Tag: Suraj Kaeley

Wk 34-26 – Weekly Note

Notes, thoughts and highlights from Week 34, 2026.

22-23 August 2026.
Starbucks, Versova.

This is the first post on a new laptop. I will talk about the laptop in detail in a bit.

The last week has been, well, a blur. I dont recall where time went. I had the same routine – wake up, goto Starbucks, come back home, eat, sleep, while time etc.

One of the days I couldn’t sleep. I dont know why. And that day I sort of didnt do much. And then the regular life and cadence.

So that.

Ok, I dont know what else to write here. Lets get to the notes bit.

Track of the week has to be this.

Lets go…

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

1/ Update on the August Plan

I had decided that in August I will do the following…

  1. Work more on WeAreC4E.com. Make it into a lead magnet for event piece for C4E.
  2. I am thinking of shipping the CRM tool to the world. I find value in it. Let’s see if others will find value as well. So, I will make a landing page and will try to give demo to people and sell them a subscription. In case you want to buy, am selling it for $99 a year.
  3. Make Book 2 shippable. It’s almost ready. Just that I need to make a pass thru it.
  4. Operate in Eco Mode. And as a part of that, use cash as much as I can (against digital payments). Unless absolutely necessary. I want to add friction to the money spending thing.

I am glad to report that I have progress on 1 and 4. I couldnt push the CRM as much as I would have liked but that’s ok. You do some, you miss some. Last week, I had worked on 1, 2 and 4. Book seems out of bound.

PS: despite the Eco Mode, I got a new laptop. More on it shortly.

PPS: I dont have a plan for Sep. I dont plan to make it. Apart from the fact that I will be in Dubai. And in case I am unable to get to Dubai, I will spend Sep in either Goa or Singapore.

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2/ The New Laptop

I have a new M5 Pro. Not Air.

This is a big upgrade from the old M1 that I was running. I got it last night and I can feel the difference already. This is the second large investment I’ve made in myself after Claude happened (the first one is the Max account). And this is the MOST expensive thing that I’ve ever bought for myself.

Many thoughts on this one. Lemme try and articulate…

A – I didnt plan to get this one. Someone on MDI JFK wanted to sell a new laptop for cheap. I thought I would like to get a good bargain. I threw a 20% lesser number at him. And he bit the bullet. So that.

B – Since I’ve got Claude, I have started to feel the need for a faster machine. The M1 I was using was painfully slow. And thus I anyway had to get a new one. Just that I was delaying it for a future time. When I would have had the money. And then I said, fuck it.

C – I know I am in the Eco Mode. But to me, this is a business expense. And for the next 3 years. The last one was with me for almost 18 months. And the one before that was with me for 3 years. So I think we will be ok.

D – this is my first pro in years. I dont like the bulkiness of it. But I will make do with what I have.

And if you are reading this, please poing gaps in my thinking.

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3/ Storyhunt

As part of my ghostwriting practise, Claude helped me come up with an idea to run a competition to uncover stories from diaspora.

And it came up with Storyhunt edition 1. In words of Claude,

Storyhunt is a public call for hidden stories from the Indian diaspora, compiled into a book. Submission form lives on sgwashere.com at /storyhunt/.

The idea is simple. If you are from the South Asian region and you live away from here and there’s a story worth telling, you must find a way to tell that. You may submit here.

PS: I am thinking, if this goes well, I will make it an annual thing. It gives me opportunity to talk to people, know more about them and write!

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4/ Writing

Since Claude happened, I havent written a lot. And I dont like it. And I want to get back to it. Starting coming week. I mean this week is almost over. I am thinking I will start writing about things that I deeply care about. Things like living a deliberate life, not chasing the rat race, finding a way to push things and seeing how the outcomes arrive at you.

Plus I want to use writing to help me get ahead with work and all. Think of it as “voice” of the founder. Just that I dont know what is it that I am founding 😀

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5/ Rejections at 66MGR and Yellow

The two current opportunities that I think are venture scale, 66MGRoad and Yellow, both got multiple rejections from multiple accelerators. Which is ok. The point of this rejection is that we’ve not been able to communicate the story well. For someone who calls himself a writer, this is not the best case scenario. I will push harder on this.

