Category: Notes

I came across a TV series, and a line from the same struck me hard, translating to something like: “Had I not been afraid of imaginary ghosts throughout, God, I would have lived life to the fullest. God, would I have died peacefully.” This thought lingered in my mind, nudging me to ponder over how…

Have you ever come up with a groundbreaking idea, only to have it rejected by your manager or colleagues? It’s not uncommon in the tech industry, where innovation and disruption are highly valued. However, it’s essential to understand why your idea may not be accepted. One reason may be that your idea does not fit…

A go-to-market strategy for a B2B SaaS product that specializes in the US market might look something like this:

Platform product management focuses on developing and managing products that are built on top of a shared platform or infrastructure. This is in contrast to general product management, which focuses on developing and managing standalone products that do not rely on a shared platform. Platform product management is an increasingly important role in the tech…

Every other day, I wake up to find my Twitter feed with stories on how startup founders have raised yet another round of funding. As I keep scrolling my timeline, I see the industry folks celebrate the funding & congratulate the founder, which is good, but not always. The startup ecosystem in India has seen…

Can you imagine a world without the Internet in the current circumstances? Now, just visualise the kind of frustration you experience when you see a “404 error” and “DNS server error” on your screen? Well, if this was 1995 where just 1% of the world had access to the net, it wouldn’t have made a…

If one were to understand why “Conscious Entrepreneurship” is being thrown around a lot these days, it is probably because we’ve been a generation of people chasing success rather than those trying to understand the purpose of what we do or why we do things.  If I were to begin breaking this idea, I’m reminded…

Ten years ago, you wouldn’t believe me if I said financial advice on investing would be available for you on Instagram or TikTok. Well, that’s how social media has evolved over the years. As millennials struggle to balance virtual and real-world lives, they have also discovered they need to keep their followers engaged/entertained.  From tips…

As I begin exploring how memes have become a deep-seated part of the Internet’s conversation culture, I cannot stop giggling at the slew of memes on the Suez Canal crisis that has, unfortunately, put the world’s trade in shambles! What I also realise in the process is that this meme culture teaches us that memes…

It’s an image everyone has seen: Marilyn Monroe flirtatiously posing over a subway grate, her white dress fluttering in the air. Filmed in Manhattan, this moment from the movie “The Seven Year Itch” is the most enduring depiction of the icon. What we may not have realised is that she is also one of the…

Every time I browse through products I like, ads from Instagram or Youtube never forget to remind me about how technology has become so intrusive. It doesn’t end there. To keep me hooked to their apps, they keep sending friend requests of random people (I’m referring to the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma), notifications and…

Scene: Year 2030 – An evening conversation on a cosy Sunday night. Alexa: “Aditya, what you are consuming now may affect your blood levels in the body. Why don’t you take it slow? The last time you got your tests done, you wanted to maintain your iron levels well. Remember?” Me: “Alexa…why? Why so serious?…

Every time you look up Licious, you are sure to browse through the day’s special combos on offer. Or, going by your browsing history,  several brands like Sleepy Owl, Svami or 4700BC may keep reminding you to buy things you may have momentarily forgotten or “saved for later”. Or, Swiggy may send you a text…

As I began wrapping up my day’s work, I casually looked up Instagram and fell for doom scrolling (Yes, guilty of it)! While I began that eventful exercise that sucks up time, MamaEarth suddenly popped up and spoke to my heart as if it knew of my non-existent hair fall issues. Then came DaughterEarth with…

Ever thought that “choice” could be the most difficult thing in life? The complexity of our existence itself is based on our choices. You get it now? Each of us makes millions of decisions – happy, difficult, challenging – that affect us in our lifetime. In a globalised world, our choices have grown exponentially —…

Did you know that a lot of Chinese farmers survived the pandemic through live-streaming? As novel and strange as it sounds, let’s take the example of Li who had harvested flowers in Yunnan province of China, just before he heard of the new Coronavirus outbreak. All his hard work went down the drain as his…

As I dig through the leftover crumbs from the last bag of chips, I realise that I’ve been binge-watching Peaky Blinders for 10 hours straight.  While I’m wallowing in the guilt of “I-have-so-much-work-to-do”, I sometimes wonder what makes Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms trick your brain into believing you have to give up your sleep! The psychology…

