21-year-old MIT dropout co-founded $300 million business, says ‘just working hard doesn’t guarantee anything’
Selin Kocalar was a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when she met Karun Kaushik and they connected over their deep interest in artificial intelligence and health technology.
The duo, who started the MIT program as classmates in 2021, left their courses to found a startup called Delve and turned it into a $300 million business in just two years.
In a candid roadside interview with vlogger Viraj Ala recently, Selin Kocalar gave some valuable advice to entrepreneurs who want to become entrepreneurs.
While talking to Ala, he said that the worst advice he received was that only determination and hard work will lead to success.
He compared life to climbing trees and said that if you put the ladder on the wrong ladder, you won’t get to the right place.
“Life is like climbing trees, and if you put your ladder on the wrong tree, you might climb up, spend all these years working hard just to get to the top of the tree, and then realize there’s a taller tree,” he said.
In order to be successful, it is necessary to make sure that your approach is correct.
“And to truly reach your global maximum life, you must first make sure your ladder is on the right tree because hard work doesn’t guarantee anything,” Husbands said.
Delve COO Selin Kocalar also suggested that to be successful, it is necessary to think across generations.
“Imagine that you are a time traveler. Imagine that you are 5, 10, 50 years in the future. You are successful, you have made it in life. How would you act now when you look back? If you were Steve Jobs, how would you approach each day differently? You have to think across generations,” he said.
Speaking of going in the other direction, Husbands said that doing something that not many people do will help you find yourself in overcoming challenges.
“Do the exact opposite of what everyone else does just for the sake of it. Just for the sake of it. No other reason. When I had to choose a language to study, everyone took Spanish, so I took Chinese just for the sake of it. That means being challenged. It means having to learn things you’re bad at and coming with zero experience. And trust that as you figure it all out, everything will work out in the end. Use the time traveler mentality and you’ll find yourself,” he said.
Who is Selin Kocalar?
Selin Kocalar is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Delve, a company that reduces manual labor hours by automating regulatory compliance with AI agents.
Founded just two years ago from an MIT dorm room, Delve announced a $3 million seed round in January.
His company is currently valued at $300 million.
Kocalar said he did in-depth research before establishing a startup.
“When I was 20, I had eight publications. I did an experiment on the International Space Station. I was talking to astronauts in high school,” he said.
