Money

Antigravity is starting as a very tiny fund. We are 2 full-time employees. It’s very hard to survive on little management fees, so here are some candid thoughts on how I’ve learned to think about money.

I’ve always wanted to be very rich, so I grew up caring a lot about money. Ironically, the moves I’ve made so far haven’t really optimized for cash. Not optimizing for near-term cash, thinking I cared so much about it, forced me to try understanding what is my relationship with money. So far, I’ve mostly optimized for moving faster and adventure, which led me to taking far more risk than a normal person would consider healthy.

It is not easy to live in SF with little money, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. But the thing I’ve grown to accept is that I’m actually really okay with it. I’m still quite young, and I have plenty of time left in me. I’ve realized that it’s actually easy to make money if that’s what you want to optimize for; as long as you trust that you have skills. There are days when I lose confidence and I worry I’ll just die poor, but candidly, I’m decently capable and willing to work very hard. So I think I could make cash if I needed to.

The way I see it, if I monetize my work in the wrong ways, it will hurt my compounding. I care far more about compounding than I do about a fancy lifestyle, at least right now. I create tons of value for tons of stakeholders every day. Founders, investors, engineers, other funds. I could try charging much of it; the people who do the math on the Antigravity management fees like giving me that advice, mainly because they think I should earn more. I understand where they’re coming from; I just don’t agree.

I’ve always felt strongly about this: monetizing the wrong things will add forks in the road and risks the wheel of compounding. It’s too costly for me to risk slowing down my growth and compounding. I want so much more from this life than just being a bit rich. I prioritize doing great work while covering my basic needs. All I really want from wealth is a nice house, freedom for my future family, and to spoil my loving parents with all kinds of material things.

So this piece is a simple message to other poor entrepreneurs out there: make sure you live comfortably, but if you are young and single, and your parents don’t *really* need your financial support, I urge you to learn to live with little. It will give you more freedom to focus on creating the life you want, rather than chasing dangerous near-term optimizations for cash.

That said, easier said than done, I might turn out to be the biggest idiot in the room. Another philosophy many of my friends follow is: start small, make money, earn financial freedom, and go again, betting bigger, and more ambitiously. I understand that too; I just didn’t choose it. My life feels too short, so I’d rather focus on things I enjoy.

All I’m trying to say is that it’s okay not to choose that and to just do you.