[monik] my arms are tired
[wurld] sell the company
special thanks to my fam, the real mvps
I co-founded Ultralight in 2022 and sold it three years later in 2025. We didn’t get to do everything we set out to do, but it was a fine outcome all things considered.
- Built useful software for a heavily regulated industry with a two-pizza team
- Served a few dozen customers with our software tools and regulatory guidance
- Found a home Ultralight, which now serves hundreds of medical device customers
I’m writing this to get some reflections out of my head. Maybe it can be helpful to other founders too. That’d be cool, but that’s not the point. The point is for me to leave the weight of this in the past. So that I can be…ultralight.
Everything from here on out is written for you.
You’re writing this a year after selling the company. Because this feels nostalgic, you can’t help but think of Frank Ocean’s debut mixtape. Fourteen thoughts in the form of the tracklist.
i. it can go fast or slow (street fighter)
In the middle of diligence for the eventual acquisition, you were at a bar in Medellín, playing arcade Street Fighter with friends. Those fights ended almost as soon as they began.
Paul Graham says “you can think of a startup as a way to compress your whole working life into a few years.” Not quite arcade matches, but time works differently in startups than in most careers.
Execution is best measured in weeks, and plans in years or decades. The trick is to know when to adjust your time horizons. Maybe a lesson is to spend less time in the middle, because thinking in quarters doesn’t seem to serve you as well as focusing on both shorter and longer time horizons simultaneously. You’re getting better at this.
ii. the grass isn’t greener (strawberry swing)
In the mid 2020s, techland seems to be experiencing an accelerated Instagramification of startup work: constant funding announcements, bragging about topline growth, and other distractions. Regardless of stage, you find it helpful to be wary of what’s described as “ego-climbing” in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Hopefully you remember to surround yourself with people who remind you why you’re building. Also, just real people.
iii. keep your sense of humanity (novacane)
A service-orientation serves you too. Remember this and it will help you keep going, and keep your humanity. Any time you are trying to accomplish something difficult, it will inherently test you. When you’re tested, treat people well. Sometimes this means saying the unkind truth. You can do that with grace too.
Customers can be challenging. Employees can underperform. Investors can disappoint. And all of these folks can delight and lift you up too. Will you be proud of how you treated people, when you look back? Keep that in mind.
Also, surround yourself with great people who share your values. This is one of the joys of life: to build something meaningful with people you admire.
iv. values (we all try)
Know who you are.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;-If
v. integrity (bitches talkin’)
Remain your true self regardless of circumstance. And there will be circumstances!
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;-If
vi. intrinsic motivation (songs for women)
Why are you doing this? Why are you really doing this?
If you aren’t, in the words of Buffett, tap dancing to work, maybe you should reconsider. And make sure you’re tap dancing to your own music, not someone else’s.
vii. customers can handle the truth (lovecrimes)
Don’t just build what customers ask for. Build what they need. Keep asking why until the real problem reveals itself.
You are the craftsman building the product, so have the courage to challenge customers. The best ones appreciate it.
viii. shoot your shot (goldeneye)
You will get rejected, but you will also get some sweet wins that make it worth it. This is a big part of entrepreneurship. Ask for what you want, and assume nothing will be given.
ix. keep your balance (there will be tears)
If you are so hyperfocused on this thing you’re doing, you end up becoming fragile during the tougher moments. Those moments will come for sure. How will you be ready?
Remember that you have multiple identities, and it’s helpful to keep those in balance. You need other outlets. Some of your sources of balance and joy are family, friends, exercise, and creative pursuits.
Hopefully you don’t need Tyler Durden to remind you that you are not your job. That’s not what you mean by multiple identities.
x. just keep swimming (swim good)
Brian Armstrong said it well, so I should just remind you of his words.
Action produces information. If you’re unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it’s the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing. Sounds simple on the surface – the hard part is making it part of your every day working process.
Implicit in this is that you cannot let the company die.
xi. a life examined (dust)
Understand your losses by doing quick postmortems. Emphasis on quick. Many losses may not actually have useful lessons. So while a quick postmorten is a worthwhile exercise, it remains more important for you to just keep swimming.
xii. get the right people (american wedding)
Choose your team carefully. This starts with understanding your values and keeping them front of mind at all times. This also includes understanding your strengths and weaknesses and complementing those in the right ways for the particular business.
Finding the right team can take more time than you think. Don’t rush it, and do trust your instincts. Spend more time than you think is reasonable in vetting key partners, especially investors and co-founders. Especially investors and co-founders. And spend more time than you think is reasonable recruiting the best talent. It remains underrated how much this affects both outcomes and how much fun you’re having.
xiii. stay curious (soul calibur)
Remember how it felt when you started? The opportunity to build from scratch. The naivete. The optimism.
Learning was fun. Early wins were fuel.
Then, along the way you earn some insights. You have some setbacks. You get jaded.
The tough feedback can be useful too, but if you approach even that through a lens of curiosity you can maintain some of that youthful optimism.
Maintain that exuberance. That joie de vivre.
xiv. self-expression is the goal (nature feels)
A startup can be your canvas. So can writing and parenting and kicking it with friends.
Maybe that’s why white space is so important to you right now. Some of your best ideas came from walking, playing guitar, sitting with your kids, letting your mind wander. And then expressing in a way that’s true to you.
The world constantly pulls you toward more. More effort and optimization and noise.
But some of the most important things in your life have come from less. Letting go and unlearning and silence.
Maybe flow is what happens when there’s less distance between who you are and what you do.
In those moments, you’re ultralight.
moniksheth.com 