Tag: Brian Chesky

Wk 24-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and updates from Week 24 of 2026.

13 June, 2026.
Saturday.
Versova. Morning.

Lemme start this one with an anecdote. On thursday, I had to meet a friend in Powai. So, like most times, I left early (around 8 AM) and en route I passed SEEPZ and then LnT. Seepz is where a lot of blue collar and back office work happens. You know, ops, regular office going people. And I saw people walking about like soulless machines. Crowded around foot stalls, sweating at bus stops, jostling for space. No spark. Nothing. The same loop, every day. And without even questioning the reason why.

Then I passed by LnT. This time, I saw crisp shirts, a few jackets, best formals. Almost all with laptop bags. And another bag for their lunch. And yet in this headless rush to what I think would be consulting firms and tech firms.

This one hurt more. These are the people like me and my closest friends. People who did everything right. They studied. They worked. They earned the seat. They dressed for it. And they looked just as hollow as the first lot.

I could only think of a strong elephant walking to work, carrying its own chains. And the peg. To the exact spot that will bind it. Dignified on the surface. Marching, on its own feet, into the same confinement, day after day. And what sucks more? These people are not wrong. They are not lazy. They love their families. They want a good home. The house, the status, the path everyone expects.

And while I was thinking about this, I reached Starbucks and I had nothing but greatest wave of gratitude engulf me! No, I was not rejoicing in their misery but in my freedom. I love that I no fixed place I have to be. I dont have to dance for anyone. I may not have a golden chain and I may have to scrounge around for my next meal but I love that I can run amok. Reminds me of this cartoon…

I dont know who’s the cartoonist.

And no, i’ve never shared this before but I couldnt stop thinking of this as I rested at the Starbucks seat, with my Americano and a butter chiplet in it.

Ok, lets go.

No, no music this week.

Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the week gone by.

1/ Distribution. From young ones.

Lets start with D. I wont use her full name. Shes 22. Runs growth at one of the hottest startups in India. I spent the call sitting at her feet. And I told her so. “I am a Buddha here, undo what I have learned and relearn.”

She walked me through her playbooks. From doing things at colleges to making playbooks to letting others run it. The shout-out she earned from India’s largest personality. And how she writes hooks (which she takes from evolutionary biology – my notes have details on three signals she looks at and I will not share here). And how she uses Reddit and other things.

Oh, she has a keen eye. She spotted Neem Karoli Baba behind me. And then the call became something else. Pania would call it Satsang. Some day I’d get to spend time with him as well.

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2/ The slow rot at the village

For the first time, I admitted to my people that the village that I am proud of and call myself the zamindar of, is slowly rotting. And dying a slow death. Nothing went wrong. Except three things…

  1. Statis
  2. I created easy times and thus non-hard structures
  3. My inability to push people

I am of the firm belief when something grand happens, its the work of a team. And when a disaster strikes, its typically one person to blame. For the village, the person is me.

So, I spoke to my people about how I am feeling. I said, “This village I created ten years ago will disintegrate into nothing. Which is fine. All good things come to an end. And I am okay with that.”

No one disagreed. Which I can imagine.

The good part is that we agreed that we’d love to be around together, free and thriving. And we know that in the post-AI world, we need to pivot. I made some hard rules and lets see who we get to those.

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3/ Average. And refusing it.

I recorded a solocast on Sunday that I keep returning to.

I said, out loud, “I am a very average guy. I have accepted that I am average.”

And then, almost in the same breath, “in my case, I am not accepting that I am average.” Both true.

That is the thing that makes me tick.

Is it okay to be average?
Yes, if you accept the average outcome that comes with it. Plenty of people around me made that peace.

I have not.

The way out, for someone who is not born brilliant, is discipline. “The best way to get free is through discipline.” Also, I have said this in the past and I will say it again. Being in the clutches of the calendar is what buys the freedom.

And thru this discipline and hard work, I aim to be that person that’s average and yet wildly successful.