The other thing I realised is that my casualness while talking to people puts people off. And while this is a personality change, I think its one that I would like to make. You know, a strong opinion but loosely held.

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6/ Spotlight Session

Along with Harshit Gupta, we did a Spotlight session on Saturday. Here is the event page.

I loved the fact that there are 20 people who came from as far as Mira Road and I dont know where all to nerd about a language. And were immersed in a conversation about words and nuances. The fact that I was able to put this together is my biggest win.

I must do more of these.

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7/ AMFIs annual report

The rare post about work.

I think this is the third year in the running that C4E has designed AMFI’s annual report. And each year we’ve set the standards higher than the last. Incredibly proud of what my people are able to pick up when left to themselves.

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8/ Lessons from Suraj Kaeley

I first met Suraj when I was working on Meru.

Neither of us is associated with Meru at this time but we’ve stayed in touch. And he asked if we could meet. I was ofc not keen (I didnt want to travel all the way and I know that I cant add any value to his life – he’s a senior and knows a lot) but he persisted and we met.

And I realised my folly immediately. I must make it a point to meet more people. All the online interactions and remote work is ok but real magic happens when you shake hands. At least for the next few months.

So back to Suraj. A tiny, one-hour interaction with him taught me so many lessons. Here’s the list.

A – Play to Win (or Play to Play).
Suraj recommended the book, Play to Win. While there is a lot to compress, I think, for me, the biggest lesson was that you need to play to win. I tend to play to play. I often use Joker’s dialogue – “am a dog chasing cars”. Need to fix that.

And ofc, every rich person I know, plays to win. Every athlete plays to win. My friends who’re the most successful, play to win.

Suraj then gave an example from his book writing journey about how he’s implementing the play to win principles in his work.

Within this, the other lesson I got was to find a way to get to a maxima with your projects and ideas and chase that metric. This is one of those lessons that I keep getting from all people I know and I keep forgetting. I am glad Suraj reminded me of this.

B – Value of handshake.
Suraj mentioned that he makes it a point to shake hands in real life. This is counter-intuitive to how I live and run. I think there’s a deeper lesson here.

PS: I went all the way to meet a friend who was exhibiting at an expo to shake his hand and came back.

C – Investing in People
This I’ve done a lot. So am ok on this. And I dont want to spill more ink on this. If I can push you more, please read 1000 true fans.

D – Follow up
On sales, he told me that most people lose deals cos they dont follow up. And I realised, am the same. A client says no, I move on. He said, go back to that client, ask them things, listen. Nothing new but I realised I wasnt doing it.

So that!

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9/ Other Notes and Links

Some notes and thoughts. In no order…

  • My initial euphoria over Claude is done. This means that I am not hunting for ideas to make revenue with. I dont have any at this time. But I am sure I will find some.
  • I gave gyaan to a few people this week – two founders of a women-first startup, a singer who’s trying to break out from the mold, a person whos lost her parents in COVID-19 and yet to come out of it. All these three conversations made me realise that I love it when am able to show path to people. I just hope I can do this with more.
  • I made a broadcast list on WA where I would over-share things that I should ideally talk to close friends on. But since my laziness is legendary, I’ve made a broadcast group. In case you’d like to be added to it, lemme know.

Guess this is it.

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📷 Photos from the week gone by

Some photos. As always, if you ask for those, you will get. And you miss 100% of the shots you dont take.

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📈 The trackers of life

This wasnt a good week for trackers. So while I will reproduce them here, you will see a lot of misses.

This is the daily one. I know a lot of misses.

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And this is the mood tracker that I maintain when I get the opportunity. I love that I have many greens and few reds. Shows that I have chosen to accept what comes my way.

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What do you see in it?

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🏃‍➡️ Health

I must pat on the back for the small win that I now do I pushups almost everyday. And just yesterday, I did 10 pushups on the trot. My posture is shit but I can do 10. Yay!

Ofc the target is 100 pushups. Lets see when I reach there.

