#1: Easter Sunday

As we close out Q1 2024, and prepare for the rest of the year, I find myself in particularly meaningful times on both the professional and personal front. Becoming a parent has also spurred me to reflect and share more as I hope to enable others through the journeys I undertake. This is therefore my first attempt to put together a newsletter that I'm calling Guiding The Great with the objective of sharing things on my mind, content I am consuming, content I am creating, all in the hope of inspiration and learning for those around me.

I will try and do this.... often. More than anything else I will try and make it a regular habit, and might differ in length and quality over time.

Content I've Loved (3 Podcast Episodes, 2 YouTube Videos, 1 Book)

Podcast Episode: Founders by David Senra #343: The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness (David Ogilvy)

So this podcast that is on my circulation list reviews "founders" through the lens of books. Actually in the theme of Easter Sunday, there is an episode #332 on Jesus that I really enjoyed and will maybe feature on a future edition of this newsletter. I listen to all podcasts on an app called Overcast.fm that I highly recommend because of its smart speed feature which adjusts based on the speed of the speaker (apologies, all my episode links will likely be an Overcast.fm link.

In this episode, David discusses a very short book by David Ogilvy in which he talks about how he built Ogilvy, the global creative agency that actually a friend and partner who has featured quite a bit in my life recently, Daan van Rossum worked at quite a while. Immediately also thought of my friend Sid Tuli (who runs BBH APAC) while I was listening to this episode and also spurred me to run an internal workshop at OnLoop about the culture it talks about and how much we follow it or not. Or even should aspire to.

Talks a ton about innovation, and how the rules of innovation just fundamentally differ from the rules of conformism. As someone building a startup through the various stages of product:market fit, and having also raised millions of dollars in capital at the same time, I play an interesting dance of navigating that journey of various stakeholders and deciding what advice to take and what to ignore. One of the key reflections for me in that regard is that pre-PMF thinking (also what I call early adopter thinking) that can be seen in investors, customers, and employees is very very different from post-PMF thinking and people. Yes, there are people who can straddle both but it is rare. Know who you're dealing with and how to deal with their thinking. That discernment is huge.

Podcast Episode: 20VC by Harry Stebbings : a16z crypto 's Chris Dixon on... (his titles are very long)

So actually, I heard Chris Dixon I think on Tim Ferriss 's podcast a long time ago and it made me feel the most alive about tokenisation (Much like the Jesus episode I think another one to pull out for future editioms). The episode very succinctly spoke about how much more ownership of the economy could be democratised by crypto in the same way equity and debt markets have.

Theoretically, the same could be achieved through infinitely fractional ownership in every business in the world but that would accurately correspond to the tokenization of the entire economy. Anyway, in this episode, Chis Dixon contrasts crypto as a computing movement vs. a gambling movement. And no one else, as so succintly before articulated why I felt madly in love with the tech for a few days in 2015 after reading a Ethereum whitepaper and why I so intensely abhor it today. Ed Barker , this reminds me of some of the arguments we have had, like the one at Keng L. 's wedding :) Ed, you might also like the David Ogilvy episode as to why I am particularly a fan of conflict, especially with those close to me and who I trust.

Although, I continue to believe that generative AI is much more a seismic shift akin to the internet and the industrial revolution, I think crypto as a computing movement is a parallel thread akin to say the cloud that will continue for a while. While I will remain focused on the intersection of Applied AI + knowledge worker productivity, Chris Dixon reinvigorated my interest in crypto as much as the gamblers dissuade me from caring about it.

Podcast Episode: The Knowledge Project by Shane Parrish : #190 Building a Business Empire ( Brad Jacobs )

Shane Parrish is less regular with his releases but often produces gems. I really liked this one - not surprisingly because a lot of it resonated. Actually it reminded me a lot of Patrick Linton and very clearly see him headed in this direction and someone I learn a lot from.

One of the things that really stood out for me was, when asked why he raises money when he has so much of his own, his response was that he does that because making money for his shareholders gives him motivation. Actually, this is something I was sharing with Anvesh Ramineni last week and why a close personal relationship and feeling incredibly understood by my shareholders matters to me so much. A lot of people don't understand it (in what has become a largely transactional world) but its motivating to serve others, even when it is for financial gain.

All entrepreneurs are wired differently, and in order to unleash full potential becomes quite key for each person to understand themselves, and then surround themselves with people who understand them (and their version of crazy).

