Neil Mehta

And of course, we should just absolve the company of any expectations for November and December. Just forget even reporting. Just worry about your people and worry about the country. I think they have like one of their best quarters. They're just like, that doesn't mean we're going to slow down. We're going to keep going. Having unreasonable expectations is a competitive advantage.

And of course, we should just absolve the company of any expectations for November and December. Just forget even reporting. Just worry about your people and worry about the country. I think they have like one of their best quarters. They're just like, that doesn't mean we're going to slow down. We're going to keep going. Having unreasonable expectations is a competitive advantage.

Another example of this is on... who grew the business incredibly fast at Coupang for a long time. And oftentimes when you have strong product market fit, it is like your moral obligation to drive it as fast as possible. But things break along the way, especially if you're in the Adams business too. And at points we had stock outs and were constrained by what we could offer consumers.

Another example of this is on... who grew the business incredibly fast at Coupang for a long time. And oftentimes when you have strong product market fit, it is like your moral obligation to drive it as fast as possible. But things break along the way, especially if you're in the Adams business too. And at points we had stock outs and were constrained by what we could offer consumers.

We had to hire more drivers. We had to build more warehouses. We had a year that was like 18% year over year growth. And there were people involved in the company that were telling BOM, oh, that's good. You don't need to take it back up. Just leave it. You know, Amazon never grew more than 30% year over year. That's fine. You're good. Just get back to 30.

We had to hire more drivers. We had to build more warehouses. We had a year that was like 18% year over year growth. And there were people involved in the company that were telling BOM, oh, that's good. You don't need to take it back up. Just leave it. You know, Amazon never grew more than 30% year over year. That's fine. You're good. Just get back to 30.

I remember having this conversation with BOM and I said, I think... One of the hardest things you'll ever have to do is convincing everybody at the company to be a high growth company again, to try to take that growth rate well above 30 and start to bring a growth mindset, a growth culture back to the organization. He commented to me many years later. So it was one of the hardest things we did.

I remember having this conversation with BOM and I said, I think... One of the hardest things you'll ever have to do is convincing everybody at the company to be a high growth company again, to try to take that growth rate well above 30 and start to bring a growth mindset, a growth culture back to the organization. He commented to me many years later. So it was one of the hardest things we did.

I'm so glad we did. I'm so glad we became a high growth firm again.

I'm so glad we did. I'm so glad we became a high growth firm again.

I think it starts well before a first meeting. I think it starts with figuring out why you wanna meet someone. Why are you differentially great for that person to meet? What do you understand about that business? What do you understand about that opportunity? For a vast majority of what happens in our market, we and I are not the right person to have that first meeting with.

I think it starts well before a first meeting. I think it starts with figuring out why you wanna meet someone. Why are you differentially great for that person to meet? What do you understand about that business? What do you understand about that opportunity? For a vast majority of what happens in our market, we and I are not the right person to have that first meeting with.

But there's a select number I don't know how many meetings happen in our markets. It's tens of thousands at this point. There's probably 200 that happen a year where we think we'd be a differentially great partner to that person and we know it well in advance. And so we prepare an incredible amount before that first meeting. I don't mean like go on the website and use the product a little bit.

But there's a select number I don't know how many meetings happen in our markets. It's tens of thousands at this point. There's probably 200 that happen a year where we think we'd be a differentially great partner to that person and we know it well in advance. And so we prepare an incredible amount before that first meeting. I don't mean like go on the website and use the product a little bit.

Our first meeting should feel more like a fifth or sixth meeting, the founder, rather than a first meeting. It allows us to go much deeper. And the things I'm looking for... If someone just asked me, I'm going to give you a tangential side. Usually I like to visit a company rather than them come to us, which is also counterintuitive because you can do less meetings if that's the case.

Our first meeting should feel more like a fifth or sixth meeting, the founder, rather than a first meeting. It allows us to go much deeper. And the things I'm looking for... If someone just asked me, I'm going to give you a tangential side. Usually I like to visit a company rather than them come to us, which is also counterintuitive because you can do less meetings if that's the case.

So I love to go visit. And I'll give you a battery of things I'm looking for. But if you put a gun to my head and you said, there's only one thing you could ask this company or people at this company. And I never actually ask it, but I always think about it right away.

So I love to go visit. And I'll give you a battery of things I'm looking for. But if you put a gun to my head and you said, there's only one thing you could ask this company or people at this company. And I never actually ask it, but I always think about it right away.

is when I visit a company and I watch people and I meet people, I'm trying to evaluate just one thing, which is if you polled everybody at this company and you asked them, are your best days ahead of you or behind you? What would the proportion of people say? And especially the most important people. It's not year over year growth. It's not margins. It's not strong form competitive advantage.

is when I visit a company and I watch people and I meet people, I'm trying to evaluate just one thing, which is if you polled everybody at this company and you asked them, are your best days ahead of you or behind you? What would the proportion of people say? And especially the most important people. It's not year over year growth. It's not margins. It's not strong form competitive advantage.