Tag: Culture

Wk 07-26 – Weekly Notes

Morning!
I am at my favorite regular Starbucks.
Perched on a corner table (not on the community table for a change), a buttered coffee in my hand, lingering pain in my back, knee, ankles and I dont know where all and a lot of thoughts.

So, I played pickle yesterday (the third session of the week; yay!) and it was not the best.

I didn’t even get a drop of sweat. The weather was not really cold. It must have been 28. I saw AK and Prak sweating like they were in some furnace.

The game was also not the best. I mean I won all the matches I played (I am better than the ones I play with) and I could see that if I played with the folks on court next to mine, I would not win a single point.

And for some reason I was ticked. I dont know what it was. I cant pinpoint it. And I hate it. And I carried that thru the night. Was pissed. Ate crap. And then as I type this (10:01 am, 14th Feb), I am not in the best of my moods. And I dont know what to do to snap out of the mood.

The only saving grace is that this has happened after many many days (I saw my tracker and at least in the month of Feb, all I have is good days, 1s. Not even 0). So that.

Maybe this free-writing will help? May be I need to find a way to hit some punching bags. Maybe I need to get back to twitter ;P

Anyhow. Lets see where I go from here.

Edit: 6 PM on the 14th. Moods significantly better!

Edit: 8 AM on the 15th. As of editing this, I played on Saturday also. So 4 days in a week.

The track of the week is Prana’s mashup of A Thousand Years and Lag Ja Gale. Here. I love the lines, pass aaiye…

Now, with that out of the way, here’s the weekly review.

.

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from Week 7, 2026

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ Chalta Purza

This has to be the highlight of the week!

I met Bhanu for a lunch and among other things he told me that I am a Chalta Purza. This is the second best thing someone has told me about me. The best is Cockroach (thank you, Vanita).

Per Bhanu, a Chalta Purza is like a cog that can fit into any machine and make the machine go like the fastest rocket to space on the shortest path possible. In other words, Jack of all trades. And ofc the need for these Jacks is a lot more in this day and age.

Ok, I dint do a good job explaining this. I used chat GPT and it said (edited for brevity)…

“Chalta purza” in everyday Hindi means:

A smooth operator. Someone street-smart, well-connected, fast-moving, and able to “get things done.”

In management speak, depending on tone, it can translate into different professional archetypes:

1️⃣ The Positive Framing

Operationally agile, network-leveraged executor

Traits:

  • Strong informal influence networks
  • High execution velocity
  • Navigates bureaucracy efficiently
  • Understands power structures
  • Knows who to call and when

In org language:

  • “Cross-functional catalyst”
  • “High-agency operator”
  • “Enterprise connector”
  • “Execution-focused stakeholder manager”

In startup language:

  • “Zero-to-one hustler”
  • “Gets shit done without waiting for permission”

2️⃣ The Neutral/Realistic Framing

Politically intelligent operator

Traits:

  • Reads room dynamics well
  • Builds strategic alliances
  • Influences without formal authority
  • Knows where decisions actually get made

Often high in:

  • Social capital
  • Informal power
  • Tactical persuasion

3️⃣ The Slightly Negative Version

Politically opportunistic fixer

Traits:

  • May bend processes
  • May prioritize access over systems
  • Relationship-heavy, process-light
  • Can bypass governance

Corporate translation:

  • “High politics, low process”
  • “Influence-driven operator”
  • “Outcome-focused, compliance-optional”

The Clean Executive Definition

If you wanted to put it on a performance review:

“An informal power broker who accelerates outcomes through networks, influence, and execution agility.”

In One Line

Chalta purza = High-agency, politically intelligent operator who can move systems.

So that. High-agency, politically intelligent operator. Lol!

And, two things…

a/ my definition and understanding was incorrect.

b/ I love And I think thats like SPOT on!

Brings me to the next point.

.

2/ Handwriting Analysis with ChatGPT

Oh some random whim, I decided that I want to use ChatGPT (I use it a lot) to analyse my handwriting.

So, I used this prompt (edited a bit).

