# Inside Founder's Brain - Date: 2025-02-10 - dateModified: 2025-12-21T04:34:28.000Z - Category: entrepreneurship - URL: https://kushtaneja.com/inside-founders-brain - Song: Stand By Me - Remastered 2010 — John Lennon This is just how my 28th birthday looked like. Here’s a glimpse to what it takes to be a founder. Image: Meme of a man looking at old photos of himself, labelled “15 year old me”, “22 year old me thinking how stupid I used to be” and “30 year old me” Image: Meme of a skeptical baby asking “Who?” Image: A grinning boy in a film still Image: Screens of the app with the headline “The all new FamApp” Image: A black FamX Visa card next to its packaging Image: Highway exit meme: a car labelled “Teenagers” swerves away from “Ask OTP from your parents” toward “Use FamCard” Image: Meme from Shark Tank India: “Bhai, Tu Naukri Dhoond, Tujhse na ho payga” Image: Screenshot of an email: “Congratulations on being funded by Y Combinator!” Image: Two men in an office shaking hands Image: Meme: “Co-founders on first day of the startup” above “Co-founders on first year of the startup” Image: Meme: “Statistics show that only 2% of startups survive after 5 years.” Startup founder: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Image: Kung Fu Panda meme: a crowd of pandas labelled Hire, Growth, Retention, Fundraise, Launch, Revenue and Govt pile onto Po, labelled PMF Image: Meme: “Humans: finds the escape velocity of earth (11.2km/s)”. Gravity: “Am I a joke to you?” Image: A planet labelled “Startup” with “PMF” orbiting it Image: Meme of a cat sprawled in the sun: “I’m solar powered. No sun = no work” Image: Meme: “This is the next big thing.” “Have you gotten any paying customer?” Image: Meme: “Life without phone” next to “Life without Google Maps” Image: Meme: a brick labelled “Massive Tailwind” next to a brick labelled “Massive Headwind” Image: Toy Story meme: “Decisions, decisions everywhere :)” Image: Chart titled “Types of Decisions”, plotting choices from ordering an entree to having a child by how consequential and how reversible they are Image: Sketch titled “Brain’s factory setting”: a rational decision-maker at the wheel, with a panic monster and an instant gratification monkey Image: Meme of a little girl shrugging: “So what? What’s the problem?” Image: Sketch titled “Founder's Brain”: a small monkey at the wheel saying “I don't need PMF. I need money.” Image: Meme: “Money isn’t everything.” “False. It’s everything.” Image: Title slide: “Mindset that worked for me” Image: Meme of a man in a suit pointing: “I am betting on you” Image: Finding Nemo meme of Dory: “Who am I? Am I doing what I love? What’s my insecurity? Do I care about others?” Image: A man holding a pot in a kitchen next to a meme asking “Why not?” Image: Meme: “I’m obsessed with this” Image: Simpsons meme: “Normal people” sleeping soundly above “Entrepreneurs” lying awake Image: Meme: “Don’t you have any shame? Shame?” Image: Meme from Sacred Games: “Kabhi Kabhi Lagta hai Apun Hi Bhagwaan Hai” Image: Meme: “If trusting your intuition was a sport. Me:” above an athlete covered in medals Image: Meme of a kitten: “I’m not always hungry… wait.. yes I am” Image: Four-panel Friends meme of Ross insisting he is fine Image: A goalkeeper lying flat on the pitch above a wrestler sitting bolt upright in the ring Image: Disaster girl meme: “Honesty is the best policy.” “Ok mom I did it” Image: Meme of a raccoon: “It’s me again — just want to follow up” Image: Salt Bae meme: “When you add just a little bit of value” Image: Yoda meme: “Consistency, the key also is” Image: SpongeBob rainbow meme: “Be kind and show empathy” Image: Screenshots of the essays “Do Things that Don’t Scale” and “Startup = Growth” Image: Title slide: “Mindset that didn’t work” Image: A man in a suit at a petrol pump, ecstatic, holding cash Image: Meme: a figure labelled PMF reaches out while another chases a balloon labelled “Random Features” Image: Meme: “You’re fired” Image: Family Guy meme: “Let me be clear, I am only looking for positive feedback” Image: Willy Wonka meme: “I’ll advise you to not give advice” Image: Cartoon meme: “Hey…. cheer up, or I will lick the hell out of you” Image: Drake meme rejecting “Two co-CEOs” and approving “Single CEO” Image: Formula 1 radio meme: “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” next to “erm guys, I think I’ve damaged my front wing” and “Ok. Box box box” Image: Meme: “Me after keeping all my thoughts to myself” Image: Distracted boyfriend meme: “Me” turning toward “Burnout” while “Support system” looks on Image: Drawing comparing a flat road to the finish labelled “Expectation” with a road full of pits labelled “Reality” Image: Meme: “Bring UPI back andolan” Image: Meme of a man presenting two signs: “This is what it takes” and “to be a founder” Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege to speak with students at IIT Delhi, IIT Roorkee, IIT Madras and many others. They invited me to share my founder journey with the upcoming aspiring founders. But instead of a typical presentation, I walked in with memes. Every slide was a mirror of my own journey, of what broke me, what shaped me, and what I wish someone had told me earlier. No jargon. No filters. From PMF highs to lows and burnouts to breakthroughs.