NeoSapien Archives

Wk 12-26 – Weekly Notes

Notes from weeks 9, 10, 11 and 12 of 2026.

I am back!
After exactly a month.
The last post here was on the 22nd of Feb. And in the last 4 weeks, a lot has happened. I’ve travelled to Dubai, Delhi, KL, Singapore. There is a war in the Middle East. Some inkling of the idea (in terms of what I want to do) seems to be taking shape. And as always, a lot of thoughts and observations. Lets see how many of those can I capture here.

But then I havent written a lot lately and I think I the writing muscle needs some sort of a booster. Maybe this post is that.

Lets go.

Wait, the track of the week is this.

I used to hear this track a lot when I was younger. And I had forgotten about it. And then I meet a friend and he reminded me of it. And I love it. I can not stop grooving to it!

PS: Here’s a post about the friend. And a photo I took.

Any how.
Let’s go…

💭 Highlights, reflections, updates, notes and thoughts from the last few weeks

As always, these are not in any order.

1/ The world becomes kinder when you’re seen as a success

If there is one lesson that I’ve learnt in the last 15 days, it is this – the world will reward you more if it sees you as successful.

Nothing surprising about it.
The entire theory of evolution is about natural selection of the strongest. The Selfish Gene says that whatever has the highest odds of propagating, will survive. Success is the independent barometer reading of your value to the world. And the world will reward the ones that they see are already successful. We see this play out a lot around us beyond the books and in real life.

Founders with IIT-IIM pedigrees get funded more. The success indicator is the school they went to. Actors that do well tend to get offered better films. And apparently in Dubai, if you dont have a Rolex on your wrist, you are not allowed inside certain places. The car your drive, the place you live at, the clubs you have the memberships to indicate a lot about your success.

And that begets you more opportunities!

So, its imperative that you are a success if you want to deliver on your destiny. I’ve been the kinds to never chase the worldly markers of success. But I am learning it the hard way that I must. And it will need a large change in my personality to do this. Let’s see if I can choose this discomfort as I think about the next things in life.

And like that maxim goes that its expensive to be poor, there’s another that I want to tattoo on my backside – you’re a failure if you dont succeed.

Lol!
Maybe need to come up with better ones.

2/ The concept of Karma is theoretical at best

The other thing I learnt while I was on the road is that Karma is overrated. It’s the softer pillar that you lean on to tell yourself that you are doing good and as a result, good will happen to you.

Same as religion but milder.

With religion, the idea was to create some guidelines that would serve the rulers and create some semblance of order with those doctrines. And then with time it became degenerated (or maybe evolved) as a way to control people and wield power.

With religion, the rules of conduct are set by old books and their keepers. With karma, you set the rules, you want to be good, hoping the good will circle back.

With Karma, you dont serve one person’s agenda but you limit yourself. And then you stay in the boundaries. However, IRL, I’ve seen boundaries diminish with such ease that I am often left wondering, were there any in the first place.

So that.
Wont write more.
I am hoping that my readers are smart!

3/ Life in other countries is very relaxed…

…if you can do you own dishes and clean your clothes.

Jokes apart, I think the day to day life is a tad better out of India.

I travelled to three countries and lived with friends for more nights than I slept at hotels. And that means I could see life up close. And I realised that daily friction of living is so less in other countries that I am left wondering, why is our life in India so screwed.

The landlords dont bother you if 5 people come in.
The neighbors are not pesky.
You dont fight over petty things with folks around you.
The strangers are generally helpful.
No one is cutting queues.
You are offered space.
There is overt politeness.
Everyone seems to be helping each other.
The two countries that I spent most of my time in, there was no large display of religious disharmony (one is an extremist nation and the other has very hard rules against such).

Of course its expensive to get the army of domestic helps that we are so used to in India. So if you can afford, it would be even better. If you can’t afford, you ought to find your balance. But am more convinced that one must not live in India!

PS: If you do choose to live out of the country, you also have the option of finding your kinds (other Indians) or you can learn to chat with folks from other nationalities and expand your knowledge. I specifically write about this because I saw a lot of my Indian friends make friends with other Indians!

4/ Dar ke aage jeet hai!

Read this “jeet” as…

making cold calls,
making small talk,
taking shots beyond your comfort zone,
sales
etc.

Most people I know are unable to do these because, well, fear.

I am the same.
I have a hard time initiating a conversation with someone. I have a very terrible self-image. To a point that Kunal shared some notes and ideas on how to fix it (I tried but I havent been able to fix). But I do know that folks that are able to overcome their dar are indeed great!

