Asim Qureshi

How do CEOs sleep for only 4-5 hours a day and manage to run multi-million dollar companies?

Listen, a lot of what is out there is exaggerated by the media, some of it fuelled by CEOs pretending to be superhuman.

Many CEOs do work damn hard (and many don’t) but it’s rare that their sleep gets hit over an extended period - it’s their social life, family life, leisure time.

I mean, yesterday, for example, a Sunday, I worked most of the day, which is pretty normal for me these days, but I was knocked out by 11pm. Hard work, full sleep, sacrifice made.

Work damn hard to achieve your dreams - whether you run your own company or work for one - but the fact is that if you're sleep-deprived you can’t do your job properly.

Yesterday, I had dinner with a friend, a CEO of a software company, and he said something interesting.

He said, “Asim, those who work the least are the ones that will usually keep telling everyone how hard they’re working, they’ll often mention in meetings how busy they are, as they are conscious of their lack of work and insecure about the lack of value they add. And those who work the hardest will rarely mention they work hard as they’re simply focused on their work. In fact, the challenge as a manager can be to make sure they’re not working too hard as they’ll tend not to bring it up when things become unmanageable.”

This matches closely with my own experience. While many are drawn into believing talking the talk and walking the walk are correlated, they’re probably more likely inversely correlated.

Great work doesn’t need to be announced, it speaks for itself.

I am regularly approached for funding or co-founding 'a great idea'.

Honestly, I really don't care about the idea, and neither do most smart investors. Despite it being a cliche, it really is all about the team.

Why?

Because even if you had an A+ idea a C team would get nowhere with it. And a B team would take it to 1% of where the A team would take it to.

The idea is only a tiny part of a successful business. There is also customer service, product, pricing strategy, team culture, operations, strategy, branding, sales, marketing, funding, managing cash flow, etc… Mess a couple of these up and your A+ idea won’t go very far.

How far did Friends Reunited get? It had the idea. FOUR YEARS before Facebook. It shut down in 2016.

And one more key thing - ideas aren't static, they're constantly shaping a company - an A+ team will take a C idea and make it into an A+ one.

Take Netflix. It was in a dead-end business using technology that was clearly going to get wiped out at some point - DVD rentals by mail. But its A+ team changed the business so its ‘idea’ became an A+ one - video streaming.

Today it’s worth a blockbusting US$180B.

Which is why I’d rather invest in a toilet cleaning company with a great team than a great-sounding tech startup with an ok team.

My wife suggested to me early on in our daughters' lives to praise them for the things we wanted them to care about. And so in our home, our girls tend to be praised for their ethics, kindness, determination, and hard work.

We thus rarely praise them for being beautiful - although in our eyes, that's what they are - and I don't think it's a coincidence that they don't care as much as most girls about the way they look and care more about those qualities we want them to care about.

Many of us don’t realise that when we praise a young girl more for how beautiful she is than what she's achieved we're giving a very clear message of what we value most about her.

Praising girls for their appearance is pervasive, in part because it is a reflection of how we, particularly many men, see things.

There is no right or wrong here, but if we want the next generation of girls to be more focused on building something more incredible than their hairstyle, praising them for their achievements far more than their appearance is probably a great place to start.

I was once having dinner at a restaurant with a potential business partner - the waiter took his plate away thinking he had finished - it wasn't clear whether he had.

He snapped at the waiter “What do you think you’re doing? I mean can’t you see I’m not done?”.

The waiter apologised.

The guy then turned to me after the waiter had gone, but not far enough to ensure the waiter couldn't hear, and said “What an idiot, can’t he do his job properly?”

I didn't say anything.

Sure, perhaps the waiter should have asked - but to put things in context we were in Malaysia where waiters tend to be poorly trained migrants from developing countries. And it's not like we were in the Shangri-La.

Ultimately, it was the potential business partner, not the waiter, that lost my respect.

Because respect is the way you treat everyone, and not the way you treat someone you need something from.

A friend's wife did something I found amazing - she did nothing.

You see, her husband, who's a good friend of mine, recently had a great run in business - from nowhere he suddenly made in the tens of US$ millions.

They now live in a huge house, travel the world business or first class, stay at the top hotels, and he bought himself a great set of wheels.

But you can tell my friend's wife doesn't care for the luxuries - I mean, she insists on driving the same banger she drove before they made their millions - and never brings up her new lifestyle in conversation.

Perhaps more importantly, she hasn't got a whiff of arrogance you often get with those that have made a ton of money fast - she just hasn't changed one bit.

I've never respected people for making money or having it - it's often a greedy obsession combined with luck and intelligence that gets you there. Sure, I'm happy for anyone that makes it.

