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Unique Privilege
My biggest privilege has been that I did not grow up in a wealthy, privileged family. Growing up, we had enough money for necessities, but not enough for random indulgences. For many people in my situation, the hunger for success and the drive came...
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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...
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...
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...
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?...
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Principle of leadership
A few years ago, at an organic food show in Trivandrum, a girl at the entry counter stopped me. And with the zeal of a convert, she shoved a pamphlet in my face, and started lambasting how evil genetically modified (GM) food was. I am not for or...
Lessons from Finance
In a finance class at Wharton, I realized the root cause of the 2008 financial meltdown -- complexity. And if we are not careful, for the same reason, many will get hurt in the current crypto craze. In the abovementioned class, the professor...
Individuality
In my first year at IIT, we had a race -- no, not the rat race, but a literal one. We had to pick a humanities course, which was assigned ‘first come, first served.’ Prof Amit Ray’s course on arts/design was the most popular -- he gave ‘A’ grades...
Nature is unforgiving
When I left McKinsey to join private equity in India, I was extremely nervous. I knew nothing about investing. All I had learned at b-school and at McKinsey was the theoretical stuff. And now I would have to rub shoulders with the ‘pros.’ Since...