10 AM.
Versova Starbucks.
AK’s spot!
I dont know how this came to be called AK’s spot. Like most things, it would have started with me sitting at one specific place, and then my people finding a place around me. AK being AK would’ve picked one opposite and then like each thing, this became a habit.
So, am AK’s spot. And here is my recap of what probably was one of the most stressful and yet exciting weeks in a long long time. For starters, see this…
Ok, I am still listening to Ray.
Today, it’s this version. On loop. I encourage you to play this while you read the rest of the post. Can’t stop thanking Starbucks for introducing me to this voice and track.
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I must find a way to do these unplugged gigs. You know, like NPR’s Tiny Desk, Sofar, David Letterman’s and all that.
Anyhow. Let’s go.
💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week
PS: As always, these are not in any order.
A/ WTF to write?
So, letting you all in on a secret. I copy-paste the secions an headings and content from the previous week’s post. Then I edit ALL the sections execpt this one. And then I take my time to go thru my notes and lessons and and all that and I add those here.
Today when I opened my notes, I realised that this week was so busy that I was unable to capture a lot of things. And that means that I dont have a lot of things to write here.
But we shall prevail and let’s see what I write.
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B/ Linkedin Shoutouts
Starting this week, I will give shoutout to at least 3 people each Sunday on my linkedin.
This week, I gave a shoutout to Nikunj, Roohi and Nipun. See here.
In case you need me to talk about you, you know who to reach.
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C/ Hard things that don’t scale
I am often reminded of doing things that don’t scale and now that I am in the middle of doing things, I am learning the deeper meaning.
Things that scale need time to put rails and then, well, scale. The things that dont scale are built to get to the market the fastest.
And that nuance is what makes a LOT of difference.
And no, I am not advocating one over another. You gotta pick what works for you and what you want to work on.
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D/ Raanjhanaa’s alt ending
The neck of the woods that discusses films is going berserk about how the producers have used AI to recreate the ending of a film.
There are notes from people about how the director was not consulted, how the nostalgia induced by film now seems cheated, how the consumers deserve more. Etc etc.
Before I write more,
No, I havent seen the film.
No, I dont care about the fandom.
But what I do care is that AI is here.
And especially in disciplines like filmmaking that have been gatekept for long. After code, this is the one that needed disruption and is getting disrupted. I love that I am around to see this revolution. I just hope I was bang in the middle of it.
Oh, and couple this with Shekhar Kapur’s Warlord. And with attempt from C4E folks of doing a feature with TNKS (see this). And while editing, just saw this.
All I can say is that change is coming. And either we embrace it. Or we die a slow, painful, agonising death.
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E/ Founding Creator Roles and JDs
In this video, Balaji talks about why EACH startup needs a Founding Creator. And wow, eyes opened. I’ve remained on the sidelines for too long. And I need to now advice the same to all my younger friends.
This is one of those life changing advices that need no more words to be split. I’ve been guilty of remaining a private person for too long and I need to change that. I wish I was more adaptable while I was younger!
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F/ F1, the Film
I havent had the time to write about F1 yet. I will probably sit on it today.
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G/ New kids to learn from
I am starting to feel the need of finding new people to learn from. In a different era, this was SoG (see this). But with time, that got faded. And now I have no one.
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Thing is, lately that supply of new, fresh, young talent has dried down. I need to build another group / cohort or something that I can be a part of, to learn new things.
If I had more time, I would teach (each teaching session requires a lot of prep). And since I dont have that, I want to rather build some group. Any ideas anyone? How are you doing this? How do you think others are doing?
I do have some groups that I run where I overshare. Here’s a list.
- SG’s Braintrust
- TIL
- 2025 Mentees (private link)
- Taste for Makers
And I am sure there are more. But I need this structured manner in which I can learn from young ones.
Come on, universe! Help me! tw
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H/ Safe Word.
Was reminded of this. See this. And yes, inspired by Simon Sinek.
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Ok, so words are not wording. See A. And see this. May be next week.
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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by
Here are some photos from week 31.
I would love to highlight this quote from Om, from this post about Meta’s MSL.
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🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?
I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt).
Book 2 – no action.
Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.
And starting today, I am adding a new large life objective. Health. More in the next few lines.
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☑️ So, what did I get done last week?
This is a one-line report on progress I made on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.
- Health
- Meru
- C4E
- Brand SG
- People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
- Book2
- Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)
Health. More awareness. Tiny actions. I am also building a new section on this weekly review. But the metrics remain off the chart. So, a -1.
Meru. Was busy. Did some things that showed outcomes! A 0. Yay!
C4E. No action from my side. 0.
Brand SG. No action. And no action does not mean 0. It means a -1.
People. No action on this. I’d say 0.
Book 2. Lol! -1
Shauk. I started with poker. So a step in the direction. But a 0.
So the overall score is -3.
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📊 The tracker from the last week
Here is the tracker.
