Ooshma Garg at Startup School SV 2016

TL;DR

Ooshma Garg founded Gobble after a personal need for quick, healthy home cooking, evolving from a Craigslist dinner service through four business models, three failed Series A attempts, and a near-death experience before joining Y Combinator.

Key insights

• The “startup curve” (launch → trough of sorrow → wiggles of false hope → promised land) is real; Gobble spent years in the trough before finding product-market fit.
• Ambition is singular and self-serving; mission is shared and sustains a team through tough times. Recruiting based on mission retains employees; recruiting based on ambition loses them.
• When meeting a hard-to-reach person, always claim you are nearby or next door; it forces a meeting.