And I I have to say this, in bold.
That if I could turn back time and re-learn life from scratch, I would learn the art of sales. Really. I just dont know how to sell. I often sell myself short. Or I push myself way too much.

5/ Claude Code

I am claudemaxxing for last two three days and I love it.
I have this spring in my step.
I am giddy with possibilities.
I can build up these worlds that I live in.
I love the idea of being able to control my future and do larger things.
And I know I am like a child – I am not sure of the risks and pitfalls and everything looks full of hope. So that!

Oh, with Claude, my friends and I have tried to work on a nutrition supplementation app, a screenwriting support tool and I dont know what all! I know none of these are production quality, none of these have users but as they say, hope floats. I will keep updating here.

Here’s an update from Sunday evening…

6/ The return of Travis

This was one of the biggest news of the tech world in the last few days. And no, I am not untouched by it. I have conflicting thoughts on Travis. On one side, he built a company and took it global and created impact. And on the other, he’s not a nice person. So that.

Anyhow.

Do read Travis on Atoms.
And Om on Travis on Atoms.
While you are on Om, also read Om’s piece on storytelling and Symbolic Capitalism. This is something that I want to push at C4E!

7/ Stripe Press

Spotted Rohit’s piece on Stripe Press.

I have to start a Stripe Press clone! I’ve been thinking about it for too long. And if my latest manifesto (to spread joy while i make money) is to be believed, I would love to do something in the publishing space. I do have a few friends in this space. There is Prak. Just that I havent had the courage to do that. Plus the money situation in the publishing business sucks. So that.

Lets see what I end up doing.

And while we are on Stripe, here’s advice from Patrick to folks who are between 10 and 20. Read. And truth be told, relevant to even people my age!

8/ Mobile free in April. Can I?

I want to spend the whole of April without a smart phone. Is it possible?

Especially when I plan to be in a different country for a few days. Let’s see. I mean I can use my smart phone dumb (assistive mode) and live with it.

I dont know.
Time shall tell.

But today, on Sunday the 22nd, I plan to not use my Smart phone.
I am carrying a feature phone.
Let’s see how that goes.

You may also want to see this daily YT live that I do…

9/ Lessons from last few days

I will make a linkedin post on this but I want the content to have originated here.

Like I said, the last few weeks have been interesting. I’ve been about town and met people (old and new) and learnt many lessons.

I wanted to capture all those even though its humanly impossible to do a good job, even with notetakers and all that. So, here’s one line lesson from some folks I met. And like in most one-line pieces, a lot of context and nuance will get lost.

Anyhow.
In no order, let’s go…

Aastha taught me how to think big. And not give up. And be at it. In fact, Aastha has to be one of the top 10 people I’ve met and been able to befriend in the last 5 years.

Pritam taught me that a true general will never leave till he wins. And if he is forced to, he will not leave without his team. Pritam is also a top-10 person.

Bux and Puspesh taught me in different words that the market needs to validate the idea by paying money for it. The validation of ideas is NOT in research or in reports.

Puspesh also taught me how you find your space in this world. And even if you choose to be stubborn about what you want to do and how you want to do, the world will often give you what you seek.

Sharan taught me that consistency can be easy. Thing is, this has been my Achilles Heel. I am not consistent and I want to learn more from Sharan.

Aanchal taught me how is it to be focussed and driven and yet have a good time. She and I share a common last name and I want to be better friends with her.

Mahesh Sir taught me how to build and support a village. And how to put your money where your mouth is!

Swathi taught me what courage could look like, especially in the face of battles on all fronts – work, personal, health, etc etc.

Ajeet Sir taught me how to build networks and bring people together. And be compelling when its the time to sell.

Bhaargav taught me how is it to acknowledge that you were on a wrong path. And then course correct. And keep at it.

Ankesh taught me yet again that I need to be fearless. And he also taught me that it’s ok to acknowledge that you may not know everything. Also, Ankesh is another top-10 person.

Krishna taught me how to change my opinion and look beyond things that I am convinced about.

Rohit taught me young hustle. And dream. As I write this, the boy from a tiny village (literal village) is in SFO and building his dream.

Ayush is another young hustler and he taught me how to focus.

Varoon taught me grace. On this one, I will have to give context. He’s been a client on two projects – on one, we did a kickass job and on the other, he fired us. And yet he remains accessible and helpful and polite and graceful.

Aoenha taught me how to be a bossperson and chase an idea that no one can even fathom and do it with so much passion and energy that the world has to line up and give you what you seek.

Samriddh taught me three things on my last meeting. I will only talk about one. To not give a fuck. While I hear this from many many people, I am not left inspired. In Samriddh’s case, his journey has been nothing short of incredible.

Phew!

