On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2024. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Omar ↗
In their words
Being a founder sucks. You start off and day one maybe you have an idea — most likely your first idea is not going to work.
Especially if you don't have a big home run as a startup founder, you do not have financial security. It is incredibly stressful, and you don't get to spend the time how you want. That never changes as long as you are a founder.
For my first bootstrap startup I did that for five years, for my second startup I did that for eight years, and in many ways this was way too long. You're going to learn a lot in your first couple of years and then the learning reaches an asymptote very quickly.
More from TechTO ×1
Quick answers
What is Omar Ismail known for?
Co-founding Streak, the CRM that lives inside Gmail, in Y Combinator's summer 2011 batch with Aleem Mawani. He has since spent years at Stripe as a staff software engineer.
What did Omar Ismail speak about at TechTO?
An honest conversation about the founder journey at a TechTO: Together event in April 2024 — the parts of building a company founders don't usually hear said out loud.
What is Omar Ismail doing now?
He is a staff software engineer at Stripe, after two turns as a startup founder.