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Vraj Parikh

@just_vraj

The Infinite Game<br>I was listening to the @FoundersPodcast podcast with @mickymalka of Ribbit Capital, and Micky talked about a point that I was not familiar with: The Infinite Game.<br>In startups, I've noticed that all of my founder friends never seem satisfied, no matter how well or poorly they are doing. I've often felt the same thing; it will simply never be enough.<br>It is not even about raising the next round, but that once you reach a goal, I feel like many founders are hard-wired to just move on to the next thing immediately.<br>When I was in college, my goal was to get into YC, and when I did, I felt happy, but once I got there I didn't feel any happier than I was before; I was now looking towards the next goal.<br>I had another friend who said the same thing about getting into Harvard and later getting into YC himself. Once he got into Harvard, it was on to building a company; once he started building the company, it was making that company successful; once it started being successful, was it really successful enough?<br>That's why the concept of the infinite game was so intriguing to me. I felt like it perfectly encapsulates startup life and how many of my friends and I have been feeling.<br>The concept originates from philosopher James P. Carse in his aptly named book, Finite and Infinite Games. "A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play." Finite games end with a winner; a war is a good example of this. In Infinite games, you can only be ahead or behind but there is no end.<br>Many people may misattribute startups or even business in general as finite games; however, there is never a defined outcome in business. Carse covers this by saying, "We know that someone has won the game when all the players have agreed who among them is the winner." Unfortunately for conglomerates, there will always be a player, no matter how small, that will disagree with their claim to win a certain space.<br>I think that understanding the concept of the infinite game will help many startup founders. The point of the game is not to win or lose, but to play. I've noticed that the best founders can't help but play the game. I've found that it tends to be an addiction for people.<br>When people ask me why I do startups, I've often described it as a tick. In the back of my head I feel like I always need to be working on something of my own. The idea that there is something in the world that needs my input to come into existence is too good to pass up.<br>I think that understanding and acknowledging the infinite game is also a good disqualifier for many people who might want to do startups. There is no finish line, even if you exit, IPO, or make a bunch of money. You will always be going onto the next milestone. If that isn't you, then maybe startups aren't the right place for you.<br>I think that the dissatisfaction with the current state is a natural byproduct of the infinite game, but knowing that it exists makes it much easier to deal with. Yes, sometimes you should stop and smell the flowers, but it is also that dissatisfaction with the status quo that makes you do something in the first place.<br>As someone who has gone through tons of therapy in my life, I often look for a fix for how I'm feeling. However, acknowledging the Infinite Game helped me realize that my dissatisfaction isn't something to fix.

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