Control

How much of our life, everyday decision is in our control? Be it watching a movie on Netflix, ordering via Amazon. Our day-to-day actions like getting outraged on social media or unlimited scrolling after posting pictures of ourselves on Instagram. Or be it Tinder swipes.

When we were kids, we were incentivized, shown goals: score marks, get a good degree, a good job, get settled, buy a car, own a house, have babies.

Look around, observe your actions. How much of your everyday decisions are made by you with your complete consciousness?

pace

As a founder, I am reminded about the pace of shipping, iterating, and closing. It gets growth and advantage over competitors. It results in raising quickly and building a high-growth startup and, surge in valuation.

Being part of the startup and VC ecosystem, I have noticed one big moat, the pace of closing deals. Last few weeks, I have witnessed some deals getting closed in 24 hours. The VCs are reaping the moat and, the founders love it. At an early stage of investment, it is about founders. As a VC fund to give $500k if you are taking half a dozen calls, you are bound to miss out.

The virtue of pace and closing works both for founders and investors. PE firms like Tiger Global have changed the game in late-stage investment, closing deals in 24 hours.

I wish more early-stage funds and super angels enter India with conviction and pace of closing deals, sharing term sheets in 24 hours.

validation

How much of our existence depends on the validation from others. Are we turning into machines to establish ourselves among a group, class, or hierarchy?

On social media, it appears we are selling ourselves, our thoughts to be one among the crowd. We are laughing, smiling, sharing selfie-and letting the world know how prosperous our life is.

We are busy in the race of validation from the outside. We have forgotten who we are, what we want and have let our consciousness rust or retire.

propaganda

Our leaders have run the world, province, state with propaganda and division. In the end, a ruler has to rule. The Britishers were known for their Divide and Rule policy. It resulted in the formation of Pakistan and Hindustan. The two nations have fought numerous wars since then, resulting in casualties on both sides.

We are independent, a democracy. But the divide has existed. It is on every level: north/south, black/white, rich/poor, Hindu/Muslim, male/female. Our independent leaders leave no stone unturned to continue with the legacy of propaganda. Earlier it was newspapers, debates. Social media platform, the mobile phone has amplified it, fact-checking is negligible. Anger, hate, fear, and division are fed routinely.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
— Joseph Goebbels.

Anger

I have heard about channeling anger to creativity. At first, I felt it is just a pep talk thing. But reading more on the life of builders seems like an apt method for creating a masterpiece.

Van Gogh, Beethoven, Picasso, and many others fall in this list. Their anger, eccentricity got channeled into producing something fabulous.

Seneca talks about anger as a vice and how it ruined Rome under Nero. Added audiobook below.

We know anger is a vice, but channeling it towards creativity can result in a masterpiece.

persistence

Do we give up too easily? Is it something modern society to blame? The urge for making quick bucks, becoming famous.

Is persistence disappearing as a virtue day by day? Is this the fate of modern-day civilization?

How many failed attempts it went before Wright Brothers made their maiden flight? It was unthinkable.

How many attempts and what price Thomas Edison succeed in making a light bulb?

How many years of belief, persistence resulted in India’s independence through mass movements like satyagraha?

If you want it, you will get it. You will open all the unknown doors. It is the single quest of wanting and it requires a lot of persistence.

aggression

Why are some people so aggressive. It is like my way or the highway. Be it your boss, a peer, or partner. What are they getting out of their aggression? A sense of power, respect, or accomplishment?

Be it a war or sports, a leader or coach instructs the team members to play or fight aggressively. Why is it so? Even the modern-day cinema or series on OTT fare well if it has war, aggression.

We keep hearing about bro-culture in a startup ecosystem or a club. What are these? An elite club thrives on top of showcasing aggression with others.

We have progressed from the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. But the traits of chimpanzees are still intact with us. How much have we improved? Isn’t aggression a vice?

customers

What amazon does differently than its counterparts is: obsession with their customer’s delight and satisfaction. I was going through this post and saw the YouTube video below. Jeff Bezos defined the entire company’s focus on customers and explained over a napkin.

As companies or startups grow, they go on raising subsequent rounds of funding. An investor or VC fund bet on them for their long-term growth. In most cases, these startups spend millions of dollars in customer acquisition via discounts and advertisements. A very few of them work on a word2mouth or delighting their customers.

I am paying more to amazon because of their customer satisfaction than the others. What other brands have a similar cult following? Brands and founders are more busy achieving unicorn status than delighting their customers with service and winning their trust. I am so dependent on amazon that it’s a default place for any online purchase.