Capital markets regulator Sebi on Friday said it will auction nine properties belonging to Orion Industries Ltd and Rakhal Bharoti group of companies to recover investors' money raised by these firms.

Sebi to auction 9 properties of Orion Industries, Rakhal Bharoti cos

The total reserve price of these properties is pegged at around Rs 9 crore, the Securities and Exchange Board of India says in a notice

Sebi to Auction 9 Properties of Orion Industries, Rakhal Bharoti Group Firms on November 20

In the second installment of bestselling “Booming Brands”, author Harsh Pamnani tells captivating stories behind the making of 11 ‘Made in India’ brands that have either been pioneers or have reshaped their respective industries.

‘Booming Brands’ volume 2 shares inspiring stories of Indian brands

The Bengaluru-based venture capital (VC) firm took to X, formerly Twitter, to make the announcement late evening and said, “We are thrilled to have these talented leaders on our team, and we look forward to their continued contributions to the firm.

Matrix Partners India promotes three principals to managing directors

Bengaluru: A special court for Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act cases reserved order for October 3 on a .

Court reserves order on distributing ₹70 crore to 55k victims of IMA scam

The property located in West Bengal will go under the hammer, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice dated September 15.

Sebi to auction Saradha Group's property on October 17

SEBI plans to auction Saradha Group’s property in West Bengal with a reserve price of ₹3.68 crore in October. This move aims to recover funds raised through illicit schemes by the group, which allegedly collected ₹4,

SEBI to auction Saradha Group's property on Oct 17

Market regulator Sebi has said it will auction the property of the Saradha Group of companies next month at a reserve price of over Rs 3 crore to recover money raised by the firm from the public through illicit schemes.

Sebi to auction property of Saradha Group's property on October 17

Quikr, India’s leading online classified portal, has raised a whopping $60 Mn in a fresh round led by Venture Capital Firm – Tiger Global Management. As per reports, Quikr is now valued at ...

Quikr Raises $60 Mn From Tiger Global & Its Existing Investors

As a result, schools are phasing out old buses. The number of school vans up for sale on sites like Olx and Quikr has only gone up by several folds.

56% children complain of rash driving by van drivers in Chennai: Study

Quikr

quikr

A distributed workforce, long prophesied by the tech community, has been accelerated by a decade in the last six months. The COVID-19 global health crisis and subsequent ‘shelter in place’ orders have forced millions to rethink the place they call home.  For many, the draw of open spaces and access to recreation has put long-forgotten on the immediate roadmap.  Rural real estate has of this migration. dreams of small-town living already begun to see the effects In parallel to the rural, remote revolution, Hackernoon has been amassing a community of twelve thousand contributors and over four million readers since 2016.  Founded by in 2013, the Hacker Noon voice and community has become a go-to source for grounded perspectives on all things tech, future, company building, and more.  Joined by his wife Linh Dao Smooke in 2017, the duo added another 1,200 shareholders to the Hackernoon journey through a well-publicized , largely in response to Medium’s ban on 3rd party ads. David Smooke equity crowdfunding campaign Behind the scenes, David and Linh were living in San Francisco, pondering the place they called home.  True to brand, they joined the early-adopters of small-town, location-neutral workers and relocated their life and (then) 2-year-old to Edwards, Colorado (population 10,266). "Although Hacker Noon started in San Francisco, our traffic increased 8 fold ever since moving to rural Colorado. We owe that to the beautiful Colorado nature, sunshine, little city-like distraction which allows for clarity and focus on our own business," said Linh Smooke. Prompted by the immutable forces of 2020, the story of Hackernoon and David and Linh will come full circle on July 30th as they join a cohort of six other rural Colorado-based founders to showcase the future of company-building from small towns in the . Greater Colorado Pitch Series Finals Broadcast After sorting through over one hundred company applications, the (GCVF), a $17.5M VC fund selected Hackernoon as a finalist in the .  Originally planned to be a nine-event roadshow around the state, the GCVF team pivoted their first-ever flagship event to an online application process and virtual event, to air . Greater Colorado Venture Fund piloting rural venture capital in Colorado, Greater Colorado Pitch Series July 30th, 12–2PM MT The July 30th finals broadcast serves as a fitting headline event for the also-virtualized (WSSW).  Amongst countless startup week events, WSSW stands out as a primarily rural, region-wide event, with over twelve collaborating organizations and participants from every corner of the state. West Slope Startup Week In 2019, WSSW brought over 200 people together from across Western Colorado to the small desert city of Grand Junction for entrepreneurial celebration and collaboration.  The event became an immediate mainstay in the growing rural Colorado startup community.  For 2020, WSSW has pivoted to online success as well, having hosted over 70 creative events with hundreds of participants daily. While Small Town USA clings to life support, the rural Colorado startup community is taking advantage of years of community building to plot a founder-driven future.  On July 30th, Hackernoon will pitch for investment from the Greater Colorado Venture Fund and show the world, yet again, what the future of company building will look like. Hackernoon will join six other rural Colorado-based companies in pitching for $275,000 in investment and over $10,000 in in-kind awards. , Pueblo — cybersecurity for smart homes CyberPrivacy , Breckenridge — premium goggles and helmets for recreational skiers and snowboarders Glade Optics , Edwards — an open & international community of twelve thousand contributing writers and four million readers Hackernoon , Coloradoans-to-be — management software and booking engine to help campgrounds save time and boost occupancy Nomad Reservations , Grand Junction — top 250 third party Amazon reseller Product Movement Co. , Grand Junction — proven, modular, lightweight yet heavy-duty, aluminum bike racks QuikRStuff , Pueblo — high-quality, functional aquatic products for commercial and consumer aquarium and high-end reef industries TankMatez Register to watch the Greater Colorado Pitch Series Finals Broadcast Here.

Seven Finalists, including Hacker Noon, Announced for Rural Colorado Virtual Pitch Event