You are a world-famous graphologist who has done a lot of work on graphology for a lot of business people, entrepreneurs, political leaders and people in power and you specifically excel in doing it for Indians. And your interpretation is far, far better than others. I'll give you a sample of text written by somebody. I want you to analyze that and give me a very sharp, sharp, sharp thought on how that person is and what are that person's ambitions and life and aims. Remove any biases or perspectives that you may have on that person. Be as objective and as indifferent. Operate from zero empathy.

The outcome was, well, amazing!

It told me about things that I knew already (reinforced things). And I am left thinking that may be graphology is legit. Here’s the analysis it created (you will have to ask for access). Some things are worth highlighting.

a/ I may not be a Chalta Purza per that! Lol!

b/ Am great at being a founder. Lol. And I suck at focus and execution. Lol again.

c/ I need to partner with people who are high on conscientiousness. If you are you one? DM me. If you know someone else, ask them to DM me.

If you want more, you are welcome to read the analysis.

.

3/ Gardener in a War vs Warrior in a Garden

I dont know where this thought came into my head while I was writing the things above.

I read somewhere that it’s better to be a warrior in a garden than being a gardener in a battle. And I validate this 100%. In the past week, for work, I’ve had to do many difficult conversations and while I did not enjoy those (or the aftertaste) I realized that I need to have more of those. And since I’ve been a gardener all my life, I couldnt.

I thus want to be the warrior who chooses to live in a garden. I want to be the person who can eat first but doesnt. Right now, I cant.

.

C4E/ Culture Book 2.0

I am working on rewriting the Culture Book for the next version of C4E. And its not been easy. For starters, the book by Sans is like THE best ever and so brilliant that I am breaking into sweat merely thinking about bettering it.

Then, there’s so much to talk about and pack in it, in an eloquent language, for a world that loves brevity, to be read by high-agency, high functioning people who choose to call C4E their home, their village.

Then, I havent really written a lot in the last few months and thus words are not flowing easy. Writing is indeed a muscle that atrophies. At least mine has. And I must prevent it from dying.

So, AI or no AI, I must write more.

Coming back to the culture book. I am having a hard time. I want to not deviate too much from who we are, who I am and what my core is. And at the same time, I want to build it to last the next few years (if not decades). And while I do that, I want to reflect all that I want to stand for. You know, high-agency, hardwork, long-term orientation and all that. I have some 100 keywords that I want to own and write and share and all that.

Been seeking help from AI and colleagues and I am still no where close.

Sigh!

.

5/ Notes from sgSoloCasts / Daily Live

I realised that since I go live everyday (well, almost), I tend to talk about things at the top of my head.

And that means that I dont save them for the weekend to capture here. So starting this week, I will try to include some notes and highlights from my sgSoloCasts here.

  1. Tried an AI handwriting/personality analysis and found the results surprisingly accurate. See point 6 below.
  2. Using an AI tool as a “sparring partner” for business decisions and planning follow-on experiments.
  3. Preparing a storytelling/communication session for March 7 and working on slowing down speech and improving delivery.
  4. Clear internship philosophy: meaningful work, real exposure/skill development, no busywork.

Ok these are not as insightful as I had imagined these to be!

.

6/ Curate People

Naval says that we ought to curate people.

I’ve been doing that since I was like 5 year old. Been a people-connector, low-ego, high-empathy person. Been a Chalta Purza. And yet, when I need people the most, I find myself standing alone.

And the worst part?
The very people that I think I can count on, use me per their convenience and use and throw me. Happened in two cases this past week itself. Sigh!

Also, this use and throw has happened with so much frequency that I am left thinking if its me – I mean if one person had left me, I could have assumed that they did something wrong. But if there are many who’ve used me and left me, there’s something that in me that needs fixing.

So that.

And three things from here on.

a. I dont mean to turn away or offend the rare ones that choose to stay back. There are indeed a few who have my back. You know who you are. I am grateful and I am glad that I have you in my life. I wish I had more cheerleaders and supporters.

And I dont want to discount the role others have played in my life. I am standing on shoulders of many many giants. From my work to money to thinking to life OS to connections to everything else has come to me as a direct and indirect outcome of other people’s generosity.

