When Sahil Lavingia founded Gumroad in 2012, he got a lot of attention. At age 19, he was one of the youngest entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, and the press went wild with words like “wunderkind” and “prodigy.” But Lavingia has never shied away from admitting what he doesn't know or where he lacks experience. His approach has been largely defined by surrounding himself with similarly brilliant people and watching how things unfold — a method that has turned Gumroad, a platform where people can sell their own digital creations from books to art to music — into one of the best functioning startups that maintains a flat management structure.
