Beauty

There is a Series A startup in San Francisco that has kindly allowed me to use their space for work. Yesterday evening, I heard the two founders fight over a technical issue. They argued loudly for almost an hour. There was a lot of accusing and blame thrown around over the problem. Finally, they decided to ask ChatGPT to resolve whether the core issue fell inside the scope of product or technology, which they each led.

Despite this, there is an intense kind of beauty in building a company with a friend. A comfort in the security that the relationship is elastic enough to withstand the level of tension that making a company requires. They’ve been at it for 2 years, and they’ll probably be at it for another 7 or 8. They’ll have many more fights and, when it's all over, many more stories to tell and laugh about.

Then there is something I observed about my granduncledadaji and grandauntdadima. We lived in the same house for most of my childhood, but they now live an hour away. They have a habit of taking a walk in the evenings. I went to visit them recently and joined them on a walk. Dadaji’s walk is a little unstable, so I stayed a few steps behind to hold him if he stumbled, while dadima walked separately. They walked almost on opposite sides of a rectangular path.

This choice confused me, but I understood when the path turned. His pace was naturally slower than hers, since he’s a bit older and bigger. So dadima deliberately walked on the outer edge of the path and drifted further away where the path turned since she walks faster. By staying on the outer edge they’d both end up at the same place after turning. They’ve been married for almost 65 years now.

People seem to think from the document of my travels that I’ve had a most phenomenal time seeing the world these last 5 years. It is true that I have made many friends in 4 different cities on opposite sides of the world. Yet, it appears that Beauty invariably requires depth.