goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

Steli Efti & Hiten Shah: Serial Entrepreneurs, Sales & Marketing Experts, Startup Investors & Advisors, CEOs running multi million dollar SaaS Startups

Unfiltered insights and actionable advice straight from the trenches of startup and business life.

...more

not bookmarked icon
Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Top 10 The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten Episodes

Best episodes ranked by Goodpods Users most listened

516: There’s No Mastery in Inner Work

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

06/23/20 • -1 min

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the lack of mastery in inner work.

As humans, we all are experiencing life differently, and these experiences shape who we are and mould us into what we are at any given time. Although some of us would love to master our shortcomings, it is an ongoing situation, and mastering inner work is the type of work that never ends.

In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how your strength can be your weakness, how inner work is the type of work that never ends, why you shouldn’t dehumanize your heroes and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic

00:48 Why this topic was chosen.

01:01 How your strength can be your weakness.

03:04 How inner work is the type of work that never ends.

04:05 How inner work can feel like a never-ending onion.

05:21 How what you are today will always keep changing.

06:22 Why you shouldn’t dehumanize your heroes.

07:12 How Jeff Bezos is a human.

08:47 Why there’s no mastery at the end of the tunnel.

09:51 How long it took for the Steli and Hiten to realise they were full of shit.

3 Key Points:

  • There’s no mastery in inner work.
  • Inner work is the type of work that never ends
  • Your strength is your weakness.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:02]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:04]

Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about the lack of mastery in inner work. So, here’s what I want to briefly chit-chat with you about and kind of unpack with you for the audience. Recently, I had a very intense kind of weekend session with a good friend of mine, where we did a lot of what I would call inner work, just very introspective work of what’s going on in our lives and what are the challenges? What are the limitations? What are possible blind spots? We had some very deep, very, very intense, very good and honest conversations with each other. Then there was one moment where my friend looked at me and was like, “Wow,” because I’d brought up something that I’ve just recently gotten to realize about myself and how surprising that was, because it didn’t fit my self-image at all. I was like, “I’m so surprised that I am this way.” It would have been- [crosstalk]

[0:01:03]

Hiten Shah: But I am. And I know.

[0:01:04]

Steli Efti: But I am. Now I know like, “Wow.” And then it was like, “Wow, I’m mind blown,” especially, I wouldn’t have expected you having this kind of a surprise revelation because you have such a master of inner work. And I was like, in that moment, my response was like...

[0:01:19]

Hiten Shah: Feel like that but not really.

[0:01:20]

Steli Efti: No, I’m like... I think I said verbatim and then I thought, “Oh, I should tweet this someday.” And then the world, it started exploding...

[0:01:27]

Hiten Shah: Wooh, yeah.

[0:01:29]

Steli Efti: So I’m just thinking about, I just kept it to myself. But he was like, “You’re such a master of inner work.” I’m like, “There’s no mastery in inner work. This isn’t mastery.”

[0:01:36]

Hiten Shah: None. Sorry. That’s good. That’s good.

[0:01:39]

Steli Efti: “This doesn’t exist. There’s nobody that has a black belt. You don’t remember how many books you read. I don’t remember how much I’ve analyzed.”

[0:01:43]

Hiten Shah: No. No. No. No.

[0:01:44]

Steli Efti: “You’ll never figure the shit out.” And I think that that’s what I wanted to talk about a little bit, because I think...

[0:01:53]

Hiten Shah: That’s great. Great topic.

[0:01:54]

Steli Efti: I see this with myself a lot, Hiten. I see this with some of my smartest, wisest, most successful friends. Your strength is your weakness. The thing that you spent a lot of time around...

[0:02:13]

Hiten Shah: Absolutely.

[0:02:13]

Steli Efti: Right? Is now cleaning a false sense of confidence. “Oh, I know this topic. Oh, I know myself in this way. Oh, I’ve done the work. I got the black belt. I’ve put in the years. I’ve accomplished mastery in whatever, in understanding myself or human psychology,...

play

06/23/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

515: “Should Have Done This Earlier”

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

06/16/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about “Should Have Done This Earlier”.

Business comes with lots of challenges. Sometimes we figure out the solution to a challenge and, depending on how you look at it, might feel relieved about figuring it out or frustration about not doing so sooner.

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you shouldn’t focus on the negative side of things, the benefits of having a positive outlook on things why working on our attitudes towards ourselves can be a game-changer and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About the topic of today’s episode

00:31 Why this topic was chosen.

01:07 Why Hiten tweeted about today topic.

02:32 How there are different ways to look at a lightbulb moment.

03:52 How what you focus on changes how you look at different situations.

