Why You Should Listen to Me

This is Part 1 of a 5-part series on the critical factors that startups need to win.

The internet is a loud place. If you're building a company right now, you're likely being buried under a mountain of "guru" advice, recycled Silicon Valley mantras, and LinkedIn thought-leadership that sounds suspiciously like it was written by a machine.

Here's the thing: most of it is noise.

This series is different. Before we dive into the frameworks and the "war stories," we need to address the elephant in the room.

Why should you spend your most limited resource (your time) listening to me?

I've been in the trenches (for a long time)

I'm Sachin Kamdar. I didn't just "found" a company; I spent over a decade in the grind. I started Parse.ly Analytics in 2008 and served as CEO until we were acquired by Automattic (the powerhouse behind WordPress) in 2021.

That wasn't an overnight success story. It was a 13-year journey of hard-won lessons. We grew to tens of millions in revenue and hit profitability long before the acquisition was even on the table. When Parse.ly became Automattic's largest acquisition by cost and revenue at the time, it wasn't because we got lucky with timing. It was because we executed.

I've said "no" to the wrong money

What makes my perspective different isn't just that we succeeded: it's how we did it.

In 2017, the market was frothy. Investors were throwing money at anything that moved. We went out to raise what we needed (about $5 million). Instead, we were offered over $40 million. That's 8x the capital we asked for.

We said no.

We raised $6.8 million instead. Why? Because we prioritized sustainable growth over the "growth at all costs" mentality that has incinerated so many promising startups. I fear we're back in a place where startups will get incinerated based on crazy capital raises.

I'm still in the game

I'm not a retired founder dispensing wisdom from the sidelines. I'm currently back in the arena building elvex, an agent platform that transforms every employee into an AI native.

We're facing the same challenges you are: closing enterprise deals in a market that demands proof, not promises. Building AI that people actually use, not just demo. We secured $6.4 million in seed funding to scale elvex, and my advice isn't theoretical: it's informed by the fires I'm putting out this morning.

Even more my background and approach is leading to success: multiple millions in revenue within 18 months of launch, 140% NDR and 90%+ GR, and doing this without raising massive rounds.

I know what investors care about.

Here's what matters. Investors have always cared about one thing: can you build a business that works? The definition of "works" just changes based on how much capital is sloshing around.

When money is cheap, investors fund vision. When capital tightens, they fund execution. Right now, we're somewhere in the middle. Vision for AI companies, but perhaps execution for everything else.

The pattern is consistent across cycles. Investors want to see three things:

1. Proof you can execute. Not a roadmap. Not a vision deck. Evidence that you ship, iterate, and close deals.
2. A real moat. Vertical specialization, proprietary data, or workflow lock-in. Something that makes you hard to replace when competitors show up.
3. Unit economics that work. You don't need to be profitable today. But you need to prove that each customer generates more value than it costs to acquire and serve them. If that math doesn't work at 100 customers, it won't magically work at 10,000.

If you're building a startup, you're not competing for "innovation points." You're competing to prove you're the one team that can turn an idea into a business that scales.

I've mentored dozens of founders

Beyond my own companies, I've mentored for multiple startup accelerators, giving me visibility into patterns across different startups, industries, and founding teams. I see what sinks teams and what makes them swim and ultimately, fly.

I focus on execution, not luck

Many startup stories emphasize timing, connections, or other external factors. While these matter, I believe in focusing on what you can control: execution.

This series isn't about getting lucky. It's about building systems, teams, and strategies that maximize your chances of success regardless of circumstances.

What to expect from this series

Over the next five parts, I'll break down the critical factors that determine startup success:

1. The Two NECESSARY Company Traits to Win
2. What Foundations Create Founder Success
3. Creating a Betting Culture
4. Farming Talent over Finding Talent

Let's get to work.