Lessons from Francis Pedraza

A philosopher-entrepreneur, Francis Pedraza, the founder and CEO of Invisible Technologies, is known for his contrarian thinking on business, technology, and the nature of work. His insights, often shared in podcasts and interviews, offer a unique perspective on building companies, the future of AI, and personal growth.

On Entrepreneurship and Building Companies

On the mistakes of entrepreneurship: "The first mistake is always starting. The second mistake is to keep going. And the third mistake is to quit. If you've already made the first mistake, the key is to avoid making the third mistake." [1]
On the grueling nature of starting a business: "I've spent most of my twenties broke, stressed and praying for another check to make rent, make payroll, keep my company afloat, and keep my dream alive." [1]
On the reward of hardship: "Rewarding = seeing that somehow, all of this hardship and pain has made me powerful and effective as a leader. I'm not just traumatized and broken. I'm actually good at what I do. Experience is superior to raw, youthful energy." [1]
On the importance of self-care: "The first lesson is to take care of myself. The entrepreneur gives his life force to the company. If the entrepreneur burns out, he cannot sustain the company. So avoid burn out at all costs." [1]
On the entrepreneurial mindset: "Entrepreneurship is just objectively a bad idea. An insane, no good, very bad idea. It's a romantic proposition — and you should only do it if you can't help yourself." [1]
On fundraising philosophy (The Sovereignty Game): Pedraza advocates for a "sovereignty game" where founders maintain control by minimizing dilution and focusing on profitability. This involves raising just enough capital to become self-sustaining and then using profits to buy back equity from investors. [2]
On creating an ownership culture: At Invisible, employees are called "partners" and are given significant equity. This fosters an ownership mentality where everyone is invested in the company's success. [2]
On financial transparency with the team: Invisible holds "finance 101" classes for all employees and shares detailed financial statements monthly to encourage a collective focus on efficiency and growth. [3]
On the constraints of growth: Pedraza argues that capital is not always the primary constraint on growth. Operational constraints, such as the ability to successfully integrate new team members and maintain culture, are often more significant. [3]
On the failure of his first company, Everest: The app, designed to help people achieve personal goals, failed because it mistook initial user enthusiasm for a sustainable business model. The lesson was that monetization needs to be aligned with long-term user retention and value creation. [4]
On learning from failure: "I got a $2.6 million MBA" is how Pedraza refers to the funding he raised and lost with his first startup, Everest, highlighting the expensive but invaluable lessons of entrepreneurial failure. [3]
On the power of a contrarian approach: Invisible Technologies was built on the counterintuitive idea of combining human intelligence with automation, a model initially dismissed by many investors. [5]
On building a "rebel alliance": Pedraza views his company as a "rebel alliance" taking on the "Galactic Empire" of traditional, large-scale outsourcing companies like Accenture. [2]

On AI and the Future of Work

On the role of AI: "The real value of AI lies not in replacing people — but in augmenting them." [6]
On the human-in-the-loop: "You always sort of need the human in the loop... you always need some sort of human to QA the model and to train the model to get better and without that feedback loop it's just talking to itself." [7]
On the industrial application of AI: "If you're in the paradigm of AI completely eliminating humans you're actually misunderstanding the industrial application of AI." [6]
On the growth of knowledge work: Pedraza predicts a massive expansion of knowledge work globally, suggesting that automation will create more work than it destroys by enabling more complex and valuable tasks. [5]
On the "Da Vinci Test" for technology: "Instead of measuring technology by the Turing Test, expecting it to surpass us, we should measure it by the Da Vinci Test: is the average citizen of the 21st century more productive than Leonardo da Vinci was in the 15th?" [2]
On the future of jobs: "Work can be created faster than it can be destroyed." [5]
On the impact of increased productivity: "If you woke up tomorrow and your sales team was twice as productive, would you fire half of your salespeople?" [7]
On the creation of new roles: The AI economy is creating new types of jobs, such as AI trainers, who are essential for improving and validating AI models. [7]
On the "Digital Assembly Line": This is Invisible's model for breaking down complex processes into smaller, manageable tasks that can be handled by a combination of humans and automation. [2]
On technology as a tool for human expression: "I think that Steve Jobs original vision for the personal computer was to be a bicycle for the human mind to give us a superpower." [8]
On escaping commoditization: "When we are compensated for the freedom of our thought, we escape commoditization." [9]
On the complexity of automation: "Automation will not simplify operations in our lifetime. The more we automate, the more complex our operations will become, and the more there will be to automate." [2]

