Harpaul Sambhi, Founder @ Magical
Harpaul Sambhi is the Founder of Magical, a software company that helps non-technical employees automate repetitive tasks and be more productive. He founded Careerify while in college and successfully exited the company to LinkedIn in 2015. He then spent 4 years as a Product Manager at LinkedIn and Microsoft and left in 2019 to become an Entrepreneur in Residence at Bain Capital Ventures.
In this episode, we spoke with Harpaul about:
His upbringing in Canada and his entry into entrepreneurship while in college
What it was like growing up with parents who worked multiple jobs, and how that impacted his mentality as a startup founder
Why he believes people should be vulnerable in their interactions both personally and professionally
We know you’ll enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it. You can listen to him below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get to your podcasts.
How his family shaped the way he thought about his startup team
“The underlying current that I found my Asian identity brought forth in my career was family. I think that the sense of larger family units you often see beyond brothers and sisters to second cousins, uncles, etc - for me that helped me think of my company like a small family. We’re in it together, we’ll conquer the battlefield and win. We’re going to all win together rather than one person. That was the mentality I wanted to bring at work.”
How it felt to see his parents working multiple jobs while growing up
“I think it impacted this mentality of working 100% and giving it your all. There were no “if’s”, my parents would just have to do it at all costs. And there’s a lot of cons to that as well. If you think about it, the conventional story that was brought to be was to be a lawyer, doctor, or engineer. I chose becoming an engineer because it required the least amount of school. The reason for this was because my parent’s overarching goal was financial independence and to provide their children choice. That mentality has transcended their generation to mine. For me now, when I put my mind to something, I go. I just do it.”
The mentality of time vs money, and how that has shifted over the course of his career
“My main variable in life right now is time. I value time now and I just don’t care about money. I tell people to be passionate in what they do and the money will come. It’s because people love people that are passionate. They’ll help you make money. The next thing I’m about to say is pretty meta. I think as long as people aren’t dying then everything is going to be okay. We sometimes get stuck on decisions in life like jobs, relationships, etc. We stress about things all of the time. But if you zoom out we can’t remember the small stressors that happened a year ago, sometimes not even a few days ago.
I remember at Careerify when our biggest competitor got bought by our biggest partner. I remember being crushed and going into a depression. It was a dark moment because we were really relying on this big vendor. But then a couple of months later we were okay. Afterwards, we ended up getting customers like Microsoft, SpaceX, Deloitte, etc and that really helped shape the company.
That’s been the life motto over the past decade of my life. Don’t stress - the world is the way it is and whatever you’re dealt with, you’re still going to live. As long as it doesn’t have people’s lives at stake, we’re good. Let’s continue to live and be in harmony. This is why I care more about my time.”
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Until next time,
Jay and Angie