Anshul Paul

what city should you build your startup in? I was in SF for a few days last week and I've been reflecting on this age old debate what I've noticed about this question, is that people always talk their bags. - if you live in LA, you'll talk about quality of life - if you live in NYC, you'll talk about how cosmopolitan NYC is - if you live in SF, you'll talk about how SF is coming back - if you live in St. Louis or some other random city, you'll talk about how great remote work is having lived in 3 major hubs - SF, LA, and now NYC - I've come up with a simple heuristic for making this decision: there's a spectrum: SF -> NYC -> .... -> middle of nowhere the more advantages you have, the further right you can (not "should") move. advantages include: - strong network (of investors, hires, customers, etc) - experience in startups - experience building great software - strong work ethic - credibility in startups (e.g. multi-time founder, worked at a top tech co) - traction with your company the reality is, because SF has so much density of people who have invested in and built the most influential tech companies in the world (even still after the pandemic) and because there's basically nothing to do there except work, it is the best place to passively accumulate these advantages. this means, for most unproven, non-conventional founders (esp. who are new), SF is the best place to be. and even for folks with every advantage, it's still crucial to visit SF and build relationships with people who live there. I remember hearing a stat that YC companies based in SF were 2-3x more likely to succeed than ones that weren't. so why am I living in NYC instead of SF? family at the end of the day, stacking advantages is irrelevant if you don't have your basics accounted for. NYC is the closest tech hub to a lot of family that lives in Pittsburgh. as I've gotten older, being close to them has become more important to me. additionally, meeting a partner to start my own family is just easier in NYC than SF, which is something I'd like to do soon. I've noticed that my effectiveness as a leader is just exponentially higher when I'm in a loving relationship. having spent 8+ years in SF (on top of graduating from Berkeley and growing up in the Bay Area), I've also accumulated a lot of the advantages listed above. that coupled with staying active on twitter/linkedin and visits to SF nearly every other month, give me many of the benefits of the city without having to live there. there are many exceptions that do not follow this heuristic, but startup success is a probability game and the more things you can do to increase that probability, the better. fwiw SF is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world, this is a pic I took while on a walk during the pandemic

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An entrepreneur's job is to forge a pipeline. The components of the pipeline will fight against the entrepreneur, will not want to change and mold together because of inertia. This journey is about sticking to developing the pipeline anyways, and accepting the 1000 No's that come along the way, and continue anyways because you internally have complete belief that you can make this pipeline work.

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If I could do my CS undergrad all over again, here's the 5 things I'd optimize for — 1. Take the minimum CS classes required to graduate. Get the computer science and engineering fundamentals you need, but most of what you need to know comes from the real world. 2. Take as many non-CS classes as I can. College is the one time you spend long, uninterrupted periods of time studying a random subject you're interested in. Noah Gilmore and I built Berkeleytime specifically for this. 3. Only intern at Series B to pre-IPO companies. The company needs to be big enough where you can learn software engineering at scale, but needs to be small enough where you actually ship something useful. 4. Moonlight for startups during school. Pre-seed startups are dying for engineering talent for cheap and this is the perfect environment for you to learn. Don't worry about how much you make, but make sure you go from ideation to product over the course of several months. 5. Attend as many hackathons as I can. Hackathons are the best place to meet smart, ambitious people. They force you to come up with creative, but practical solutions in a limited amount time, which is most of working at a startup.

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I’ve been playing around with YC Founder Matching and it seems like everyone and their mother is interested either in 2-sided marketplaces or B2C businesses, even though they’re ostensibly the least profitable and hardest-to-get-off-the-ground business models there are. Why do people do this? You only have to take a glance at enterprise vs individual pricing to want to switch gears.

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Contrary to popular belief, your F-1 student visa doesn't have to hold you back from founding a startup. International students aren't just studying in America—they're reshaping it. Just check out the founders of Zoom, Stripe, and DoorDash! While you can't work for your company, you can lay the groundwork for future success. So, here's your road map to becoming a student founder in the US: 1️⃣ Pick your company type: - Choose between LLC or C-Corporation. - C-Corporation is often better if you want investors later. 2️⃣Decide where to start your company: - Look at different states' taxes and business laws. - Consider where you live or study. 3️⃣Make your company official: - File papers with your chosen state to create your company. - Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. 4️⃣Set up a business bank account: - Use your EIN and company papers to open an account. 5️⃣Lay the legal groundwork: - Get any licenses or permits you need. - Make sure you're following tax laws. 6️⃣Develop a business plan: - This will be crucial for future visa applications. While on F-1 status, your primary focus should be on your studies. Focus on that and don’t violate the rules! If you wish to start your company on OPT, your visa status should be changed accordingly. Want to know more about how to change it? Let me know in the comments. PS: The above content is for general guidance only. For special cases, please contact your immigration attorney. NOTE: If you would like to connect with me to discuss career development, starting a company or even immigration through EB-1, click here 👉🏼https://lnkd.in/eH_w8Npr. #entrepreneur #F1visa #startupjouney #founder #startupideas