On Philosophy and Life

On earnestness in a cynical world: “We love our memes and are sort of like naturally cynical. I'm like almost chaotically serious.” [9]
On purpose-driven ambition: “My ambitions are all oriented towards service and purpose.” [9]
On the potential of humanity: “The amazing things about human is that we have infinite potential.” [9]
On the value of great works: “Socrates did not die so that people could watch Netflix.” [9]
On the power of art: “Life imitates art more than art imitates life.” [9]
On the pursuit of knowledge: Pedraza is a voracious reader who hopes to have read all the Penguin Classics by the time he dies, emphasizing a commitment to lifelong learning from the "dead people's wisdom." [4][9]
On being a "hedgehog": In a world of specialists ("foxes"), Pedraza identifies as a "hedgehog," a generalist who seeks to understand the interconnectedness of various fields of knowledge. [2]
On the importance of listening to one's heart: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." [1]
On the paradox of thought and action: "Somehow you have to exist in this paradox: question yourself enough to satisfy the demands of skeptical reason... but believe what you believe enough to put your full weight behind it." [1]
On personal and professional integration: "There is absolutely no separation between my personal and professional life. If I don't have strategic or philosophical clarity — it affects my work." [1]
On embracing the amateur mindset: Pedraza believes in the value of being a "polymath" and embracing the identity of an amateur in various fields to foster well-roundedness and creativity. [5]
On the miracle of America: Inspired by his grandfather who started over in the U.S. at age 50, Pedraza believes in the American ideal of limitless opportunity through hard work. [9]
On the loneliness of a thinker: "The more you think, the more lonely you become... If you don't question yourself, you're insane. If you don't stop questioning yourself, you'll go insane." [1]
On changing the world through values: "When we change people's values, we change the world. What we hold up as good and worthy is so important." [9]
On the vision for Invisible beyond business: "The long term vision for Invisible Technologies is to be the world's biggest school where you get paid, like a future apprenticeship program." [9]

On Invisible Technologies' Model

The core offering: "Invisible is ops as a service. We make it really easy to delegate any business process that you have at your company." [10]
Combining outsourcing and automation: "Invisible is pioneering a new approach — combining outsourcing and automation — called Worksharing." [2]
Aligning incentives with clients: "Our business model is designed to align incentives with our clients: we need Better, Faster, Cheaper, just like you do." [2]
The problem with traditional BPOs: "BPOs are dinosaurs trapped in a classic innovator's dilemma. They're not technology companies. It's not in their DNA." [2]
The vision for human potential: "What if everyone was more like Leonardo da Vinci. What if everyone was more creative more strategic. We would be. More human. That's what technology should do." [11]
Delegating the work you hate: "Delegate work you hate doing, and humans coordinated on our Digital Assembly Line will do it for as low as $10/hr." [1]
The inefficiency of knowledge work: "The average knowledge worker spends 40% of their time doing work that can be done for them." [8]
The power of delegation: By outsourcing repetitive tasks, individuals and companies can focus on higher-value, strategic, and creative work. [8]
A solution for complex, non-core processes: Invisible helps companies like DoorDash with the "messy business" of tasks that are essential but outside their core competency. [7]
A commitment to independence: Pedraza has been vocal about his intention to keep Invisible private and owned by its employees, giving them more freedom and control. [6][7]
The ultimate goal: "Let Invisible use technology for you, so that you can do work that only you can do." [8]

Learn more:

Lessons from Francis Pedraza

On Entrepreneurship and Building Companies

On AI and the Future of Work

On Philosophy and Life

On Invisible Technologies' Model

Written by Antoine Buteau

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