I remember being connected to the founder of an unicorn in India who wanted some gyaan on product org planning. I do these product gyaan sessions for free. Have done it for many startups. So I said sure as a courtesy to the person who connected.

But what pissed me off was that the founder kept scheduling these calls in the middle of the workday. I told him that I have an office and can do only post work but he kept sending invites without even confirming with me first.

It was like a power move.

What this guy did not realise was that I literally was not getting anything out of the call. It was just a call I said yes to because I respected the person who connected. Then I gave my number so that he could just DM me post work hours if he is so busy.

I can understand that a founder might be busy. But he did not even bother replying. Maybe because I declined the previous invites, though I explained why I could not do those calls.

So I just assumed that the founder does not respect others’ time. And then told my friends the same.

tl;dr If you want someone’s time, make sure you honor the other person’s schedule. No one owes you anything.