04:56 Why how you feel whenever you figure out something challenging doesn’t matter.

05:15 Why you shouldn’t focus on the negative side of things.

06:54 Why you shouldn’t set conditions for yourself.

07:00 The benefits of having a positive outlook on things.

09:53 Why working on our attitudes towards ourselves can be a game-changer.

3 Key Points:

  • If you feel that you were dumber a year ago, you’re growing.
  • Not every day is going to be the same.
  • What you focus on a situation, changes how you look at it.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about, this is another tweet episode. This is a new tradition we have, where Steli Efti reads Hiten’s tweets and once in a while thinks, ha, this is both very wise and kind of curious, and there’s something here that we should probably unpack for the audience on the Startup Chat. So I’m going to read the tweet that you posted recently Hiten, and then I’m going to ask you what prompted it, and we’ll just see what unfolds.

[0:00:34]

Hiten Shah: Sounds good.

[0:00:34]

Steli Efti: So here’s the tweet. “Should have done this earlier. I should have done this earlier. A statement full of frustration and relief at the same time.” All right. So what made you tweet this?

[0:00:51]

Hiten Shah: Yeah, it’s one of those things that’s related to another thing that I really kind of have funny feelings about. And that thing is this idea that if you felt like you were dumber a year ago, you know you’re growing. Or you felt dumb for some opinion you had, or thought you had or think you did a year ago or whatever, you’re growing. So it’s very similar to that where it’s like, sometimes you just have those moments and this is very, it’s personal life and work and business, but you have those moments where you’re like, “Oh, should have done this earlier.” And sometimes it’s just an idea that you have, and you’re like, “Crap, that’s just the one.” Or for like, let’s say, a marketing channel or something like that, that you just didn’t think of then all of a sudden you did, just to give a very simple example. Or it’s something that you just did and you’re like, “Oh, I should have done that earlier.” So it’s kind of like this feeling that I get sometimes. And I’m frustrated because I wish I would’ve figured it out earlier, but I’m also very relieved because I figured it out. I finally figured it out. I got it. All right, cool. So it was one of those moments where I felt that and felt like I had to share just to release it and get over myself. So that was it. It was just that.

[0:02:20]

Steli Efti: You know, what’s funny is that, I should have done this earlier, there’s many flavors of this, right?

[0:02:26]

Hiten Shah: Yeah.

[0:02:26]

Steli Efti: And there is one that is more regretful...

[0:02:30]

Hiten Shah: Yes.

[0:02:31]

Steli Efti: ... And then there is a version of this that’s just more relieved. Like I should’ve done this earlier, but the underlying energy is, I’m happy I’ve done it now, right? I’m happy...

[0:02:42]

Hiten Shah: Yes.

[0:02:43]

Steli Efti: Like this is the Chinese proverb of, “20 years ago was the best time to plant a tree, the second best time is today,” or something like that. It’s like, I didn’t get it done, but thank God I got it done n...

play

06/16/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

514: How to Keep Your Sanity in 2020

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

06/09/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to keep your sanity in 2020.

With all that is going on in the world at the moment, the COVID-19 epidemic and the current police brutality protests going on around the world, it’s really difficult to stay composed and not let it all affect your mental health negatively.

In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about things they are doing to stay sane at the moment, how nobody really knows how to feel right now, how information overload could be a problem right now and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:23 Why this topic was chosen.

01:58 How Hiten is keeping his sanity right now.

02:36 The difference between luck and gratitude.

03:00 How nobody really knows how to feel right now.

03:12 How information overload could be a problem right now.

04:06 One really unique thing about these times.

05:50 How Steli is keeping his sanity right now.

07:19 One reason why this current situation is so intense.

09:07 How this current situation is hitting a nerve with a lot of people.

3 Key Points:

  • This year is something else!
  • These are unusual times
  • I just feel really lucky.
  • Nobody really knows how to feel.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat we’re going to talk about how to keep your sanity in 2020, how to be a founder during these times, how to be a human these times. Man, this year is something else, and I’m sure we’re not the only... Lots of people are going through a lot of things right now. I felt like typically we’re known for super short, super sharp, very tactical and practical episodes, but these are unusual times so maybe they call for an unusual Startup Chat episode. I felt like it might make sense for us to just check, how do we deal with this? How do we think about all the insanity that’s going on in the world? Maybe we do have a few things to share with our listeners that are going to be helpful or if not, maybe that in and of itself gives some comfort that not even the two of us know how to deal with this.

[0:01:02]

Hiten Shah: That’s right.