I first felt the need to upgrade my iPad on Sep 13, 2016, the day iOS 10 launched. That was when I finally accepted that Apple wasn’t going to give any more OS upgrades for my iPad 3. However, the missing update by itself, didn’t seem to me a strong enough reason to upgrade to an expensive new iPad. Firstly, my iPad and I have been together for six years now. It’s still functional albeit a bit slow, and I didn’t feel good about breaking up with it. Secondly, manufacturers always push us to upgrade, but we need to delay doing that to avoid adding to the world’s electronic junk. Thirdly, an iPad is not cheap in India where Apple products can be prohibitively expensive. (The base model of the iPhone X was launched in India for $1313, or ₹89000). So I decided to hang on to my iPad till I got a good deal on the latest iPad model. But this turned out to be a neverending cycle. The more I waited for a price drop, the closer I got to the launch of the newer iPad model, and the more I felt like waiting a bit longer for that newer model. But new models will always cost a bit more, which brought me back to square one. So two years and another iOS update later, I was still sitting on the fence with my iPad 3, waiting for the right moment to jump for an upgrade. The device I didn’t want The first time I laid hands on an iPad was when a friend got the original iPad in 2011. Seeing apps on that large screen was intriguing. But I couldn’t quite figure out how it would fit into my life. So I didn’t bother to get one. A year later, in March 2012 to be precise, Apple launched its third generation iPad with the A5X chip and the then brand new iOS 5.1. Though it was theoretically the iPad 3, Apple simply called it the ‘New iPad.’ I saw that iPad a month later, displayed next to the iPad 2 at a mall, and its picture absolutely popped in comparison (2048x1536 @ 261 ppi vs 1024x768 @ 132 ppi). The new iPad is dead; Long live the new iPad I was instantly sold on it, and picked it up, in what marketer’s aptly term as an ‘impulse purchase.’ In November of the same year, Apple launched the 4th generation iPad. It came with a processor that was twice as fast, and the new lightning connector. In just seven months, my just launched ‘new iPad’ had become the old iPad. Six years later, I still feel the pain. There’s an unwritten rule in the market which states that if you pay a premium price to buy a newly launched product, then you should be allowed to savour your status of having the latest version of that gadget for a certain period of time, which is usually around a year. Fortunately, Apple seems to have finally got the memo. There has never been another Apple product with as short a life cycle as the iPad 3. My iPad finds its place Anyway, after I purchased my iPad 3, I realised I had been right about wondering if I really needed it. My iMac with its 21" large screen was perfect for working, while my then iPhone 4 was my portable device. There was no a place for the iPad. Beside, typing on the iPad screen is inconvenient for anything more than a few minutes. I have tried using it with a bluetooth keyboard, and the small screen and low height still make it a pain, literally. However my iPad slowly inveigled itself into my life. It was perfect for when I had work, but was forced to be away from my Mac for some reason. Its larger screen allowed me to type much faster and more easily than on my iPhone 4’s piddly 3.5" screen. It was also much better for reading, and surfing the net. After I had got used to the screen, I slowly began to use my iPad at home too. Like at breakfast, where it began to supplement the daily newspaper, partly because it was more updated on breaking news, and partly because I could follow more links on stories that I was interested in. I did make one mistake though. I had gone for the iPad with a cellular connectivity. That turned out to be redundant as India’s cellular networks allow hot-spotting or sharing of your phone’s data connection. So I never did use a SIM in my iPad. 6 years old, and ready to retire I have been using my iPad for six years now, and it’s slowly inching its way into obsolescence. Apple expects people to use its devices for 2–3 years max, and then replace them as technology advances make it hard for new software to run on older hardware. My iPad 3 is a 32-bit device, and a lot of the 64-bit iOS and app features will not work on it. In fact, I heard Apple is discontinuing all 32-bit apps (or maybe has already discontinued them). So apps on my iPad 3 are often outdated and sometimes don’t exist. Besides newer OSes are designed for new hardware, and many features don’t work well or don’t work at all, on older hardware. Like when iOS 9 was launched in September 2015, I happily installed it on my iPad. But to my horror, the new OS made my iPad sluggish. Like if I typed in a sentence, there would be a distinct lag before the typing appeared on screen. Or when I restarted my iPad, the screen would be visible, but take another minute or so before it would respond to my touch. My solution was to erase the iPad, do a clean install of iOS 9, and put in only the basic apps. Safari and Mail are built in apps, and I use them often. I also downloaded Pages for writing, a couple of news apps, Skype, YouTube, VLC and a few other apps including the Medium app. With just these apps, the iPad seemed to run a bit smoother, though the lag in response remained. Apple decides I need a gentle push What made my iPad issues so obvious is that I own an iPhone 6S Plus, running iOS 11. My iPad on iOS 9 is not just slow but also misses a lot of the iOS 11 goodies. Things like live photos, ‘Airdrop,’ ‘Handover,’ the new notification and control centres, the night reading mode (Apple had removed Flux from the App Store even though it enabled night reading on older Apple devices, which was not a nice thing to do). But what really made me decide that it was time to upgrade was this set of well-made . (Be warned, some apps shown are paid apps). Links to the other videos of this series can be found on the same page. videos by Apple It made me realise what I was missing out by not upgrading, and also that the iPad 6 can do stuff my phone can’t. So when the 6th generation iPad was launched, I was definitely interested. Is my iPad’s battery about to die? That’s straight from the horse’s mouth There was one other factor that contributed to my decision to make the jump for a new iPad. From the , it would seem Apple recommends replacing batteries which charge only up to 80% of their original capacity. After that, I assume battery performance will degrade and not be very predictable. above I used a free app called (there are ads at the bottom) to check my iPad battery’s health. I had installed the app while doing a previous story on the . Battery Life right way to charge phone batteries 20% wear level at 492 charge cycles — my battery performance may start degrading fast It would seem my iPad’s battery health is down to the danger level of 80% wear though it hasn’t yet touched 500 cycles. I assume the age of the iPad (6 years) has added to its wear level. Basically, from this point on, any additional time I get on my iPad is a bonus, and not guaranteed by Apple. Yup, time to move on. Hobby horse vs Workhorse We would all like to own Ferraris but end up with cars within our budget. My iPad was no different. I wanted the 12" iPad Pro but was it overkill for my needs? I’m no artist and my iPad will be mostly used for surfing and viewing media and a bit of writing. In fact, I usually do most work related stuff, including this post, on my Mac. So a bit of research seemed in order. The above reviewer made a lot of sense to me. He’s an artist who owns an iPad Pro, which he uses as a work horse. His earnings from work done on his iPad Pro is several times more than what he spent on it, which was around $1400. He believes the iPad 6 is Apple’s best ever value-for-money device, and more than enough for student artists who may not yet be generating much of an income. As my use of an iPad will be even less than that of a student artist, this argument definitely applies to me. So I finalised on the iPad 6, and decided to hold off on Apple Pencil. And yes, I’m aware its Retina Display is the same as my six year old iPad 3. The only thing left was to look out for the right time to buy it. This would basically be when the big online retailers had a sale going. Price Surprises Price is an issue in India as Apple products are generally prohibitively expensive here. That’s because the Indian government imposes heavy taxes on products made outside India. This is in order to encourage local investment by those foreign companies. For instance, the 6th generation iPad costs $329 (₹22,375) in the US Apple store, but was selling for $412 (₹28,000) in Amazon India (Apple Stores are not present in India). In mid April, Amazon had a sale, and I managed to get the iPad for $360 (₹24,499) by