But the way someone responds to making a ton of money? That's when you see real class.

Next time you're in a busy cafe alone, get your coffee and find a seat that gives you a view of people walking past - perhaps a table on the pavement outside - and observe.

You'll see hundreds of people, busily walking to their destinations. Not where they want to be, trying to get to some place that they do want to be.

And when they get there they’ll soon want to be somewhere else.

You'll see a struggle on most people's faces as they fight the elements to get to their destination in time.

Now, isn't this just a reflection of our lives and careers? We're all trying to get somewhere we're not, and when we get there we want to be somewhere else. An endless struggle - well, at least until the day it's all over.

One of my managers tried to trample over my career to help his own.

He placed on me unreasonable restrictions, promised me an additional bonus and then didn't give it, and he kept me out of the loop as much as he could.

And I knew exactly why. He was less smart than me, had less experience than me in our industry, yet was significantly older.

Basically, I was showing him up, and instead of raising his own game, he tried to lower mine.

I took a bit of a gamble.

I reported him to his manager, his manager’s manager and his manager’s manager’s close friend, who I knew well.

Basically, I went in all guns blazing, rather than raising the issue slowly.

I felt if I did the latter he would have adjusted only enough to appease HR or his manager.

It worked out as well as it could have. His actions were looked into fairly, he was soon effectively demoted, and pushed out a year later.

I don't have ANY regret about what I did. He was trying to ruin my career, I did what I needed to do.

The city can be very dog eat dog - no-one will look after you except you - so you have to fight for yourself to survive.

If you don't like that, don't go in.

You no longer need a degree to become a lawyer - in England and Wales.

From this year onwards, school leavers are able to get work experience, then do an apprenticeship, sit some exams, and they're done.

That’s because to become a solicitor you now need “a degree or an equivalent qualification or have gained equivalent experience.“

The legal profession is perhaps the most archaic and change-resistant of them all - and that's in part because law is backward-looking - case law means what's right or wrong is determined by what some judge said decades or centuries ago - and so the legal mind thinks backwards instead of forwards.

The fact that the wig-wearing law boffins of England and Wales have figured out that a law degree isn't needed to become a lawyer - that learning on the job is the way forward as long as professional exams are passed - is rather shocking, remarkable, and commendable.

It will open the profession to those from less affluent backgrounds and will create a legal system that is more reflective of society.

This is the biggest change in English and Welsh legal education for decades - and it is a small but important step to us becoming free from the shackles of our archaic education system.

It's just past 7am, I saw this as I looked out of the window of the guesthouse I'm staying in in Normandy, France!

Can you spot my son? He's having a remote lesson with his tutor.

In the background is one of the most significant buildings in Christian history which we visited yesterday. Absolutely stunning.


Listen, if your family can combine WFH with homeschool as we’ve done, it really is AMAZING, the freedom to live where and how you want is INCREDIBLE.

We could be in Cairo, Kolkata or Kathmandu next week.

And ensuring your kids socialise is not hard. I mean, my eldest daughter started going to uni last year, she's more social than most other students perhaps because homeschool done right gives kids tons of self-confidence.

Anyway, if you're young you should orientate your career and life to make this happen, it isn't hard.

The most important skill for your career, especially if you're non-white or from a developing country, is the ability to speak English with a western accent.

Because when you do that you're perceived to be culturally white. And in an economically white-dominated world that counts for a heck of a lot.

It completely changes the way people perceive you - whether they themselves are culturally white or not.

I was born and brought up in London, but had I had an Indian accent, which went away a few weeks into nursery, I wouldn't have got REMOTELY as far in my career as I have.

And this would have applied even more if I had worked in a developing country where anything white is almost worshipped.

Sure, the world is changing thanks to a rapidly-emerging Asia - but for now you need to speak and write perfect English, like a native Brit, American or Aussie - and boost your career with a healthy dose of white privilege.

My wife said something to me that I thought about and completely agreed with - well, I had to, she's my wife.

She said we're willing to shut down our economies over Covid-19 yet are unwilling to even slow down our economies over something which is likely FAR more catastrophic - climate change.

Our planet is heading for a disaster, humanity is having a material and irreversible impact on Earth - for example, we've destroyed half of the world's forests and will soon wipe out most of the rest - the human and economic consequences of such rapid change will make Covid-19 look like an irrelevance of the 21st Century.

Listen, don't use disposal plastics unless you really need them, just do this, make a small change in your life. Not only will you do your bit, trust me, others will follow.

There's a lot of hatred out there, it seems to be increasing, perhaps it is fuelled by social media.

The root cause of most hatred, in my view, is dissatisfaction with one's own achievements, career or life.

I've come to the view that we basically hate others when we hate ourselves.