So, on one side, I want to pay things forward (by helping others selflessly) and on the other, I feel wierd and awkward when I am “used” by others to get ahead.

b. I’ve refrained from writing about this but I think 2026 is the year where I embrace who I am and what I feel. You know, warrior (and not a gardener). I want to accept all the messiness that I am made of. And live that.

c. Despite a and b above, I wish everyone all the best and all the luck that universe has to shower on them. I believe in abundance and net positive games. Each person who grows will hopefully pay things forward and not become a hoarder.

Ok, with that brutal honesty, lets move on.

.

7/ Misc things

  1. I am now an early backer of Remster. This will be the 4th or 5th investment I’ve made in a startup.
  2. I use a Macbook Air M1 and I updated to the new Mac OS. And the latpop has had a significant drop in performance. Or may be that I have many tabs and windows and apps open (which is true). And my performance is taking a hit. So, either I need a new laptop or may be build a fast desktop. However, I dont want to be tethered to a location. So I am in that decision making limbo. What would you do?
  3. Saw this tweet. Talks about the Japanese philosophy of breaking the year in 1-6-4. Do see it. For me, the #1 is book2. And then I will marry other large goals into the 6 and 4.
  4. I submitted a screenplay for the SWA Script Lab and Pitchfest! Wrote about something that I think needs to be talked a lot more – the influencer burnout. This is after a while I wrote something. I hope I get thru.

.

🈺 Photos from Week 7

Here are some.
Again, not too many.
I am not taking as many pics as I would like to.
The one I want to “feature” here is…

I may have uploaded this last week as well. But I had nothing else ;P

Over the next weeks, I will retire this. Takes a lot of time and gives no ROI. Plus I now include pics in the commentary section. Lets see.

.

🈺 Trackers from Week 7

At some point in time, I will have detailed trackers to show. But for the time being the small numbers that I have tracked are…

  • Average Steps -5900. Last week it was about 7800. I want this to be 15K over the next 20 days or so.
  • Pickle Sessions – 4! Also with C going out, I need to find someone as enthu about things as she is.
  • YT Live Sessions – 5. See here.
  • Screentime – Daily average of about 6 hours on my device. Up by 15% compared to last week. I want to bring it to an inhuman 30 minutes. Darn!

What is missing?
Need to get some fitness regimen. Some gym or something. I dont know why am unable to do this :(. May be I will get someone to come to my place and force me to do this? Lets see.

The pen and paper tracker
Here…

I am still trying to find the right things to track.

.

🈺 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

No action in the last week on either the book 2 or the flag pole. I did save some in a bank account that I plan to not touch till the rainy day. So a needle moved on that. Yay!

On the other two, I will build a system. Yeah, I know I’ve been saying that I will build one and never got around to. Let’s see when.

.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week? 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.

This year, I want to track the following…

  1. Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement. Last week the sleep was a tad screwed. I had a coffee post 6 PM and then I couldnt sleep and then I overcompensated. And then it spiraled. But then now I am back on a regular 6-7 hours of sleep.
  2. C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on. I am still far from it. Been 45 days since the beginning of the year. Need to work harder.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media.
  4. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc). No action.
  5. Book2. I want to start with this.
  6. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc). No action.

Made comments in italics. Do read and give inputs.

.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section last year. 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.

Like the last few weeks, no action. I did play pickle four times this week, if that counts. And my daily health updates WA Channel is live!

.

🧠 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.

A few things.

  1. Start a podcast with C and AK. This remains open and will probably get shut. I dont see the excitement in the three of us.
  2. Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is WIP and I will hopefully get this done by next week.

These few come to mind as I speak. I have a suspicion that this will grow and will become unmanageable in a few weeks. I will find a solution when I get to it.

.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Regular.
There is no other word I can think of. Regular day, regular life, regular work. Etc etc.

The other words for this year have been: Easy, Journey, Downtime.

—
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. Previous editions:

  • 2026: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

PPPPS: This is the first “update” of the year and thus a lot of this is incomplete. Allow me one or two weeks to get settled. And, on this one, do lemme know what you think of the new format.

Wk 05-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes from Week 5 of 2025. I talk about things I did, things I learnt and things I am thinking about.