buying it then. An offer on my credit card knocked ₹1500 off the sale price of ₹25,999. But it still cost $30 (₹2,040) more than in the US. An offer on my credit card knocked a further ₹1500 off but it’s stil $30 more than the US price If I had waited a few months, I may have probably got a better deal, but like I said, it’s a neverending cycle of price drop vs latest tech. So I went ahead and ordered the iPad 6. I recall spending $397 (₹27000) for my iPad 3 six years ago, but that’s not too surprising as prices drop when technology advances. India may have the world’s least expensive iPhone There’s another angle to prices in India. When Apple finally accepted that India is a price sensitive market, they decided to test things by assembling the iPhone SE locally. This got around the tax issue, and the difference is startling. The made-in-India iPhone SE can be bought in India for $279 (₹19000), while it costs $349 (₹23,735) in the US. That’s substantially cheaper. Unfortunately, Apple has not yet been able to do this for other iPhone models or iPads. Also, there is a very limited demand for 4" screen phones in the Indian market where 5.5" screens is the standard in the iPhone SE’s price range. My wife is one of those who opted for this phone, probably because she was upgrading from a 3.5" iPhone 4. If you are okay with the screen size, I can confirm the iPhone SE is a real bargain. It has the same internal hardware as my iPhone 6S series and runs the latest iOS 11 as fast and as smooth as on my far more expensive iPhone 6S Plus. In fact, you can get it for ₹17000 ($249) if you plan your buy like I did during a sale by the giant online retailers. That‘s $279, or $70 less than the US Apple Store price of $349 — you can get it for even less. Old is Gold I just about buy into Apple’s 3-year product replacement cycle on phones. But it’s hard to accept that argument for my iPad, which I use for barely an hour a day. Or my iMac which I feel should last much longer, especially if it’s used mainly for basic writing and surfing, and not for serious photo or video editing. So I have upgraded my phone but keep pushing the envelope on my other devices. My iMac is a 2011 model, and still running smoothly on Mac OS High Sierra though many newer features like Airdrop don’t work on it. Surprisingly I do have a functional 2008 MacBook Pro, a 17” dinosaur, though it’s running an older OS (I think it’s Mavericks or Mac OS 10.9). I had its battery replaced once. But when the replacement battery ‘bulged’, I just got rid of the thing, effectively converting the MacBook into a laptop. It’s perfectly functional for basic typing and surfing. I often leave it behind at my mother’s place. This way, I have a working large screen machine to use whenever I drop in for a visit. The machine also has some ports that my newer iMac doesn't, which allows me to use it to grab video from my old DV tapes. In short, the old warhorse is still pulling its weight. The MacBook Pro battery that bulged (my iPad is acting as a table for it!) Live fast and die young As far as my phone goes, it puts in many more hours of work everyday as compared to my iPad. So I don’t seem to be able to extract as much life as I can from my larger devices. When I picked up my iPad 3, I was using the iPhone 4, which I bought around 2010. By 2013, its battery had begun running out fast. I had the battery replaced, but the phone’s ear piece lost power, and I could barely hear calls if I was in a noisy environment like a mall. So when I got a chance for an inexpensive upgrade to a refurbished iPhone 5, I did so. That phone lasted two years till one morning, when its display refused to turn on. Upset with Apple, . However knowing my love for all things Apple, my wife gifted me an iPhone 6S Plus a couple of months later. I was weary of Android by then, and gladly switched back. That was in December 2015. My iPhone is now in its third year, and isn’t yet obsolete. It does miss features like the back twin camera, and of course, Face ID. But I plan to get a new battery before the year is out (by taking advantage of Apple’s discounted battery replacement program, a response to the phone throttling disaster), and should be able to extract another year from my phone. If I can do that, I will be able to move in directly into the second generation of Face ID phones. I did hear rumours of a larger 6" iPhone, and I may go for that. It will be interesting to see if that reduces my iPad usage. I switched to Android Reincarnating my iPad I didn’t like the idea of parting with my iPad as it’s a pretty impressive device despite its age. However its battery condition meant it could drop dead anytime so I had to be practical. Amazon did have an exchange offer for my iPad 3 whilst buying the iPad 6. They were willing to give me ₹1805 ($27) to take it off my hands. Maybe I would get a bit more if I listed it on Quikr or Olx (ebay equivalents in India). Whatever! It’s still peanuts, and I think my iPad 3 is worth lot more. I mean if my iPad 3 was a non-functional piece of electronic junk, that would have made sense from an environmental pollution point of view. But this is a functioning iPad that can be used for surfing, viewing media, email, or listening to music. It may be slow but it’s an equivalent of a portable PC and video/music player combined. Besides it comes with an all day battery, and a touchscreen, which makes it handy, and easy to use (except for the lack of USB to access pendrives). This thing can easily run a couple of years if you don’t have too many expectations of it in terms of speed. The post PC world has arrived PCs may still be very much alive in offices, but they are going out of fashion on the home front. My mother doesn’t use her old PC anymore as her smartphone serves all her needs. So when it conked off, it didn’t seem worth repairing and I got rid of it, along with whole bunch of accessories and wires. It’s surprising how clean my old desk at home looks with just an old Macbook on it. My wife too recently gifted away her laptop. She had lent it to one of her friends who seemed to have more use for it. As of now, my wife’s phone meets all her computer and internet needs. Besides, she still has access to a laptop, as her office insists she carry one. The thing is after sitting in front of a screen all day, she dislikes doing the same at home. She’s also a bit of a technophobe, which makes her a perfect target for my recycled iPad. She herself realised this, and asked me to pass on my old iPad. She feels it will meet all her needs at home, which is basically watching a few videos on a bigger screen, listening to music, and checking the odd email. Though my iPad is slow, it should be fine for her. In fact if I get a new case, it’ll look as good as new as it’s virtually scratch-free. Anyway, it’s quite a relief to know the old chap will not be leaving us. Of course, that 20% wear on the battery means that I might have to replace the battery if its performance drops sharply and the iPad becomes unusable. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Getting to know my iPad 6 It’s now more than a week since I got my iPad 6, and I still haven’t really started using it. One reason is there’s a bit of learning curve with it. I’m looking forward to going through some of the Apple I earlier mentioned (though a few features may be iPad Pro only), and learning how to use my new toy. But somehow, I haven’t got around to doing it. videos As someone said, the best time is right now. Fine, I will start today with the Apple video on . It’s a paid app but I seem to own it, so I might as well use it. Here we go. using Pixelmator to erase stuff Before and after touching up the image using Pixelmator To be honest, the grainy feel of the lines separating the tiles make the original photo far more interesting. Besides, my crude attempts at touch-up might lead to my arty friends disowning me. But the thing is if I want to, I can do this on my iPad itself. I’m sure most basic imaging apps can do this, including the Apple’s built in Photos. However it was still impressive to me, as I usually don’t attempt tweaking images on the smaller screens of my iPhone or iPad (that does not include Snapseed, which is an honorable exception). Next, I tried using the split screen to at a time, as I can’t do this on my iPhone. Looks like it can be being pretty useful when I am in one app and need to view or use something from another app. Let me give it a go. run two apps Split view on the iPad makes it easier to work with multiple apps That whole operation was pretty smooth. Which was when it struck me that this iPad has a A10 Fusion chip as against my iPhone 6S Plus’ A9 chip. Hmm, it’s first for my iPad to be more powerful than my iPhone (and also better at conserving battery power). Let’s get a little geeky about it. Ooooh! iPad 6 vs iPhone 6S Plus Looks like I’m going to have fun discovering the capabilities of my new iPad.