ISTG, there are more.
But I am tired of writing and remembering.
I need a better system ;P

10/ $50 from NeoSapien

This honest review of NeoSapien Neo 1 that I wrote a few months ago seems to be ranking high on SEO. And I have made some 50 dollars thru it! I love free Internet money!

In case any of you has any consumer tech products that you want me to review, am here! Lol!

🈺 Photos from the past few days

Here are some.

Not too many. Especially cos I was not in India. And I’ve been thinking about shutting this anyway. So may be, from next week on, I will shut this.

🈺 Trackers…

I dont have trackers.
I was unable to track while I was on the road.
No one to blame.
So skipping these for this update.

🈺 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…

Book2
Human Flag Pole
Save a million dollars

No action in the last week on any of these goals. I do have a vague thought on what I want to do in terms of work. But that doesn’t count on these at this time.

So, no progress and no update.

☑️ 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.

Like last section, no update over the last few weeks. Just been on the road and terribly busy with it.

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

Health. I will work on sleep, food and movement.
C4E / Work. I want to shortlist some idea that I want to work on.
Brand SG / Distribution. No action on this. I remain away from social media.
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc).
Book2. I want to start with this.
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc).

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ 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.

No action again. I mean I didnt track or actively think about it.

🧠 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.

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. Closing this. Couldnt make progress.
Update C4E’s Culture Book. This is still WIP.
~~Storytelling presentation for the session on the 7th March~~. I missed this. And I will do this in March. Maybe on the 28th or the 29th? I missed this again. I dont think am doing this. So closing and moving on.

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. For the time being, here’s a sheet where I track my actions.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Movement.
And that’s why I was not that active on socials!

The other words for this year have been: Regular (again), Regular, 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, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (missed these three).

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Review of NeoSapien’s Neo 1

Honest review of Neosapien Neo 1, the AI notetaking device from India

So, I met Dhananjay (DJ) for the first time at the insistence of Aditya Sir. Aditya had told me that DJ was working on an AI-wearable. Mind you, this was some 6 months ago, before AI became ubiquitous.

So I was curious!

The first thing that struck me was his fitness.

He is extremely fit and ripped, and he has long flariy hair, and I was like yaar I wish I could be like that!

Any how, the second thing, and more pertinent to this post that hit me was the blinking pendant he was wearing around his neck. The curious cat in me asked him, what was it.

And turns out, it was an early version of Neo (you can use this link to buy, and this is a referral link, gives you 2K discount). An AI-enabled notetaker that you hang around your neck! Wow!

At the time, he mentioned that Neo can also track the emotions of the people in the conversations. For example, while talking, if somebody’s sad while talking to you, the notetaker will tell you that the other person was sad.

Now somebody like me who likes the idea of living in public, and taking notes, and wanting to be a super connector, this seemed like a godsend thing. I could focus on conversations and be fully present in the meetings. I won’t have to carry a notepad, I won’t have to break eye contact, and I will absorb more! I am anyway, a big fan of augmenting human capability with such tools and all.

So when I finally got access, I had high expectations. And here’s my unbiased, honest review and how I use it.

USE CASE 1 – THINKING

1.1/ I use this while I want to talk to myself.

I go for walks and I don’t carry a notepad etc.

I merely talk out loud the things that I want to save. Since the device does NOT record the conversation, I also use the voice memo feature on my iPhone to record those.

USE CASE 2 – IRL MEETINGS

2.1/ I use this in physical meetings where people are ok with a physical device.

TBH, till these browser-based based AI-notetakers were not commonplace, it was tough to get consent. Now, all I say is, think of this as my AI notetaker from the browser window, in a physical meeting room.

In those meetings, I can focus on conversations and outcomes and all that. Rather than scribbling furiously in my notes.

No, I dont use this for online meetings. For that, I use Granola. Ofc, if Neo comes up with a browser extension, I will try it.

2.2/ Saves me the pain from decoding my handwriting 😀

2.3/ Once I have those notes, I port those into my Roam. While I do that, I add context. This is where all the magic happens.

USE CASE 3 – EARLY DRAFTS FOR WHAT I WRITE

3.1/ I also use this to “write” early drafts.

My best writing happens when I have talked out loud about a concept. And then I let that simmer in my head. And then I vomit out the word salad. And then I don’t edit (lol).

And with Neo, I talk about loud about what I want to write. And then I use that as my first draft.

PS: A large part of this very post was “written” by Neo! See raw notes in screenshot.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME?

1/ Battery life is GREAT!
I charge it once every 2 days

2/ It can gather voice streams even in noisy environments.
This is great. Because I am at a Starbucks all the time.
Or I am walking on the noisy roads (Mumbai, you know)

3/ The notes and summaries are pretty amazing.
I dont know what engine they use at the backend but it captures pretty much everything!

