Aswath Krishnan

We can all agree that it would kinda suck to exist alone in the universe. Adversity with friends is better than success or comfort alone.  Hear it from Shaq: “I live in a 30 thousand square foot house by myself. You don’t think I know I messed up?” I appreciate whatever transpired to get us to this moment in reality because it brought us together, with each other, capable of problem-solving, empathy, kindness, togetherness, play, and love.  We can make lives better for each other - less suffering, more enjoyable, and more meaningful. In fact, that may be the only way to do it.  The ego is often the root of most unhappiness. When we focus on just the I, just ourselves, we suffer. The I is a small, transient, fickle, greedy, and fearful illusion.  When we focus beyond us - our loved ones, our society, all of humanity, all of everything - we feel limitless and we thrive. Be it your personal life or your career/business, expand your focus beyond yourself. 

This Zinda Banda track from the new Bollywood blockbuster, "Jawan," has taken over my playlist recently. It's not just Anirudh's peppy music or Shah Rukh Khan's swag.  What truly speaks to me is the lyrical essence of the song, which has crystallized a powerful epiphany I've had in recent months. A realization that serves as a clarion call whenever I find myself teetering on the edge of self-doubt or an important decision in my startup or life journey. *** Banda Ho To Zinda Ho! If you're alive, truly live! Banda Zinda Ho To Zinda Nazar Haana Zaroori Hai! To be alive, it’s necessary to have a lively vision.  A few months ago, I took the plunge into entrepreneurship, leaving behind the relative stability of a 9-to-5 job. It was a leap of faith into a realm filled with uncertainties and risks. Entrepreneurs, you'll get me when I say the looming specter of failure has often kept me awake at night, pondering whether it's time to pack it up and return to...

This talk by Bill Gurley, a popular venture capitalist, is a master class in both the subject of regulatory capture and presentation. It's so well-crafted and powerful - the story-telling, the flow, the energy and intonation, the slides, the creative title and close, the eye-opening lived experiences and insider insights, the authenticity, and the truth to power and corruption.  It drives home that America is the land of capitalists. If you are a large business, there's probably no better place in the world. Conversely, if you are in America, consider starting a business or owning equity to thrive. Capitalists are the kings here.  Compare it to Europe, where capital gains taxes are high, and employees and consumers have strong protections and social services. Or to India, where politicians, cricketers, and movie stars are the kings. Or to China, where the CCP is the only monarch.  Most companies need to do some objective good for their customers to rise and survive, so th...

I woke up excited today because I had shared my new app on Reddit, and I was eager to check if it had taken off.  I have been waking up excited on many days over the last few months for similar reasons. I'd have taken a long shot the previous day - launched a new product, shared a blog or social media post, sent an email to an influential person, applied for an exciting job, etc. Long shots (or moon shots) have small odds of turning into something really big, exciting, and life-changing.  Extraordinary successes are almost always a result of taking long shots and asymmetric bets. Sam Altman in his blog on  How to be Successful , writes "I always choose a next project that, if successful, will make the rest of my career look like a footnote."   Most people, most of the time, are on a very linear path, with no possibility of a big win or exponential take-off. They don't buy any lottery tickets and they don't win any big prizes.  When you keep buying lottery t...

In a recent team meeting, someone announced we wouldn't be able to meet a project deadline and we'll have to move it to later. Not wanting to be pushy or unreasonable, I accepted and updated the date. But another colleague interjected and held the bar. He pointed out that we had slipped a few times already and rallied the team to figure out options to meet the date.  Oftentimes, we avoid hard things  and uncomfortable conversations, and try to be "naively nice". This leads to a slippery slope that snowballs into low accountability, performance, quality, outcomes, morale, and pent-up frustration. I say naively nice because ultimately this turns out to be not very nice to the team, stakeholders, managers, business, and customers.  The nicer way is to set clear and reasonable expectations, hold and raise the bar, provide direct and timely feedback, identify and fix the problems, and work together compassionately and collaboratively to make it happen.  Notes:  1. Am...

There is now plenty of great advice, thought leadership, frameworks, newsletters, podcasts, and courses for being a good product manager (this blog included).  Maybe even too much.  My simple advice that supersedes everything else is this: First, make $100 on the internet on your own.  My first job out of college was as a consultant for startups in an incubator in Ghana. While I could give helpful technical advice on how to build their products, I felt like an imposter when advising on the business or approach. I was a new grad who had never started a business on my own, so who the heck was I to share my business advice?! 

  I was watching this interview with Rich Barton, one of the few people in the world who has created multiple successful businesses across industries - Expedia, Zillow, and Glassdoor.* He recalls the story of how Zestimate (home price estimate) was created.  One of the investors, Bill Gurly, asked him a powerful question before they launched Zillow - what would you do if you had no ad budget?  Good questions can be life and business changing. And in this case, it turned out to be.  Rich and his team ended up creating Zestimate and market reports, which generated a lot of interest and organic traffic. Constraints breed creativity. Sometimes, imagination can solve problems better than money can.  Coincidentally, I watched another video on the same week where Linkedin's CBO shared how the other end of the spectrum - thinking without any constraints - leads to more creative solutions as well.  I'd square both these points into this one piece of advice: If you a...

Growing up in the middle class in India, the first 20 years of my life were somewhat consumed in the pursuit of academic, career, and financial success to secure a comfortable life. But now that I'm comfortable and have checked off those boxes, the same scarcity and survival mindset is unhelpful.  This quote really drove it home for me.  “Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.” – Tim O’Reilly Gasoline and money are really important when you are low. But they are hardly important if you have enough. The same can be said about other pursuits like fame. Get what you need, so you can finally enjoy the life you want.