To upgrade or not; an info-era dilemma

A brief* career retrospective Image source: http://chrislema.com/five-tips-for-product-managers/ This post has been in drafts for over a year now. I wrote this as a response to the countless messages I get on Linkedin/ asking how to move to a product role. Over the past 5 years I have worked for various startups, built a few interesting products and switched from a developer to a product manager. This is also my attempt to summarise my career as it stands now and includes from my previous jobs. Twitter learnings I have worked at: (Summer Intern, May 2011 — Jul 2011, 3 months) IOCL (Attempt at starting up, Nov 2011 — Jul 2012, 9 months) NGOSphere (Summer Intern, May 2012 — Jul 2012, 3 months) Redbus (Final Semester Intern, Jan 2013 — Jul 2013, 6 months) Avaya (Full time, Aug 2013 — Sept 2013, 2 months) KonyLabs (Full time, Oct 2013 — Nov 2014, 1 year 2 months) Kore.ai (Full time, Dec 2014 — Dec 2015, 1 year 1 month) CouponDunia (Full time, Jan 2016 — Sept 2016, 9 months) Craftsvilla (Full time, Since Dec 2016, Current) Directi IOCL and Avaya IOCL and Avaya were easy. I just had to fill a form and let my college (BITS) and my CGPA (6.0/10) take care of the rest. Thanks to my CGPA I knew I had no chance of getting internships at top tier firms. I tried to learn as much as I could at both places, and got a few good projects under my belt. Learnings: There was no way I could see myself doing a government job. The 3 months at IOCL was enough for me to realise that I got interested in management while at IOCL. I took a project related Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)at IOCL and I started a habit of reading as much as I could about best management practices At Avaya, I learnt how big companies run. I was part of sprints, planning meetings for the first time. I also understood how products get built: customer research, prototyping, alpha releases etc RedBus I got into RedBus thanks to something I learnt quite early in my life: there are few people in this world who have the audacity to go after what they really want in life. At BITS, I saw a friend of mine send out close to 200 applications to professors all over the world to land a summer internship abroad. There were people who had much better CGPA. There were people who probably were better at Computer Science than him. But none of them had his drive. My only experience till 3rd year of college was a summer internship at IOCL and a failed attempt at starting up. Inspired by my friend, I decided to send out as many applications as possible, no matter how many rejections I got. Thankfully the first email itself worked. By leadership positions I meant a position at the Student Council as an elected representative from my hostel and being a co-founder of NGOSphere (which I will talk about later in this post). I still got an interview. Showing up something is the only thing you need to do, even if you might thing you are not there yet. Shankar Prasad, the COO, told me that RedBus was exploring expansion in the North East. They had started operations almost a year before, but they had very few tie ups and hence wanted someone to go there. My work was to convince bus operators & travel agencies to partner with RedBus, scale up RedBus’s operations and run a few marketing projects. I don’t know why they felt that I was the guy who could do that, but I was still thankful and jumped at the opportunity. Learnings: I realised how much I loved working for a fast paced startup which was in hyper scaling mode. There was no bureaucracy. You did not have to please your manager and could just go out and do your own stuff I never felt like a lowly paid intern. I was hustling in the North East, trying to figure out a way to grow RedBus there. I studied the travel industry in and out. I also wrote a blog post here: How is Redbus.in innovative if it’s just a normal bus ticket booking site? In the 3 months I was with Redbus I helped double their partners in the North East. Even then I was looking at unique ways I could be valuable for a corporation. Being from the North East helped. I realized that if everything fails in my life, I could still become a city manager for some startup in Guwahati. I got solid recommendations and learnt a lot, something I could never had done at a big corporation I Learnt a lot about how culture is important for a startup. At RedBus, Phani (the CEO) used to send Happy Birthday mails to employees. My manager Subhobrata did his best to let me have the freedom to do what I wanted. Even if I was just there just for 3 months, I felt like I was part of the company. People were quick to praise your work and make you feel important NGOSphere This was our announcement post on Facebook. We were happy to have our own startup. We were vain. And naive. But we tried. During my 2nd year of college I got fascinated with the world of startups. This was the beginning of the startup boom in India. Everywhere I turned, I could see people starting up. Also maybe, I was reading too much TechCrunch. Here was the idea: There were around 2 million NGOs in India in 2011. Our goal was to get at least 1% of them online. Provide them various services: web site development, brochure design, fund raising, branding. Our goal was to start a web design agency and target only this market. Learnings: Finding a datapoint like 2 million NGOs are in India means nothing. We were stupid to assume most of them want to come online and the only thing lacking was a push by us Most NGOs in India are just tax avoidance scams. They don’t care whether people know about them or not Even if you manage to convince a few of them to work with you, they will bail at the last minute. The typical excuse would be lack of funds, directors thought otherwise and were no longer interested Market validation is really important. We assumed NGOs would use the brand presence to raise more funding. We assumed NGOs would be willing to pay us for digital services. Golden rule of starting up: Never assume. Talk to potential customers. See if they are willing to pay We were more interested in getting our visiting cards printed, updating our Linkedin bio. I promised never to do something again in life just because it was the “cool” thing to do. It was a humbling experience, getting rejected by so many people Thankfully something good came out of it: I learnt a lot of lessons which helped me do well in the RedBus internship and later move to a product role. Another co founder started Halaplay and is doing quite well KonyLabs and Kore.ai Depending on college placements was the stupidest mistake I made. I was hoping some fast growing startup would come to college and offer me some Business Development or Marketing position. I was not that keen on moving to a developer role. Coding never excited me in college, and I did not know then that something like product management existed. I did not even interview for most of the software companies which came in the beginning of placement season. Only after almost the entire placements were done, I realised what a mistake I had made; with a 6.0 (/10) CGPA I was in deep waters. I had not applied anywhere off campus too. I was running out of options. So I did what any sane guy at my situation would do: Read Cormen (textbook on Data Structures) cover to cover and started sitting for interviews. I still kept getting rejected (messing up in the final rounds of a few companies) and was one of the last guys in my Computer Science batch to get placed. It was a humbling experience. My father would call me every night asking when Microsoft/Google is coming and I had to remind him again and again that with my CGPA I was not even eligible to sit for their interviews. I finally got placed in a startup called Kony Labs. I joined their team which used Kony Studio (their proprietary platform) to build apps for various companies.The advantage of Kony Studio is that it can generate builds for multiple platforms from a single JS codebase. I wrote about my interview experiences here: Want To Work For An Indian Startup? Here’s What You Need to Do I worked at KonyLabs for just 2 months before joining Kore, which spun out from the company. It had the same management team and their goal was to build the next generation workplace collaboration platform. It was the best decision I made. Instead of being one of the 100s of developers I was not part of a small startup where I could learn faster. I would go on to work on the Android app before moving to the Server team. Learnings: Most things in life boils down to luck. I could have remained at Kony and kept working on their proprietary platform. It