“The parallels, however, between improvisational theater and the plunge into the abyss that is founding or working at a startup are numerous. To expose oneself on the stage, and to inhabit a character, require an embrace of serendipity and a level of psychological flexibility that are essential in building and navigating the growth of a company that seeks to serve a new market, and indeed participate in the creation of that market, rather than merely accommodate the needs and demands of existing ones. There is a breathless, improvisational quality to building technology. Jerry Seinfeld has said, “In comedy, you do anything that you think might work. Anything.” The same is true in tech. The construction of software and technology is an observational art and science, not a theoretical one. One needs to constantly abandon perceived notions of what ought to work in favor of what does work. It is that sensitivity to the audience, the public, and the customer that allows us to build.”