Krishna Lakamsani

209 posts

Krishna Lakamsani

@lakamsanik

Serial Entrepreneur | Investor | Building A Foundery, a Profit-led Venture Studio | Harvard Business School Alumnus

lakamsani.me Joined April 2009
209Posts
Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Everyone is preparing for AI to steal their job. Nobody is preparing for what AI is actually doing to the work itself.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Context creates ownership. Tell people why by end of day, not just what by end of day.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

My father planted one field his whole life. I planted in five countries. Same craft. Different soil.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

A village kid who did not know how to hold a fork once predicted the next hour for a billion dollar company. Show up. The room adjusts to you.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I have been the richest man in the room and the brokest. The work felt exactly the same on both days.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

At 19 I taught technology to people twice my age. Confidence is not given. You build it by doing the thing that scares you.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

The deck looked like a business. The business never showed up. That is how most of them die.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

The new business plan is no plan you cannot test by Friday.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Your network is overrated. Strangers paying you is the only proof that scales.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Hustle is not the rare skill. Knowing what to ignore is.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Everyone wants to be told their idea is good. The useful person tells you where it breaks.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Sell the problem you solve, not the product you built.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Cash in the door this month tells you more than any forecast for next year.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

A 40 percent margin business paid in 120 days beats a 10 percent margin paid tomorrow. Patience is an edge.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

The customer's payment is the only opinion that keeps the lights on. Everything else is feedback.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Profit is not what is left over. Profit is the plan.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

If ChatGPT can replace what you built in three weeks, you did not build a business. You built a feature.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

A coach has frameworks. A mentor has scars. Know which one your problem needs.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Don't sell the AI shovel. Mine the gold yourself.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Margin is a choice you make at the start, not a thing you find at the end.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

You cannot scale what you keep changing. Freeze what works. Grow the volume, not the mechanics.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

The boring parts of your business are usually the ones quietly saving you money.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Build a real offer. Earn a real customer. No decks. No permission. Just the work.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

The fastest way to find out if your idea is real is to ask someone to pay for it. Everything before that is theater.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

A Foundery is for builders who jump first and learn to swim in 90 days.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

A Foundery is not an accelerator. Accelerators teach you to pitch. I teach you to land a paying customer in 90 days.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Stop chasing a unicorn that needs constant outside money. Build something that pays you this year and still stands in ten.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

A business built for an exit serves a buyer who may never come. A business built for profit serves a customer who is already here.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I am not looking for the most polished applicant. I am looking for the one who already talked to a customer.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I spent 30 years learning this the hard way. A Foundery is the shortcut I never had.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

If you are waiting to feel ready, you will wait forever. Ready is what happens after you start.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

The 90-day clock does not care how you feel. That is exactly why it works.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Most programs hand you a network and a demo day. I hand you a deadline and a customer.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I did not know what an invoice was when I sent my first one. You do not have to know everything to start. You learn on the way.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Every company I built, I built before I felt ready. Ready is a feeling that arrives after you start, never before.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

You do not need a co-founder, a deck, or a round. You need a real problem and 90 days. The rest is noise.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I have never missed a payroll in 25 years. That is the one trophy I carry with real pride.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I have started from zero five times. It never gets easier. You just get less afraid of it.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

India does not need more funded startups. It needs more functional ones.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Hyderabad gave me my hunger. Mumbai gave me courage to dream , Sydeny gave me showing up every day,New York gave me my proof. Mexico gave me my nerve. India gave me my second act.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I never invest in the pitch. I invest in the person who already started without me.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Growth hides every problem. The downturn introduces you to all of them at once.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Revenue you cannot explain is a luck, not a skill.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

I do not bet on the smartest founder in the room. I bet on the one still in the room a year later.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Funding is an amplifier, not a badge. It makes a good business bigger and a bad one die faster.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 1 month ago

Most startups are not built. They are assembled. Decks, rounds, narratives, held together by the next fundraise.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

The richest builders I know in India are not on any funding list. They are too busy being profitable.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

At 25 I cried for two weeks after losing everything. Then I went back to work. The crying did not rebuild the business. The work did.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

A founder with receipts answers in 30 seconds. A founder with only a deck needs 30 slides.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

Show me the bank transfer from client, not the projection.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

I have made more than forty bets on founders. The ones who won could all describe their boring work in detail.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

My first employee was a housewife with no experience. She closed four placements in six weeks. 21 years later she is still there. I exited 13 years ago. Experience is not important , Having Execution skill with focus that converts into result over rules every thing else.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

I flew to Mexico. No language. No network. 90 days. I built a million dollar business anyway. You learn fast when there is no road left to hide on.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

Fraudsters drained my entire inventory overnight. Bank balance near zero. I rebuilt it by hand in three months. Two years later it became my first exit.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

The best hire I ever made had the worst resume in the pile. Talent is mostly hidden. Resumes only show what is easy to see.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

Most founders confuse being needed with being valuable. The first traps you. The second frees you.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

Cusotmer Churn: Loud churn you can fix. Silent churn you never see coming.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

You do not need perfect conditions. You need a clock and the courage to start.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

Stop polishing the deck. Spend that week getting one more receipt.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

We celebrate the fund raise like it is the win. It is not. It is borrowing the right to be tested.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

The salary is nothing. What you learn in year one, you keep for life.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

A partnership without a written agreement is a slow disaster waiting for a date.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