Brb, doing pushups and coming back.
Ok did 10.

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✅ Action on LARGE objectives for the year

In 2026, I plan to do three things.

  • Book2
  • Human Flag Pole
  • Save a million dollars

Book2 / Caravan Serai.
No movement this week again.

Human Flag Pole.
This week I walked more. And I reached up to a point that I could do 10 pushups on the trot. Lets see if I can continue with 10 for the next few days. I want to reach till 100.

Save a million dollars.
No action to report.

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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. Was better than the last week.
  2. C4E / Work. Pick a thing to apply myself to. Still dont know what to apply myself to. I have been shuttling between 66MGRoad and Atlas Fractional.
  3. Brand SG / Distribution. A lot of thinking but no action TBH. I have trained a Claude skill on it. Lets see what it creates for me.
  4. People. No action.
  5. Book2. Nothing this week.
  6. Shauk. Did a Spotlight Session with Harshit. Must do more of these sessions.

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🗓️ So, one thing that defines the past week?

Skip.

I didnt have any other word to think of. The week went past and apart from Harshit’s show, each thing was like a skip thing for me. So that.

The other words for this year have been: Routine (yeah same), Routine, Getting Back, Freedom, People, Motion, Show, Flow, Excitement, Embarrassment, Blur, Whiling, Movement, Activity, Regular, Easy, Journey, Downtime, Same, Drift, Routine.

Over and out.
Until next Friday.
SG

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, 24, 25 (missed), 26, 27, 28, 29 (missed these three), 30, 31, 32, 33 (missed)

PPS: Please do point typos.

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

Wk 14-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts and reflections from the week gone by.

Morning!
Started writing this on Saturday (April 5) and

This was probably the fastest week of 2025.
And I am glad that it’s over.
Here’s my review for the week gone by.
Oh, I am listening to this as I write this.

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by? And the next week!

I was to work on the 2025 plan and Book 2.

This has been consistent objective for the last few weeks. However, I have not been able to make any progress on these.

I can blame it on a lot of action at work. Actually, more than action, right now, its discussions and deliberations. I am hoping that once we have a team, I would have lot more time on hands. But as someone who takes pride in my ability to juggle things and do multiple things, this should have been easy for me. I need to find a way to solve this conundrum.

Anyhow, to summarise, I didnt make any progress on either of the goals. I need to buck up. I need to push myself more.

And like last time, I acknowledge that I didn’t work on these two.
I will try this week.

Moving on…

☑️ What did I get done this week?

I will give a one-line report on things I got done on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.

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

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

Health. It was a terrible week. Sunday was the worst. I dont know what came over me. But I am back. Other days saw me with lack of sleep, eating kachra, no walks (except one day) and even happiness was questionable.
So, -1 there.

Meru. A lot of action here. Nothing specific in terms of what I can talk here.
So, a 0.

C4E. No action TBH. C is running the kitchen now. I am merely supporting. I have nothing to report here.
So, a 0.

Brand SG. No large actions. I did use AI to build some posts (will link further in the post) but nothing apart from that. This needs to more VERY VERY fast. So, I will be harsh on myself and give myself a -1.
So, a -1.

People. This was a clear -1. I did a few things that I shouldnt have. I mean I wont do them differently but I didnt know that it would have such large impact on people I care for. Apart from that I met some really interesting people that I look up to. So, if not for the snafu, I would have been a +1 on this.
So, a -1

Book 2. No action.
-1

Shauk. No large action. I am gonna travel to meet M. Maybe that counts? Maybe it doesnt. When I am evaluating myself, I want to give myself a harsh -1.
-1

So the overall score is -5 for this week. Same as last week.
Trends from the previous weeks: -5, -3, -2, -1
The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here’s the tracker.

What do you notice?

For me, the highlights are…

  1. I’ve stopped tracking my twitter updates. I think I can skip tracking this. I am habituated to write these. Lets see.
  2. A couple of days were not as good as I would want them to be.

What do you see?

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from the week gone by.