WHAT DOESN’T WORK FOR ME

1/ I don’t like the form factor.
Nothing to do with Neo. Just that I dont like pendants. Even when I do podcasts. I hate to use a clipon mic.

2/ Haptic Feedback
I want the “click” button to start the device to give me some haptic feedback.

Right now, it doesnt do anything. I mean it works, but I like some feedback for sure. This is the very reason why I was bearish on touch phones when they first came (really!).

3/ Audio recordings
I wish the device were like a dictaphone where I could record everything. Often, there is merit in relistening to conversations. Right now I cant access raw recordingts.

FINAL VERDICT?

I like it.
I would love to make this a part of the joining kit of every team member.

If you want a gadget that can become your note-taking copilot, you MUST try it. I want DJ and Neo to succeed. So, I could be biased in my opinions.

I would encourage you to try it. However, as always, please do your due diligence. I could be biased.

You may click this link to buy.
PS: this is an affiliate link.

So, that’s it. In case you do end up buying / using, lemme know and we must chat on use cases.

PS: DISCLAIMERS

1/ I paid for Neo. I paid 9999, cos I was one of the early backers.
I did not get any freebies or money from DJ for this.
PS: Price seems to have gone up.
PPS: Jan 13, 2025: Updated the post to add the referral link for Neo. It gets you a 2K discount and give me a 1K.

2/ Here are raw notes from the app after I “talked” to it.

Wk 08-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes from the 8th week of 2025.

This one comes from Bangalore.
And I am listening to this as I write this.

So, I had decided that I will not take flights this year. But I took one. I have talked about why I did that. And oh boy, am I glad I took it! I missed that entire grind of cheap yet comfortable travel, seeing new things, meeting new people, and observing things. The curious cat old man in me is thrilled!

Must reconsider the decision to not take flights. The largest reason for not taking flights is that it fucks with the routine but at least I’ve been consistent with my daily tracker. And if I can be ok with that, I think I can add other things (food, yoga etc). Just that I will not be able to travel light. And that’s ok.

Ok moving on. Here’s my update.

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

A/ 2025 plan.
This remains open. I will work on this someday 😀

Vivek often calls it the State of the Union. Lol!

B/ Health
I took my weight before I left for Bangalore (I was 89 KGs). I will measure it again once I am back. While I am here, I am being mindful about what I eat and how I eat and all that. I am also walking a lot more. It helps that I picked a guest house near the client’s office.

I am yet to fully assume the identity of a healthy person but it’s WIP. Last night I was craving for a pizza. But I replaced that with chips etc. Lol!

Like I said last week, my health will be my north star.

What did I get done this week?

I am adding this here from this week on.

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

Health
C4E
Brand SG
Startup (this may take up C4E’s place in the list)
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

I will give a one-line report on things I got done. Done. Shipped. Not WIP. As I go along, I will add more to this but today, one line update.

Health – Walked an average of 9K steps this week. Meditated twice this week. At some point, will add yoga and muscle-building things.

C4E – In Bangalore to meet a client. Put in the process for the team to work without me. So far, we seem to be ok with it. However, we’ve not been stress tested yet. C and F seem to be doing well with it. On the Labs piece, the website is live. AK is leading the team of BK, SJ, KA and others and shipping things. So that’s cool.

Brand SG – I am a lot more visible on the internet. Thanks to AK in large. I also kickstarted the Cockroach podcast. We call it The Optimists Manifesto. Read more about it here. The idea is to talk to people who’ve survived despite everything around them!

Startup – Helped team get ready for launch. There’ve been hiccups (new team and all that) but learning!

People – Did nothing.

Book 2 – “Wrote” a few chapters with the help of Claude. Shared some of those with the beat readers group (in case you want to help me, join this).

Shauk – Nothing on this.

I will also make a tracker on this.
Oh my love for forms and trackers ;P

The tracker from the week that went by.

Here’s the tracker from the week gone by.

Look at the averages column. Highlights…

I am incredibly stoked that I averaged 10K steps. Subendhu averaged almost 12K steps in the last year. On the YTD, I am at 8900 steps. I need to be able to beat him. Let’s see how it goes.

I also added meditation. I haven’t added for the 23rd (today).

Finally, sleep seems to be at a 6-hour average mark. I’ve tried everything but I am unable to get more than 6 on average, unless I am tired. Once I start with the workouts, this will probably go down. Let’s see.

Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos.

This one is a mix of app screenshots and photos that I took.
Nothing special to be honest.
If you see something interesting, please let me know.

