Millionaire at 23 - AMA

[Ero]

On 9/15/2025 at 1:58 PM, Basman said:

@Ero

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

I would say I have been very ambitious and intuitive from a young age so it felt only natural.

[Ero]

On 9/15/2025 at 11:49 PM, LordFall said:

Congrats bro, AI and cryptography are the future. This forum should focus more on business & money, having solid cash flow and a direction to align yourself solves 70% of problems in life. 

Thanks brother, I very much agree. That’s what most people started personal development for. Nothing like a bowl of rice a day to make you fiend for success.

[EternalForest]

What's the best online job / make money online method right now, in your opinion? In other words, if you were 17 again living with a friend and only had a laptop and internet connection, what would you do first to make money?

Congrats btw!

Edited September 17 by EternalForest

[Ero]

21 hours ago, Ramanujan said:

Q) how do you learn things . what is your method

Q) are you gifted in "learning things"

As psychotic as it may sound, I would lock myself in a room for 12-13h a day and would bang my head until I figure it out. 
 

I met kids at Harvard who would do it in half the time or one fourth. They were definitely gifted. I am just stubborn.
 

 

[Ero]

17 hours ago, Basman said:

@Ero

What teaching methodology did they use at Harvard? I heard they use a form of PBL where students regularly meet in groups to discuss what they've learned. What was your experience with the teaching methodology?

Depends on which department you are in, but in general, there’s lectures twice a week, section once a week and office hours. Section is where people discuss in groups. Math didn’t have the latter. 

[Ero]

6 hours ago, Ramanujan said:

@LordFall what is cryprography

Cryptography is the field which uses hard math problems to encrypt your information as to prevent hackers and bad actors from stealing it. That’s how credit cards, passwords, https and a lot of other stuff works.

[Ero]

@EternalForest I think the YC approach of iterating daily on software applications is this day and age’s get-rich method. With AI, this is easier than ever.

[Carl-Richard]

17 hours ago, Peo said:

Why you all so obsessed over IQ? You all know good work-ethic and consistency beats IQ right?

This guy must have put a lot of hard work into his work to become a millionaire at 23.

Nobody is obsessing about IQ here, no more than you're obsessing about hard work. Try getting into Harvard with 85 IQ.

People say obsessing about IQ is a lack of holism. But completely disregarding IQ, or underestimating it, that's the true lack of holism.

[Ramanujan]

2 hours ago, Ero said:

As psychotic as it may sound, I would lock myself in a room for 12-13h a day and would bang my head until I figure it out. 
 

 

 

how do you deal with pain , discomfort and fatigue that shows up when you study those long hours

Edited September 17 by Ramanujan

[zurew]

For the doubters - this dude's story is consistent with his past posts (talking about his post from 1-2 years ago)

He claimed to be a math guy back then, and he showed clear signs that he knew what he was talking about. I have no reason to doubt what he is saying here.

Congrats dude, very impressive!

[Ramanujan]

@Carl-Richardbruh , can a 100 IQ guy ever win nobel prize for physics or maths

[PenguinPablo]

@Ramanujan Probably not with 100 IQ. Although with AI, I think harder things will be accessible. You can use AI to do the thinking for you. Or maybe instead use it to do things you wouldn't naturally be capable of yourself, expand your natural baseline of thinking, etc...

Idk I feel like most people if they pushed themselves hard could develop their minds 10 fold. 

Like the Leo of today is totally different than when he started Actualized. 

Self-development is real. neuroplasticity is real.

11 hours ago, Ramanujan said:

can a 100 IQ guy ever win nobel prize in physics or maths

 

Edited September 17 by PenguinPablo

[- Adam -]

This thread is inspiring, thanks for making it!

[UpperMaster]

18 hours ago, Ero said:

As psychotic as it may sound, I would lock myself in a room for 12-13h a day and would bang my head until I figure it out. 
 

I met kids at Harvard who would do it in half the time or one fourth. They were definitely gifted. I am just stubborn.
 

 

I think for me this is a huge take away.

 

over the past two years I realised how much work is actually required for high level results.

Working from 2 hours focused to 6 hours focused was a huge shift for me. Even that some people don’t do.

Being able to work for 12 hours seems almost necessary if you’re incredibly ambitious. 6 hours only gets you so far, now I realise.

 

Edited September 18 by UpperMaster

[Ramanujan]

3 hours ago, UpperMaster said:

I think for me this is a huge take away.

 

over the past two years I realised how much work is actually required for high level results.

Working from 2 hours focused to 6 hours focused was a huge shift for me. Even that some people don’t do.

Being able to work for 12 hours seems almost necessary if you’re incredibly ambitious. 6 hours only gets you so far, now I realise.

 

the million dollar question is , how do you work 12 hours a day

[Joshe]

On 9/17/2025 at 0:02 PM, zurew said:

For the doubters - this dude's story is consistent with his past posts (talking about his post from 1-2 years ago)

He claimed to be a math guy back then, and he showed clear signs that he knew what he was talking about. I have no reason to doubt what he is saying here.

True, I noticed that as well. 

4 hours ago, Ramanujan said:

the million dollar question is , how do you work 12 hours a day

It helps to have no other option. When I was trying to break into freelancing web dev stuff, I'd put in 12-16 hours a day, because I had to. I wasn't going back to being controlled by a boss. For me, it was either make it work or become a failure, homeless, or sponge off my parents, and my ego wouldn't allow that. There was no other option but to work all day. There was a neurotic element to it tbh. 

When failure isn’t an option, the brain stops wasting energy on alternatives. All your choices get collapsed into "do the work". This brings a clarity that removes friction, which can make 14-hour days feel relatively effortless. 

Certain configurations of mind have certain energetic impacts than can make working 14 hours a day feel like nothing or feel like a living hell.

[BlessedLion]

Congrats, that’s no small feat. I also think because of your family situation you had extra drive and motivation to make money. 
 

Have other aspects of your life suffered from this pursuit of money? Like meditation, dating, rest, adventure, creativity? I would imagine working 12-14h a day you don’t have much time for other areas of life. Have you developed in areas outside of making money? 
 

Now that you have financial independence will you continue to pursue money or balance it out? 
 

Im curious because similar to you I was making stacks in my early 20s and it was fun but after a certain point it was kinda boring and more money didn’t really equal more satisfaction or happiness. I was able to retire (humbly) at 28 and now my days are spent reading, meditating, pursuing God, making love, traveling. 
 

I feel like money is really important if you don’t have it, but then once you get enough it’s a tool to actually just do what you want 

[UpperMaster]

this is such an inspiring thread

Edited September 18 by UpperMaster

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

That's pretty insane levels of hard work and luck, I got to say. Every once in a while you get a special case of people like you, who really make it out the mud and even get rich. And all that in such a short time, that's spectaculiar. I don't care about this world nearly enough to be able to work as hard, even in theory

[ted73104]

Not sure if you've mentioned this yet, could you let us know the name of your current company? It could be the next Google.