Growing up, I was the biggest Kobe Bryant fan. I was initially drawn to his swagger and confidence on the court, but as I got older what I admired most about him was his extreme work ethic and his mindset of pushing through adversity and never settling for anything less than greatness. Kobe popularized the philosophy of "rest at the end, not in the middle" and the idea that you don’t celebrate until the job is done. You leave it all on the court so you have no regrets when it's over. In fact, amongst my most prized possessions are my Kobe Bryant rookie cards. They mean so much to me that, during fire evacuations in Los Angeles, my parents instinctively gathered them from under my childhood bed where I stashed them.
The “Mamba Mentality” continues to make an indelible impact on my outlook, shaping how I approach challenges in life and work. It’s why a recent Nike advertisement for Chinese New Year so struck a chord with me. In this upcoming Year of the Snake, or “Year of the Mamba”, the campaign’s central message is: "Have a hard year."
In Chinese culture, there’s a term called "eating bitterness" (吃苦), which refers to enduring hardship and persevering through tough times. Growing up, my parents celebrated eating bitterness as a necessary part of achieving anything of note. The phrase may seem counterintuitive at first, but it’s rooted in a profound truth: the most rewarding missions require persisting through major adversities.
The legendary stories of my childhood embodied this theme – I grew up learning about my dad’s journey to America as a high school student. He worked as a busboy in San Francisco overcoming countless challenges — figured things out in a foreign land, learned to master the language, found his way to state college in San Jose, then transferred to UCLA where he excelled, and ultimately provided our family with a better life. Like many immigrants, these stories pushed and inspired me to go the extra distance as I didn’t want to waste the opportunity my parents had sacrificed so much for.
This Chinese New Year, coming up on Wednesday, feels particularly fitting as we navigate a world rife with challenges. Geopolitically, economically, and socially, we’re facing tests that demand the very values Kobe stood for: hard work, perseverance, and a no-excuse philosophical stoicism. In my industry, for instance, China’s ability to rapidly develop drugs have become unprecedented, suggesting they will be a formidable challenger to America’s leadership in the decades ahead. In AI, DeepSeek is just one example of China’s ability to innovate and come up to speed rapidly.
As I perused through the Youtube comments on the Nike advertisement, the most upvoted one read: “I already had a hard year.” That comment stayed with me because it was emblematic of the sentiment and culture in parts of America today, in contrast to China, where ‘eating bitterness’ is still a very celebrated theme. (I suspect Nike’s marketing team knew their Chinese audience would respond differently than their western ones).
As Paul Graham shares, startups don’t typically die by homicide; they die by suicide. Similarly, the rise and fall of great nations often stem from within. While we as Americans can strive to delay others' advancements, the most important thing is to focus on ourselves—to rebuild a culture that celebrates greatness, hard work, and innovation.
Historically, America was the nation that inspired the world, admired for its unmatched work ethic and relentless ambition. We built faster, taller, and stronger because we celebrated those very values that fueled progress. But somewhere along the way, we began to lose sight of that here in the US.
Over time in America, it became “work smarter, not harder.” We forgot that greatness itself demands obsession and hardship, often at the cost of balance (see Bezos on work-life harmony; see Kobe’s emails to Gordon Hayward).
Kobe, like the founders and CEOs of today’s most consequential companies such as Tesla, Nvidia, SpaceX, OpenAI, Amazon and Microsoft, embodies a “work smarter AND harder” ethos. It’s not about choosing between the two; it’s about embracing both. This ethos represents more than just a personal philosophy—it’s a culture, a set of values, and a mindset that most determines future success, not only for individuals but for entire nations.
In the recent and ongoing national dialogue on immigration, I believe a crucial point is missing: this issue isn’t really about a preference for hiring foreign workers. It’s about a desire to find people who still embody the long-held American values of discipline and relentless drive. But I believe we can reclaim these values—and not just return to excellence, but surpass it. The renewed energy and determination we’re beginning to see across the country give me hope that we’re on the path to doing just that. But it means, at this key inflection point for our country, returning to a celebration of a set of values that embrace challenge, hardship, accountability, and results.
As we step into this Chinese New Year, let’s embrace the idea of having a hard year. Let’s remember that the most rewarding outcomes often come from the toughest journeys. It’s through perseverance and grit that we find greatness—just like Kobe did.
As we look to build this generation’s AI native pharma company to transform the speed in which we can get new treatments to patients, I know the journey ahead will not be easy. In fact, nothing about the past 8 (Kobe!) years have been. But I know that with the team and culture that we’ve built, we will strive to make an indelible impact because this is a mission worth eating bitterness for.
Here’s to a Happy Chinese New Year and a hard year ahead. Let’s make it legendary.
Here is a compilation of 8 of my favorite legendary Kobe stories:
1. Motivation
3. Beginner’s Mindset: always learning/curiosity
4. Start Earlier: The power of compounding every day
6. Take care of your primary business
7. Details matter and doing the small things right