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5/ June Focus

15 days in, I can say that one of the experiments seem to be working. I wrote a list of things that I want to explore in June. Here it is…

  • Distribution
  • 66 MG Road
  • Caravan Serai (my Book 2)
  • 56 Hours
  • Revenue from Claude
  • Fix my living situation
  • And more.

I am glad to report that I think I’ve stayed on course with these. I have made progress on some and have taken action on others. And I am superglad. The one thing that seems to be missing is Claude revenue. So far it has proven to be a great experiment and I love it.

Just today I built something that tells me when am hunching! And then I built a task manager!

Isnt this pretty?

Then last week I built a food log generator. Here…

yeah, I need to do better.

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6/ Brian on Post-AI Life

Saw this podcast. Took many notes. Must watch. A lot of it is similar to what he’s spoken in the past but it was refreshing to see it again.

Some are…

  1. Double down on founder mode. Maybe needed considering the rot of the Village?
  2. In action lies salvation. Lol!
  3. The greatest gift you can offer someone is belief.
  4. Micromanage? Not sure on this.
  5. Dont be a manager / coach / mentor. Hmmm…
  6. “How you do anything is how you do everything”
  7. Make the problem small and dominate one thing than many things (this is worth thinking about)
  8. Do what you love for yourself and everything else is noise

More notes here. Ask for access, in case.

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7/ Other things…

Things that I think need to be captured.

  1. Fable came and went. Lol. I have to admit, it was good while it lasted.
  2. Elon is the first trillionaire. Wow. And the other incredible thing is the number of people who got 100M+. Go fund out. Now that’s wealth. And that’s how you build a prosperous village.
  3. Gave gyaan to more people on Claude and oh boy!
  4. We we did CQ. See the new site here.
  5. Gave gyaan to a start up founder about fitness (lol) and a young person about how to get her life back on track (double lol).

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📷 Photos from the week gone by

Same. DM me if you want photos.

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📈 Trackers…

Not updating this week.

Funny that for all the things that I am making, the very first trackers that I started with, I’ve lost steam with those!

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✅ Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In this section, I will capture my progress on large objectives for the year.

In 2026, I plan to do the following three things…

  1. Book2
  2. Human Flag Pole
  3. Save a million dollars

Book2 / Caravan Serai. Made some progress. I think by tomorrow I will be ready to share progress with people!

Human Flag Pole. No action.

Save a million dollars. No action worth reporting.

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📌 So, what did I get done last few weeks? And what will I do next 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.

So, this year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. Sleep, food, movement. Nothing. My steps are so low that it’s not funny. I dont know how to walk in this humid weather. Late evenings are better but I dont know how to step out.
  2. C4E / Work. Pick a thing to apply myself to. It’s high time I figure something. I am not getting the confidence to pick a thing. I may get back to events. Let’s see.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. Nothing shipped apart from talking to a few people.
  4. People. Met many. Should do more of these.
  5. Book2 / Caravan Serai. Made some progress!
  6. Shauk. No action.

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🏃‍➡️ Health

Absolutely no action on this. In fact if anything, this would be negative. No steps, sleep at all hours, eating not clean, unable to manage emotions.

Sigh!

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⏲️ Reminders from last few days

Same as last few weeks. Parking this section.

I think the tracking system I made (I talked about it above) could solve this for me. Let’s see.

If not that, I dont think I will be able to ever make this!

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🗓️ So, one thing that defines the past week?

Freedom.

No, I didn’t suddenly get free. But the realization that I am free was liberating.

The other words for this year have been: People, Motion, Show, Flow, Excitement, Embarrassment, Blur, Whiling, Movement, Blur, Activity, Movement, Regular (again), Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime, Flow, Show, Same, Motion, People.

—
So that.
Over and out.
Until next week.

SG

Oh, and this too shall pass.

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. Previous editions from 2026 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

PPS: Please do point typos.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out

Wk 32-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, reflections and more from Week 32 of 2025. By Saurabh Garg.

Hello!
9 AM (of Sunday)
Versova Starbucks.
Finishing this post at 9 AM on Monday, the 11th August.