[0:01:03]

Steli Efti: So let me ask you, the first big wave was obviously the global pandemic and COVID, now we’re going through this wave of worldwide demonstrations and rights, peaceful protests kicked off by police brutality, but it’s maybe even bigger than just that. There’s a lot of different things that are in the mix that are going on right now. How have the last two, three weeks been for you, and for your team, and your company? Has it been different than the first COVID wave of craziness, and how do you cope? How do you keep your sanity during all of this right now?

[0:01:50]

Hiten Shah: Yeah. For me, I just feel really lucky and I think I have, at this point, an unlimited number of reasons why, and so I couldn’t even cover them. I think that’s how I deal with this, I just realize where I’m lucky and make sure that I don’t lose sight of that regardless of what else is going on for other people because that’s really helpful. I think we might’ve talked about this a little bit, but I’ve been really wrapping my head around for myself, the difference between luck and gratitude. I think we talked about that a little bit a couple of times at least, and for me, that’s the thing that helps the most is this idea of just remembering how lucky I am. If I have to, reminding other people whether it’s in my family or people around me, when they’re feeling sad or feeling the collective situation in whatever ways that they might be feeling it because one of the things about this is nobody really knows how to feel. Nobody knows how to act. We just don’t know. There’s a lot of combined things going on, a lot of opinions, a lot of information. I think the biggest risk is information overload, that’s what I’m noticing with people around me. In terms of my companies and teams and stuff, we keep those teams very small. That’s how we’ve always operated, regardless of what the goal is. That makes it so that there are less challenges on the teams for two reasons. One, they’re small, and small meaning less than 20 people, and two, they’re all remote, just like your team. That distributes literally any world situation or any local situation, really distributes it. The thing about what’s going on right now that I’m noticing and that I find very unique is that there are protests all over the world now. All over...

play

06/09/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

513: Online Meetings & Virtual Events During COVID-19

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

06/02/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about online meetings & virtual events during COVID-19.

One thing that has been on the rise during the COVID 19 crisis has been online conferences, and there are a number of factors that are causing this. One of those is that people ar3e working from home and have more time to attend these conferences.

In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how the number of invitations to online events conferences has revved up rapidly, Hiten’s experience with online events, how people have more time for online events right now and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:40 Why this topic was chosen.

01:28 How the number of invitations to online events and conferences has revved up rapidly.

02:02 Hiten’s experience with online events.

03:39 How things might gradually shift.

04:23 Why this explosion of online events fascinates Hiten.

04:54 How people have more time for online events right now.

06:00 How people are starving for new connections.

06:40 How online events are much easier to attend.

07:22 One thing that’s always going to be true about online events.

3 Key Points:

  • The amount of invitations to online events and conferences has revved up rapidly.
  • There’s been a lot of exuberance for online events, more than I’ve ever seen in my life.
  • This explosion is fascinating to me.

[0:00:00]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody this is [Steli Efti].

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: This is [Hiten Shah].

[0:00:04]

Steli Efti: Today on The Startup Chat we want to talk about online meetings, webinars, conferences during COVID-19, is it a good idea, is it a bad idea, is it going to, yeah what is happening in the world around the trying to bring physical events online, what are we experiencing, observing? We both felt like it’s an interesting thing that’s going on around the world, Zoom fatigue and other things pop to mind. We just wanted to chit chat and see what we’re observing, what we think will happen next, how to think about these things. Let me ask you first, I have just, the amount of invitations to online events and conferences for me has just ramped up drastically. Obviously because this is conference summer time I guess and a lot of conference organizers decided to try to do their events completely online but also just the amount of webinars that companies give, the amount of meetings that you, I mean we always because we were remote, always had a lot of Zoom meetings. It’s gotten even more because now I do Zoom meetings with friends, I do Zoom meetings, calls with family members. I just do a lot more of these virtual video conferencing calls. Yeah, I’m curious, are you also, I’ve done a few conferences, I’ve done a bunch of webinars and everything in between so far. I’m starting to try to figure out how I feel about all of this and if I want to do more or less and what’s going to happen in the market. What about you? What’s kind of been your experience of the last couple of weeks?

