David Lolaev: If the Future Is a Track, I Want to Drive First

1. People often say business is a marathon. But you’re connected to racing. Today, is business a marathon, a sprint, or Formula 1?

Depends from your industry, and from your ambitious. If you want to become champion it's no matter where you fighting for that. You can open a cafe and say that it's too many competitors and you can't win. Or you can find a unique spot and positioning for your business and become stronger than anybody else.

2. What do a founder before launching a company and a driver sitting on the starting grid have in common?

I think it's not stages which you can compare. Before you will appear on starting grid you must pass a huge path behind. So every new race for entrepreneur is not about to launch a business, I think it's more about try to climb a new height

3. Are you more afraid of extreme speed — or moving too slowly?

I'm more afraid to lose my pace. Because if you are overspeeding above your limits you can't control everything as it must be, so if your "working pace" is higher than your competitiors that a key to win the stage

4. The world seems to be accelerating faster than people can adapt. Have you ever felt like life itself was moving faster than you?

I'm trying all my life to be faster than the world around me. And yeah I'm agree with you that things are moving fast nowadays, and every break can be critical for business now. But I always believe that if you can be pioneer somewhere you can win more than others

5. Twenty years from now, do you think motorsport becomes fully autonomous — or will people always want a human behind the wheel?

The human racing will never end. It's in our DNA to compete. AI and robotic racing is already exist but it will never replace human challenging and emotions and hardwork of athletes.

6. If you had to choose: driving the fastest car on Earth or piloting the first commercial vehicle on Mars — what would you pick?

If mars vehicle will have enough horse power inside of engine, and if you can promise that Mars has no speed limit cameras), I will choose 2nd option

7. Racing used to be about the best driver. Today it’s data, telemetry, analytics. Is business evolving the same way?

Absolutely. You can't imagine how many hundreds of sensors, metrics, and measures racing teams using to make this "fastest driver" happen. Same in business. If you have a blind spots in data, you can't win.

8. In 20 years, who will make decisions faster: entrepreneurs or AI?

I can't say it exactly now. Because AI become popular less than 5 years ago and already changed our lives so hard.

9. What arrives first: autonomous cities or autonomous racing leagues?

Racing leagues with AI are already there.

10. Imagine it’s 2040. What does David Lolaev’s dream garage look like?

Full of old JDM cars :)

11. At high speed, you can’t control everything. Is control overrated?

It always depends from the fact at which speed your control is on same perfect level. If you lose it after 100km/h it's a problem)

12. What’s one thing in life that can never truly be delegated?

Parentship

13. Some people build companies like machines. Others build ecosystems. Which one are you?

It's a hard question for me. I often think that I'm building a race cars but there are no tracks in the world to open their full potential.

14. What feels insane today but will become completely normal in ten years?

Robots I guess. We still looking at them like it's expensive toys but one day it will become absolutely normal that we will see them everywhere.

15. Which technology do you think is massively underestimated right now?

Digital twins. It can be next human superpower. When you can create your twins and trust them in delegated tasks.

16. Imagine it’s 2045 and you walk into a Museum of the Future. One room features your race car. What does the plaque next to it say?

Was made by free people for dreamers.

17. What mistake would the future version of David want to prevent today’s David from making?

Never sell yourself and your freedom even if price is too good.

18. If life is a racetrack, what section are you driving through right now: the start, a straight line, a sharp turn, or a risky overtake?

I think we are in 24h Le Mans today going to pit-stop with a lot of damages on the car and we have 30 minutes to deal with repairments of all them, and back to the track to fight for podium

19. What scares you more than speed?

Idea that it was the last try of the last race.

20. If the future were a race track — would you rather drive first, or wait for someone else to test the road?

Always №1!