So, today, I am gonna make protein bars for myself. Yes, I wanna start with this. And this is monumental. For many reasons. For starters, I dont like my kitchen being used for cooking. I cant live with the mess it makes. And then second, I’ve always felt that cooking is a waste of time. And thanks to folks at FOXO, I am more mindful. And thanks to Abhinav, am walking!

Update from the morning of 11th – AK and I did it. More about it in the next week. Also from here on, I will go back to assuming that I am writing this on Sunday.

And as I write this, I am listening to this on loop. The mixing on this one is da bomb!

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I wish I could rap. I loved a lot of Gully Boy (ya ya, the rap purists, please dont come at me). And understand more raps. And probably write it. And probably perform it. Sigh.

Ok, let’s go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ Overthinker and Overcommunicator
I am the last person to ever give advice on relationships but I have a strong belief that an overthinker must be with an overcommunicator.

Like most things, I would have seen this on some insta reel or something but over time I have come to have a 100% belief in this one. And this is true not just in romantic relationships but also in other places (say, work).

Think about it.

PS: If you are an overthinker, please do see this video and this photo.

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B/ Linkedin Amplification #sgSunAmp
Since the last couple of weeks, every Sunday, I’ve been posting a tiny update on my linkedin where I talk about people and projects that more people need to know.

I dont know how long will I continue with this but I want to do whatever I can do to push more people to do more.

Here are those posts – 0, 1, 2 (today).
You can use this link to find other similar posts.

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C/ Cheap
Spotted this on twitter.

I saw it and I realised that each person in life MUST proudly announce the prices that they will work at. It could be a business, a freelancer, a company, an artist or whatever. But you MUST talk about what you want to charge for your time or services.

And it’s ok to discover that

Also see, E.

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D/ Uni-dimentional thinking and life
I was going through the reading list of the week. And I realised that my greatest influences come from tech-bros, startup folks, business leaders, hyper-successful businesspeople, famous artists and others of the ilk.

While there is nothing wrong with this, I would love to get more variety. I dont know where to look and what to do. Any inputs?

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E/ Hiring process
Prak posted this on her linkedin. Very very pertinent. And I have a lot of thoughts. I even went out of character and made a comment. I am willing to die on the hill that till you build a fanbase (or 1000 true fans), you will HAVE to bow down to CV, assignments, in-human things etc etc.

Also, this post from Prak made me realise a few things. Here’s a list.

  1. I must write more. I struggled to articulate my thoughts in 1250 characters. This can only get better if I write more.
  2. I must work harder on my personal brand. And each person I know has to do the same. If you do, you will probably not need to take up assignments. I remember there was a time when I was looking for work and I could say that I dont have a CV. My name is my CV. Everyone else must be in this same boat.
  3. Whole of point D above.
  4. Each person MUST read 1000 True Fans by KK everyday till the idea gets drilled in the head.

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F/ SoG
I HAVE TO GET BACK TO THIS.
And I dont know how.
Sigh.

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G/ Bad News ASAP
I learnt this at Meru.

If things are going ok or going well, I dont need to be informed. But if there’s bad news, I want to be informed as soon as possible.

For many reasons. These are personal (not Meru’s).

  1. I can plan for contingency.
  2. Same as 1 but if I know the bad news, I can try and figure the repercussions and prevent the next-order effects.

Also, most people dont like surprises because they dont know how they react to bad ones. I am ok in this department tbh. I continue to operate from problem-solution-action triad.

And to be able to do this, I know I must give enough comfort to the ones around me that the bearer of the bad news will not be shot at!

So if you work with me, always give me the bad news first.

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H/ Ask for EXACT timelines.
This is the second lesson from Meru in the last week.

When someone says they would work on something for you, you MUST request for an EXACT timeline (and not a vague “next week”). I was practising this already in life, but thanks to time spent at Meru, this has become a second nature. Must do this more often.

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I/ Futility of action.
See this.

