Perplexity CEO on Why Understanding Your Dopamine System Is Key [Video]

However, Srinivas also stressed working on ideas you are passionate about — not just what the market wants, or what you think will get you VC funding.

“If you work from that perspective, I think you’ll give up beyond a point because it’s very hard to work toward something that isn’t truly important to you,” Srinivas said. “Like, do you really care?”

Srinivas said founders should start with something that they personally love and use, rather than what they think is most likely to be profitable. If you attempt to mold your interests into what you think will be lucrative, he said, “eventually you’ll give up, or you’ll be supplanted by someone who actually has a genuine passion for that thing.”

“If you’re not a person …