Tag: Pradeep Mohandas

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.

160121 – Morning Pages

In this one, I talk about the anatomy of a bad day in Goa, all probably induced by unavailability of Internet and a phone network.

7:39 AM. Yesterday was a weird day. Regular day, if you know me well.

After I don’t know how many days I was spaced out. To a point that I did not even speak with the most cheerful people I know – Noops and Nicky. The Internet won’t work at all. The regular phone and SMS won’t work. Tried to avoid crap but I could not. The hands were literally shaking before I loaded myself with carbs. Skipped two events where I could’ve been at – a poker night and a Pecha Kucha evening. Missed the launch of a friend’s music video. Thought I would start a Clubhouse but the damn connection won’t happen. Locked myself out of the house (thankfully, I could reach the key from the window).

The saving grace? I went for a walk. Did some 12K steps. In like 2 hours. The slowest ever.

My phone tells me that I am averaging 2000 steps this year. Lol. The older Saurabh that I was, even in a wheelchair, he would average more than that! Finally when I was walking about, luckily the phone worked (still no data) and I made some phone calls. Spoke to two new people on LunchClub and CoffeeMug – at both places (and all such calls), I am asked what am up to with these random networking calls if I am in Goa. Need to find a funny answer to this. Spoke to an old boss. He told me that am like shit. Sigh. No, no. It’s ok. Everyone has their opinions. I know where I stand.

Another thing happened. As if stars align or something. Or maybe one thing led to another that lad to me. Gehani and Pradeep pointed me to two interesting tweets about the media and entertainment business. Need to think hard about those. They look like things that I can put my head gainfully to. For life. Lol, yet another thing. This has to stop, Mr. Garg. Let’s see. In fact, the content in those tweets is exactly what I’ve been thinking about lately. I know that I am not singularly great at creating content. But I know I can give a launchpad and wings to others for sure. So that.

These two tweets helped reinforce two beliefs. One, you must have a network that makes a piece of news that you can’t miss reach you. That clearly happened. Two, how the fuck did I miss these two tweets? Need to get back to being active on twitter!

Oh, AD gave me the responsibility of writing the first draft of the Founder Thesis book. Yay! If this happens, it would be the second non-fiction book that I would get to publish this year (apart from SoG Book). 2021 is already looking up. Just need to see how do I make money from these ;P.

Guess that’s that for how the day was. How I felt. How I am gonna cope up today. I HAVE to find a solution to the Internet thingy. Either I move houses (no, I can’t get Internet installed here – this is a temporary house) or I need to start going to a coworking space in Goa that has good internet and mobile phone access (the phone network at Clay sucks. Maybe at Felix it works better?) I’ll try Felix today and will report back.

No, I don’t like that this is becoming an open journal of sorts. But then, I like that I have someplace to go dump my thoughts.

Oh, I also need to think about what to do with WoW. Do I move it on SaurabhGarg.com? Or do I leave it on blogger? I am very very sure that Google will either sell or shut Blogger (they have made some changes to the product but they’ve merely fucked it up. Plus they are not even in the same league at WordPress and countless others). And I don’t want to lose all that I have written over the years. Will check with Rege or Arpit.

So that.

Coming to #book2. I am in the mood for some dark shit today. Let’s see what I come up with :D. The names are fictional (I mean the entire book is fictional but I am using random names right now).

“The ropes have to be as taut as you can make them go. Here, use this hook to pull more”, Kiran handed over what looked like a well-used, aged, pirate’s hand hook to Sita.

“The fuck is this?” Sita balked. It looked as if it was ripped from a real pirate.

“I use this as a grip when I need to clasp onto something. The pirates were geniuses.” Kiran replied and continued with this work. The way he was going, Sita knew this was not the first time he was doing something like this.

Sita held gingerly at it tried to pull the rope that she was wrapping over layers of plastic, tarp and jute.

Kiran continued and spoke matter of factly, “make sure it is as tight as you can. When we tie it to the anchor, it cant come undone.”

Sita merely nodded. That’s all she could do. She was merely going through the motions. The night that started as a celebration had taken a dark turn and now, it did not seem to be ending. When she boarded the train from her village 2 weeks ago, she did not know that her life would change so drastically. From a simpleton in a secluded village deep in Maharashtra, she has had alcohol, slept with a man that was not her husband, and now, become an accessory to a murder. And she was the reason for the fight between her husband and the young man she got carried away with. Such loss for such a small incident. If only Kiran understood why she did what she did, all this could have been avoided.

Kiran beamed, breaking her reverie, “wow, that looks good. I am almost done with the head and the torso. We just need to tie a big rock to his legs and then we’d be on our way.”

The plan was to dump the dead body deep into the sea but it had to be wrapped to prevent the parts from flailing and they had to put something heavy on it to ensure that it doesn’t wash ashore. Way too many amateurs were caught by the cops when bloated dead bodies arrived at the short unannounced. Kiran and Sita were not getting caught for sure. They had packed the dead body in three layers – plastic, tarp, and jute before typing it up till it resembled a mummy. There was no way fishes were going to gnaw and dismember various parts. With the two rocks that Kiran had identified, there was no way it was going to surface. And the spot where he was going to dump it in was known to have rocky terrain underneath. Like it had done for so many others, the sea would keep their secret.

Little did they know that while the sea wouldn’t rat on them, the young man they were busy with would be missed from the house of Paul’s and the impending search would unleash an inferno ono them and everyone else at Caravan Serai that the entire Arabian Sea wouldn’t be able to douse.