Calling out toxic behaviour in perpetrating violence/discrimination/other serious issues is much needed, but sensationalising trivial issues & maligning people publicly is what is stupid.  Calling out someone publicly may be “woke” for a few minutes/hours. But, after that you’re on your own. The thrill of it definitely gets people visibility & all that stuff.  #CancelCulture…

1/ Can design be inclusive and create a sense of belonging for everyone? Yes and how?Here’s a #thread 2/ Inclusive design considers human diversity & uniqueness of each individual with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human difference. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution.  3/ I believe inclusive design is…

Every time I hear about a top industrialist flying to another country, I have this uncanny feeling that this person might be leaving a huge hole in India’s banking system. Sometimes, it is also surprising that our government realises about their fleeing only when the person is found on a foreign media channel, blissfully shopping…

1/ Do you know why you read/watch the news? Or How you choose the news? Have you thought about its relevance in your life? Does following the News really help? #News #Media #MediaConsumption #MentalHealth #Stress A thread. 2/ Let me ask you: Leaving the pandemic aside, when was the last time you made a major…

1/Well, here’s the thing about Sales — you are always SELLING or are BEING SOLD. #Thread ?? 2/ If you analyse your life, you will realise that everything is related to sales. Here’s a perspective: When you were a kid, your parents were always selling you that school you went to; to the society you lived in;…

As I scroll through the countless memes in this lockdown, I can claim that I have at least witnessed one ‘Black Swan’ event in my lifetime. As the COVID-19 pandemic slowly spread its wings putting us through excruciating angst, we still found our Genies through the Gig Workers who doubled down not only as our…

There is this popular series, The Big Bang Theory (TBBT), where its lead character, Sheldon Cooper, in one of the episodes, comes across a machine that helps him read people’s emotions and be more empathetic towards them. Sheldon, throughout the series, is portrayed as a person who can’t grasp nuances of human emotions and while…

While I was waiting at the Mumbai airport to catch a Bangalore flight last week, I started scrolling down my Instagram. The shares and likes I had got on my recent sunset photo at Marine Drive made me smile. Fifteen minutes flew by, and I jumped to Twitter to check my feed. Ultimately, I switched…

At the local Starbucks in my city, I see iPhones, Tablets, Macbooks and other fancy devices interacting with each other, exchanging streams of information — All this happening just in between two coffee tables. This is not a scene from the future but from our daily lives where we see humans interacting through their devices,…

All it took was someone willing to have a look into what was going on behind the scenes. And the lives of thousands of gig workers–the most vulnerable workforce in today’s society — changed for better. Only a bit though, but it did. Last month, an article by the New York Times detailed what’s a…

The last time I heard from my cousin who is pursuing a Bachelors in Computer Science here in India, he told me about his internship at Volkswagen in Germany. Seemed like he had worked out the financial aspects with the paid internship at the auto giant. Interestingly, this guy also took some time off and…

Have you ever heard somebody say that they got their timing right? And, how often have you heard the same person mention how somebody else always got their timing right and that it was easy to be at the right place at the right time?  If only all of this was mathematical.  2008 – Finished…

Lying on the couch, I’m working on my laptop. A few minutes later, I find myself scrolling through the infinite food options on Swiggy. You’ve probably used one of the many ‘food-tech’ apps either to search for a restaurant, make a reservation at your favourite bar. Restaurant picked, the discount code applied & order placed!…

A tweet by @therealpkj trigged a bunch of thoughts when I was trying to figure the publishing space. Thread: Echo’s my thoughts as to why we didn’t raise monies & exited Social Samosa early in the game when others went ahead to raise money, and now seem to be folding up. https://t.co/nRK2J0G7Oq — Aditya Gupta…

Having run two startups, Social Samosa, and Igenero, I feel the pulse of the startup industry. Over the course of 7 years of running Igenero, we have worked with 80+ startups. Not boasting, just setting some context. [Winks] iGenero currently works with a bunch of venture capital funds & helps their portfolio companies build a better…