Archive - Hari Digresses

"Founder Mode" shouldn't be a Rorschach Test

Paul Graham coined Founder Mode over the weekend, but he left "what is founder mode" and "how to do it" as an exercise for the reader.

Sep 5 •

June 2024

How to be an elite startup employee

The "social contract" for rockstar employees at many early-stage startups of <100 people, distilled from my imperfect and incomplete experience serving…

Jun 3 •

A Policy Framework for Radical Moderates

You’re probably wondering what the hell I’m doing writing about politics, rather than about startups, or valuations, or whatever. Somehow I haven’t…

Jun 1 •

May 2024

Your Startup is not your Horcrux

Guidelines for being a founder that I've learned, while serving as an (imperfect) 2-time founder & CEO, early-employee-COO, advisor, and investor.

May 22 •

An Ode to Early Employees

I once had someone tell me:

May 9 •

January 2024

Decoding Compensation, Part II: FairOffer.ai

Introducing FairOffer.ai, a tool to algorithmically estimate fair compensation — for any title, at any stage of company, anywhere in the world.

Jan 14 •

Decoding Compensation, Part I: Beyond Benchmarks

An algorithmic approach to fair pay

Jan 13 •

Carta's Conundrum

Crossposted from my Xeet(s) on Jan 7. The current events aren't exactly a masterclass in PR ninja moves. But public statements aside... this conflict of…

Jan 8 •

July 2023

Why Product doesn’t matter for Product-Market Fit

I know this is a controversial statement – almost nonsensical – especially for the CEO of a software startup.

Jul 28, 2023 •

July 2022

A better way to value companies

Want to use this calculator for yourself?

Jul 18, 2022 •

November 2021

The American Dream is on Life Support in the Bay Area

This is not a “fuck SF” post.

Nov 27, 2021 •

April 2021

Are you a Nice Person, or Seem like a Nice Person?

A friend once said "I'm one of those people who seems like an asshole, but I'm a really nice person."

Apr 20, 2021 •

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts