My 20's journey expectations vs reality

Published on April 15, 2026

My 20s began in 2021, right in the middle of the COVID pandemic. Everyone was home. I was home too, attending online chemistry classes for my bachelor's degree. And then something unexpected happened.

In early 2021, Clubhouse was everywhere. I downloaded it, connected with people from around the world, and without fully realising it - I planted a seed that would change my entire direction. From chemistry to software. From science to code.

That same year, I bought my first domain: kavisankar.space. It cost around INR 89. I still remember that number. Little by little, I learned to build things. I started freelancing. I built a small service-based startup called Foefox Technologies. And I set myself one goal for the next five years:

In 5 years, I will be a millionaire - or at least the highest-earning person I know.

That was then. This is now. So - am I a millionaire?

Before I answer that, let me walk you through the real story. Five years. Six honest questions.

1. Where did I start?
2. What did I try?
3. What went wrong?
4. What did I learn?
5. Where am I now?
6. What am I doing next?

1. Where did I start?

Freelancing in 2021 was almost too easy - if you had a project and decent communication skills, clients came to you. I was earning three-digit dollar amounts within 10 to 15 days of starting. For a middle-class kid in India, where $1 was worth around INR 80, that felt like being rich.

That early taste of money lit a fire under me. I wanted more. My next step was SaaS - building a software product that could scale beyond trading hours for rupees. But I did not really understand product-market fit, distribution, or any of the fundamentals. I was just excited.

A client gave me advice I did not fully appreciate at the time: "Join a product-based company first. Learn how it works from the inside. Then build your SaaS." So I did. Good learning. Good opportunity. Good pay. But comfortable. Too comfortable.

2. What did I try?

As a web developer at that company, I wore many hats - web development, accessibility, marketing collaboration, webmastering, compliance, and more. I was surrounded by people from product, sales, digital marketing, and design. I absorbed everything.

By the end of it, I understood the full SaaS lifecycle: idea validation, market fit, go-to-market strategy, MVP, churn, all of it. I finally knew how the machine worked. The problem? I had too many ideas and could not commit to a single one.

3. What went wrong?

Everything, honestly.

I had ideas, branding names, even early validation - but I was missing the one thing that actually moves projects forward: commitment. And it was not just a personal failure. There is a cultural context too. Growing up in a close-knit Indian family means your time is not fully your own. Your responsibilities to family are real, and they quietly eat into the hours you would otherwise spend building something.

On top of that, AI started evolving fast. Every idea I validated felt like it would be irrelevant in six months. So I kept dropping things and starting new ones. The founder's dilemma had me - the constant loop of starting, doubting, pivoting, and starting again. Months disappeared. And somewhere in the middle of all this, I started neglecting the things that mattered: my health, my relationships, and my peace of mind.

4. What did I learn?

After 4+ years in tech, the hardest lesson I learned is this: doing many things at once is the same as doing nothing.

Life is like a video game. You have to finish Level 1 before you are ready for Level 2. I was trying to play five levels simultaneously and wondering why I kept losing. That scattered approach cost me - in health, in money, in relationships, and in focus.

I also spent a lot of time comparing myself to others. Different environments, different timelines, different starting points - and I was measuring myself against all of them at once. It was exhausting. And slowly, I started losing the reason I started in the first place.

5. Where am I now?

I am at zero.

I know that is not what anyone wants to read. But it is the truth. Not the glamorous "I failed forward" kind of zero - just genuinely back at the beginning. And I sat with that for a while.

Then I thought about Clash of Clans. Hear me out - when your base gets destroyed in a war, you do not quit the game. You study what happened. You rebuild. You come back stronger. That became my mental model.

Today - April 15, 2026 - I am choosing to restart. With a different lens. One that focuses on today, because tomorrow is not guaranteed.

6. What am I doing next?

Honestly? I do not have a detailed 5-year plan anymore. I have learned the hard way that plans do not survive contact with real life.

What I do have is a framework - five areas I want to rebuild from the ground up: Health, Wealth, Career, Relationships, and Passion. I am going to treat them like the pillars of a base that actually holds up in war.

AI has made it easier than ever to ship things. The next half of my 20s is crucial. I am not going to waste it chasing a version of success that belongs to someone else's story.

I lived today. I will try to live tomorrow too.

Thanks for reading. More coming soon.