[0:01:45]

Hiten Shah: I think there’s been a lot of exuberance for online events like more than I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll start that way because I still don’t know what to think because of what I just said, there’s been more than ever. For the moment, it feels like people are into it. Into it meaning there’s enough people that are still into it where if you throw some online something or other and have some way to promote it people will show up because it’s not that they don’t have anything better to do, it’s that they’re seeking connection. They’re seeking this. I led a few over the last two or three weeks. I wouldn’t say an insane amount but definitely more than I would’ve normally and I probably have a few more to lead in terms of like topics like product management or remote work or whatever in partnership with different folks. I’ve done that too. I think you’ve done probably more than me. Then even today, the today that we’re recording I have one that I’m going to that I’m actually attending not leading which is usually rare for me. I don’t go to a lot of these things. I don’t know, it’s in the air, what can I say? I’ve never seen anything like it. In terms of what happens next like you’ll probably just see a shift into, a shift or transformations of these events if we continue on the pace we are because I think people are going to get tired of it at some point it’s like hey, enough is enough, we don’t need more online events to go to on some regular cadence or whatever. Maybe the topics will dry up. That being said like I’m not sure because we’ve had online events for the longest time. These onlin...

play

06/02/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

512: The Sales & Marketing Grind

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

05/26/20 • -1 min

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the Sales & Marketing Grind.

This episode is inspired by a tweet from Hiten that pointed out how marketing is a grind, one that you need to get used to, as it requires you to do the same thing over and over again in order to be successful.

In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about the tweet that inspired this episode, what prompted this tweet and why marketing is different from sales and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic

00:34 Why this topic was chosen.

01:05 The tweet that inspired this episode.

01:40 What prompted Hiten’s tweet.

03:02 How marketing and sales is a grind.

04:09 How marketing and sales are like working out.

05:03 What makes Steli stay consistently on the sale grind.

08:22 A mindset that salespeople need to develop.

10:10 Why marketing is different from sales.

11:34 How Hiten gets through the grind.

3 Key Points:

  • The most difficult part of marketing and sales is getting used to the grind.
  • Just do more of what ended up working.
  • It’s the same thing over and over again.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey, everybody. This is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah, and today I’m going to start off the chat. Steli is prodding me to talk about a tweet, and this tweet was talking about how sales and marketing is a grind, and you have to do the same thing over and over and over again, and you might even quit before you hit gold. So what thoughts did it spur for you?

[0:00:33]

Steli Efti: Well, first let me actually read the tweet, right?

[0:00:36]

Hiten Shah: Yeah, go for it. I totally butchered it.

[0:00:38]

Steli Efti: So, “The most difficult part of sales and marketing is getting used to the grind, doing the same set of things over and over and over again, sometimes with such mediocre results that you think about giving up right before striking gold.” I like that tweet, because I think there’s a kernel of truth in there, but there are parts of me that instantly recognize the truth in this or my truth in this, but there’s also a part of me that wants to disagree, and then there is a immediate question that I have once in a while when you tweet, which is what prompted this? I literally go, “Huh, I wonder what prompted this? Probably something interesting. I have to remember to ask him next time I talk to him.” So let’s start the episode with that. I’ll tell you what I think about this, but first, what made you tweet this? What prompted this tweet, this thought?

[0:01:34]

Hiten Shah: Yeah, I think especially with sales and marketing, people look for the silver bullet, and the silver bullet is the one thing you can do and everything’s all taken care of. What I’ve noticed for sales and marketing, it’s not that. And so what prompted it, is nothing super in particular one event or anything like that, but I was just thinking why a lot of people have a hard time with sales and marketing, while let’s say with engineering or design or even product, they might not have as hard of a time. One conclusion I came to is you’re doing the same thing over and over again. When it comes to some of these other areas like engineering or product or design, the repetition is not the same. You’re not necessarily doing the same thing over and over again and likely seeing mediocre results. You have a tangible feeling of progress and momentum that can happen in those scenarios. While with sales and marketing, I don’t want to say it’s hit or miss, but especially earlier on when you’re trying to sell something or even marketing a product or service, the amount of grind is there. And then when something works, the next thing you have to do is just grind some more on the same thing. So even when it works, you’re just doing more of the same, it just happened to work that time, and you think you could make it work more. Whether it’s closing a deal because you changed your pitch all of a sudden, because you learned over many other conversations that you need to change your pitch, or with marketing where you do a lot of, usually you’re just doing a bunch of experiments early on to figure out what channels, what things work, and that’s like a grind in itself. But then when you actually figure something out that works, guess what? To do more of it, same grind. You just do more of whatever ended up working. And it’s not to say there’s no creativity to these things. It’s not to say any of that. It’s more about what feelings people go through and what motions they have to go t...

play

05/26/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

511: Starting a Startup During COVID-19?

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

05/19/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about starting a Startup during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID pandemic, there’s going to be a lot of people thinking about starting a new Startup. However, whether now is a good time or now to start is a question that needs to be answered.

In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about if this is the right time to start a Startup, why there’s never a good or bad time to start, what to consider if you’re starting something right now and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About the topic of today’s episode

00:23 Why this topic was chosen.

