Chapter 1

Notes to Self is my attempt of publicly journaling learnings I pick up from my sometime serious but mostly casual readings and listenings. This isn't a prescription or recommendation for anyone. I am journaling these learnings publicly with the intent to get different perspective whenever someone chooses to engage with it.

I don't have a fixed schedule for content consumption and journaling my learnings. Somedays I binge on something I really liked. Other days I don't feel like consuming at all (this can go on for a few days at a stretch). But I plan to Journal my thoughts in blocks of time.

Feel free to share your thoughts on any of those notes on [email protected] . Always excited to hear new and different perspectives.

The Tim Ferriss Show with Shane Parrish - Rules for Better Thinking

Overall great podcast. Two ideas which made me think about them later.

• Shane talks about changing city & schools almost every year impacted him in his attitude towards relationship building.

I knew that I was moving in a year, and so I knew all of these relationships? were sort of transitory. So I think the biggest impact it had on me is, even in adulthood, it took me a long time to sort of develop "This person's going to be in my life for a long period of time. This isn't like a transitory relationship," and transitory means it is just going to go. And so you don't invest in it. You don't invest in it the same way that you would invest in your best friend or somebody like that because you knew the closer you got to that person at the end of the year, the harder it would be to leave.

Note to Self - People who frequently change jobs probably face the same issue. They haven't really deeply invested in any of the relationships at work and end up with a bunch of transitory relationships. My strongest work relationships were built at Airtel & Shuttl. Two companies where I spent the most time at.

Founders also face the same issue. They need to deeply invest in an idea or else the relationship with the idea turns out to be transitory. Better to go deep into one or two ideas instead of tossing around multiple ideas every year.

Depth >>> Width!

• Shane talks about why kids should be challenged at school.

We went to my? grandmother's funeral in May, and they were one day late getting their essay in, and they were one day late, and they got 10 percent off their essay because they were one day late. And? the school's approach to this is like, look, we want to produce effective adults, and that means you're going to fail in grade seven. You're not going to fail academically because everybody there is really smart. You're going to fail at these little life things that you should have taken that into account when you planned your essay.?

Note to Self - Do we really challenge our kids these days? Are schools in cities like Gurgaon / Bangalore really challenging our kids?

This is also true for our other relationships. Do we really challenge our team mates? Do we really challenge the founders we have invested in?

Keep challenging!

Podcast link below (Watch it later!)

Rob Henderson: Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

Rob Henderson recently listed out 34 lessons he learned the hard way. Worth reading once. While most of them were common sense and easy to relate to lessons, these two stood out for me. Incidentally, both are related to giving advice.

Note to Self - Very often, when I am speaking to a young founder who is doing obvious mistakes that most young founders do, I end up giving them unsolicited advice. Need to stop doing that. A discussion between two 'equals' might have a better outcome (for that meeting).

I have always got amazing solutions whenever i have asked someone much younger for their advice. May be they aren't as coloured with the reality like me or someone older to me. Avoid unsolicited advice!

Link to the article .

Michael Caine on Using the Difficulty

Watch this 1 min 30 secs video now.

Note to Self - 'Use the difficulty' is a powerful way to shift our mindsets.

Turn a challenging situation into a positive experience. In doing so, constraints become guardrails. Changes become opportunities. The glass goes from empty to ready to be filled again--this time, with something completely new.

Often time we have seen this in the business world. Best business ideas are at the cusp of whats difficult to do (more for others than the one building it) and is valuable. Things which may be easy to do might not be valuable at all.

Use the difficulty!

Piper Sandler's Gen Z Survey of 9,193 U.S. Teens

Some amazing learning about which brands are popular amongst US teens. But the most fascinating revelation for me was Nike's dominance in the Footwear category.

Note to Self - Nike does not sell amazing products, it sells touching stories. It has been able to create emotional connection between athletes and their gear.

Despite being a 60 year old brand (definitely old for Gen Zs), it still rules Gen Z's mind. Tells us that good touching stories sell. Doesn't matter who is telling them.

Be like Nike!

Link to the complete survey here .

What I learned about Investing from Darwin by Pulak Prasad.

The book has some interesting learning. But far & few. Otherwise it's just an average read. Readers should see it as a brochure for Nalanda Capital :)

Out of the few insights that stuck with me, this one is really fascinating. The early embryos of 5 different species look so similar!

Note to Self - If the embryo of a Fish, a Turtle and a Human looks so strikingly similar, how to do you differentiate them at an early stage? You study their evolution pattern and then over time build skills to differentiate but only as the embryos grow.

On a lighter note, the same is true with startups as well :) At an early stage (idea stage), it is so very difficult to differentiate between a future Unicorn from a future Decacorn or a future Shut-down case. We need to study their evolution pattern and be ready over time with skills to differentiate them and pick the winners.

Learn from Darwin!

Amazon link for the book here .

Until next time.

Keep Learning :)