Amjad Masad

Founder of Replit

We went inside the HQ of Replit, a billion-dollar software startup, to interview their founder, Amjad Masad. It was genuinely one of the most eye-opening & interesting conversations I’ve had.

Here are our top 4 learnings:
1. Don't play the role of being an "entrepreneur." Just focus on what genuinely interests you and go full force into it. Success will naturally unfold.
2. Seek pain. It's a Replit motto (all employees must obey!) Pain is a mechanism for learning + growth, and it reveals the truth. Don't hide from it.
3. Being a rebel is necessary (sometimes). In college, Amjad felt wrongly graded for not attending class despite scoring perfect grades. So, he hacked his University’s network to change his grades. He got caught but was then invited to join the uni's IT team to improve the system. Amjad's rebellious nature undoubtedly played a role in Replit's success.
4. Advanced technological civilizations will cause humanity to adopt hyper-addictive behaviours (social media, etc.). We MUST prevent this, or else we will lose our drive to go explore the stars.