The End Of Short Term Thinking

Short term thinking yields knee-jerk reactions to micro and macro events in life. It creates zero sum games between people, minimizes long term value creation and amplifies corner-cutting.  Let’s look at quarterly earnings guidance as an example. Companies reporting on the last 90-day performance and forward-looking guidance on what shareholders should expect. Shareholders want to…

Q2 2020 GDP Compression

It’s no surprise that GDP was compressed -32.9% in Q2 (link). A few weeks ago, I shared some thoughts on making sense of capital markets amidst COVID, where I discussed the original expectation of GDP compression being -42%. Here’s what we can expect from Congress and The Fed in the near future. Congress will continue to push…

TikTok ban?

TikTok’s ownership by Chinese conglomerate, Bytedance, has become a subject of heightened scrutiny over the last few months. There are two sides to this. On one end, it’s encouraging to see the US taking a strong stance against China’s own internet policies. Historically, Chinese policies have been off-balance and provided leverage for the region to…

How to work with me document

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…

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…

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…