A 22-year-old was ready to turn down two job offers to start a company.

I told him he was making a mistake.

Last Winter, India. Sharp kid, fresh out of college.
His parents are senior government officers.
The safe, respectable life was right in front of him.
He pushed it away.
He wanted to build.

This should have been my favorite conversation of the day.
fifteen minutes in, my stomach sank.

Every sentence was about the money.
How much he would raise.
Which investors.
The round.

Not once did he mention a problem. Not a customer.
Not one person whose life would be better because his company existed.

So I said the thing he did not want to hear.
You are not inspired to build.
You are inspired by the headlines.

We have taught a whole generation to treat the raising funds as the win.
They chase funding before solving a single real thing.
The money becomes the dream instead of the fuel.

It is like preparing the history subject the day before a science exam.
You feel busy. You feel ready. You are studying the wrong thing entirely.

So I told him what I would do.
Go work somewhere real first.
Learn where money actually comes from … a customer, not an investor.
Then come back and build.

He took the advice.

Today he is at one of those companies he almost walked away from ,
Learning the one thing no funding round can teach.

If the fund raise is the first thing on your mind, you are not ready yet.
Go get the scars first.

If you were in my place waht would you have told him to chase the dream or go get the scars?

𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗻𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗺𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗶 | 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿 · 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 · 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿
Writing at the intersection of AI, capital, and the future of the human job market – sharing mylife lessons, reflections, and honest takes from the founder-investor’s seat.