Interesting Reads

Here’s a list of things that I read / saw / consumed that left an impact on it. In some cases, I went and stirred up debate in my network.

Here’s a list. In no particular order.

This video on Instagram – link. Hits you in the gut about how you let go of your life.
Blume’s Annual Report – link – yet to read it. I typically take a print and read this. Yet to do so.
Buffett’s annual letter is here. Again, yet to read.
This tweet. I want to grow my account as well! Only for this reason (access)
This thread on Reddit about how people in Nepal are building a video editing agency. Must replicate this in India for C4E.
This post by Ankush Datar on legacy. And why it’s overrated.
Ian Chappell retires from writing. Love such writing!

Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

In no order…

A/ People Business
It became evident that at C4E, we are not an agency. We are in the people business! Over the week, met multiple people and held multiple conversations where this was reaffirmed. What we do at C4E is communication but we are in the people business. As Pradeep San often said about Gravity – we are in the business of saving jobs. That’s a separate story for another day. But at this time, we are in people business and we need to reorient ourselves to that.

B/ Hemant and Gokul
The two of them are different as chalk and cheese. And yet both of them are very very intriguing and inspiring. Each time I spend time with either, I am amazed at the capacity of a human mind to think that much. The other thing that is common to both, is, that their ideas are dense and the depth of their thoughts makes it tough for an average Aman (like me) to comprehend their ideas. I wish I could find a way to make their thoughts more accessible to the world!

Wait.
Who’s permission do I need? A lot of their inputs are in the public domain. Why can’t I start repurposing and talk about that in my words, on my blogs. What say? And, any volunteers?

C/ Sur
This dawned onto on Saturday. I am seeing C now run the business. I have played a tiny part in her life and now I need to find a way to not get into her way. More on this on my roam. But had to be captured.

Why Sur? Well, read this to find out.

D/ Poker + Writing + Teaching
One of my lifegoals is to be on the road, meet people and never worry about money. Sometime in the past I had imagined that I would be able to become a professional poker player (touring the world, playing in tourneys), teach at various colleges (while I am on the road) and write about my experiences while I do first two.

It’s great on paper. Except that I don’t have poker skills. And I have tried to learn and yet I am not good. Something in the week gone by reminded me of this goal. May be I will put a deadline on my life experiments and pick this up. May be when my parents are gone, I will become a full-time hippie traveller. A bald hippie.

And no, it’s not easy to imagine a life where my parents are not around.

E/ Ego in action
I saw my Ego in action. On at least two occasions. One with an old client. One with a potential client.

Must prevent this.

I don’t want to get into too many details (clients or whatever) but what I did was wrong and I shouldn’t have been told by my team to not do this. I know that some time this will come and bite me in the back but I must check this.

PS: I also saw my humility in action 😀
I will not talk about this.

F/ Manas Ayare (linkedin)
Met this boy at a Starbucks. Spotted some crazy stickers on his laptop. Got talking. And then from there on, one thing led to another. Now, his company and C4E are offering a workshop!

AK is leading this from C4E. Here are the details.

G/ Nakul Kumar (Cashify)
Met Nakul for dinner. And it was incredible. Each time I meet him, its incredible. Got so many lessons. The biggest one is that I need to build a process-first company. So far we are not. There’s more. On my Roam.

Oh while I was there, I bumped into a classmate from MDI. Each time I meet him, its at a lounge, a restaurant etc. Love these serendipitous meetings.

H/ Other things that I want to capture but I may not spill too many words on those.

Must build media! The new podcast may be helpful.
Must invest more in young people.
Gave a 10K INR grant to a 16-year-old. SoG in action!
Saw this news about Tyreplex. Reminded me of xTyres.
This one by Bri is nice. I wish I had this clarity at the age of 19. Or whatever her age is.
Talked to Dr Malpani. Inspired to do more. Especially his idea of building an ecosystem of startups in India.
Got access to NeoSapien. Playing with it. Let’s see where we get with it.
I love eggs!
I cleaned by followers / following list on X, Insta and other places. I am getting more mindful about how I curate my conversations.
Removed the cover from the new phone. TBH, I don’t like it much. But now that I have bought it, I am with it for a year at least. And then we shall see what to do with it.

Guess this is it.

So, one large takeaway from the week?

In one word?
Taste.

I’ve read, thought, and talked about it so much that it’s funny. In fact it has spilled from various conversations over the last week as well. But taste it is.

The close second is community. But at this time, I will stick with taste. I even recorded a podcast on it. Here.

For context, last week, it was Respect. And it was Money and People before that.

—

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

Oh, here are the previous editions: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07

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