Ep 1.7 • From Big Tech @ Meta to Co-Founders | Interview with LastMile AI

🎙️ Startup lessons from co-workers turned co-founders. Sarmad Qadri and Andrew Hoh discuss how they knew they were the right fit, what starting a company really is like, and how to navigate it.

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In our first live recording in New York City, guests Andrew Hoh and Sarmad Qadri, co-founders of LastMile AI, share their experiences transitioning from working at Meta to launching their own AI developer platform. They discuss the importance of trust and communication, comparing the co-founder relationship to marriage, emphasizing accountability, mutual support, and the ability to navigate conflict.

It’s only fitting that in our first live recording in New York City, the LastMile AI team has a list of New York landmarks that are meaningful in their journey. Andrew and Sarmad, former coworkers at Meta turned co-founders of an AI developer platform that has raised $10M in seed funding, reminisce on initial lunch conversations at Eataly in Flatiron, whispered co-founder agreements in Stavros Library, and miles of walking and talking around Madison Square Garden.

Key insights include the significance of not being overly attached to initial ideas, the challenges of adjusting to startup culture from a corporate environment, and the critical role of having a robust support system outside the business. The conversation also highlights the necessity of addressing potential issues early, maintaining emotional stability, and ensuring alignment on major decisions to prevent resentment. The episode is a deep dive into the complexities of co-founding a startup, offering valuable advice for prospective entrepreneurs.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• Difference between working for Meta and startup life
• Addressing conflicts (lessons from marriage)
• How to know if they’re the right co-founder
• Finding value in different working styles
• The all-encompassing nature of founding

Favorite Quotes:

1. Differences between large corporation (Meta) and startup (LastMile): "It feels just a lot more emotionally tied to your identity in a way that I never felt in any other company or any other place that I've at least worked at."- Sarmad

2. In addressing conflicts, lessons from marriage: “When you're married, you think of how do we solve a problem? It's not like, ‘Sarmad let me down’. It's like, ‘No, we need to fix this’. We don’t point fingers... we're on the same team and we're gonna have to fix this.” - Andrew (Tenets of a Healthy Founding Team)

3. In finding the right co-founder for you: (Risks When Findings a Co-Founder)
   “It's not finding someone you don't disagree with, but it's finding someone who makes you the best version of yourself that you can be.” - Sarmad
   "The way that we work together… I genuinely believe we can fix any issue.” - Andrew

4. Emotional stability is key! “You need to be an emotionally stable person. There's so much that [starting a company] throws at you, and being able to just be very rational and analytical and not lash out when things go wrong. All of that requires a degree of emotional stability and maturity that you have to come in with or learn it very quickly.” - Andrew

5. Finding value in different working styles — do you prefer bungee jumping versus hiking? Do you add a new ingredient to a focaccia recipe on a whim or not?: “I do think it's helped for me to partner with Andrew because we see things in slightly different ways. I can be a lot more aggressive at times and Andrew's like, ‘hold up let's take a step back’. I think the inverse is true to where I feel like I jumped off a cliff because I'd already made up my mind that I wanted to do this much sooner, but walking through those steps with Andrew, where it felt like we were going for a walk, was really important to our success.” (Working Styles Quiz)

6. Founding takes a tolls on others in your life as well: “Andrew once asked me how my wife is doing through all this. And I thought that was a very empathetic question. You can ask, ‘how are you doing’, but to ask how someone else is doing, that requires you to understand like the toll of building a company extends beyond just yourself as a founder.” (Life Priorities Exercise)

7. Do not allow frustrations to build up, share small and often: “We have a rule that we'll never have pent up anger or resentment. The rule is to bring it up early, because hate festers and you never want to leave a startup hating your co-founder.”

Where to find LastMile AI:
Website: https://lastmileai.dev/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LastMile
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/xBhNKTetGx

Where to find Annie Garofalo, host & startup team relationship expert:

Website: https://www.confidante.info
Newsletter: https://confidante.substack.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-garofalo/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecofounderconfidante
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.cofounder.confidante
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anniegarofal0
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoFounderConfidante

In this episode, we cover:

00:00 Highlights
00:54 Introduction
01:45 Meeting at Meta as Teammates
04:25 Leaving Meta to Found a Startup Together
06:43 When Your Startup Merges with Your Identity
07:30 "We can solve anything together"
08:52 "We knew we wanted to build a company together before we knew what we wanted to build"
10:10 Co-Founding is the Marriage of the Business World
11:12 Bungee Jumping or Hiking?
17:40 "Focaccia" Moment
18:57 Did Your Marriages Impact Your Choice to Found Together
25:57 Rule of Engagement: No Resentment
31:52 Advice for Teams
36:03 LastMile AI Ad

References & Resources:

• Quiz: Working Styles / How Well Do You Know Your Co-Founder: https://www.confidante.info/working-style-diagnostic

• Understanding Your Co-Founder’s Life Priorities: https://confidante.substack.com/p/understanding-your-co-founders-life

• The Sound Relationship House: https://confidante.substack.com/p/the-sound-relationship-house-for-cofounders

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Podcast produced by www.confidante.info. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@confidante.info. Annie may be an investor, advisor, or coach for the companies discussed.

Get full access to podcast summaries and founding team research and resources by subscribing to the newsletter at www.confidante.substack.com

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