would not have helped me a lot career wise. But due to some random selection I ended up being one of the few freshers moved to Kore.ai Working at Kore was fun mostly, but with periods of extreme frustration. . Speed is indeed something which can make or break early startups. . There was no north star to speak of I felt we were moving too slow and needed to ship much faster if we wanted to have any chance against Slack We also kept changing our product roadmap and working on the next cool feature Worked under an amazing Tech lead. I understood why they say r. I learnt a lot during my time at Kore. I had no clue about APIs before I joined Kore. I did not know the difference between SOAP and REST properly. One and a half year of writing code helped me learn how to actually roll up my sleeves and build products myself. It also helped me become more emphatic later as a PM, having been a dev myself. I wrote a blogpost on that too: the effective Tech Lead is a 100x enginee what separates good managers from the rest I realised I could never become a good enough dev to work at Google or Amazon. Instead of reading tech blogs I spent far more time reading product development blogs. If I could not finish my work, I would just go home and have a sound sleep, without being up all night figuring out the fix CouponDunia While I was at Kore, I received this time capsule I had set in 2012. This capsule was from a mediocre college student who wanted his future self to answer this simple question: “Did you make something good out of your life or are you still getting screwed?” I realised that even though I could continue at Kore, working as a developer, I did not see myself as a coder 10 years down the line. So I thought “why waste any more time?” I told my manager that I was quitting and put in my papers. I had a 2 months notice period and in the worst case I was willing to go back to being a dev. Or maybe I could just join a startup as a Product Management intern? I was willing to take the risk. I had been thinking about the switch for a long time and I knew I would just keep thinking about it and not do anything if I was not pushing myself hard enough and showed enough intent. And what is the best way to show intent than quitting your safe job without a new job offer! The time capsule which changed my life. Literally. Instead of writing on how I prepared for Product Management interviews in particular I am linking some really good resources here: Interviewing for Big Logos with GoogleX former Product Manager How to Prepare for a Product Manager Interview by former Facebook PM You can also go through all the Product School videos. Also read book. Crack the PM Interview . I followed the exact same approach. Kept pitching to CEOs/Head of Products on how I can add value. Being a generalist really helped to get a foot in the door. But a lack of prior product experience led to a lot of rejections too. Finally I interviewed with 2 startups- CouponDunia and Zoomcar. I have also already written on how to look for startup jobs I had connected with Sameer, the CEO of CouponDunia on Angellist and I sent my pitch to him. CouponDunia pitch The answer to why I wanted to move to a Product role: Why Product manager? I wrote a long product critique of the app as well as the website. I even found broken links. I had seen how people apply at companies without even using their products. I wanted to show that I cared about the company. I had invested enough time to understand the market as well as the existing products. All I wanted now was a chance. Product Critique of the CD app and website More ideas to grow the usage Learnings: I have already written about my work at CouponDunia. If you are interested you can read this: and How We Scaled CashBoss To 500K downloads in 5 months Farewell CouponDunia… About transitioning to a Product role: 19 lessons I learned during my first year as a Product Manager Craftsvilla I was loving my life at CouponDunia. I had a boss who liked me, who gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted. But I also realised that I was getting too comfortable in my life/career. I was no longer learning as much. I had scaled CashBoss to 1million installs and profitability but if we were to reach the next level, we would need a far bigger investment in Marketing. I was helping a few other startups during this time including one which eventually got acquired by Quikr. I was also seriously contemplating switching to one of the “Rocket Ships”. People suggest you to jump into one, no matter what role you get. It was during that time Craftsvilla reached out to me. It was supposed to be a random coffee meet with the VP of Product but things turned out for the good and I got a job offer. The following points made the role really exciting: Craftsvilla was one of the fast growing rocketships you read on various startup blogs. Funded by top investors it had raised a massive round at a valuation of around 200 mil and there were talks about a listing on NASDAQ One of my long term goals then was to move into VC after getting enough startup experience. I thought this would be a good opportunity to work and network with people in the industry. Almost all the VPs at Craftsvilla were ex VCs Lastly my role: I was being offered the chance to head mobile apps which seemed too good of a role to refuse I talked about ways to demonstrate value earlier. Even before I officially joined Craftsvilla, I started working on growth. Thinking about how to make Craftsvilla the next unicorn was all I could think of. Always be ready to contribute and demonstrate value as early as possible Learnings: Learnt how to make decisions with data. Every feature you pitch at Craftsvilla had to be backed with metrics and every release supposed to improve on Conversion Got domain knowledge of the e-commerce industry; from logistics to category management to merchandising Understood how highly funded VC funded startups work from the inside By the end of 9 months I had a sad realisation: Most of the people I enjoyed working with had left due to various issues. The Indian startup ecosystem was in turmoil. Every day you could see startups shutting down. Raising new rounds was becoming harder by the day. And Indian e-commerce sector is still in its infancy. Customer retention is hard. Every one is just burning money to retain people who wont think twice before shopping at your competitor for a 10% extra discount. Even the market leader Flipkart is still bleeding losses I was also suffering from various health issues after working non stop for years and needed a break. I thought taking a few months off would be good Directi I spent the next 3 months at home. For a change I did not have to respond to mails asking why conversion dropped by 20% on a Sunday afternoon. It was good fun but time was running out. I needed to look for a job again. I met quite a few startups (based in Guwahati). I evaluated my options. I did not want to join another e-commerce company unless it was a market leader. Chat platforms were becoming huge. Lot of interesting companies working in the space. I had read like 100 blogposts on Wechat already. So I decided to apply to the only two companies in India working on Chat: Hike and Flock. I wrote a 10 pager on how to take Hike to the next level and sent it to their Head of Growth. I also dropped a mail to Bhavin, the CEO of Directi. When I say I hope this somehow lands in your inbox I meant it literally. I normally don’t go through the typical HR route and just reach out to the Hiring manager/Head of Product/ CEO with a value proposition mail. And I sure as hope it lands on their Inbox and not the spam folder. Fun fact: first part of the mail/pitch a bunch of product ideas invoking wechat spirit Always explain the ‘why’ I managed to get into Directi and join their Apps team. I have been working on exactly the same things I mentioned in the mail. There have been pros as well as cons but there won’t be a retrospective section for Directi for now. That’s all folks! Why I wrote this? I know there is no point writing a retrospective for your career when it has not even been 5 years since you passed out of college. This might even look narcissistic somehow. But I did end up doing a lot of things in my life over the last few years which I wanted as a teenager in college. I did not go to any MBA school. I worked at various promising startups and gave my best (till I could, and then moved on). I hope this inspires someone who is still at college and wondering whether they can ever find modest level of professional success. This also answers how I got into Product. Thanks for reading.