The iPhone was released in 2007, by 2009 Android had got going. This was the beginning of the end for BlackBerry, but it shouldn't have been.

Many believe the iPhone and Android succeeded, and BlackBerry didn’t, because BlackBerry had an outdated keyboard.

But they're wrong.

According to surveys consumers loved the physical keyboard. In one survey taken as late as 2012, physical keyboards were still by far the preferred interface for smartphones (49% vs 35% for touchscreens).

So, if the keyboard was BlackBerry’s strength, where did it all go wrong?

It was dead easy to buy apps on iPhones and Androids, and so users bought them, and so developers made even more of them. iPhones and Androids soon became complete business and entertainment systems.

BlackBerry did make a push with apps in 2009, but it was way too clumsy.

And so we all switched over to touchscreen phones at some point. I switched in 2012 even though, at the time, I had a strong preference for physical keyboards over touchscreens.

BlackBerry didn't fail because it had the weaker, outdated 'idea'. In fact, it had the better idea all along. Like countless great ideas before it, BlackBerry failed on execution.

I get asked a lot what triggered me to homeschool my kids.

Our 3 kids, aged 5 to 9, were going to a school we were actually very happy with.

Now, to make their 8 minute drive to school constructive I used to teach them maths on the way there. No whiteboard, no textbook, no pen and paper, all 3 kids learning at a different pace, my head turned away from them and I was often preoccupied with driving. It wasn't ideal.

It was when I realised that they were learning more maths in those 8 minutes than they were during the entire day at school did I become concerned.

There was no reason to believe the problem was isolated to maths.

A few months later, and after much thought and planning, we pulled the kids from school.

Just over 4 years on and the 11 and 13 year old have finished their 18+ exams, are close to conversant in 6 languages (English, Mandarin, French, Bahasa Malaysia, Hindi/Urdu, Arabic), and they're learning Python (coding).

For the most part, we don't teach them - they learn mostly by Googling stuff or are taught by teachers over Skype - one of whom they hired themselves.

And, in case you're worried, they do plenty of sport and have plenty of friends.

#education

“Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” - Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter.

Oyo.

It's letting go of a sixth of its staff, its losses are growing much faster than its revenue, it's been trying to expand everywhere - and making a hash of it - for example, in Japan it has less than ten thousand rooms vs a target of a million set in March 2019.

And all of this while still losing a ton of money in its home market, India.

SoftBank's going cold, the whole world is catching a cold.

Oyo is the next WeWork.

Jason Lemkin, the best-known expert in SaaS (=software), once said that the best SaaS companies get to $100m of revenue in 5 stages, each taking ~2 years, so ~10 years in total.

In my view, his model only works for low-churn SaaS businesses with some kind of compounding effect, like ours, i.e. the ones that are painful to grow in the early stages.

Lemkin breaks down those stages, i.e. after 2 years the revenue should be X, after 4, it should be Y, etc... until year 10 where it's $100m. Those stages are not linear.

At the end of year 2, we achieved his target. As we approach the end of year 4, we will just hit his 4 year target. So we have just 3 more targets to go.

Instead of spending on advertising we've invested in building a product that customers love - and it's powering our growth today. I'm really proud of the fact that we have done this without a cent of VC money, which has meant over 60% of the company is owned by the co-founding team.

Now, yesterday was the biggest day in Jibble's history. We launched a completely new version of Jibble, rewritten from the ground up. We were already the highest-rated time clock on the planet based on customer-reviews, we're going next level, with a very API and integration centric growth strategy.

The journey has not been easy, it never is, built on hard work, sweat, and tears. A massive thanks to the team at Jibble, our customers, and our investors for making Jibble possible. 🙏

5 years ago a guy, in his early 40s, put his life savings into his first business.

He didn't come across to me as ambitious, he didn't sell himself well, he didn't have industry knowledge in the space his startup was in.

And initially, he struggled.

I recently reconnected with him and he told me that he is making more money he could have ever imagined.

His business is comfortably profitable with revenues of several million US$s.

Now, I know many entrepreneurs who have seemed 5x as impressive, had 5x more going for them, with more than 5x as much funding, yet failed.

But this guy's story reinforces my view that most entrepreneurs will likely achieve success if they can somehow sustain themselves for long enough and grit it out.

We all know about the impossibly low chances of success in business. But I know very few that have worked hard at it for 5-10 years, and not achieved it.

The first goal in business shouldn't be to make millions, but to survive. Hang in there long enough, somehow - which very few do - and you're most of the way there.

As an investment banker many years ago, I felt shackled to my desk, and so when I quit and walked out of Credit Suisse's building in Canary Wharf for the last time I honestly felt like I'd bought back my freedom, like a prisoner let out after years of incarceration.