The biggest lesson from this one is that while there is merit and effort and pain and reward in the action, the end result is often… nothing. It’s the act that is important.

Reminds me of Naval where he talked about how all you have is your present and intention. And everything else is immaterial.

Also reminds me of a question that Dr H and C asked me. Here’s my attempt to rearticulate. While I am eternal optimist and long on hope, how do I remain divinely discontent?

The answer is simple. On a day to day basis, I spend my time and attention and intention of the task at hand. And while I do that, each day has to nudge me towards getting better.

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J/ Feedback and change.
Lesson three this week from Meru. When you give input to people, do they change and try to implement the feedback?

If they try, they are good people. If they dont, you ought to move on.

To be honest, this is a tough one for me. I’ve lived my life as a people person and this shift to project person is proving to be harder than I had imagined. Even though I have seen mentors, friends, colleagues, clients talk about it. I know everyone says its not personal but I am finding it hard. I know the answers are within and I need to work on myself.

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K/ The underachievement mountain at 42
See this tweet.

I will not copy-paste. Just that the meeting made me realise that I seem to be the only one who’s not saved for the rainy day. And if I have only people to show for my life and time here, I need a reality check.

Reminds me of that dialogue from F1 – You are not a “has been”. You are a “never was”.

Oh, the other quote from the film that I love is, “hope is not a strategy”. Must get this tattooed on me. #superQuotes

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So this is it.
A lot was unpacked in these words.

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📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 32.

The highlight photo has to be…

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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). Last week I added health. I am moving that section higher as I want that to become the priority as we go along.

Book 2 – no action.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.

Health – I have been actually good on this one.
I track my health updates here, in case.

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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.

  1. Health
  2. Meru
  3. C4E
  4. Brand SG
  5. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  6. Book2
  7. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. I did ok on most departments except workout.
I need to get going on that.
But I can give myself a 0. Yay!

Meru. Was busy.
No large outcomes to show for. So -1.

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. No action. No time.
And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.

So the overall score is -3.
Same as last week. Lol.

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📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

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Look at those steps!
w00t!

And yes, look at that state of emotion.
Will work towards that.

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🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

Last week, I added Health as a key section. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.

I will start with updates on what am doing for health.

I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out.

So…

  1. Sleep
  2. Exercise
  3. Diet
  4. Community
  5. Crowdfunding my health.
  6. Movement (this should be part of exercise but I have a separate section)
  7. Meditation
  8. Some links: My food log, my daily health log channel.

Lets go…

1/ Sleep
I am ok on this department. I sleep well. I am trying to make my sleep environment better. I live on the mainroad and thus its very noisy at all hours. I use earplugs when I sleep to drown the noise. I will start using a humidifier. I have an ok mattress.

2/ Exercise
This is my Achilles Heel. I can NOT work out. I will find some alternative.

3/ Diet
This was my second largest problem. But thanks to FOXO and some awareness, I am doing better on this. I choose to avoid bad things. This is getting expensive to be honest but I can optimise other spends and ensure that I only put in good things into my system. I track each thing I eat on my food log.

4/ Community
This is the best across all counts. Even though I have quirks and all that. Dont want to jinx it. Will work hard to preserve it.

5/ Crowdfunding health
I thought hard about it. And I came to the convenient conclusion that the way you support your creator friends with money, commission, work and all that, I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.

And I have two backers already. Both of them have committed 10K for 3 months.

And having said that, I dont want this early support to make me complacent. I want to earn it. And thus I’ve promised that by the time August ends, I would be 89 KGs (I am 91.3 as of today). So lets see.

Oh, I update this daily health log channel.

6/ Movement
I need to join something that makes me move. The week was good in terms of walks. I have averaged 12719 steps! I hope I continue this momentum.

7/ Meditation
I want to restart on this. Lets see when I get to.

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Apart from these, I will talk about what I am thinking about.

A/ Mindful Eating
Since I’ve got FOXO membership, I am very mindful of what I eat. I am not perfect but I am better for sure. And I need to do a lot more before I reach my ideal levels. Let’s see when.

