Morning Routines, Venture Games, and Substitutes for the Real Thing

It started with sparkling water. Rishabh was at a swanky private equity conference—think Met Gala energy. They served Saratoga water and it hit him: he's living the meme now. The rituals, the luxury, the absurdity.

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From there, we spiraled into morning routines, religion, risk, and the weird psychology of growth vs. profitability.

The Three-Shower Problem

We watched a YouTuber do a “high-performance” morning routine. Sparkling water face washes. Yoga. Swimming. Gym. Three showers before 9AM.

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Zach liked the video. ASMR vibes. But he clocked the inefficiency immediately. Stack the workouts, cut the showers. Optimizing a life like a product funnel.

Routines vs Reality

Rishabh said what everyone with parent knows: the real routine starts before the kids wake up. 4:30–6:30 AM is his time to read, reset, prep. After that, it’s controlled chaos.

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Zach adapts based on the season. Training for Ironman? He’s in the gym. Launching a product? Straight to the laptop. Ice baths, red light therapy, prayer—it all depends. But if he commits to a 5AM start, he’s up no matter how he feels.

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I’m the same. I get cold, I work out, I hate it—but it sets the tone. Hard thing first. Momentum.

Founders and Faith

We touched on something subtle but real: a surprising number of founders are religious.

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Zach started praying after noticing people he respected did. Rishabh never stopped, even through physics PhDs and “rationality eras.” It’s not always doctrine—it’s anchoring. If your job is injecting risk into a system, you need something outside the system to stabilize you.

Most People Buy Hope

Routines are hot right now because they sell control. Morning routines promise health, happiness, purpose. It’s the same reason TikTok Shop works. People aren’t buying a product—they’re buying the hope of customer acquisition without ad spend.

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Zach said it simply: if you’re not excited about your day, doing something you choose first thing can make all the difference. But if your goal is money? Skip the gym. Start working.

Substitutes vs The Real Thing

I pointed out Americans (and most people) love substitutes. Gym instead of physical labor. Video games instead of achievement. Junk food instead of nourishment. Not a criticism—just an observation.

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Zach added: if it’s not aligned with what you really want, it becomes a trap. But if you’re cool with the synthetic version, and it works? Power to you.

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Rishabh made the key distinction: it’s a shame when people don’t choose substitutes—they just default to them. Fast dopamine rewires the brain away from long-term rewards.

Hard Things Are the Job

When stuff’s easy, Rishabh gets nervous. The real work—the founder work—is solving hard problems. Handling volatility. Tariffs. Walkouts. Surprises.

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Zach agreed. Life’s cyclical. When it’s hard, keep going. There’s an end. The faster you move, the faster you get through it.

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Also, not every fire is real. Sometimes the best move is to wait until your tank is full before you jump in. That’s not procrastination—it’s strategic timing.

Do the Work That Matters

Zach runs like an artist. He adapts. Rishabh’s structured. But they both ignore stuff that doesn’t matter. Rishabh channels Naval: read ten books at a time, finishes only the chapters that matter. Do the same with tasks. If it’s not important, let it go.

Growth vs Profitability

Here’s the deal. If you’re venture-backed, your job is to grow enterprise value. Period.

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Not cashflow. Not safety. Not short-term green lights. Growth.

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In 2022–2023, VCs told founders to cut burn and chase profitability. Rishabh thought that was insane. Yield plays are for treasuries, not Series A startups. If you start behaving like a yield business, you become uninvestable.

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Zach added: maybe the original advice was just “extend your runway.” But it turned into telephone game wisdom—default alive, profitability is sexy, etc. It wasn’t.

Know What You Signed Up For

Founders need to hold the wheel. You raised venture? Great. Your job now is to inject risk, grow fast, and make the asset more valuable. Don’t confuse investors looking to keep their job with actual truth. Consensus plays are safe for them, not for you.

Bootstrap vs Venture: It's Just Time

Zach compared it to gambling. Bootstrap is your own bankroll. Venture is a casino credit line. Either way, you’re trying to get to “playing with house money.”

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I added the real-world analogy: you wouldn’t expect a real estate development to flip profitable the moment construction starts. Same with tech. It’s capital intensive. It takes time.

Final Word

Growth takes time. Great things require risk. You can build whatever kind of business you want—but if you raise venture, know what game you’re playing.

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And don’t overthink the three-shower routine. Just stack your workouts.