In late 2018 and early 2019, I was wrestling with the transition from founder to CEO when running SocialWithin. This is a hard transition for most if not all founders. SocialWithin went from 3 to 27 people in 18 months. In a professional services company, you have to fundamentally rethink your people/process/tools when you add…
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Hell yes! Or no.
We’re showered with choices; whether it be looking for a new job or deciding where to spend time. Having the autonomy and freedom to choose is critical to our well-being. It’s a feeling of empowerment and it’s probably the greatest privilege of our generation. The challenge with having almost infinite choices is that it creates…
Is Career Optionality Good or Bad?
Optionality feels exciting. People love having optionality in their careers. It provides a unique sense of power that they get to decide what to work on and where to spend time. Earlier in your career, you’re constantly trying to portfolio manage your risk. Jumping from one job to another every 24 months to seek a better title,…
Paradox of Savings and COVID
In 1936, John Maynard Keynes, wrote “The General Theory of The Economy” where he discusses that key variables to a growing economy are consumption and investments, and that saving money contracts the economy. The argument is simple from his end: when you save more money, you buy less things. When you buy less things, businesses…
Income Inequality In The Next 10 years
COVID has impacted businesses of all sizes. The Fed has taken drastic measures to ensure markets don’t go into turmoil. This includes $trillions printed. I discussed the impact of “printing money” in my previous letter. One of the side effects of all this liquidity that’s rarely discussed is income inequality. These liquidity measures taken by The Fed…
Digital Nutrition
I’ve been reflecting on things that we consume; not just physical but also digital. From social apps to binge watching TV shows, everything is designed to capture our attention. Whether it’s the emergence of Tiger King on Netflix or swiping up on TikTok videos. They all serve the same purpose; to keep us engaged and…
Divergence. What causes the real economy to differ from capital markets?
Q2 GDP will likely be compressed -42%, 40M people are unemployed, second wave of COVID-19 is likely approaching, and yet the stock market is seeing record highs. What drives this and why are we seeing such divergence between the market and the real economy? If you’re a market participant, this question is lingering in your…
On Cold Emails
There’s been plenty written about cold email strategies, so we’ll keep this one short. Below are three tweets that pretty much captures the best practice on cold emailing anyone. A few things to note before you start cold emailing people: It’s completely okay if you don’t hear back. Don’t take anything personally. Be intentional. Have…
How retail brands are revising their plans due to COVID
The pandemic has pushed many retailers to their heels. It goes to show that operating in a highly constrained environment can bring great ideas to life; there’s a reason why good startups don’t raise too much capital and maintain their agility in a resource constraint environment. McKinsey wrote a great piece on retailers adapting to a…
On Failure
Success, in a vacuum, is the worst teacher. Real success is a result of trying something again and again and again, and then finally, making it work. Because success requires a feedback loop, it makes sense to then reflect on the opposite of success: failure. In school, we’re taught to avoid mistakes and mourn at…