Success Breeds Bold Moves

date
Jan 21, 2025
slug
bold-moves
status
Published
tags
Startups
Self Discovery
summary
type
Post
I was talking to a friend today about embarking on another business journey, and he was surprised by what he called my "bravery." I told him I didn't feel particularly brave, and as we broke it down, we reached an interesting conclusion:
My tendency toward startups largely stems from being lucky enough to secure a high salary early in my career.
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Recently, I’ve read a research suggesting that more intelligent people tend to take greater risks. Someone added on an adjacent blogpost that early success in life creates a foundation for taking bigger leaps later on. This resonates deeply with my personal story.
I've been lucky to be super curious about computers from an early age. This passion led me to learn extensively about technology, complete my Bachelor's degree during high school, compete on the Israeli national team, and serve in an elite military unit. Each environment exposed me to brilliant minds, and these experiences compounded over time into strong technical skills. These achievements also built a compelling resume that made it easy to demonstrate my capabilities to others.
Before completing my military service, I had a profound realization – one that still amazes me when I see others haven't grasped it: The salary I could command in a standard 9-5 job would be sufficient to support my entire future family at a satisfying quality of life. This is a HUGE privilege, and I felt so lucky when I first understood this.
Consider the implications: excluding extraordinary global changes, I could always return to a 9-5 job and cover my family's expenses. This is genuine financial security.
So there I was in my early 20s, contemplating my life path with this realization in mind. I saw two options:
  1. Earn a high income → acquire assets and build wealth → wait until investments can replace income → achieve financial freedom → do whatever the fuck I want.
  1. Do whatever the fuck I want now → take a job mainly for income if needed later.
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I chose the second path, which led me to:
  • Take an extended trip after my military service
  • Join a startup as its first employee to learn about company building
  • Leave to start my own company and fail
  • Switch industries, leaving my competitive advantages behind
  • Start another company within less than a year
I'm still mindful of the future in my decisions. I recognize I haven't achieved financial freedom – I'm living at my parents' home and crashing on friends' couches in Tel Aviv for business meetings. These choices give me more runway to bootstrap my business. I remain focused on success. When deciding which industry to enter, I contemplated between crypto and brain-tech, which I found passion in both. I opted for crypto because my skills aligned better there than in brain-tech, where I lacked expertise. I understand that success now will further expand my freedom in the future.
I'm excited to see how things unfold. This journey has taught me invaluable lessons and sparked unexpected self discovery. I trace it all back to early success, which gave me the freedom to take risks – risks that might lead to greater success and even more freedom to take bigger chances.
Compound baby.