Hey y’all - Most startups don’t collapse with a bang. They fade.

They solve problems that don’t hurt enough. They offer “solutions” that sound cool, but don’t stick.
Why? Because they’re vague aimed at everyone, serving no one deeply.

The harsh truth: If users can’t describe their pain in five words, you probably can’t build a sticky product around it.

The real startup unlock isn’t building something big it’s solving one thing so well that your early adopters refuse to churn.

Nail that, and you earn the right to scale.

💡 So instead of asking, “Is this a billion-dollar idea?” try:
👉 “Is this someone’s 11PM problem that hasn’t been solved simply?”

Startups that go narrow early can go wide later. But vague kills before launch.

Here’s today at a glance:

PS - Become a member to get access to my founder membership including an engaged community, fundraising support, fireside chats and more.

🔗 Mohit’s Picks

My favourite finds of the week 

• India Demonstrates Quantum Communication Across 1 KM, Defence Min Calls It Game Changer [Link]

• What Happened to Kingfisher Airlines? 8 Top Reasons for Its Failure [Link]

• I didn’t plan to start a startup - I just couldn’t get a job at Netscape, so I began writing software to see where it would lead. [Link]

• AI Is Going to 'Replace Everybody' in Several Fields, According to the 'Godfather of AI.' Here's Who He Says Should Be 'Terrified.' [Link]

• What I learned from today at AI Startup School [Link]

• Inside The ‘Jio Eat’ Scam, The MDR Paradox & More [Link]

• 5 life-changing lessons from the Taoist sages [Link]

• What makes a strong personal brand? [Link]

💡Opportunity: “QuickHire” - On-Demand Interviewers for D2C Brands

India’s D2C space is booming, but hiring frontline staff hasn’t caught up.
Sales reps, warehouse packers, in-store promoters, and CX agents are tough to scale when spikes hit festive sales, flash offers, regional pop-ups.

Here’s the problem:
⏱️ Founders spend 10+ hours a week screening irrelevant candidates
📉 No one is benchmarking quality at speed for blue-collar and junior roles
💸 HR tools are either too bloated or too expensive

👉 Enter: Quick-hire a marketplace to book trained interviewers on-demand, who can screen candidates within 24 hours.

🛠 Platform features:

• Candidate video interview scheduling

• Role-specific, pre-loaded scripts and scoring rubrics

• WhatsApp-based updates for busy founders and HR managers

• Flexible pricing: pay-per-interview or monthly bundles

🎯 Why now:

• D2C hiring is bursty, seasonal, and hard to predict

• Startups need fast, affordable filters not bulky HR suites

• No one owns the “interview-as-a-service” space in Tier 2 & Tier 3 markets

Think: Urban Company meets HRTech but for India’s forgotten hiring layers.
Big impact. Low CAC. And scalable from day one.

🧠 Framework: C.A.L.M. - A Sanity Tool for Founders Hiring Early

Hiring your first 5–10 people is not just a task it’s a mirror of your clarity.
When you rush, you get distracted by resumes, credentials, or who sounds “startup-y.”
Instead, use C.A.L.M. to evaluate every candidate in a structured way:

✅ C – Clarity
What exactly will this person own? If the job description sounds like a Wishlist, you’ll hire confusion. Get specific.

✅ A – Alignment
Does their personal life goal align with your startup phase? A corporate refugee won’t always thrive in chaos.

✅ L – Leverage
Will they reduce the load on your plate immediately? Founders hire too many people they have to “manage into” productivity.

✅ M – Measurable
Can you define success in 30–60 days? “Figure it out” is not a job description. Make it tangible.

👉 Use this after every interview. If you can’t check 3 out of 4 boxes pause.
Every wrong hire slows down the next right one. Hire with calm. Not with panic.

🛠️ Tool: Claap

Claap.io is like Loom but built for collaboration.
You record short a sync videos with your screen/cam, but others can leave timestamped comments, reactions, and tasks.

Perfect for:

• Product walkthroughs

• Feature feedback

• Weekly async demos for investors or advisors

📈 Trend: Vertical Job Boards Are Quietly Making a Comeback

In a world obsessed with AI recruiters and mass hiring tools, vertical job boards are making a quiet, powerful return.

Why? Because general platforms like LinkedIn, Naukri, and Indeed are overwhelmed. Everyone applies, signal is lost, and curation is dead.

Instead, we’re seeing new-age platforms that are community-first, niche-aligned, and signal-rich, especially in:

• 🎨 Creator economy roles (Think: podcast editors, community builders, newsletter operators)

• 🧑‍⚕️ Healthcare ops & admin talent

• 🤖 AI & robotics dev boards

• 🌍 Tech-for-good and nonprofit tech orgs

What makes them work:

• ✅ Better signal in smaller pools

• ✅ Community > Database curated talent from trusted communities

• ✅ Productized hiring a sync interviews, resume polish, even Slack intros

Example: Y Combinator’s Work at a Startup is one of the quiet winners here placing thousands of engineers without a marketplace frenzy.

💡 For founders hiring niche roles: Go where trust already lives. Vertical beats viral.

💬 Quote: Naval Ravikant

It’s a short sentence but it could define your entire startup journey.

When you hire, partner, or raise capital, the question isn’t just, “Can they help me now?”
It’s “Would I still want to build with them in Year 5?”

Short-term thinking feels efficient until it breaks.
Quick hires, fast cash, opportunistic collabs? They look shiny early on. But when things get messy (and they will), only long-term people hold steady.

Naval’s lens teaches us to look for:

• Consistency over charisma

• Reliability over hype

• Shared worldview over short-term results

📌For founders: Ask yourself before every key decision

👉 “Is this a transaction, or a relationship?”

Because in startups, who you play with determines how long you can play.
Choose slowly. Build deeply. Play long.