Not too many. Blame it on a busy week.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

I didnt have a lot of time to read or reflect in the last week but here are some that I did read…

  1. Naval’s podcast with Chris Williamson. I am at an hour and 30 mark. Took many many lessons. Saved some here.
  2. Akanksha Pandey’s March Reflections.
  3. This twitter thread explaining Kun Faya Kun
  4. How I’ve run major projects by Ben Kuhn. Here. At some point, I must write something similar. From Ben’s website, I spotted this post about how to write cold emails by Sriram K.
  5. This tweet by Erik
  6. This post by Morgan. A couple of quotes worth keeping are “The person who is desperate for attention and acceptance from a group of strangers is hardly different from the person begging for money on the street” and “The wild thing about all this effort is how easy it is to overestimate how much other people are thinking about you. No one is thinking about you as much as you are. They are too busy thinking about themselves.”

Next week on, I will also share a list of things that I share in my groups. I may not read all of those but I am sure it would be useful.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the week.

Here are some from this week.

A/ Ankesh Kothari
Met Ankesh and as always, it was incredible to meet him. Among other things, he asked C and I this – “If you had to have dinner with any 3 people from history, who would they be? The answer shows who your heroes are. Then deconstruct what about them resonates, and you will have more clarity on your self.”

My dinner guests would include Steve, Charlie and Charles. Each is different from another – one was an individual poet, other was an investor and the third was an org builder. I should think more on this.

Who would be your three dinner guests?

B/ Rana Sir
Met Rana Sir for something. Went to his home. I almost didnt go but C reminded me that I need to. And thus, I went. As always, it was a brilliant three hours that I spent with him.

One of the things that came out of that meeting was my articulation that if I get physical proximity to young people, I can literally change their lives. Assuming they are willing to submit to me and they are willing to work hard. And then the follow up thought (that I didnt articulate to sir when I met him but was important) – that may be I am destined to be a coach and not a player. I am gonna be at best a Drona (not Eklavya, not Arjuna), a Ramakant (not a Sachin), a Coach Carter et al.

Something to think on. #currentThings

C/ Starbucks induced serendipity
I was at a random Starbucks far from home and I bumped into a classmate from MDI. And I used the opportunity to tell him about Meru. And about C4E. I dont know what would come out of that but it was incredible to have that farce-less chat with someone who knows me since 2004!

D/ Akanksha Pandey’s March Reflections.
One of the best pieces I’ve read in a long time. You must read it. I took a lot of notes. I learnt a lot about myself. I learnt a lot about AP. And thanks to this post, I have started to make public posts about what am thinking about. You may search for those here.

From her note, here’s a quote…

Fear, self doubt, self sabotage, procrastination, addiction, distraction, perfectionism… all can be overcome with stupidity, stubbornness, delusion, blind faith, obsession, arrogance & optimism.

PS: For the context, I had interviewed her for a role with me and she rejected me. Which is ok. But I’ve stayed connected and boy, am I glad! I knew that she would have pushed me to do more if I could get her around. But then as long as I am learning from her even from a distance, I am ok.

E/ Experiments with AI
I’ve been playing with some tools. Wrote two posts. Both via AI. I dont know what traffic would they get me. But it’s amazing that I can churn more content, faster. And I dont see a dip in quality!

I am also pushing C4E and Meru teams to become faster and better with the use of AI. We’ve made some strides. Commendable is AK and team’s foray on Labs with CQ. And then some more.

The ambition is that we would all be AI-enabled Centaurs (in words of Mihir) in the times to come and faster and sooner we get to that, better it is!

F/ Naval’s podcast with Chris
I have a 100 notes on this. I will make a separate post on it. At this time, I am saving my notes here. While I’ve captured this above, this needed a section in itself!

G/ Things I stand for.
Made a thread. I will update it as and when things change at my end.

To be read alongside Work With Me. And also see this photo album where I upload things that are important to me.

H/ People Snafu
I said something about someone that I know I shouldnt have. I cant get into details but I must write.

So, when I said what I said, I assumed what I said was innocuous, harmless, action-induing (I love to err on the side of action). That’s how I talk to people.

However, things were taken out of context, things were assumed without asking for clarification and then I was spoken in a not so cool tone.