6:47 PM, 2 Feb
Jamjar, Versova

I should be at CSS.
But I am sitting this one out. I have multiple reasons. Here’s a list.

A/ I want to write this before the day ends. I started late and then I had to be at places and thus I didn’t get time. This is my pursuit and I am responsible and I have to get this done. CSS is C4E’s pursuit and I have it in very capable hands of AK.

B/ Also, I want AK (and other kids) to start taking independent ownership of things. I want them to start living with the idea that I will not be around. I also want to learn to not have the pleasure of seeing my kids in action. I want to give them the space to grow and I want to be absent from their lives. I want to be proud of them from a distance. Howsoever tiny it may be but it’s indeed a thing that I value a lot. More about CSS is here.

Ok two only 😀

Anyhow. Coming to the review of the week. Here’s a report.

What I was supposed to do in the week gone by.
And my report on the same.

A/ 2025 plan.
In one line, I haven’t been able to work on my plan for the year. I think now that one month of 2025 is gone, I may never get around to doing it. May be I will still do it during the next week. Let’s see.

The tracker from the week that went by.

The tracker from the last week is here.

As you can see, I have started to miss some days. I need to get stricter about it. And now that I’ve done this for a month, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t do this everyday.

What do you see in this tracker?

Photos from the week

Here are some pics from the week gone by. Here is the link for the week.
As you will see, it was quite a week!

And this brings me to highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Highlights from the week gone by…

In no order…

A / Unidimensional personality
I’ve realised that I have a very unidimensional personality. I was dinnering with a friend of 20 years last night and I did not know what to talk to her about. Each time she would talk about current affairs, friends, etc etc, I would bring it back to work.

While its ok for me at this stage of my life, I think I will have to find a way to change this. Oh, I do want to change this. While work is interesting, what I do today is not world-changing. Aisa bhi kuch khaas nahi kar raha main!

B/ AI FOMO
I have this HUGE FOMO about my lack of participation in the AI rush. While we at C4E have a client who works at the forefront of AI, I am still a silent observer. I feel like that person sitting on the sidelines while life is passing him by!

I don’t know what to do about it.

I do have a friend and collaborator in Krishna. I do have that not-so-secret startup that I am building with a few friends. Both are on the fringes of AI but I would like to have a more mainstream participation. I don’t know how. Any ideas anyone?

C/ AK at Hyd
AK is going to Hyd in the next week. I am INCREDIBLY proud of it. I know she will read this. And I want her to know that I love her!

D/ Processes over people
Each day I am reminded that if I want to scale, I need to think beyond my love for people. You know, I REALLY wanted to prove to the world that I can create a billion-dollar company with great people at the helm and all that. But each passing day I think its getting difficult.

Today I met AK Sir (not my AK but AK sir) and reiterated that if I want C4E to go beyond where we are, I will have to think more about processes than people.

So that.

I know, I know. Sad and disappointing. But this is how it is. I swear that the world is unkind, unfair. And at the same time, it is good, nice and all those warm things. I think its fair to say that the world is indeed a reflection of who you are!

ISTG, I am full of hope on most days. In fact, as I write this, I am staring at the first loss-making year for C4E since COVId-19. And I remain hopeful that we will do well.

Time shall tell.

E/ Took a laptop back from a C4E alum
One of the people at C4E moved out abruptly. Many things lead to this. We weren’t able to challenge the person enough. We couldn’t pay her well enough to help her retain her lifestyle. We didn’t have enough work to keep them meaningfully employed. And then some more.

Each time someone moves on from C4E, I feel sad. In most cases, I justify my sadness with the knowledge that whoever goes away, has gone to a better place. And that’s ok.

In most cases when people go, they go with the gifts that C4E had showered them with – most of these are intangible. In some cases it’s tangible. This person when she moved, C and I decided that we would ask for the laptop that we had got for them. This is very unlike us. I have promised people that I will take care of them for as long as I can. And in most cases, I do. Even after they move on from our life.

But for some reason, this one seemed personal. And I hate it. HATE IT.