YouTube Video: How to Give & Get Constructive Feedback : Adam Grant & Andrew Huberman

This makes me talk about two products I love: 1) YouTube Premium that has one of the best recommendation engines that I've seen so far and has let me discover a lot of new content I love. When I want to deeply learn I listen to Overcast episodes while walking at about 1.75x, but when I want to soothe the brain (usually while showering), I listen to great YouTube content at 1x. 2) The Huberman Lab and how much Dr. Andrew has democratized health for the masses. He has taken his credibility, education and work and made it a movement. Again an amazing entrepreneur and one that I have learnt a lot from, and Marc Wente and I continue to talk about opening a Huberman Lab in Singapore one day.

On to the video, although it lacked fresh insight for me (thank god, since I live, breathe and sleep feedback), it validates the work we do at OnLoop everyday. That the art of giving effective feedback is different from making observations. The beauty is that AI can help us mere mortals get bloody good at feedback, and finally solve an age old problem in a brand new way!

Good feedback is as Kim Scott would say direct and kind (surprised she didn't get a mention) - and also specific. I've often said saying "you're doing a good job" is as useless as saying "you suck" and people give me blank stares and this podcast episode tells you why. Episodes like this give me the drive to keep doing the work we do everyday, no matter how many challenges we need to work through.

YouTube Video: "I Got RICH When I Started DOING THIS!" : Tilman Fertitta & Tom Bilyeu

Tom Bilyeu is someone I found entirely because of YouTube Premium and has become one of my go-tos for shower time listening. Although some of the lessons might feel "cliched", they seem like stretching for the mind.

I think this episode resonated because Tim's hard fought business lessons came through and a desire to not impress but simply share. Sometimes in the jargon of modern day business building, we can forget the basics. This episode really brought me back to the basics and struck a few chords.

Book: Messy Middle by Scott Belsky

This book isn't new and not one I'm currently reading but the one that I recommend to every entrepreneur who's building for the long run.

Years 2 to 7 of building a ground breaking enterprise is brutal. The initial euphoria wears off, you're far from being a household name. You still have to go one customer win, one new feature, one new hire, one new marketing campaign, one new investor, one more quarter at a time - and it can feel excruciating. But really where the magic happens.

I find myself recommending it often, Kornvuthi (Korn) Lapprathana is the first one that comes to mind. Remains to this day the best manual I have found to be an entrepreneur.

Things On My Mind

We are in a midst of a pre-A fundraise on the back of a great quarter, and excitement about surging forward and 5x-ing the business this year. It's a slog though and very different from fundraising for me in 2020 and 2021 which was all inbound.

However, its taught me a lot about the ecosystem, the plethora of investors globally, finessing our business and narrative, and excitement about finding the right partners, not just the first ones to say yes. And that's been fun, and will continue to be.

Also, as we get ready for this next phase, its been interesting to see how people react to everything we are going through; within the company and outside. We're going through our first phase of really getting tested, and I'm starting to see everyone's true colours, and its amazing! I consider myself a four year toddler of entrepreneurship and only get better everyday by doing so all of these phases are deeply cherished.

Next, holding your newborn child (less so on day 1, more so in week 2 or week 3) is hard to really describe into words. Feels empowering, a huge responsibility, scary all at the same time. But have definitely felt more motivated to act, to make a dent, to make things a tad bit better in the world. Also becoming a parent feels very much like becoming a founder. Whole different subject matter, vocabulary and set of experiences that are very foreign for otherwise capable people.

Which is why I've discussed with Sina Meraji the notion of taking his lessons building a first time founder residency, to building a first time parent residency going from first positive pregnancy test to sixth birthday! Its a special phase and lots of opportunity to build a great business around!

Also, finally, been a quarter of largest ever ACV deals and biggest ever customer usage spikes. Feeling closer to knowing exactly where we make a dent today and how (proverbial PMF), and focusing purely on that to the expense of all else (repeatable growth). The next two quarters will test us, but feeling resilient.

Content I Created

I do quite a few podcasts and a couple of my favorite episodes that were recorded this quarter are yet to be released, stay tuned!

Among the ones released, the AI in Performance Management and Workplace Productivity episode on Hilmon Sorey 's The Winning Zone podcast was one of my recent favorites more so because we covered a host of topics around workplace culture and productivity and then of course we chatted a little about what we do at OnLoop . Hilmon's AI transcription needs a little help so forgive the typos but hope you enjoy the conversation!

For those who made it to this point, THANK YOU! I've always said I prefer and am better at talking than writing but as part of my Discplined Leverage theme of 2024, writing is a big part of it! I would really like to hear whether any of this resonated or not, so please please please write in. And be as honest as you can, the goal is to be more impactful :)

Happy Easter and have a great week!