I bought a finance company older than I was, in a market everyone called boring, and 10x'd it. Boring is where the money hides.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

I grew up watching my father farm .. one field his whole life. I have planted in five countries. Same lesson. You prepare the soil, then you wait for the first yes.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

The company that survives the downturn is the one built on receipts, not on a story.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

A 100-person call center becomes a 10-person team of problem solvers. AI did not end the jobs. It ended the hiding.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 2 months ago

AI will not take your job. It will expose whether your job was ever real work.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Leadership books are written by people who never built anything that mattered.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Your startup will fail. Your relationships don't have to.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

The loneliest job in the world has the best office views

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Hiring fast and firing slow will kill your startup faster than bad product.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

2022: 50 cold emails daily, 2% response rate 2024: 3 warm intros weekly, 90% close rate Networks beat numbers

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

AI will kill 40% of SaaS startups by 2027. The other 60% will become AI-first and dominate.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Before: 80 hour weeks, no revenue. After: 40 hour weeks, $2M ARR. Focus beats hustle.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Your first 10 hires will determine if you scale to $100M or die at $10M. Most founders hire for skills. Winners hire for judgment. Skills can be taught. Judgment under pressure cannot.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Everyone says work life balance matters for retention. Wrong. Top performers quit boring jobs, not hard jobs. Give them impossible problems.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

I've watched people get the promotion, the house, the relationship they wanted. Then within months they're restless again. The happiest people I know aren't chasing anything. They're deeply engaged with whatever they're doing right now. Whether that's raising kids or running a corner store. Maybe the craving isn't change. Maybe it's just our inability to sit still with what we have.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Reading people. Really reading them. I've done hundreds of funding meetings. The best deals came from watching micro-expressions, hearing what wasn't said, feeling the energy when a founder talked about their problem. AI can process data faster than me, but it can't tell when someone's lying about their burn rate or genuinely passionate about solving something real. The human stuff still matters most in business.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

If your entire business depends on one platform, one client, or one revenue stream - you don't have a business. You have a concentrated risk.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Been there both ways across 6 exits. Solo gives you speed and control, but co-founder brings complementary skills you lack. The real question: can you bootstrap to cashflow positive faster with or without them? That's what matters. Most partnerships fail over equity splits anyway.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Been there couple of times. Launch is just day zero. The real work starts when the notifications stop and you realize you need customers, not cheerleaders. Focus on one channel, get 10 paying users, then scale what works. Marketing isn't about going viral, it's about sustainable customer acquisition that pays for itself.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

The market doesn't care about your feelings, your effort, or your intentions. It rewards results. That's not harsh. Those are just the rules.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 3 months ago

Hot take: Most thought leaders on X just learned to format opinions better than everyone else. The real thinkers are quietly building.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

We can’t control the past. Wasting time to worry about it is lost time, Use it for something important .It may bring result what you are expecting . Saying is easy but implementing is important. I think keeping this in mind is important as a tool to use it when it is required.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

2/2 Often human mind chooses easy path and postpone the pain by taking it easy and not being disciplined but the pain is invitable either way. Those people who chose the pain early by being disciplined are the ones who can control their life. It is so true isn’t it.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

1/2 Every one must choose one of the two pains. Pain of discipline or pain of regret . It is not easy to be disciplined it is tough and painful. If not disciplined then one will end up with regret sooner or later.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

Failure is a Tution fee you pay for your future success . What do you think ?

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

What is right or wrong ?. In my view what is right could be wrong in your view. Then who decides what is right and what is wrong ? Me or some one else ? What do you think ?

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

Every thing will pass either it is win or loss. Don’t get carried away with either one. Be present to embrace win or loss because present moment will pass. Win will give us a chance to reflect and loss will teach us a lesson.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 4 years ago

Golden Hour shot by me at Jashua Tree https://t.co/9C3x3bevr3

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

This is nice for people of Hyderabad and especially for real estate and startup eco system in Hyderabad.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

Mumbai to Hyderabad in less than 3.5 hours via bullet train #BulletTrain #MumbaitoHyderabad https://t.co/EDUkaTIs5Z

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems. #success #startupfunding #founders #entrepreneurs #startups #founderstories #entrepreneurship #krishnalakamsani #mylifelessons #entrepeneurship #entrepreneur https://t.co/5I0rXanhsE https://t.co/ZajjpDQL0S

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

Failure is the Tuition you pay for the success. #success #startupfunding #founders #entrepreneurs #startups #founderstories #entrepreneurship #krishnalakamsani #mylifelessons #entrepeneurship #entrepreneur https://t.co/VSyCDNNIYt

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

If you don't build your own dream,Some one else will hire you to help them build theirs. https://t.co/7SQPRWKeKG

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

Fixed mindset people say I know this already. Curious Mindset people say what can I learn from this.

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

All you need is a dream , hope , laptop , WiFi and zeal to start today - Krishna Lakamsani https://t.co/JQ5wumPPCk

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

#weekendreads #weekendreading #weekendvibes #krishnalakamsani #sundayfunday Partnership is the New Leadership by TY Bennett https://t.co/kONdYyvIei

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

You will never be ready , Just start https://t.co/7k8WmCuvvB

Krishna Lakamsani @lakamsanik · 6 years ago

Some times you win and some times you learn https://t.co/w6H57w0Sr3