Episode 7 - Rohit Mittal and taking Asymmetric Bets

Rohit Mittal is old fashioned in some ways, and extremely progressive in others. His company, Stilt, is enabling immigrants to lead easier lives in the U.S., and he hopes that some of his customers will go on to work on future-facing problems in climate change and biotech. Having said that, he still prefers taking notes on pen and paper, and prints documents out instead of reading PDFs online. We learnt what it takes to start a company in the U.S. as an immigrant, the role of luck (and preparation) in becoming successful, and how Stilt is going to revolutionize financial services for the under-served in America. Some sound bites -

On starting a company or even a project: Don’t ask for permission. Everything is allowed.

Remove all distractions that don’t help in building the company.

Change your network to be amongst people working on their own companies.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:58 What Stilt is and How it was Started

6:24 Choosing the First Problem to Solve {Takeaway - Constrain a Problem so much that the Solution becomes Straightforward}

8:33 Starting a Company in the U.S. as an Immigrant 

12:53 The Risks Rohit had to Take {More here}

14:29 Getting the First Round of Funding as Someone Without Many Connections 

24:08 First steps with Stilt

26:00 Getting into Y Combinator, and facing Impostor Syndrome

35:17 Luck = Preparation + Opportunity, Taking Asymmetric Bets, and the Importance of Consistency while Working on a Startup

42:27 The Present and Future of Stilt

46:06 Growing Stilt, and the Operational Aspect of Running a Company {Takeaway - A lot of doing something new is just Method Acting}

50:43 Rohit's Connection with The Indian Startup Ecosystem

54:03 If Money Wasn't An Issue, What Problem Would Rohit Work On?

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