How I became a Product Manager

03: PushInterview A Candid conversation with of on Design Thinking for Startups Nitin Sethi Quikr who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. That accounts for a whopping 80%. Eight out of Ten entrepreneurs But why? Why do you think startups fail? CB Insights says this: Credits: https://www.cbinsights.com/ The why startups fail, which accounts for 42% of failures, is because there is , for the product or service developed. number one reason no market need Yes, it looks like a million dollar idea. Yes, it looks impressive. But unfortunately, it is not solving a core problem for which people would pay. This is where Design Thinking kicks in. I got a chance to interact with of on Nitin Sethi Quikr “Design Thinking for Startups”. In this interview, shares critical insights and learnings that he acquired from being in this domain for the past 17 years. Nitin This is the third interview of the series “ powered by . PushInterview: Interviews that helps you Pushstart” Pushstart Check out my previous interview on “ ” if you had missed it. How I built one of the most active startup community of India _My journey of building a startup community from zero to one_hackernoon.com How I built one of the most active startup community of India 1. Tell us about your journey till now? I am a Product Design and UX enthusiast with 17 years of rich experience in startups across sectors. , VP Product Design & User Experience at Nitin Sethi Quikr I have seen three generations of digital products in my professional journey so far. I am currently heading as . Previously headed and (The Group company). Quikr.com VP Product Design & User Experience Yatra.com Info Edge Naukri.com At the initial stage of my career, I have worked for brands like , , and as a consultant for various national and international consumer-centric digital players. Bharti Airtel Indiatimes Rediff 2. What is your take on Design Thinking and How it can help the startups? Design Thinking is all about finding the problem worth solving. It is a systematic approach to framing and solving problems based on close and empathetic observation of customers. Design Thinking is all about finding the problem worth solving Design Thinking forces people to think broadly about users’ needs and be generative rather than purely analytical. It is always a collaborative and non-linear process. Design Thinking, when done right, results in the launch of successful products that delight customers. Designers can achieve so much when they stick together and share helpful knowledge, tips and feedback. A high-performance team of Design Thinkers is obsessed with creating great outcomes. They test and validate until they create a great product that meets business objectives and makes the customer happy. “High-performance team of Design Thinkers practices a continuous cycle of building, measuring, and learning against an outcome. They focus on outcome rather than output.” Design Thinking can improve the success rate of startups. By embracing it in the correct way, one can fail fast and know exactly what is going wrong with the product or service from a consumers perspective. “Lack of customer-centric approach, user research and product testing is hurting startups the most.” Validating ideas at the right time with real users is very critical. Most founders lack the “ ” approach. startup problem seeker “You don’t have to be a designer to think like a Design Thinker.” Design Thinking is just a buzzword unless it is used as an approach to focus on the which are supported by to drive . right problem and deliver meaningful and highly-functional solutions traditional business metrics the right ROI 3. Which ingredient of design thinking is most important according to you and why? According to me, will continue to be the most important attribute. Customer Empathy Customer Empathy is the most important ingredient of Design Thinking “Someone in the organization should represent the point of view of the customer.” And who can be better than a Design Thinker for this role? “Design Thinking requires a team to walk into their customer’s shoes. It encourages them to think out of the box, enabling rapid prototyping and testing of ideas in the market, and iterating appropriately.” This means that the end-consumer is ultimately shaping the final experience; since they are part of the process from the start, the experience will resonate. “At its core, Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation.” Jobs Alerts are the most critical piece of any job portal to get back the users. Matching alerts need to be done in a personalized way with a approach to customized user experience. ‘One in a Million’ We worked really hard to improve the overall experience of Job Alerts at and kept up with the iterations and testing. I am sure the process still remains same. Naukri 4. What is your general Design Thinking process? The basic pillars of Design Thinking The basic pillars of Design Thinking remain same across verticals and sectors. : Establish a shared understanding of who the customer is. Empathize : Align with the core problem to be solved/jobs to be done. Define : Have structured ways to generate ideas in quick succession. Ideate : Turn those ideas into testable prototypes. Prototype : Validate the prototype with real customers. Test With tons of failures and few successes, I have learned this and kept it close my heart: It needs to make sense to everyone. Design for users, Not for the geeks: Understand your users and their requirements. Do your research: It is not a last minute add-on.Test with at every stage. Integrate UX from the start: real users 5. How can a startup implement Design Thinking? “Make design a critical accentual function while forming a team and not an afterthought.” Design Thinking is as important as or Operations for which you usually plan the budget and scope of your business. Technology In India, Design Thinking is not valued when compared with Technology. Many startups still limit themselves to UI or Visual Design when they think about design. I started as a Visual Designer moved to UI Design, then migrated to UX and now I embrace Design Thinking. “If your products are solving problems and making sense to the consumer, you will sail through. One should always keep his/her eyes and ears open for feedback.” At , we did many customer-centric initiatives which revolved around improving customer loyalty and reducing the cost of acquisition for new customers. Yatra “If you can build features to make repeat purchases happen, you will be able to grow your business and outplay the competition.” is a very good example in this context. Yatra’s eCash 6. Is applying Design Thinking too expensive for a startup? , if you start it from and if you plan it at a later stage of the marketing budget. Yes and No: No Day Zero Yes It will not give you a direct ROI from day one but in long term, it will make a difference. Although, you can measure and link it to the ROI like many successful global companies do. “It is like a (Mutual Funds). Keep investing systematically at regular intervals for long-lasting returns.” SIP The discovery phase is critical in Design Thinking. Most of the work should be focused on developing a human-centered understanding of the problem before going into the solution mode. It is like wearing a seatbelt while you are driving on a highway. Many startups redo their products as they haven’t invested in Design Thinking from the start. 7. One startup which has successfully implemented Design Thinking? I can name at-least which have successfully implemented Design Thinking. 10–15 startups from India We have emerging leaders and many unicorns in Payment, E-commerce, Travel, Auto, Pharma, Classifieds, News, Food-Tech, Delivery, Logistics etc. As an ecosystem, we have just started our journey. There is so much to be done in the field of . Solar, Water, Air, Health, Education, Last mile commute and Food at mass scale “The startup which has Design Thinking as a culture will outplay the competition by multiple notches.” It gives you that competitive edge as you have critical insights coming your way at the right time. Knowing what works and what not plays the most crucial part of any startup’s journey. “Nowadays customers expect a different experience, one that is simple and delightful, where Commerce is seamless, and Technology is invisible.” In Today’s Global Economy, a company’s brand is primarily driven by the experience and not by the advertising money behind the message. Organizations have to get closer to to better determine how the can deliver the best possible experience. their customer needs, motivations, and expectations Technology or Platform 8. How to build a team which thinks in the language of Design thinking? Hiring the right talent in this field is still very challenging. “India needs 10,000 Design Thinkers to help create a better startup ecosystem.” It is about hiring the right partner with a long-term perspective. There should be someone in the core team who becomes the voice of the consumer and put the foot down in favour of them to make things better. “The language spoken in the company should be around the benefit of consumers. This can only happen if the right set of people get enough empowerment to work on user goals.” I am lucky to be part of growth. I got a free hand to build the core Product Design & User Experience team. Quikr’s We do a lot of A/B testing across platforms at and keep a very close eye on the customer experience. Quikr In a company, it is super important to have the right set of people with diversified complementary skills. 9. What metrics should a founder consider if he/she is embarking on the journey of Design Thinking? The inherent risks in the traditional way of doing business, are too high. “Build first, Find customers later” Two new age Design Thinking approaches for founders (needs change): Fail fast, Fail cheap. Integrate different perspectives. “The most important outcome of the successful implementation of Design Thinking process is more happy customers.” Key metrics differ from case to case depending upon the type of business. For transactions led business, it can be CTR, Conversions, Repeat Orders, Direct Traffic, Cancellation Rate, Social Ratings, Brand Recall etc. When developing a product, take a human-centric approach for responding to feedback and take the product through multiple iterations and testing cycles. 10. One sign which kills Design Thinking? Is the team sitting around a conference room table and listening to the ? HiPPO (highest paid person’s opinion) This is the biggest sign that the team is not embracing Design Thinking. “Building a feature is easy. But building the right feature for the right audience is challenging.” Life is too short to build something nobody wants. In the ever-evolving age of powerful customers, efforts to embrace Design Thinking must be the top priority. 11. Any useful tips for startups? Few Handy Tips For Startups: Translate your content into more local languages for organic growth. Do a lot of A/B testing. Understanding the UX as a critical component is imperative. Lack of customer-centric approach can kill your business fast. Design Thinking is the stage zero of your product development lifecycle. Be curious, keep exploring and thrive to improve. Treat customers like assets, not like transactions. “Last but not the least, Design Thinking is not a Magic Wand.” 12. Any books or online resources you would recommend to get started with Design Thinking? I prefer , and for the richness and depth of free content they offer. Smashing Magazine , Medium , Boxes and Arrows Dribble , DesignTAXI Slideshare One can get a lot of free material online. But I feel that the real learning happens when you do it and get your hands dirty. Attend workshops and seminars happening on the topic to begin with, while you start reading to get well versed. Few books/resources that I would recommend: The Service Startup: Design Thinking gets Lean Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation Design Thinking 101 “ One big step forward to become a Design Thinker is to improve your listening power and take criticism on product positively.” 13. How can we get in touch with you? You can reach me @ Linkedin , Twitter , Skype , Facebook or Email . Thanks a lot for reading! :) If you liked it, please support by clapping 👏🏻 and sharing the post. Feel free to leave a comment 💬 below. Hey! Neeraj here, the founder of , India’s most active entrepreneur community. I release interviews with successful entrepreneurs every week. Pushstart Do subscribe to my newsletter to get them delivered to your inbox. Also, If you want to get interviewed, you can always reach out to me on | | | . Linkedin Facebook Mail Twitter

