Intuitions

During my stint as an investor, once the CFO of an Indian conglomerate came to our office with his team. They were looking for funding since their businesses were not doing very well. During the discussion, just to see how clear their thinking was, I asked the CFO,...

Prioritizing Health Over Career

I first went to a gym in class 12th, for three days. And then, I quit. After many false starts, in 2009, I finally nailed the habit. For the last 12 years, I have been working out regularly despite the occasional ups and downs of life. Here is what changed. Until...

Ego’s Paradox

Ego is not always your enemy. I first realized this in 2001, when as a police officer, I was facing a fierce agitation by a tribal group from Kerala’s Wayanad district. For publicity, these agitators decided to disrupt the annual Onam procession, a huge cultural event...

Winning is not everything

VCs love to talk about the unicorns in their portfolio – and understandably so. But why don’t we talk about how many of our companies are ethical? Sometimes, winning at ANY cost is not ‘winning’ — it is ‘cheating.’ Long ago, when I came to Kerala after...