01:37 If this is the right time to start a Startup.

02:22 Why there’s never a good or bad time to start.

02:34 How the world is very different right now.

04:38 Why this is a good time to start.

07:44 What to do differently if you started now.

09:05 Why cash flow is more important right now.

10:16 Why “nice to haves” are off the table.

11:57 What to consider if you’re starting something right now.

3 Key Points:

  • I don’t think there’s ever a good or bad time to start a Startup.
  • The world is different.
  • There’s more access to information right now than in 2008.

[0:00:00]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody. This is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we’re going to talk about starting a startup during COVID-19. Basically the idea, if we have to start a new company or a startup right now, no co-founders yet, no money, no product. Would we do it? Would we think that, with what we know about entrepreneurship, would we think that this is a good time or would we want to wait until whenever the economy’s better? And if we thought that now is a good time to start something, how would we go about it? How would we think about it? Is there anything different about starting a startup right now during this kind of special time in history around the world? Would we approach in any way differently than we usually would? I thought that it’d be a fun topic to talk about. It probably is going to have a few golden nuggets for people. So let’s get the first question out of the way because I think that’s going to be an easy one. You never know, especially with when you talk to Hiten Shah, but is this a good time to start a startup or a bad time to start a startup? What’s your reaction to that if I asked you, “Hiten, I have entrepreneurial ambitions, but I wonder if this is the right time for me to start something.”

[0:01:16]

Hiten Shah: Yeah, great question. It’s just a great question because the circumstances, like this has happened before, right? So there’s like the 2000s, and this is particularly in tech, so there’s the 2000s and there’s like the 2008 kind of housing bubble thing. And then I think the next one was right now. And these are all times when people are like, “Should I start something? Should I not?” People start talking about it. The one thing that like fascinating to me with this question as I think about it right now is, first I don’t think there’s ever a good time or a bad time. So I think it’s false to think it’s good or bad. But for some reason it comes to people’s minds when the world is going to shit and they’re like, “Oh, is this a good time?” It’s never a good time. Is this a bad time? Well, it’s never a bad time. I think it’s like whatever time works for you. Meaning whatever it comes to mind or whatever circumstances dictate that you have to find other options in whatever you were doing, like you’re laid off. So that’s where I’ll start. But I think there’s a big thing that I haven’t thought about till now that really hit me right now, which is, the world is different. Every one of those times, the world was different. You’re talking about like 2000, then eight years later, and now 12 years later, and we’re like 20 years from 2000, which many of us weren’t actually working at the time. I was in college at the time. I was definitely working, but I was in college, I wasn’t in the market, so to speak. And it’s something that I feel like there’s more access today to information than in 2008. Definitely than in 2000. There’s more information. There’s more people on the internet. There’s all these factors that were different every one of those three times. And this time in particular, anyone who wants to start something, especially in the last five years, I would have just told them, “Yeah, just do it.” You want to do it, just do it, give it a shot. Your chances are better than ever. So I don’t really believe there’s a good time or a bad time.At the same time more people on the intern...

play

05/19/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

510: How to Get Good at Taking Critical Feedback

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

05/12/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to get good at taking critical feedback.

Sometimes we need other people’s feedback or opinion on something that we are working on, this is perfectly normal and can help you improve what you’re working on. However, some people are not good at taking other people’s feedback and this can lead to negative reactions from that person or worse.

In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you shouldn’t take anything personally when it comes to feedback, how to get better at taking feedback, how to give feedback to someone so that they don’t take it personally and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:33 Why this topic was chosen.

01:04 Something Steli is very sensitive about.

02:01 An example of someone who doesn’t take feedback well.

03:23 Why you shouldn’t take anything personally when it comes to feedback.

04:05 What makes people good at taking feedback.

05:06 How to get better at taking feedback.

05:21 How to give feedback to someone so that they don’t take it personally.

06:04 What to think about when you give feedback.

08:07 Why it might be better to ask for someone’s opinion instead of feedback.

3 Key Points:

  • I’m very sensitive to people that ask for feedback but can’t take it.
  • When it comes to feedback, don’t take anything personally.
  • Start learning how to ask for feedback.

[0:00:00]

Steli: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:04]

Hiten: And this is Hiten [Shah 00:00:04].

