Day #42 Grayleap Reading Challenge #Sikhs #12Weeks #Blitzscaling
1) Gaganpal Singh continues his review of the book "The Sikhs" (Author Patwant Singh)
Jahangir was dead against the Guru Arjan Dev(5th Guru) and detained him on false charges. Jahangir wrote in his memoir, Tusuk-i-Jahangir "so many simple-minded Hindus and Muslims have been fascinated with Guru’s ways and teachings…..many a times a thought has been presenting itself to my mind that either I should put an end to this false traffic, or that he be brought into the fold of Islam."
Further, he writes, "I ordered them to produce him and handed over his house dwelling places and children to Murtaza Khan and having confiscated his property commanded that he should be put to death with torture."
This event turned the peaceful movement of reconciliation and reform into the most militant ever witnessed in India. Thereafter the battle between Sikhs and Mughal/Islamic?forces lasted for over 150 years.
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2) Rajesh Madan reviews the 14th chapter of the book "The 12 Week Year" (Author Brian P. Moran with Michael Lennington)
Chapter 14 - Develop your 12-week plan
The authors enlighten us with 5 criteria to create better 12-week plans:
1. Make them specific and measurable
2. State them positively
3. Ensure they are a realistic stretch
4. Assign accountability
5. Be time-bound
They also ask us to ensure that each individual action item (they call it tactic) should start with a verb, be a complete sentence, and be executable as written in the week that it is due.
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"Planning is just problem solving. Your plan solves the problem of how to close the gap between your results today and your 12 week goal."
After you have written your goals (or just one goal), define the highest priority daily and weekly actions that you must take to reach that goal. Brainstorm on a separate sheet of paper all the things you could do and then select the ones that will have the greatest impact.
The chapter also has useful tables to help us jot down our action plans.
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3) Amarendra S. continues his review of Part 2/6 of the book "Blitzscaling" (Author Reid Hoffmann & Chris Yeh)
Growth Factor #1: Market Size
VCs aim to achieve above-market returns on their funds. Typically, VCs need to at least triple their investors' money. To raise funds from VCs, entrepreneurs are under pressure to after big markets.?
An example of VC's dream run - ebay. Benchmark's $6.7 billion invested in 1997 was worth $5 billion within 2 years when eBay went public. That is, 745 times returns in 2 years.
The market size mentioned in Airbnb's initial pitch to Ycombinator was $30 million. The founder Brain Chesky was advised to update the number to $30 billion to make the pitch attractive to investors.
Many such businesses often underestimate the market size.?One reason for underestimation is failing to account for how "lower costs and product improvements can expand markets."
Another reason is missing the possibility of expanding to additional markets. Amazon started as "Earth's biggest book store" but now books sales are only about 7% of total sales. Apple's original market (PCs) now accounts for less than 10% of its annual sales.
Tomorrow let us look at the next factor "Distribution."
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