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On the surface, I have: - Built Supergrow with my co-founder Deven - Bootstrapped and scaled despite limited resources - Grown to 1200+ paying customers without external funding Under the hood: - Failed at 12 side projects - Spent months questioning everything - Got rejected by 20+ companies - Faced rejections and silence from prospects - Burnt all my savings and failed I have failed over and over again. But every "No" is part of the process. Be relentless. Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. And keep building—because nothing great ever comes easy.

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Another Random Post 🙃 Of late, I've been reflecting on my professional journey, particularly my experience working with product-based startups. It's been quite a ride! I find myself drawn to the dynamic energy and fast-paced environment that startups offer. From my time as an intern to my current role, I've immersed myself in the startup culture, experiencing its various extremes. Some startups operate on a sprint-like pace, providing just enough time to deliver features and tackle additional tasks. While this can be intense, I've found it decelerates the learning curve, pushing one to adapt. 📉 Then there are those startups where urgency is the name of the game. It can feel like everything needs to be done yesterday, which can be challenging but also incredibly rewarding when goals are achieved under tight deadlines.( but the latter hardly happens 😪 ) Finally, there are startups that have found their stride, with a well-thought-out sprint and release cycle. In these environments, there's a sense of empathy and understanding for everyone involved in the product development process. Possibly what should be the way. 👩‍💻 Through it all, I've come to realize that my passion lies in the startup world. It's where I've found some interesting opportunities for growth, exposure, and learning. Each experience has shaped professionally and personally, reinforcing my excitement for the next steps ahead. Happy to hear your experiences in comments:) #startups #product #growth

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Today I added stripe integrations (not as hard as I thought) and also finally added placeholder loading.tsx pages (yes it really did take me 6 months to remember you can do that 😭). https://lnkd.in/g2RUfhSh My end goal for the month of June was to be at the point I am now, so I am taking the extra time to clean up the code base and get it ready for more devs to work on. From production toggling to setting up hosted versions of the dev api, I want to make sure the people working with me have the smoothest experience possible. All of this working on a code base stuff in general is still relatively new to me, especially from the perspective of the person running the ship. It's one thing to work on a team when you're responsible for a single branch. But when you are making decisions on how best to orchestrate multiple code bases for use by multiple devs, it's a whole different ball game. Beyond that I also want to sit down and figure out the possible caching optimizations I can be making, as it's one of the big upsides of next.js. Shorter update again today, but as always if you've read this far thank you, and see you all next time <3.

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why did i get into tech? a) i was a UCSB political science major from the bay area looking to get a job b) all the poli sci literature i was reading about the potential of ICT4D (Information Communications Technology for Development) struck me as ignorant of how technology actually worked c) i got the opportunity to learn to code. Plus a magazine i interned at allowed me to mess with their WordPress site and that was the instigation There was a clear personal upside for me to learn how to code and learn about how the internet works. I hope that employbl helps other people break into tech and find their upside 📈 #tech #startups #jobs

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The guidance I prefer to give to my juniors and interns, which they must follow to advance their future in the industry 🚀

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An application to offer conversion rate of < 0.3% sounds terribly daunting. That's exactly what Dhruv Loya had to power through to get his full-time offer as a Technical Support Specialist at Tesla after 300+ applications. Each rejection feels like failure and the discouragement never gets easier to swallow. I get it, but I've also learned to accept that one door closing doesn't mean all of them have been shut. You're doing just fine -- keep hitting submit. ⭐️ You also don't have to do it alone. I write a blog where I send internship and scholarship opportunities to your inbox every single day. You can view the exhaustive list here: https://lnkd.in/e6FWb6Uh I have also found Jobright.ai, Handshake, and Hunter.io for cold emailing to be extremely helpful. :)