Design Thinking for Startups

For far too long I possessed an old Dell Studio laptop. It served me well for a good 5 years with a number of service centre visits, battery and hard disk replacements, formats and OS upgrades. From the past few years I have ditched the old laptop for a Macbook. Yet still, I never bothered to dispose of it. After all it still works (slow af but works!). I tried selling it, but the act itself and the price I get for it is honestly not worth it. Giving it to someone for free feels like a punishment to the person (most smartphones have better specs). Disposing it off just doesn’t feel right (yeah right! That’s the middle class in me speaking. Also not very good for the environment). What if there is an ‘emergency’ situation where I need to use this ancient piece of technology? Aren’t we all hoarders of things we think we’ll use someday? Here’s to someday I had been building a smart mirror for a few weeks. One of the main components of which is an LCD screen. Since this was a pet project, I was looking at the cheapest available solution. Most monitors available online cost upwards of 4000 INR, even ones on OLX and Quikr cost as much as. 2500 INR. There to be a cheaper solution. My budget was capped at 1500 INR for a screen size of at least 13.3 inches. So I decided to wait until I could find a cheaper solution. I am so glad I did. has One rare Sunday afternoon while I was cleaning my cupboard, I stumbled upon the faithful old Dell studio. I switched it on, it worked despite it’s battery life deteriorated. I switched it on and started dismantling the laptop to procure the LCD screen on it. We all know that a laptop is a complicated piece of machinery, it is only when you dismantle it that one really comes in face with the fact. Make sure you dismantle it very carefully, preferably on sheet of cloth. You will need those thin screwdrivers for this. Long story short… Turning your laptop LCD screen into an external monitor is damn easy. This is not an instructable. I don’t like writing ‘how to’ articles, so I’m taking the liberty of assuming the fact that you will be careful, are smart and that you will figure it out. Mind you, asking questions is a part of figuring it out. So hit me up if you have any, I will try my best to answer most questions or guide you to the appropriate resources. Once you have the LCD screen, remove the cable at the back. This is the the LVDS cable, you will need a similar cable later. Now that you have carefully removed the LCD screen, you will need to procure a few things: 1. LCD controller board A standalone LCD screen cannot process a signal via a HDMI or VGA input directly. You will need a controller board to interface the LCD screen with your computer. It contains a tiny microprocessor. I would suggest searching for a ‘Universal LCD Controller Board.’ It is cheap if you only want a VGA input are not particular about getting an HDMI input. Look for this on eBay, Amazon, etc. For the one with the HDMI input, if you are willing to wait, AliExpress is gold. 2. LVDS Cable You will need this to connect your screen with the controller board. Here’s a how to . In most cases you would need a 40 pin cable. You will need to scout the internet a bit to find a cheap deal ( ). guide eBay would be the best 3. Infrared sensor and button control with cable The controller board often comes with an infrared sensor and a remote control. I prefer a button control. Search for ‘keypad for LCD controller board’. This is fairly cheap. 4. HDMI or VGA cable Enough said. 5. Adapter for power supply You will need a 12V adapter for power supply. . You’ll find this fairly easily. It being 12V is very important Connect everything as shown in the figure below. If you did it, give yourself a pat on the back. Congratulations! 🥇 Here’s how it should probably look. It’ll look even better with a frame around it. Why do all this? There is the insatiable need to tinker or what we call ‘ ’ in hindi. We do this to feed this ‘ ’. chull chull I think it is very important to periodically keep doing things that push you just a little bit out of the comfort zone. Prolonged slumber, inaction, a state of rest are infinite loops. The more you sleep, the more you feel like sleeping. The more you get used to doing nothing, more nothing do you do. I have been a victim to this state. Comfort is easy, it is important, but it doesn’t get you anywhere. A slight discomfort is essential to doing anything consequential. P.S. I also got the hard disk from the laptop, when dismantling it and converted it to an external HDD. More on this sometime later. Too bad we can’t do this with some of the newer laptops. Sigh! I guess everyone has their reasons. Apart from this please share if you have a better way of doing this.

Turn your old useless laptop screen into an external monitor

Convierta la pantalla de su vieja computadora portátil inútil en un monitor externo

