I know you’re in a hurry.
I know everything feels so rushed, so pressurized, so urgent.
I know that it’s easy to lose empathy and for tunnel vision to take over in those moments. It’s easy for your mind to be hijacked by the next task, the next milestone, the next meeting.
But I implore you to stay human.
There is so much difficulty in our world today (or at least the same amount only massively amplified by the tools to which we’re addicted). So many of those around us are facing real hardship. They’ve lost loved ones. They’ve lost homes. There have been floods and fires. There have been deportations. There have been racist cries and mass shootings. It’s not an abstraction seen only via videos beamed from across the globe. The northern California fires are less than an hour from my home. My family and friends in Las Vegas live mere miles from where the Harvest Music Festival shooting occurred.
The deal you’re trying to close for your seed-stage startup is trivial. I know it matters to you. I know you pour your soul into your company’s well-being. But it’s still just a company. People of late have suffered real loss. So be human. Take a moment and think about what the person across from you might be experiencing. Ask how they’re doing. Check-in with them. You can (and should) still push your dreams forward, but please don’t lose the rest of us along the way.