B/ Making my own Protein Bar
Along with AK and C, I will make my Protein Bars today. Lets see how that experiment goes. Am doing this because no protein bar in India offers a gluten-free, dairy-free option! Plus it’s been a while since I did something new for the first time!

I will report on how this goes.

Update on Monday, the Aug 11 – we did it! We are taking orders. Shipping free ;P

C/ Money needed to be healthy
I am realising fast that it’s incredibly expensive to try and be healthy.
Must earn more.
Lol!

D/ Whoop Age of 46
So, I am 42. And Whoop tells me that as per that, my age is 46. Not that I didnt know. But seeing this on the app, in front of my eyes was, well, eye-opening.

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📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

PS: I had added YT from last week onward. Cos a lot of my “reading” now happens via podcasts / YT videos that I consume while in commute.

Here’s a list of interesting things that caught my eye.

Oh, this week onward, I am making this a tad different. I will also write a tiny note on what am taking away from this piece.

1/ SHL on high-value jobs – here.
My biggest takeaway from this post is that it’s ok to invest time to get the things done if you know you are onto something valuable.

I saw another chart the other day where they talked about how it took Figma 3 years before they had a viable product or something.

2/ Paul’s essay on Persistence.
Spotted this on Vinod Khosla’s X.
I had read it a few months ago and re-reading was so refreshing!

My takeaway?
Dont bet against the Collision Brothers and Sam Altman 😀

Jokes apart, the takeaway is in this line – “The persistent are like boats whose engines can’t be throttled back. The obstinate are like boats whose rudders can’t be turned” and “The persistent are attached to the goal. The obstinate are attached to their ideas about how to reach it.”

3/ Balaji on AI. Here.

A lot to unpack in this seemingly simple list. To be honest, I loved all 10. But points 2 (verification part), 3 (the concept of amplified), 4 and 8 stood out. I specifically want to talk about 4. I am afraid of the time when there are no experts cos all of us will have trained via the LLMs. We are staring at a huge circle jerk!

Oh, point 8 opened my eyes about crypto. I see myself thinking more about it in the weeks to come.

Anyhow.

Let’s see where the future takes us.

4/ Kunal Shah’s Delta 4 Theory. Here.
See this in combination with Brian Chesky’s 10-star Experience video.

Both of them talk about almost the same thing – the importance of building something that the customers brag about.

5/ Tom Goodwin on Longevity. Here.
I dont want to write more – there is enough comments and chatter there.

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And here are some links that I havent had the time to think deeply about.

  1. Samarth on Craft vs Cash. Here.
  2. AML’s next in her series of India’s Tier 2 and 3 manufacturing. Here.
  3. This piece on comfort zones. Here.
  4. MFM with Tim. Yet to watch. Here.
  5. How to make friends and… Here.

🧠 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.

Again, skipping this. Will get back to it at an opportune time.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Blur.
This is the second time in the recent past when I felt that week went by very fast. So that.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Stress, 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.

—
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, 31

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.

Wk 31-25 – Weekly Notes

Updates from Week 31 of 2025.

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…

Screenshot of Whoop data from last week.

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.

SoG and my life’s work

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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.

  1. SG’s Braintrust
  2. TIL
  3. 2025 Mentees (private link)
  4. 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.

  1. Health
  2. Meru
  3. C4E
  4. Brand SG
  5. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  6. Book2
  7. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. The Philosophy of Sridhar Vembu (of Zoho), according to Notebook LM. Via this.
  3. Om’s MASTERpiece on Meta, Zuck and MSL. Here.
  4. Balaji talks about why EACH startup needs a Founding Creator. Here.
  5. This is a very interesing post on Reddit about how to build wealth as a young person. Here.
  6. Cheaper by the Dozen. Here. Funny that English language paperback version is not available. The Marathi edition is.
  7. 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”.
  8. This thread by Tim. On investments and money.
  9. 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.
  10. 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 sweeteners

When 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.