But I had to do it. You know, a man’s gotta do. I am also justifying this one as the first in many steps that I will have to take to make C4E bigger and better. So that.

Oh, in the same bullet, I want to write about a tough separation with someone who we were trying to get at C4E. But I shall skip the gory details. All of us at C4E failed with that. Our culture failed. I wish we didn’t. But lesson learnt.

F/ Private Twitter
On the counsel of AP, I’ve made my Twitter private.

I will continue to be on @saurabh and I will build that into a large distribution page (despite the flag and shadow ban). But all personal updates will move on @altsg. Go follow that.

G/ Met Prof Kavi Arya
What a guy!

This meeting was probably the highlight of the week. He runs e Yantra. I heard his journey and I was inspired to do more with SoG.

Meeting him again on Tuesday the 4th. Looking forward to that!

H/ Met Murtaza.
Again, what A GUY!

Again, the second highlight of the week. Murtaza is all of 33 and wise beyond his years. I wish I could be like him. I wish I could create the kind of impact and wealth he’s been able to create.

I/ MDI Network
For the startup, I have been asking for help from people. The set of people who came forward the most is from MDI! I even made a post on LinkedIn about it.

I can’t express in words how much the help means to me. I would’ve spoken to 10 odd people and EACH person gave out advice, inputs, connections and more. I am so so floored by the generosity of these people.

I aspire to be like that. I want to be that person in deed when someone comes to me in their time of need. Come on, universe!

J/ Other things worth noting
I am adding this section for things that I want to take note of, but don’t have large comments to make. This doesn’t mean that these are small things. Just that I’ve either spoken about them elsewhere or I want to keep those private. Here they are, in bullets…

  1. Sachin told me to stop with self-deprecating humor. Wrote more about it here.
  2. Vinny told me about the secrets of the restaurant business. It’s no longer a case but there was a time when I wanted to run a restaurant (I still want a cafe / co-working space etc).
  3. Pradeep did a KICKASS job on Towards Eternity! It is a weekly newsletter that curates and brings together insights from the world of healthtech. Aimed at health enthusiasts, startups and investors, Pradeep cranks out a kickass letter week on week. Do subscribe!
  4. I failed as a leader at C4E. I failed to instil camaraderie. I failed to inspire a sense of urgency in my people. I failed to have us at a team seek higher standards. More is on my roam.
  5. Decided that at C4E, we will stop with low-value work. More on this in some subsequent post. Maybe Chandni will write this.
  6. Read about Bardo. Loved it!
  7. Was reminded that I need to learn the art of sales. I suck at it and I will make a deliberate effort to learn. Thanks, Ramanuj.

Ok that.
Phew

One large takeaway from the week?

In one word.
People.
Simple.

In the week gone by I must have spoken to some 20 people and each was an intense, long chat to learn more, share more, connect more and all that. And I want more! Lol!

Ok!
This is it!
Lemme know what you think.
Gotta go.
See you around.

Oh, here are the previous editions: Wk 01, Wk 02, Wk 03, 04

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes.

I’ve failed.

So I’ve failed. 

Lemme elaborate on this clickbaity headline. And this is about C4E – one of my life’s works.

Here’s some context.

I started C4E sometime in 2015 or 2016. Thanks to the generosity of Rajesh Sir at VISCOMM, I got off to a great start. But I couldn’t keep up the momentum. Things went along like you would expect them to at a startup. Just that we weren’t a startup per se – we were more of a regular business.

And then in COVID, I had to sort of pause. And with the help of Parijat and Pooja, C4E took rebirth in 2020. Both Ps continue to be well-wishers and tethered to us. In Poo’s case, she continues to have the option of being the founder alongside me. As I say often, her chappals occupy the highest throne at C4E.

So, with time, I have grown up and my thinking has evolved. And the world around us changed. And I have seen people change. And from wanting to be the richest man in the world, I’ve started to think a lot more about delivering insane impact, while being the richest man in the world. And from wanting to build a well-oiled machinery, I have pivoted to the want of building an org that is more human than anything else.

