Many entrepreneurs seem to struggle with following what they are passionate about, versus creating startups just for the money.
In a recent appearance on the DealMakers podcast, he shared his take on following your gut, when to go solo , why you should sleep more, how to incubate a winning startup idea and the algorithm for hiring great leaders .Mohit was one of Google’s early tech guys and received, as a result, Google shares at $2 per share. He was responsible for managing a team that had the goal of innovating in the file storage space.
Again, avoiding the seductiveness of getting too comfortable, he began working on his next venture, Cohesity, even before his previous company went public. There he repeated the brainstorming process before creating a new tech success, which raised $15 million in Series A funding from Sequoia in just two days.
Still, he admits it was a steep learning curve, especially when it came to hiring. Most notably there is a big difference in hiring technical and business staff. Today, he says if he started a new venture he would raise $1 million, and use the first $300k of that to use an executive recruiter to source three great executives.
The post-interview checklist is all about references. Specifically from either people who reported to that leader or people who've been peers of that leader, because those are the one who tells you the truth. They will tell you any red flags.Mohit warns that “when you hire the wrong person, especially when that person is a wrong leader, that sets the company back at least six months if not more. The damage done is immense.
He gives lectures to share this information. The other part of giving is just financially. He’s given to charitable organizations. He and his wife have a structure set up that when they pass away, a bulk of their wealth is actually going to go into a charity.