[0:00:05]

Steli: And today on the Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about how to learn to take critical feedback well. And to learn from critical or even sometimes negative feedback. Here’s why I wanted to talk about this Hiten, where do I start? I think one of the things that I have very little patience for, I’ve gotten better at this in life, but I’m not great at it, is people that have a difficult time. That are asking for feedback but can’t take it. It’s something I’m very sensitive to. I instantly, very quickly I shut down on this. So one second... The thing that I have a difficult time with is people asking for critical feedback. But then when I’m telling them very direct feedback, they don’t want to hear it. They get defensive or they explain or excuse or push back or try to convince me and I’ve gotten a little better. But in general, I’m running out of patience very quickly with that and I instantly disengage. I am very judgmental of this, because in my mind I think you asked me for feedback. I didn’t ask you to convince me that your idea is brilliant. And when I told you what I think of your idea, instead of being curious and asking for more of my thinking, and then you can decide what the fuck you want to do with it. Instead of doing that, you’re now spending all this time trying to convince me of something I don’t want to be convinced and I didn’t even ask for. So I get really annoyed and irritated. And I just recently had a case where a good friend of mine, over long periods of time, multiple times had told me, “Dude, I know you don’t want to give... I know that most people can’t take critical feedback, but I really want you to always be brutally honest. You have to be really direct with me.” And then couple of times after he told me that he wants me to be more honest, more direct with him. Anytime I was direct with him, he spent all this time defending his position and I was really annoyed, until I recently brought it up. So that made me think that, the truth is most people I know are not good at taking critical feedback. I know you’re really excellent at this. I think I’m pretty okay at this. I mean nobody’s perfect, but I think I’m pretty good at this. And when people give me critical feedback, you’ll never hear me argue or excuse or explain. I usually shut the fuck up and I just ask for more. And then I’ll go and I’ll ponder it and I’ll figure out what to do with that feedback. But I wonder why are some people good at this and some people don’t. What do you have to learn to be good at taking feedback? And maybe you have a completely different point of view, which often you do. And you give a lot of people critical feedback as well. Or people ask you for your honest feedback on things. How do you think about this? Asking for critical feedback and honest feedback and then how you deal with it. How do you respond to it in the best possible way? What’s your thinking about that?

[0:03:15]

Hiten: So, I think when it comes to feedback, if you’re the giver, I think the framework I use, it’s basically the idea that is outside of just feedback. But I think a ver...

play

05/12/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

509: Questions to Ask Yourself During This Crisis

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

05/07/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about questions to ask yourself during this crisis.

In times of crisis, especially one like the COVID 19 crisis, where anxiety is so universal, it’s important to ask yourself certain questions so that you recognise when you might be exhausted and there’s no good answer or solution to a challenge you’re facing.

In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what the concept of a wartime CEO means, why there’s no such thing as a peacetime CEO, the right way to think about this concept and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:36 Why this topic is important.

02:56 Why this particular crisis is unique.

03:53 Questions to ask when you think you’re tired.

04:50 How we sometimes ask ourselves questions that don’t have an answer.

05:57 Good questions to ask that can be helpful.

07:54 A question Steli asks his mum now.

10:00 Why Hiten switched to focusing on luck rather than gratitude.

12:03 The difference between gratitude and luck.

13:28 How focusing on what you feel lucky about can give you a new perspective on life.

3 Key Points:

  • I can’t tell you why I’m exhausted.
  • When you go through a time like this when anxiety is so universal, it’s literally in every interaction.
  • We’ve never had a crisis at this scale before.

[0:00:00]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody. This is Steli Efti.

[0:00:04]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Today on The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about good questions to ask yourself during these uncertain times. I think this is a important topic. I will tell you why and get personal, but we always get personal on this anyway. I had a friend text me the other day, text me something of the nature of like, “I don’t know, man. I’m just tired today.” He was like, “I feel like I’m tired every night.” And it’s a friend of mine that wouldn’t tell anybody else that. I texted him and I’m someone who really wouldn’t tell anybody else that either.

[0:00:51]

Steli Efti: Yes. [crosstalk 00:00:52].

[0:00:53]

Hiten Shah: I told him, “You know what? Me too.” Then I texted him and this was the night before last, literally very fresh. I texted him last night and I’m like, You know what? I feel the same today as well.” He’s like, “Yeah, me too. He’s someone like you Steli, where I’ll tell him anything privately and we’ll chit chat publicly sometimes and stuff like that. I understand where he’s coming from when he says it to me because there’s a lot of... He’s just resilient. He’s seen lots of different things in the past. Someone like you, right? We just have this common either experiences or way of dealing with the world. I’ve just been wondering, how do you still... Of course it’s okay to feel that, but how do you ask yourself questions to just recognize when you might just be exhausted and there’s no good answer. Because I can’t tell you why I’m exhausted at night. He can’t explain why he is either. There’s just a lot going on in the world.

