Millionaire at 23 - AMA

[OBEler]

What's your second company doing? And what was your first one.

Also, was Harvard education worth it? 

[Ero]

16 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Get high enough and you stop seeing your own IQ as a limitation and you care about it less.

The reason I care less is slightly different. I do believe the space of minds is very high-dimensional and comparable IQ points do not translate in terms of which submanifolds you can access from that space. Consider a crude example of Terence Tao v., Grothendieck.

The first is an analytic prodigy and you see this in the type of math he is prolific in - harmonic and real analysis. When he was young and tested by specialists, they remarked he was willing to overlook faster and more intuitive spatial solutions for the sake of bashing it out analytically. Grothendieck was very famously the opposite - analytically/procedurally slow (Grothendieck prime 57) but visually and intuitively an absolute freak. 

That said, I also don't fully discard IQ as a marker. I don't believe it is normally distributed (\sim \mathcal{N}(100, \sigma)), but rather Heavy-Tailed.  My Abstract Algebra professor was Noam Elikies, who by all accounts is most likely with an IQ above a 200. And you can fucking tell - he feels like an actual alien. 

[Ero]

11 hours ago, OBEler said:

What's your second company doing? And what was your first one.

First one was a cybersecurity company, providing IDP and passwordless MFA for enterprise, built on top of a novel algorithm made by me. 

My second company is building novel observability and steering tools for LLMs and agents. 

11 hours ago, OBEler said:

Also, was Harvard education worth it? 

Without a shadow of a doubt. One of the most impactful experiences in my life.

When it comes to academic disciplines, such as mathematics, you should think of Harvard like Hogwarts. They don't hold your hand but drop you in the deep waters. The intensity of some of my math classes made me hallucinate sober akin to a 150ug LSD trip. 

When it comes to people, about half are dumbwits who got in because of varsity sports, family donation or legacy (i.e a relative went there before them). But among the rest there are some special individuals. 

The name alone has opened doors I otherwise could not have walked through. 

[Jacob Morres]

@Ero i know a lot of ivy league kids you do not sound like one lol

[ZenSwift]

On 9/11/2025 at 2:08 PM, Ero said:

I have psychotic levels of ambition, so I have never had a question in my mind it would happen.

I appreciate this distinction. This is something I sometimes fantasize about creating for myself. But it also conflicts with my top value of health a lot. 
Also there is genuine wonder about "is this something only I can be born with or is this something that I can install into my mind?" Which is why I am really looking forward to Leo's mind programming course.  Honestly at this point I am just willing to look at other courses that are close to this.

[Yimpa]

Has becoming a millionaire at 23 brought any major challenges in terms of relationships, identity, or finding purpose?

 

 

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, Jacob Morres said:

@Ero i know a lot of ivy league kids you do not sound like one lol

23 year old ones?

[Willie]

How much temptation have you had to betray your values, @Ero?

[Ramanujan]

On 12/9/2025 at 3:32 AM, Eskilon said:

Which MBTI type are you? Let me see if I guessed right haha

my guess is ENTJ. what are your guess

[Ramanujan]

On 14/9/2025 at 3:52 AM, Ero said:

ENFJ

holy shit 

keep it up dude

[Ramanujan]

@Carl-Richardbro , what is your IQ

 

Edited Monday at 02:41 PM by Ramanujan

[Ramanujan]

@Ero

1) what is your best book/resource/video on how to achieve success in life

2) how long have you been into self improvment

3) did you achieve all of this with self  improvment knowledge

[Ramanujan]

@Erohow did you manage to work 13 hours a day without burn out

[Ero]

18 hours ago, ZenSwift said:

But it also conflicts with my top value of health a lot. 

Also there is genuine wonder about "is this something only I can be born with or is this something that I can install into my mind?"

One of my friends from Oxford who is doing her PhD in longevity stuff told me there is maximizing health vs lifespan. The latter is Bryan Johnson - style, whereas the former is about getting as much juice out as you can (which is what I do). Think of it like maximizing all your vitals as to produce the maximum output possible. If you are sacrificing health, then you are not doing it right.

As for the second comment, I think it is both - by fixing your habits, diet, sleep, mood, etc. you can become much more proactive. But there is a degree to the intensity that you are either born with.

Edited Monday at 05:43 PM by Ero

[Ero]

18 hours ago, Yimpa said:

Has becoming a millionaire at 23 brought any major challenges in terms of relationships, identity, or finding purpose?

I would make the opposite causal relationship - I had to overcome challenges with purpose, identity and relationships. Finding my LP and building myself and my network around that was the foundation.

[Ero]

5 hours ago, Willie said:

How much temptation have you had to betray your values, @Ero?

There is a lot of temptation around where I have been. Once you discover your LP, those hold much less sway because you no longer entertain them, knowing they have nothing for you.

Edited Monday at 05:45 PM by Ero

[Ero]

3 hours ago, Ramanujan said:

@Ero

1) what is your best book/resource/video on how to achieve success in life

2) how long have you been into self improvment

3) did you achieve all of this with self  improvment knowledge

1) check Leo’s booklist. Some real diamonds there.

2) since 13-14 years old. Spirituality at 15.

3) Not “all”, because there is a lot of technical knowledge behind my success. That said, discovering what is that I should have been working on was very much the outcome of my self-actualization journey, grounded in my skills, sensibilities, situation and LP.

 

[Ero]

2 hours ago, Ramanujan said:

@Erohow did you manage to work 13 hours a day without burn out

I powerlift. For weeks, the only thing that would break the monotony would be the weights.

[Basman]

@Ero

What got you into self-help/spirituality in the first place?

[PenguinPablo]

@Ramanujan ENFJ are awesome.

Look at @Ero so inspiring man!