Only the Paranoid Survive

Tech legend, Andy Grove’s autobiography is one of the best books written regarding thriving in the fast paced business world of Silicon Valley. I’m surprised more people have not read it. It traces the rise of Intel to the one of the most dominant semiconductor companies in the world. Well, at least until the last decade decline. But the lessons he shares are invaluable: the most important being the title. 

All the best founders and investors are a little bit paranoid. You have to assume that competition can pop out of nowhere to eat your lunch. If you let your internal operations get a little bit out of whack, that usually ends up causing big problems down the road. Comfort kills. 

This is relevant for our life too. Every time I’ve met serious issues in my life was due to my own complacency. The minute I was flying high and took my eye off the ball, things would inevitably start to slip. 

This happened in the end of 2000 when I was at the startup Alibris. I ended up getting absolutely REKT in 2001. 

It happened in 2013 when I overspent my bounty from Yahoo! and got myself in financial straits. This also happened again in 2020 albeit it was during a pandemic with the criminal & idiotic government lockdowns and anti-eviction programs for crooked tenants. 

Of course you should be present and enjoy the wins that happen. I certainly don’t do this enough. 

But also don’t take anything for granted. Your health, your personal finances, your business and especially with your family. The minute you start to get too comfortable or complacent, let alone arrogant, life will come and smack you on the head. Rightfully too. I am paying for this on the family side. 

This is a lesson we all seem to learn on a regular basis. In our insane state of competition and intense change, a little bit of paranoia goes a long way. As I heard from Ray Dalio before, “if you are afraid, you probably don’t need to be afraid. If you are not afraid, you should probably be afraid.”