I graduated from the best engineering and MBA schools in India. I’m an IIT-IIM. When I started working at Lehman, I had a level of self-importance that was significantly above my skill set. This led to some bad attitude and work quality issues. I took a few months to realize that my educational credentials had… Continue reading “Nobody cares, work harder”
Author: paritoshgupta
What Can You Learn from It?
My first job was as an analyst at Lehman Brothers. I was bottom rung in the team but being an IIT and IIM grad, I had this grand view of my capabilities and how I should be spending my time. So I used to get very irritated when the VPs and MDs in the team… Continue reading What Can You Learn from It?
The Joy of Ownership
At Lehman, I was doing $25-50 million deals. I was paid over $100,000 per year. I wore expensive suits and travelled business class. When we started Twish, my first startup, we struggled to generate sales. No one wanted our product so we tried different things. After a few months, one of the colleges expressed interest… Continue reading The Joy of Ownership
Employee to Founder
At Twish, my first startup, we had exhausted our first set of product ideas and leads without traction. I pinged one of my co-founders on Google chat and asked him what I should be working on. I got a very frustrated reply saying there were so many things to figure out – new product ideas,… Continue reading Employee to Founder
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
At my first startup, Twish, we aimed to use stories and animated content to modernize teaching and add context to what was being taught. When we started the company, my immediate inclination was to dive into creating courses the way we thought they should be taught. My co-founders, however, told me that we need to… Continue reading Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Sell Before you Build
At my first startup, Twish, we aimed to use stories and animated content to modernize teaching and add context to what was being taught. We decided to initially reach students through MBA colleges around where we lived. I expected the first step was to build out full courses and then start selling it. However my… Continue reading Sell Before you Build
Three Levels of Learning
“All learning is dependent on feedback” John Sterman, Business Dynamics Feedback loops are essential to learning. Let’s look at the simplest form of learning: we have a goal, we observe the current state of the world and take decisions to move it towards our goal. Our decisions impact the real world and provides us feedback.… Continue reading Three Levels of Learning
Tell Me a Story
I’ve been reading and thinking lately about stories and narratives and how it shapes us and the world. I hope to create a series of posts exploring this theme. Here, I look at the implications for startups. I recently reread one of my favourite books, The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker, where he applies… Continue reading Tell Me a Story
The Promise of Decentralized IDs
Let’s imagine a new world Amit is opening an account with Monyz, the trendy neobank. He downloads the app, opens IDNow – a mobile wallet with his identity and credentials – and authenticates himself using faceID. He shares credentials through IDNow with Monyz to get set up. He gives Monyz access to his name, confirmation… Continue reading The Promise of Decentralized IDs
Taxonomy of Mistakes
I’m the champion of making mistakes. I could talk for hours about the mistakes I’ve made in my career. As I’ve grown into leadership and mentorship roles, I try to help people do better by working through their mistakes and avoiding the ones I’ve made. I recently started thinking about the types of mistakes we… Continue reading Taxonomy of Mistakes