I understand why I was spoken to the way I was spoken to. My actions hurt the other person. But then it was unintended. It was supposed to be a nudge in action and all that.

Anyhow. I am rambling. At this time, I know I didnt make a mistake. But I know my actions caused hurt. So, I am unequivocally sorry. I will try to do better.

I/ A-List Assholes
First. What is an A-List Asshole?
Someone who thinks they are A-list talent and are Assholes on top. They may or may not know that they are assholes!

Think of the most obnoxious, rude, unkind, tantrumy sports superstar or filmstar. And then port that person to the world of startups. Think of the rockstar coder that you know who’s also a bully. Steve Jobs would probably qualify to be an A-List asshole.

So, I was to interview someone for a client. And the guy turned out to be an A-List Asshole. I couldnt interview him (we couldnt agree on a calendar) but from the conversation, it seemed that the guy was heavily inspired by Silicon Valley types and was misplaced. Or may be I am misplaced. Irrespective. It was not going to work out. And thus I quickly retreated.

That’s a thing that I need to work on by the way. Stay away from A-list assholes. While it was ok for Steve to be one, in this day and age, I dont want those.

J/ Online selling Gurus
Met someone who told me about the work of these online gurus. You know people like Sadhguru, Robin Sharma, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Dandapani, Dave Ramsey, Russell Brunson, Harv Eker, Chris Chroft and others.

For all the interest I have in cults, it was incredible to learn that cults and these sales conversations tend to be the same!

More on these some other day. But it was important to write and track.

K/ Venture Studios
I need to push C4E into becoming a venture studio. I’ve been reading about the likes of Tiny, Recurse, Late Checkout, Bending Spoon etc. Some of these may not be venture studios in the traditional sense but I like the idea of a small team building many things together.

Again, with Meru on the horizon, I may not get to do this with my time but I can nudge my kids!

Oh, here’s a thing. Most of my ideas are old ideas that I’ve been on since I was a child! I need to find a way to ship more and do more. I mean this venture studio idea, I’ve been on it since the beginning of time!

L/ 12K Steps #in2025
Made a bet of 50K with Annkur that at the end of this year, I will have averaged 12K steps. I made a similar bet with Subhendu. Let’s see.

This also reminds me that I will not have climbed the Mt Everest by Jan 1, 2026. Sigh.

M/ Other things that I want to capture but I may not spill too many words on…

  1. Found money on the road, two times, on one single walk. And I was listening to Naval’s podcast while I found that. Maybe that’s a sign!
  2. While listening to Naval, I was left thinking, should I get into podcasting fulltime?
  3. Implemented Paras Chopra’s TDL at C4E. See this tweet. Been 5 days and so far my score is 0. Lol!
  4. Met some clients for C4E for quick meetings. Not to pitch anything. Not to sell anything. Only to say hi. It’s incredible how many people have supported me on my journey! Eternally grateful.
  5. My back has started to give me trouble. I need to find a chiropractor or a masseuse. I dont want to go to a doctor. The skin thing is also spreading. So that needs fixing.
  6. Met Paras and asked him a few questions about this business. Must push him more.
  7. The number of times I wore pants and traveled this week to Nariman Point – I am reminded why I didn’t do the “regular life” all this while. Once we get an office, this will hopefully get fixed!
  8. Been thinking about US tariffs. Saw some videos. Read some but I am not able to wrap my head about how it would impact and what would the second order effects be. If you are aware, please share and help!

🧠 Reminders from last week

I am adding this section. To capture things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates. I will also add these to SG’s Office.

Here are things from the past weeks that I want to remember. And no, this may not be a comprehensive list. In categories.

  1. Health
    • Kitchen setup (incomplete)
    • Gym membership (incomplete)
  2. C4E things
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency
  3. Shauk / Personal
    • Poker
    • Better dressed SG
    • Use of money / time
    • Love
    • Demand more from life

In case you know me, lemme know if I have missed something.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Busyness. For nothing. Going forward, I will change this.

In the previous weeks, it’s been Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

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Ok!
This is it for the week gone by.
Late by a day but here nonetheless.
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