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Oye, mira. Let’s talk about the power of words. A recent headline from Bloomberg read: Bloomberg opinion: “H-1B backlash shows Indians they’re not so special anymore.” This isn’t just clickbait—it’s a dangerous narrative that perpetuates bias and divisiveness. Here’s why this matters: 1️⃣ Erasure of Context: Indian immigrants on H-1B visas contribute massively to industries like tech, often filling labor gaps. Yet, they face systemic exploitation—low job security, wage suppression, and restrictive policies. This isn’t about losing “special treatment.” It’s about policies that perpetuate precarity for immigrant workers while benefiting corporations. 2️⃣ Fostering Division: Phrases like “not so special anymore” stoke resentment by framing immigrants as recipients of undeserved privilege. This distracts from the real issue: a broken immigration system that fails both domestic and immigrant workers. 3️⃣ Perpetuating Stereotypes: Headlines like this oversimplify complex systemic issues and fuel racialized narratives. They dehumanize hardworking individuals and erase their contributions, framing them as undeserving rather than victims of structural inequities. The Takeaway: Media headlines don’t just inform—they shape public opinion. When we see biased or divisive language, we need to call it out and reframe the conversation. Instead of pitting communities against each other, let’s focus on the systemic inequities and advocate for policies that work for everyone. Action Steps: 🔹 Be critical of the headlines you consume and share. 🔹 Support immigrant voices and amplify their experiences. 🔹 Advocate for ethical journalism that builds understanding, not division. How do you think we can hold media outlets accountable for the biases they perpetuate? Let’s keep the conversation going. #oyemira #Leadership #Diversity #ImmigrationPolicy #MediaBias #EquityMatters

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The coolest benefit of being a SWE is Flexibility Most days, you are not tied to a 9-5 - Don’t want to work now ? Take rest and do it later - You plan your day, week and half and dictate on your own terms - You can literally work from anywhere where there is internet Very few professions in the world allow this level of flexibility. #softwareengineering

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Since the start of 2024, I've applied to 408 tech jobs. Here's how it's gone for me so far. I applied to an even distribution of companies. I did Start ups, Small businesses, and Big tech companies. I've only had technical interviews from three, Google, Door Dash, and Amazon. I was able to reach final rounds in two of these. Contrast this to when I started my career in 2018, I had applied to 80 companies. And had about 10 technical interviews. What does this mean? The tech market is very different in 2024. We are not in the 2021 tech boom. During our golden years, anyone with two hands could score a tech interview at 100+ companies if they wanted. Now, I have to change my strategy. I've had 408 applications for 4 interviews. That's about a 1% technical interview rate. For this reason, I'll doing two strategies to exclusively find jobs. 1.) Asking in my network 2.) Posting through content with the hopes of someone finding something that they find helpful or interesting. I think both of these will be much stronger than sending out random applications. I also like the idea of using cold email and cold DMs, and I'd recommend those to anyone over just cold applying to jobs. Keep in mind, I have around 4 years of experience. Software Engineers with 10 years of experience have significantly different results. The industry right now seems to be favor YOE over anything. 0 YOE / New Grad openings are very scarce. Mid-level positions exist but are fought over by those with 10 YOE (down-leveled) and those with 3 YOE. And at the top end, senior-level positions exist, but require sharp interview skills to avoid being down-leveled. Layoffs are continuing, and most likely, tech consumption is not going to be increasing. But I think it's still possible to set yourself apart. The strategy is just changing. And the ability to adapt is critical.

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Oftentimes, it can get confusing knowing the best digital channel to communicate on. When I made the switch to startups, I embarrassingly had a tough time letting go of PowerPoint and Excel in favor of tools like Notion and Zapier. Since then, I’ve been observing the ever-growing tech stacks and communication strategies of growth operators: 📱 Tech stacks: While marketing folks have to consistently activate social media channels including TikTok, X, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Partiful, sales teams need to experiment with messaging tools such as Smartlead, Intuit Mailchimp, LaGrowthMachine, Orum, Klaviyo, etc. 👩‍🎓 Individual strategy: Whether its cultivating approachability and humor in organic social media, or “talking in tables” during enterprise sales discussions, growth operators need to spend considerable time specializing and learning the best practices of their communication channels 🚀 Overall strategy: As companies scale, growth teams need to effectively stitch together efforts across all channels into one cohesive vision. This can be a logistical nightmare as products expand, customers diversify, and the growth landscape shifts While all of these lessons may seem obvious to those in GTM, the not so obvious question that emerges is how companies can scale their growth in a creative yet systematic manner. Put differently: how can operators continue to specialize in their communication niches while enabling the broader expansion of their company? At Clay, our answer has been data enrichment. By dogfooding our own product across growth, marketing, and sales teams, we’ve been able to consistently leverage the latest information on our customers across all of our communication channels. This feedback loop is something that all users of Clay can experience, bridging any creative growth play from audience idea to messaging execution. If you’re interested in learning more about Clay can unlock your growth strategy, please feel free to reach out directly! + Please give a like/follow if you want to see more posts on #CommunicationDesign, #AI, and #CreativeGrowth 😄

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