[0:02:18]

Steli Efti: Yeah, it’s interesting. It’s not just a lot going on in the world in the abstract. I think that when you go through a time like this where anxiety is so universal and uncertainty is so universal, it’s literally in every interaction. It’s in the hello goodbye. It’s even in small interactions that seem harmless and positive. The underlying energy exchange between all humans right now in varying degrees is always, no matter what we’re saying, we’re also probably communicating, “I’m anxious. I’m stressed. I’m worried. I feel uncertain. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next.” That, we’ve just never had that at this scale where almost everybody we interact with feels that, right? And therefore also communicates that verbally or non-verbally with each other all day long and all that is raining onto us and is amplifying those feelings. One thing I just remembered a long time ago, I think I had told you once, because you are in the small circle of people that I will tell things to that I won’t tell to most people. I think I told you that day like, “Dude, I’m tired.” You’re like, “Dude, you’re not tired. You’re just bored.” I’m like, “Huh?” Just think about it differently. When I say I’m tired, I just tell myself maybe I’m bored. “Are you bored?” I was like, “Huh?” It was such a mind twister. I’ve never forgotten that. That made such an impression on my fucking mind that any time, any time I think I’m tired, I go, “Am I bored?” Sometimes I’m like, “Damn you Hiton. I’m just tired. I’m definitely not bored today.” But I always check myself, “Are you sure you’re not bored...

play

05/07/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

508: How to Ruin Your Reputation During a Crisis

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

04/28/20 • -1 min

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to ruin your reputation during a crisis.

In times of crisis, like the current COVID 19 situation, a lot of people will panic and act in a way that would ruin the reputation of themselves or that of their brand. So you want to be very careful how you treat people in times like these so as not to cause bigger problems for yourself when the crisis is over.

In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about Steli’s recent experience with a desperate salesman, Hiten’s thoughts on this particular experience, how treating people desperately and sleazy can ruin your reputation and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic

00:42 Why this topic was chosen.

03:15 Steli’s recent experience with a desperate salesman.

07:12 Hiten’s thoughts on this particular experience.

08:22 How this is an unusual experience.

09:10 Why the devil is in the detail.

09:44 What was wrong about this person’s approach.

10:32 The second thing that was wrong with this person’s approach.

12:16 The importance of communicating your value.

12:34 How treating people desperately and sleazy can ruin your reputation.

3 Key Points:

  • During a crisis, people will sometimes show their true colours.
  • Some people have been consistent over the years that anything they do is not surprising.
  • The devil is in the detail.

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

Steli Efti: And today with The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about how to ruin your reputation during a crisis, or what not to do, so that you build a strong and positive reputation in the marketplace during a crisis. So let me set the scene real quick. The reason why I wanted to talk about this is twofold. One, a common acquaintance of both Hiten and mine, did something a couple of days ago that has ruined his reputation with me, and we were just chatting about that. But that also sparked this thought, that during a crisis I think people will sometimes show their true colors and true face, but maybe sometime impulsively just act weird. And underestimate the damage that you can do to yourself and your brand, during this difficult time, when you act selfishly, or out of order, or do shitty stuff, right? Because you’re in a panic, or because you feel pressure, or because you’re stressed. So I felt like it might be a good idea to talk about that a little bit. I’ll summarize my story, and then maybe we dissect it, and try to highlight some learnings for our listeners, that they can take away from this. So the thing that happened with this common acquaintance between Hiten and I, is that this is somebody that has been friendly with me, and I’ve been friendly with him online for many, many years. Once in a while he needed help with something, I try to help when I could. Once in a while I asked for help, he tried to help when he could. Just very casual, very like twice a year email exchange, everything’s cool. And then recently this guy has a podcast, and I have been meaning to be booked on a bunch more podcasts, to promote a new book that we’re going to have coming up. And so we had somebody on the marketing team reach out to a couple of these podcasts that I’ve been on, and a few that I hadn’t been on yet, but that I’m kind of friendly with the hosts. And so my team reaches out to him to book me on his podcast, if he’d be interested in that. And in response, he sends me a message and basically goes, “LOL. Do these cold emails work to be a podcast guest?” Now to give some context on this, Hiten and then I know a lot about this. We have a podcast, there’s not a week where we don’t get cold emails from people that want to be guests on it. And for us it’s special LOL, because we are one of the rare podcasts that doesn’t do guests, right?

[0:02:46]

Hiten Shah: It was very silly, yes.

