Vlad Tenev says he felt pressure to succeed academically because he was good at school and people around him encouraged him to take on more and harder schoolwork.

“... you know, pretty soon after that, I would let myself in, do my homework, go outside, play with my friends. So I was, I was very independent. And, uh, there was always this, like, pressure of having to succeed and do well in school, probably for a couple reasons.”

“One, I was good at it, and so everyone just, everyone around me was like, "Do more school. Skip grades. Like, do better in math. More math," you know?”