Ankit Solanki
Few notes about me:
- Currently working as Staff AI Tech Lead at Kain Capital, New York.
- Founded few companies, mostly AI related
- Worked almost always as a founding engineer
- Wrote a bunch of libraries in Golang and Python
- More on LinkedIn and GitHub
- Went to IIT Delhi CS, because my friend said it's good (he didn't go there)
- Living at impermanent locations. Will be mostly circulating between Bangalore, US, Dharamkot, Bikaner and Nha Trang; in near future.
- Extensive reader (few recommendations), occasional writer.
Few things I truly believe in:
Enthusiasm works!
- Easier to work in exciting environments (part work and part team)
- "The goal is not to avoid mistakes, the goal is to achieve unparalleled levels of excellence in a given area"
- Without energy, progress lags.
Urgency is must
- Slow is fake and unclear. Fast is clear and sometimes fake.
- A week is 2% of the year, 5 weeks are 10%.
- It's essential to put yourself on death ground. It can't be done next week.
- Focus on what's important; there's no time for bullshit
Many people have conventional train of thought
- Ask right questions, and ask well. It's better to avoid a predictable mistake than to make one.
- "Most people are other people", see what second-order imitation means and take your shot.
Micromanagement customs are not detrimental
- Important individuals must utilize their judgment
- If it feels complicated, you have not thought it through enough.
Smaller teams are better
- No room for mediocre people
- Faster decisions, fewer meetings, more fun
- Most tech companies are 2-10x overstaffed.
- Most research is extremely biased and flawed, write down actions and test.
General
- The bottleneck in big projects is often less about resources and more about brainpower
- Better to get your dopamine from improving your ideas than from having them validated
- Don't get tied down by invisible orthodoxy, the laws of physics are the only limit
- The price for agency is the permanent and final realisation that the passenger seat does not exist.
- I believe very smart people are more practical and less idealistic, and always get what they desire. And if you don't desire anything at all, you are smart to begin with.