BTW I was a banker for 8 years - that's called sacrifice - that's NOT doing what you want to do - and to get somewhere you often need that.

Anyway, that one hour commute each way was soul-destroying. Jeez, I remember being in Stanmore Station at 6.15am, often when it was still pitch black, and I remember the stench of miserable sweaty commuters on the way back from Canary Wharf. “Mind the closing doors“ was like being told the prison doors were being shut for me to serve a little more time.

WFH is beautiful, it's close to the level of freedom humans want without having too much where you'd waste your whole life watching Netflix.

For those that have not experienced working in an office, get into an industry and role where WFH, including work from a beach resort, is pretty normal.

You know, looking back, if WFH was an option when I was in banking, I doubt I would've quit. One of the most valuable things in the world is freedom.

It's amazing how so many who are early in their careers think their managers, who have been there, done that, played the game, actually believe their bull$**t.

Experienced managers know all the tricks, and tend to be HIGHLY suspicious because they've seen it all before. But they rarely confront, especially if there is some doubt.

Honestly, don't assume that just because your manager doesn't argue it means he or she doesn't know, or at least suspect, that the bull$**t you've told them is just that.

Be honest, earn trust, built a reputation for integrity - not many do. Over the long term it'll become a key differentiator between yourself and your peers, and will pay off big time.

It's 4.56am in Malaysia, I've been up for twenty minutes, I didn't wake up to an alarm, it's a pretty normal morning for me.

Getting up early, and that means going to sleep early, is, in my view, one of the most effective ways to boost productivity. It worked for me at university, it's been phenomenal for me as an entrepreneur where I've been more extreme with it.

This quiet period in the morning is insanely efficient. Fresh, energised, sharp and free from distractions, you just get so much sh*t done.

Last month, Airbnb announced that it planned to give temporary accommodation to 20,000 Afghan refugees around the world for free in Airbnb residences that hosts have agreed to.

Well, it has just announced that “if demand for housing aligns with supply in communities where refugees are resettling, these new resources could help provide housing for an additional 20,000 Afghan refugees”.

So now we're talking 40,000 refugees being given temporary accommodation - incredible stuff, great to see big businesses giving back! ❤️

How do CEOs sleep for only 4-5 hours a day and manage to run multi-million dollar companies?

Ok, so a lot of what is out there is massively exaggerated by the media, some of it fuelled by CEOs pretending to be superhuman.

Many CEOs do work damn hard (and many owner-CEOs don’t, especially in the later years of a business) but it’s rare that our sleep gets hit over an extended period. It's our social lives, family lives, leisure time which are impacted - because we know you can't think straight when you're lacking sleep.

Listen, lack of sleep adversely affects memory, concentration, mood and health - if you're sleep-deprived, CEO or not, you just can’t do your job properly.

The only thing in the world Sachin Tendulkar has ever been really good at is re-directing a fast-approaching cricket ball with a slab of wood.

But the Indian cricketer did it so well, he became arguably the greatest sportsperson that has ever lived and it made him almost US$200m.

His ability to bowl or field never mattered much, although he was pretty good at both. His success came from his ability to bat.

What I'm saying is that you just need to be damn good at one thing - and it is why a specialist doctor, lawyer, investor, accountant, coder, gardener, designer or whatever nearly always does better than a generalist.

I know people that have become experts in a single business app - like HubSpot or Google Ads - and are paid more than computer science graduates with a decade of work experience.

I mean, this applies to F&B too - the highly-successful chains focus:
KFC - fried chicken
McDonald's - burgers
Nando's - grilled chicken
Starbucks - disgusting coffee
Pizza Hut - pizza
Dunkin' Donuts - doughnuts

You'll struggle to name a successful generalist F&B chain.

That's the power of focus, of being a specialist - don't underestimate it.

Listen, just make sure you're phenomenal at one in-demand thing. Live it, breathe it, dream it.

Essential, a mobile phone manufacturer that raised $330m from investors that included Amazon and Tencent, and founded by Andy Rubin, who co-founded Android, shut down a few months ago.

Founded in 2015, it had planned to release several phones and its own OS but it only released one handset, the Essential Phone, a sleek high-end Android device.

It all reminds me of Next, which also had a ton of cash and Steve Jobs as its CEO for a decade - yet failed.

Let's think about this.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft were ALL started with:
1. shoestring budgets; and
2. founders having no prior business success.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Because those two commonalities meant:
1. they benefited from an iterative lean period; and
2. they were founded with humility, which meant more listening to the customer.

That's the power of building a company on solid foundations.

And so, the reasons many expected Essential to succeed - big names, big money, tons of confidence - were, in fact, the very reasons it failed.