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Ya ya.
Far fewer greens.
I will fix it. Especially cos health seems to be a recurring theme here.
I need to find the cause and then eliminate that.
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📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week
I have added views as part of the reads from this week onward. This is cos a lot of my “reading” now happens via podcasts / YT videos that I consume while in commute.
Here’s a list.
Oh, while each of these links is interesting and important, I am highlighting some.
- Microsoft Research’s note on what jobs are in demand and the ones that are gonna go out. Here. If you are the one who thinks will get impacted, please talk to me and I will try to help.
- The Philosophy of Sridhar Vembu (of Zoho), according to Notebook LM. Via this.
- Om’s MASTERpiece on Meta, Zuck and MSL. Here.
- Balaji talks about why EACH startup needs a Founding Creator. Here.
- This is a very interesing post on Reddit about how to build wealth as a young person. Here.
- Cheaper by the Dozen. Here. Funny that English language paperback version is not available. The Marathi edition is.
- An interview of Brian Chesky where he reflects on his IPO conversation. I love him! Also, I love the quote – “your culture is often forged in the darkest moments”.
- This thread by Tim. On investments and money.
- Taleb on Stoicism. Here. I love the guy. Sad that he’s blocked me on X. This video reshaped how I thought about stoics. I realise that I have much to learn! In fact, you must subscribe to Picking Nuggets – one of THE best channels on YT.
- Mahesh Murthy’s interview. TBH, I havent watched this in full and I know he may not carry the cleanest reputation. So that.
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🧠 Reminders from last week
This section captures things that I want to not forget. I add those to SG’s Office. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates.
So, I’ve been skipping this for the last few weeks. I am skipping this week as well. Havent had the time TBH to work on this. Again, this week is tough but I will get to it soon.
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🏃🏻♂️➡️ Health
Today on, I am introducing a new categoery. Health.
I will track it here as a seperate section.
A/ So few things that are at the top of my mind.
I am 42. And probably with a body of a 50-year old. And thus I need to work on it.
I am not getting younger and since I love the idea of living, I really want to do something about it. See this photo that a friend sent me.
I’ve been tryin to be 31″ since 2012. We are on the 31st week of 2025. 13 years. And I was supposed to have climbed Mt Everest by 1 Jan of 2026. I cant climb my bed most days.
So that.
B/ sgHealth
I plan to share some updates about my life and all on this WA channel. You are welcome to join. Here. Expect frequent updates. At least once a day.
C/ Crowdsourcing my health
I’ve often said and believed that getting healthy is easy for rich people. And I’ve never had the money. So, I could stand on the sidelines.
And I can no longer do that. So, to test my thesis, I approached some friends with an offer. Give me 10K each for 3 months. If I can get tangibly better (health wise), I will goto even more people!
While the two people who’ve agreed to help me can pay 10K today, I’ve told them that I will have lost 2 KGs by end of August (I was 91.3 while naked) on 30th July. If I am 89ish, I will take their money for OND and see how it goes.
D/ Use of AI
I wrote this following query to help LLMs help me with my food.
Hi, you are my food ordering guide and companion.
Each day I will give you places where am hanging out at. I need to know what should I order there which is low in calories and high in protein, with high satiety.
Please note…
1/ Give me a list of gluten free, low carb, no daily, no oil foods that I can eat as someone living in india.
2/ Please know that I am a diabetic, lactose intolerant.
3/ I want this to be made without oil. Not even ghee, no butter.
4/ Please know that I am gluten intolerant and I am lactose intolerant.
5/ I dont eat non-veg. I can eat eggs, though.
Here are more details..
a/ Cooking methods: I dont want no oil. I am okay with steamed, boiled, grilled (dry), or tandoor-cooked items.
b/ Nuts and seeds: I am okay with almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc
c/ Legumes: I am comfortable with dal, chickpeas, black beans, etc. but I will try to give you more details as we start.
d/ Sweeteners: complete avoidance of sweetenersWhen I give you a restaurant name, please browse the internet, find menu from reputable sources, analyse macros of promising menu options, find 5 most suitable menu options, and suggest a reasonable 1 line simple request for each which I could convey to the waiter or chef to either lower calories, increase protein, increase satiety of that particular menu option
For each meal, I want to eat portions that are at max 400 grams. And I want a lot of fibre and protein. Followed by fat. And then if in case, carbs. I am ok with spicy.
Finally, before recommending, check your recommendation against the 5 things that I have told you.
Also, I will tell you what I fianlly ate. I will also upload the photo. keep a tab of the time am eating, whwat am eating, macros and all that. And then give me a weekly report.
Ask me any questions that may help you do your job better.
Thanks!
Let’s see what comes out of it.
So, that.
Let’s see if I am any better.
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🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?
Stress.
Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.
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Phew!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.
Oh, and this too shall pass!
PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
PPS: Please do point typos.
Grammarly is not working well and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.
PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.