[0:02:48]

Steli Efti: We always laugh at this. So I do get it, right. I do get that he was like “LOL. Do these emails work?” And then I responded and said, “Hey, we only do this with people I’ve been on before with people I know.” And so far they’ve worked pretty well. And then we exchanged some pleasantries, and I asked him if he’s fine. He was like, “Everything’s fine.” And then he asked me, and I was like, “Everything is good.” And that’s that. And in my mind that was that. He made a little bit of fun of me, that’s cool. I have no problem with that, I get it. And then since he didn’t offer, and didn’t say, “Yes, I’m interested, let’s do it.” I just assumed he’s not....

play

04/28/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

517: How to Plan in 2020?

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

play

06/30/20 • -1 min

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to make plans during 2020.

With everything that has happened in 2020, you’d be forgiven if you chose to describe this year as the year of crisis. With this crisis comes uncertain and it can be quite challenging to make long-term plans in uncertain times like these.

In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about if you should make plans in 2020, how you should plan in this year, why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis and much more.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:00 About today’s topic.

00:42 Why this topic was chosen.

01:33 Should you make plans in 2020?

02:43 How you should plan in 2020.

04:19 Why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis.

04:59 How Steli currently makes his plans.

06:04 The right way to approach crazy times like these.

08:00 How Hiten approached the crisis.

11:59 How teams could deal with high pressure.

12:12 How you can adapt to the uncertainty.

3 Key Points:

  • You’re just planning, but not as far ahead as you normally would.
  • 2020 isn’t done with us.
  • During a crisis, your timelines have to be shorter

[0:00:01]

Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti.

[0:00:03]

Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah.

[0:00:05]

Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we’re going to talk about how to make plans during 2020. So, making good plans is always challenging, but I find 2020, I mean... 2020 is a particular, unique year, in that it probably is a more challenging year for companies and startups and founders to make any sort of plan that people might have real confidence in, especially if it’s a longterm plan. So I’ve encountered this a couple of times this year already with friends that I thought it might be useful for the two of us to unpack this for our listeners, which is, “What the hell do you do?” If you run a startup, if you’re a founder and you want to plan, should you, in 2020? Are plans completely useless? Are they totally useful? And how should you think about making plans kind of the way that we approach this and the things that we’ve seen work well? I thought might help founders keep their sanity and hopefully accomplish more of the things they want to accomplish, even during an outstandingly crazy year like 2020. So, first of all, let me ask you this question. 2020, should we still make plans or would you advise anybody to stop making plans because this year is too nuts?

[0:01:29]

Hiten Shah: So, the... The... I’ve had, like, two or three conversations specifically about this, and I’ve shared something that... By the time I have two or three and I get the same question, and it’s a new question, I tend to like, have some kind of way to think about it or, like, you know, I’m driven crazy, you know? So I think that’s a really good question. The way it worked for me, and the way I was approaching this, not too long ago is I... Hang on, I just need to fix my mic. So I basically... When the sort of pandemic came along, I was taking things in a sort of hour by hour adjustment period, so to speak. So everything to me was thrown out the door because now all of a sudden, there’s this virus that we’re all dealing with and we have to sort of figure out what that means for us. And so I was taking it hour by hour because new information was coming in. This is like all up to about Shelter in Place. And then after Shelter in Place, I think the first few days were very similar and our, by “our”, meaning, like people were consumed with the news about it. Nobody knew what was going on obviously, and what was going to happen to us as a society like overall. Like what’s next? And then basically I... I realized that I was then going day to day and after that I was going week to week and I barely got to like a month ahead. And then the protests started and the rioting and kind of... And then it got global. And then I got back to like almost an hour by hour, just making sure that like, you know, people I knew were safe and accounted for and were kind of, you know, taking care of themselves and then more news kept coming in and opinions and all these other things. And then I went to about day by day. And right now, I’m still at about day by day. I think I’m about to be week by week soon, maybe starting next week. And what that means is you’re just planning not as far ahead as you normally would. Because oftentimes we’re planning the month, the quarter, the year. I don’t think we can do that. And it’s not because I expect anything new to show up, but I definitely, more than ever, expect the unexpected.

[0:04:12]

Steli Efti<...

play

06/30/20 • -1 min

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Show more

Toggle view more icon

FAQ

How many episodes does The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten have?

The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten currently has 304 episodes available.

What topics does The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten cover?

The podcast is about News, Tech News, Podcasts and Business.

What is the most popular episode on The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten?

The episode title '516: There’s No Mastery in Inner Work' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten?

The average episode length on The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten is 19 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten released?

Episodes of The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten are typically released every 3 days, 23 hours.

When was the first episode of The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten?

The first episode of The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten was released on Jul 25, 2017.

Show more FAQ

Toggle view more icon

Comments

0.0

out of 5

Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey Icon

No ratings yet