chasing greatness

You see, "being great" in the Silicon Valley is like "being confident" or "being happy." It's a goal best achieved by not chasing it directly. Similar to a mirage – the closer you try to get, the father away it seems.

Everyone wants to build the next big thing, but few get very far. You learn, re-learn and unlearn all while making plenty of mistakes along the way. But that also means you’re on the right path.

• Facebook didn’t start out as Facebook - it was a networking site to encourage nerdy Harvard kids to be more social.

• YouTube was originally a dating site where users could upload videos to introduce themselves (looks like Hinge finally caught on).

• Instagram began as a location-based check-in app.

• Twitter used to be a podcasting platform.

And a couple years into the future, valley boys will be a story of four friends who channelized their energy into writing about their experience.

Birds fly, fish swim, startups fail

We started out our journey with blind conviction. Our app was going to revolutionize the way we worked - a chat interface for legacy software systems. Sort of like using WhatsApp to update Salesforce data. We took this conviction and fed it to investors. They were starving. Ate it right up and graciously paid us $3M for a tiny undercooked slice. We spent a bit of it but saved up most before hitting the stop button. And that’s how we learned the hard way - birds fly, fish swim, startups fail.

Keep Swinging

Million dollar checks are what prop start-ups. Reality checks make them disappear. If you get the former first, it shows idea credibility but questions your execution. If you get the latter first, it saves you lost time but makes you question your decision-making. Both have upsides. Both have downsides. The only thing that holds true in both situations is that you’ll learn something along the way which will better your odds the next time. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. And that’s why we started Valley Boys.

Birth of Valley Boys

Newsletters today are dominated by self-proclaimed thought leaders and information gatherers. But we’ve reached a stage where you can ask artificial intelligence all the how-to’s and listicles for your exact problem instead of trying to apply some loosely preached framework. And that’s why we decided to share our lived experiences with you. Over the years we’ve met brilliant founders, coked up VCs, manic bankers, incredible mentors, lifestyle preachers, clout chasers and some of the chillest baristas. And for whatever’s ahead, we hope you’ll join us. As you read along, here’s what you can expect:

• industry deep-dives

• researched case studies

• stories about us meeting cool people

• stories about us trying to be cool people

• why everyone, including you, should build in public

Thanks for being one of our firsts. Also, hit us up - we would love to hear from you and help in any way - this is a shared journey.