Human in my book means – empathetic, soft-spoken, polite, fair, “nice” and all that. Plus, at C4E, each human must (in the order I’ve written below)…

  1. have the respect (as a human) of everyone in the ecosystem. We are ok to let go of clients, people, things if we don’t spot respect. And respect goes beyond general niceness and politeness. And respect needs to be earned and not commanded or demanded.
  2. offer this respect to everyone else. And respect is in action (and not in words). And it’s in tiny things. For example, every email unanswered reeks of disrespect. Every time we leave someone on “seen” and not respond, it’s disrespect. Even if they are wrong. Each time we promise we’ll do something and we don’t that’s disrespect. Not showing up 2 minutes before the appointed time is disrespectful. I can go on for hours on this but I am sure you get the gist.
  3. have the freedom of their time to a reasonable extent (if not 100%).
  4. get fair and timely compensation for the time and energy they put in. Please note I am not indexed on competitive, world-class, market rates etc. I am indexed on fair and timely.
  5. have the opportunity to find a balance (of work and play) in their lives. It’s only them who get to decide what is work or what is play. And C4E must enable that. I’d go a layer deeper and say that their work at C4E must give them a sense of identity and pride. In my case, all of it is work. In the case of some of my colleagues, work is not even a part of their identity.
  6. come with the intent to put in honest, hard work that enables them to “earn” money, respect, the freedom of time and the opportunity to find the balance harmony in their lives. We are a smart bunch and we spot when people try to fool us. And we assume that the world out there is smart as well and they can spot when we try to fool them.
  7. have the drive to grow by doing more and the willingness to contribute to the growth of others. If not of the entire world, then of C4E Village. If not that, then at least the colleagues at C4E. If we don’t grow, we are dead.

PS: I am sure there would be more things that I want people at C4E to have, but these come to my mind as I write this. I will continue to update this.

PPS: I know that people don’t have an inherent awareness of many of the above. As the leader of the pack (I still get uncomfortable calling myself a leader), thus, it’s my job to train, educate, upskill, push, nudge, support, and encourage my people to become the best version of themselves.

And yes, even though I want my people to get all the things in the list above, we must acknowledge and know that we are a business at the end of the day. And as a business, we need to make money. And a lot of that hopefully. Money keeps the machinery running well. I need to pay people fairly and on time. I need money to enable a lot of things that we do at C4E. I need money to pay for my Starbucks!

Of course, we owe it to our shareholders (largely Pooja, myself and some others), mentors, clients, villagers, friends and others. In that order.

But we owe the most to our people. More than shareholders or mentors. It’s our people that make us who we are. The very foundation of C4E is people and the list that I shared above is a non-negotiable. I am lucky and grateful that people at C4E have chosen to invest their most important asset in C4E – time!

And if I am unable to offer my people all the things that I’ve listed above, I would consider myself a failure.

And this brings me to the clickbaity headline.

I’ve failed.

No, I will not go into details of why I’ve failed and what was the point of fault that triggered these thoughts. That stuff goes on my echoChamber. What goes here is acknowledgement that I’ve failed to offer the things that I’ve listed above.

In my head, I have failed to the point that while showering today a few days ago, I decided that I would shut the business on 31 Mar 2025. I thought that I would give my team, my clients and everyone a 7-month notice. I thought of scenarios after that and decided that I would do nothing for a while (may be a year) and drift around. May be reset life at the fabled age of 42!

But then I told myself the following…

It’s my raita. It’s my village. And I can’t take the easy way out. I can’t quit till I’ve reached where I want to reach (please don’t ask me what is this ‘where I want to reach’ – I have a fuzzy picture of me floating in gold like Uncle Scrooge would). And, most important, if not me, who? Reminds of this quote I read yesterday…

It says,

“Look at your habits: Are they the product of innumerable little cowardices and lazinesses…or of your courage and inventive reason?”

And poof! All doubt was gone. All the lingering feeling was gone. I had failed. But I shall rise. At least I will try to. And thus, ladies and gents, we continue to march on. And do whatever it takes to bring my house to order.

Watch me.

PS: While editing this, I realised, I could’ve very well titled this post The C4E Manifesto. Or the C4E values. Or even the C4E promise.

What the heck is C4E?

A braindump on how I think about life and work and what I am building at C4E.

