After 4 brain surgeries, I left my 6-figure tech job. Now I’m launching a startup in public

K

kaybird

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First, a bit about me:

I’m 30 years old. I’ve founded a startup backed by YCombinator and, more recently, worked as a Sr Product Manager at a tech company in San Francisco.

Last December and January I had to go on medical leave for a series of brain surgeries. After a longer-than-expected recovery, I wasn’t unable to return.

Now I’m almost 100% and am scratching the itch to start something new - this time as a solo, bootstrapped founder.

The idea

I stumbled upon this tweet from Sam Parr, founder of The Hustle, a couple weeks ago. It got me thinking:

How do remote workers distributed globally develop personal connections with coworkers?
Click to expand...

I’ve always had great personal relationships at work. It’s made work more fun and productive. So this is a problem I feel excited about solving.

As a solo founder, I need some accountability and feedback

So I’ll be writing about my journey in a weekly newsletter called The MVP Sprint. Check out my first article here where I dive into how I spot problems worth solving. My next step is to research the users and market and then work to validate the problem before I build anything.

I’d love to hear any feedback on the idea!
 
@kaybird Sounds incredible! For some people, myself included, personal connections at work are vital, I really like having work friends - but I don’t necessarily want to be social with these people outside of work. Just something to consider, give the options...All the best!
 
@jesusinsideme247 Thank you! I've only really worked at 2 companies (and one of them was my own) so it's great to get feedback from others like this. I've definitely heard that opinion shared in some early feedback so you're not alone there.
 
@kaybird I concur, management at the company I work for remotely tried to add a Friday game night(online video games)... Nobody attended... I am very glad nobody did because I both didn't want to do it and didn't want to be "that guy" who never showed up.
 
@kaybird I am happy to hear of your recoveries. What a time you must have had! I have worked remotely with a team distributed across the continental+ United States for 5+ years now. Yes the hardest part is not making some relationships that recognize the other humans outside of the daily work. Kindness is key to connecting in meetings and on boards. Those I connect with the most are the ones that find ways to laugh and have fun in meetings. Just some of the right kind of dry humor makes my day. So
Many pluses to working from home that I will take the loneliness and ramp up my local friendships. I am doubly productive working remotely unless there is some manager comments creating seeping paranoias that I am not creating or doing enough. Don’t need that as a self-driven person seeking to do primo work always. Recognitions and support must be adequately verbal (and monetary) for all this to function well. Speedwell my friend and here is wishing you health, wealth, and happiness!
 
@martin777 Thanks so much for the kind words! Those small moments of laughter during meetings makes a massive difference in the quality of a workday. Some people take work too seriously!
 
@kaybird I mean this is cool, but after 4 brain surgeries, I'd start thinking about doing some activism trying to make health care a human right rather than more individualist adventurism. Are you doing this to try and pay medical bills? Or were you so well off already that you were able to pay for those procedures and treatment without crippling debt? Either conclusion should tell you quite a bit. I don't mean to trash what you're doing but it pales in comparison.
 
@kaybird Global profile database that tracks habitual data points, like "What games do you play?", and matches teams at semi-random.

"You and the COO of Company X both play Elite Dangerous in the evenings, you can message each other here."

"Company Y's League of Legends team is recruiting a SQL Database Administrator. Let's arrange a meeting."
 
@kaybird I share memes on group chats with coworkers and generally not be antisocial & uncommunicative. I tell people what i’m working on and inquire what they’re working on. I don’t generally take the answer “stuff” well and pry more than I should but it usually works out because I can often help them with a problem and thats basically how you make friends in life as well: “Take a chance on doing something kind for someone, and hope they don’t make you regret it”
Make sure female coworkers know you checkup on everyone the same way so they don’t get any funny ideas, studmuffin.
 
@kaybird I should also answer, the best way to train a team to behave this way, is to lead by example. The heads of every team no larger than 10, should be the personality type that can behave like this. it’s a trait more valuble than gold nowadays as antisocial behaviors dominate our society. It’s amazing to see how quickly groups become social that identified as antisocial with excuses like “that’s just how we are here.”
 
@kaybird Good idea! I work for a remote team since last October so before the whole Covid-19 shift. One big difference is not being able to develop strong relationships with my team members. I subscribed to see where this goes.
 
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