People can work remotely without a problem. There’s this whole storyline that everybody has to meet every day, which is clearly not true. Yeah, we all need to meet each other, but we don’t need to meet each other every day. It can have all kinds of downside effects, but it comes down to, can you function?

Here’s my theory on Covid, people are always saying, I want to get back to X. There’s no getting back to X, there’s only moving forward to Y. I look at Covid as an opportunity. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. If you’re not agile, you’re screwed.

There’s an entire Covid economy of products and services. People need to figure that out. Covid is a short-term anomaly, but I’m fully convinced that borders are gone. I’m hiring from all over. All people need is a Zoom link and an internet connection.

You don’t have to build a culture; the culture just gets built. The key thing is collaborating around the key things you want to get done. Over the years, I’ve learned that collaborating is more important than anything else. Culture isn’t good or bad; it’s strong or weak. Three people believing in the same thing are better than five people believing in five different things.

A lack of growth. It doesn’t matter where I start. If I start with $10, I should be making $20. If growth is not there, I get nervous because something is not right.

It’s not an economic opportunity. It’s more of a gratifying thing. At some point, you’re like, ‘I just want to get this done’ I’ve loved doing it since high school.

No, actually. Here is what changed my life. I used to be a consultant in Seattle. I would show up, do my job, and move on. If somebody asked a question, I was the last guy to raise their hand. Unless I was spoken to, I didn’t speak.

Three months into the job, I asked my boss, who was also the CEO of the company, for feedback on what I could do better. He looks at me and goes, you’re a really smart guy. We like you, but you’re a consultant. We’re charging a ton of money for you, and the clients need to hear you. The more you speak, the more money you make. Since that day, I have not stopped talking.

Short talk and jokes are super easy for me. In conversations about tech or the hustle, I can talk forever. If you put me in the spotlight, if the conversation is more esoteric or emotional, I can’t talk for too long about anything like that. I like to make jokes. It’s hard to do with those topics.

I did a ten-day meditation course for a few years. Every time I’ve done it, it’s been a tremendous benefit. It’s a big commitment, but if you think about it in the grand scheme of things, it’s ten days out of a year, a ten-day investment into your mental health. Don’t tell me you don’t have ten days to invest in yourself.

The one thing I’ve learned through meditation is that nothing matters as much as you think it does, don’t freak out over stupid things. If you win something, it doesn’t mean you’re going to conquer the world. If you lose something, it doesn’t mean you’re dead in the water.

Back then, I spread myself too thin. I’d probably focus on 2-3 ideas and just go for it. I would also not care as much about what other people think. When I was at BYU in 1997, I built a chat system for customer support. When I showed it to a bunch of other guys, they said it was the dumbest thing they’ve ever seen, so I shut it down. It was a good idea, but I listened to a bunch of other people. Now, I would just go ahead and do it no matter what someone else says.

People don’t think big. They’re always saying this is what I can do. You have to think bigger and push harder to break the barriers. More people ask why than why not.

The shift is 100% technology-oriented. With Covid, people can run an entire company or even buy companies without meeting. It’s a huge change.

Yes, I do. I would also love to be a lobbyist.

Yes, absolutely. It’s optimization. For example, DocuSign versus sending a contract. Do you want to DocuSign, or do you want to sign it, put it in an envelope, find stamps, put it in the mailbox- you can do all that work, but it will take you 40 minutes. Or, you can DocuSign, and it will take you 40 seconds.

Getting things done and coming up with new ideas.

Going back to the story I told you about my first job, I could be the smartest person on the planet, but if I don’t communicate, it doesn’t matter. I was not dumber or smarter before or after that conversation with my boss, but it made me realize, if you have an opinion or something to say, you got to go for it.

If you are ever in jail, I can bail you out. If you’re ever in trouble, you can count on me. No questions asked. I will always come.

A group of guys around me that can hustle as hard as I can.

I often tell people I’m going to connect with them, but I sometimes drop the ball on it.

Be a mentor.

That I will survive.

As our interview draws to a close, I am left with a new perspective on entrepreneurship. Vivek’s confidence and passion remain admirable as he continues to make waves in the industry. With this, it becomes clear that to accelerate growth one must think big and make their voice heard.

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