Here’s a brain dump on how I think about C4E and who we are and what we do and where we want to be.

Disclaimers. 

  • This is a brain dump. 
  • This is how I think today. Now. 22 Mar. 19:51 PM.
  • Could change / evolve with time.
  • Not seen by anyone else yet. 

So, among other things, I want to establish C4E as [1] a great business to [2] do great business with.

And a [3] collective of businesses, each with the same ethos, each a part of the cult, each tapping into the same resource pool. Each with an intent to be larger than C4E!

So three things. 

  • [1] Great business – C4E has the greatest people.
  • [2] Do great business with – C4E does great work, if not the greatest.
  • [3] A collective. 

Lemme talk about each of these.

Wait. 

Before I take up these things, have to repeat what Naval Ravikant says: “Play long-term games with long-term people.”

We MUST be long-term people for each other at C4E. And for our clients. And we MUST play long-term games.

Coming back…

[1] Great business – is one that is made of great PEOPLE.

Where people trust, value, and respect each other. Where each person is treated like a person. And not like an object / a thing / OHR ID. The #culture must speak for itself.

At C4E each person MUST chase their respective bliss. Each with an opportunity to do great work in a safe space. Each paid as much as they’d like to be. Or enough to afford the lifestyle of the top 1%. Each with the freedom to work how they want, when they want, on what they want.

Each is a part owner. Each with their skin in the game. Each with ability to live their life the way they want to. Or as we call this in our culture book, each with the ability to choose their own adventure.

At C4E, each person must tap-dance to “work” each day. Each person must “want” to work harder than anyone else. Not because they are expected to. But because they want to. And of course, work smart. More importantly, each has a lot of fun while they work.

So, people first. ALWAYS. 

If people at C4E are engaged, they are in the zone, they are inspired to do great things, we as a business would do well. Even if the times are hard and projects are tough. 

You know #c4eCult 

[2] Do great business with. 

This is simple. We at C4E HAVE to a great business to work with (if not the greatest). While this great / greatness is tough to measure, I believe that a good metric could be…

  • repeat clients
  • referrals 
  • number of heated conversations

While we may not be good / best / brilliant at what we do, HAVE to be the MOST relentless, resourceful, flexible, polite, honest, straightforward, hardworking, smart-working, jugaadu team. 

PS: EACH word here has been used after a LOT of thought (which is unlike me).

And while we do all of the above, we HAVE to be the team that stands by clients through thick or thin. You know, like, friends in need. We want to be around our clients come hell or high water. Our clients often find us standing two steps behind. If not next to them.

We are your wartime consigliere. We are the ones that you can lean on. We will hold your flag high. We will give it all we have. In the words of Will Smith, we are not afraid to die on the treadmill. We will NOT be outworked. Especially when you need us.

PS: we are VERY VERY selective about whom we work with. Even though we are small and it’s tough to survive on a day-to-day basis, we are sure about not saying yes to anyone whom we dont get the right vibes from!

So that. 
Happy people. 
Better work.
It’s that simple.

[3] A collective. 

I am VERY very sure about this. C4E may look like a marketing / communications agency right now, we are MUCH MUCH more than that. We are like a group of superheroes. A collective of people with the grandest brains, unbridled ambition and keeda to do more.

Always buzzing with energy, ideas and all that. Always willing to fire before we take aim. Always wanting to do more. 

Each person at C4E HAS to be special. Each has to build a thriving business with C4E as its incubator. Each must use C4E as a sandbox. Each must take energy from each other and catapult each other higher than what each could individually do!

Right now, some of these that I can talk about are Purple Pencil Project, The Red Sparrow, The Podium, Decoding Draupadi, Titan CS, LHV and others. Right now, C4E is bigger than the sum of these. Some day, each of these HAS to be bigger than the whole of C4E. See this tweet by Elon Musk.

So that.

Recapping… 

C4E has to be a great business to do great business with. And we are a group of tightly-knit, exceptional people, giving our best shot at solving tough problems. And while we do that, we are trying to chase our respective bliss!

If you think you want to be a part of this, come join us! We are really good people to work with!

Really.