AngelList founder Naval Ravikant summarises how to be successful in 2 words: 'Productise yourself'

AngelList founder Naval Ravikant made the comments at a podcast hosted by YouTuber Chris Williamson. (Image credit: YouTube)

Indian-born American entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant recently opened up about how young professionals have a better chance of success if they can only play to their strengths, because what they would enjoy doing would be work for others. Summarising his advice, the AngelList founder urged people to "productivise" themselves.

"No one is going to be good at being you than you," he said. "Find what feels like play to you but looks like work to others. So you're going to out-compete them because you're doing it effortlessly. You're doing it for fun, they are doing it for work. To you, it's art, it's beauty, it's joy, it's fulfilling."

Explaining his point, Ravikant turned to the podcast host, YouTuber Chris Williamson, and said that he must really enjoy podcasting otherwise he would not have been so good at it. "If you had decided that the right way to get ahead in life was to write books, nobody would have heard of you. Chris Williamson's book would have been a complete flop; that's not who you are, you're a podcaster. You enjoy talking to people, interviewing them. The more you do things that are natural to you, the less competition you have. If I had to summarise how to be successful in life in two words, I would just say: productise yourself," Ravikant said.

He also urged aspiring entrepreneurs to identify what they naturally excel at — something the world might need and that can be scaled into a product. Once they align with that instinctive strength, he said, the work eventually becomes effortless.