Imad Akhund

Hitting unicorn status felt anticlimactic — chase the journey, not the milestone

Imad Akhund spent 15 years chasing a billion-dollar company, then felt nothing when Mercury hit a $1.6B valuation in 2021. The only thing he received was a helmet from investor Joe Montana stamped 'Billion Dollar Club' — a reminder that objectives don't matter and you have to enjoy the journey.

“So I'd been working towards this objective of like building a unicorn company, right? Like that's, as you say, like I moved here when I was like 22 and like that's all it was about for me for a long time. It was like getting this like really successful company. And then you hit this objective of like becoming a unicorn. And like nothing changes.”

Hitting unicorn status felt anticlimactic — chase the journey, not the milestone

Imad Akhund spent 15 years chasing a billion-dollar company, then felt nothing when Mercury hit a $1.6B valuation in 2021. The only thing he received was a helmet from investor Joe Montana stamped 'Billion Dollar Club' — a reminder that objectives don't matter and you have to enjoy the journey.

“So I'd been working towards this objective of like building a unicorn company, right? Like that's, as you say, like I moved here when I was like 22 and like that's all it was about for me for a long time. It was like getting this like really successful company. And then you hit this objective of like becoming a unicorn. And like nothing changes.”

Space tech is wide open because launch costs collapsed

Getting to space dropped from a $100M endeavor to roughly $100K thanks to SpaceX's repeatable launches and cheap microsat platforms — essentially a computer in space. Unlike AI, very few smart teams are attempting space, so the field is wide open.

“So number 1, just a few years ago, getting anything to space was like a $100 million endeavor, right? Like, we're talking about literally $100 million to get something in space that works because there was no SpaceX and all of the space satellite stuff was like these hardened, like, you know, radiation-proof, like, satellites. Now, the other week, like, SpaceX did like 8 flights or something in one week. Like, it's insane.”

Steal thisBuild on top of an existing satellite platform or hitch a payload on a scheduled SpaceX launch instead of funding your own launch.

AI test-prep tutor: pick one exam (SAT, MCAT, bar) and nail it

Imad's 'intelligence as a service' pick: a hyper-niche AI tutor for a single standardized test. AI is ideal for it because the content is structured, the tutoring is fully personalized, and it's infinitely patient — and people willingly pay to get a grade to get into a school.

“So AI SAT tutor, right? Like imagine, like actually like AI is great at education because A, like the content is like extremely easy for AI to do.”

Steal thisDon't build 'all tutoring' — pick one high-stakes paid test, completely nail it, then expand from there.

Find AI ideas top-down and bottom-up, then merge

Imad's ideation method: top-down, ask ChatGPT to list every category of US knowledge work and its labor cost, then build a matrix of TAM, existing players, and unaddressed gaps. Bottom-up, start from what genuinely excites you so you'll still want to work on it years later. Merge the two.

“So top-down, and I actually did this as part of like your podcast prep stuff. I went to ChatGPT and said like, hey, tell me every human worker in the US that like does knowledge work. Give me a list of all of them and tell me how much labor costs for across each of them.”

Steal thisAsk ChatGPT to list every category of knowledge worker plus its labor cost, then map TAM, incumbents, and gaps before picking.

If only 2 of 100 say 'give it to me now,' that can still be a business

Imad talked to 100 potential Mercury customers and only 2 were enthusiastic — the rest were lukewarm. He learned that vetting ideas against humans is surprisingly unreliable; if the market is big enough, a 2% who desperately want it is a viable early-adopter base.

“And it was only 2 of the 100 companies that were like, oh yeah, like I would fucking use this, like give it to me right now kind of thing.”

Steal thisDon't kill an idea because most prospects are lukewarm — look for the small slice who'd use it immediately, and size whether that slice is big enough.

Mercury built 'Vault' over a weekend to answer SVB-panic with product, not words

During the SVB collapse, Imad refused to publicly claim 'your money is safe' (so had the SBF/SVB CEO). Instead Mercury spent the weekend building Mercury Vault to visualize FDIC coverage, worked with partner banks to raise insurance from $1M to $5M, and swept excess into T-bills — using product to build trust.

“So what we did over that weekend is we built this product. It was called Mercury Vault.. And it would basically visualize where your money is. We'd say, okay, you know, this much of it is in FDIC-insured account up to this much.”

Steal thisWhen customers keep asking the same scary question, answer it with a product feature, not a marketing line.

Mercury built 'Vault' over a weekend to answer SVB-panic with product, not words

During the SVB collapse, Imad refused to publicly claim 'your money is safe' (so had the SBF/SVB CEO). Instead Mercury spent the weekend building Mercury Vault to visualize FDIC coverage, worked with partner banks to raise insurance from $1M to $5M, and swept excess into T-bills — using product to build trust.

“So what we did over that weekend is we built this product. It was called Mercury Vault.. And it would basically visualize where your money is. We'd say, okay, you know, this much of it is in FDIC-insured account up to this much.”

Steal thisWhen customers keep asking the same scary question, answer it with a product feature, not a marketing line.

Going all in is a skill — and it's an asymmetric life bet

Imad argues most people half-do entrepreneurship as a side gig, and that going all in pays dividends half-measures never do. The downside of an all-in startup is just having to get another job; the upside is both financial and a life you're genuinely excited about — extremely asymmetric.

“I just feel like going all in on things has just like this like big upside that like half doing things just doesn't. And I think the asymmetric side of it is like, you know, the worst thing that could happen to me is if my startup didn't work, I'd have to go and get another job.”

Success requires being an exception — break rules on purpose, knowing why

Imad's rule: the only way to succeed is to do unusual things, because doing normal things means doing what everyone does. So deliberately pick which generally-accepted rules to ignore — but understand where each rule comes from and why you're the exception (e.g. 'don't do consumer startups,' yet Amazon, Facebook, Google are consumer).

“But like the only way you succeed is being an exception. So like you kind of have to like just ignore the rules and like just do the thing and be the exception because that's the only way you succeed.”

Steal thisWrite down which accepted best-practices you're intentionally choosing to break — and the specific reason you're the exception to each.