lot of it. Keeping your calendar open is a superpower. Of course, this is easier said than done, and the above three points are super critical.
Your Culture Blog as a Personal Manual
The culture blog that you wrote is for you, the other founders + captains to follow. The teams will not remember it/do not care about it. The team will see you and learn from that. Think of it as your own manual and the kind of ‘culture’ you want to create. Re-read it every month and change it as the org grows.
Addressing the Elephant in the Room
In life (professional and personal), always, always address the elephant in the room. And laugh about it. Nothing is as serious as it seems. Life goes on.