Boy, do I have the country to write about this week: Turkmenistan. weirdest Turkmenistan’s former president made a multilingual rap video introducing his country…despite the fact that it’s bizarre AF and the video editor was his horse (probably), it’s a super fun thing to watch 👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xZoa5ArhgA&embedable=true 3 Things To Know Before We Get Started The country came into existence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union, having been a Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic as Part of The Great Socialist Soviet Union (It’s a mouthful) since 1925. This had a new president, Saparmurat Niyazov, come into power. He was a totalitarian and despotic dictator who started a personality cult (more on that later). For simplicity, let’s call him Samurai. When Samurai died from a heart attack in 2006, another ‘President’ Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, became the dictator of Turkmenistan until 2022. Let’s call him Burgundy. Bizarre things Samurai did Ruhnama He decided he had a direct line with God, which manifested in (The Book of The Soul). Think of a watered-down version of Ruhnama Mein Kampf + the Bible. was a mandatory read for school children, students, and those holding state employment. Oh, if you wanted to get a driver’s license, you had to have read it too. Ruhnama There even was a social study field called (creative, I know). Half of the exam questions for the 2006 University Entry revolved around themes set in Rahmana Studies Ruhnama. has been translated into 50 languages, though. Go figure 🤷‍♀️ Samurai said that God told him whoever reads it thrice will go to heaven. I’d say go on Amazon right now! Ruhnama Other crazy things he did Banned the use of lip-syncing at public concerts. Abolished the Turkmen word for bread and replaced it with , his mother’s name. Gurbansoltan Made the second Sunday of August “Melon Day” in honor of melons as he thought they were delicious — finally something I could sign up for. Ordered that all mountains and places in Turkmenistan + months and days of the week be named after Turkmen heroes, poets, and leaders. In 1997, when he tried to quit smoking, he passed a law that banned it in public to eliminate the temptation. Gold teeth were discouraged as he thought everyone was better off chewing on bones to strengthen their teeth and lessen the rate at which they fall out. Banished dogs from the capital, citing unappealing odor. Also forbade citizens to own more than one dog or cat (I’ll bet the guinea pig sales went through the roof). Ordered the closure of all hospitals outside Ashgabat, stating that the sick should go to the capital for treatment. He banned reporting or mentioning contagious diseases such as AIDS or cholera (peekaboo — if we don’t mention it, it means it doesn’t exist — I wish not talking about my student loans would make it disappear). He banned car radios because he considered them to be useless. Oh yeah, he also built a golden statue of himself that was rotating to face the Sun at all times. Bizarre things Burgundy did He was a bit more chill and reversed lots of eccentric laws Samurai brought into existence. He was still an authoritarian dictator, though. Black cars were banned in favor of white because it “brings good luck.” He was obsessed with Akhal-Teke horses. So much so his entire office only had one prominent motif all over the furniture — horses. He’s a former dentist turned rapping president, as we witnessed earlier. He liked a dog breed so much he made a golden statue for it 👇 But he also clearly doesn’t know how to hold a dog. Imagine being a guy who is so bad at holding dogs that Putin has to save it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLLZYFzkqKo&embedable=true Let us not forget the time when he tried to kill the rumours he was dead by driving around a BURNING HOLE IN THE GROUND (everything’s normal, nothing to look at)👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiYi8-wCx0&t=11s&embedable=true More Bizzare Things About Turkmenistan Have you ever wondered why there’s a carpet in their flag? You probably didn’t, but I’ll tell you anyway: because they LOVE carpets. There’s a Ministry of Carpets, a National Carpet Museum, and a public holiday to honour carpets. They even used to have the world’s largest hand-woven carpet record until Iran beat them in 2019. If you want to purchase a carpet, you need a receipt with your age, origin, and date of purchase. This must be certified by the Ministry of Carpets or else the carpet can’t leave the country. I’ll say it one more time: carpet. It’s one of the least visited countries in the World — the top 10 least visited countries in fact. Locals used to have state-subsidized gas, water, petrol, and electricity between 1993 and 2019. Turkmenistan is the only country officially recognized by the United Nations as a neutral nation. Eat that, Switzerland. It has a burning hole that’s been on fire since 1971, dubbed (featured in a fast and furious video by Samurai seen above). Gates of Hell It was a man-made disaster — a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern. This caused the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. So they thought: — it did not. Why don’t we set this on fire? Maybe that’ll solve this? Took me 3 hours to research this, but it was worth it 😂 Random fact: when I was very young, there was a trend in Lithuania to have a carpet hanging on the wall (seriously). You’d walk into someone’s living room, and there’d be a proudly displayed carpet hanging on the wall. It looked something like this 👇 To Sum Up I think we all learned today that Turkmenistan is a super bizarre place to be. Although I wrote this piece with a bit of humor, let’s not forget it’s essentially a dictatorship run by eccentric weirdos. They clearly try much harder than North Korea to portray themselves as cool and fun. Turkmenistan is brandable, as they say in the marketing world. Also published . here

Turkmenistan: A Dive into Eccentric Dictators and Their Quirky Rules

Following in the footsteps of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, the PEPE token has become the talk of the town among crypto traders since its release on April 16th, 2023. In three days, this meme coin ran over 21,000% and reached $30 million in trading volumes on Uniswap. According to CMC, PePeCoin has grown its market capitalization to $146 million and has over 24,500 unique holders. With this in mind, it worth thinking about how, over the past few years, a new investment trend has emerged in the world of cryptocurrency: memecoins. These digital assets, which are often inspired by memes and cultural phenomena, have captured the attention of investors around the globe, and are changing the way we think about money. A departure from traditional value At their core, memecoins represent a departure from the traditional notions of value and worth that have long defined our economic systems. Unlike traditional currencies or even other cryptocurrencies, memecoins derive their value not from any underlying asset or practical use, but from the collective belief of their holders in their worth. This may seem like a strange and risky proposition, but it has proven surprisingly effective. Memecoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have seen their values skyrocket in recent months, driven in large part by a groundswell of support from a passionate online community. These coins are often viewed as fun and playful investments, offering a break from the dry and impersonal world of traditional finance. But the rise of memecoins is about more than just having fun with our money. It is also a reflection of a broader shift in our attitudes towards wealth and investing. In an age where social media has given everyone a voice, and information is constantly at our fingertips, people are increasingly skeptical of traditional financial institutions and the established wisdom of financial experts. “We are witnessing a growing desire for more decentralized and democratic forms of finance, where anyone can participate and have a say in how their money is used,” says Yang Lan, co-founder of . “Memecoins, with their community-driven approach and focus on inclusivity and accessibility, are well-suited to this new financial landscape. Overall, crypto is changing the way we think about money by challenging traditional notions of control, transparency, security, accessibility, and innovation.” Fiat24 A shift in how we think about money Of course, there are risks involved in investing in memecoins. The value of these assets can be highly volatile, and it can be difficult to separate legitimate projects from scams or pump-and-dump schemes. But for those willing to do their research and take calculated risks, memecoins can offer a new way to think about wealth and financial freedom. In many ways, the memecoin revolution is still in its early stages. But as more people embrace these quirky investments and push for a more decentralized and democratized financial system, it is clear that memecoins are here to stay. Whether you love them or hate them, there is no denying the impact that these playful and irreverent digital assets are having on the world of finance. Crypto is changing the way we think about money in several ways, including decentralization, transparency, security, accessibility and innovation. It has spurred innovation in the financial sector, with new payment systems and financial products being developed to take advantage of the technology. This has led to new ways of thinking about money and finance, and has the potential to disrupt traditional financial institutions. In the meantime, many of us are still curious as to just how yet another meme without any real utility managed to generate so much hype (and money)!

The Memecoin Revolution: How This Quirky Investment Trend is Changing the Way We Think About Money

I know that there are several libraries for dependency injection with Typescript; even more, I’ve used them a lot, and I’ve learned a lot from them. , …, it’s thanks to all of them that I’ve been able to write this, but obviously, there is a motivation behind creating my own, and I’ll try my best to explain it. Inversify tsyringe Disclaimer: In case you haven't guessed it yet, I'll be clear: this writing is about a library I've created. The good part is that even if you don't use it, by reading this article you will learn about some quirks that Typescript has when compared with classic languages, like Java or C#, that you might not have known about. Searching for the impossible Someone could say that dependency injection is “just a fancy way to say ‘passing a parameter’”; which is a good sentence for a funny meme, but you probably know that it has more implications. Specially, you’ll notice its real benefits using it together with other principles, for example, the ones. SOLID The D in SOLID it’s closely related to dependency injection and refers to ; this principle encourages developers to use abstractions to define dependencies in certain situations. The usual way to declare these abstractions is through interfaces, and that’s what I would do with any other language, but let’s see what happens with Typescript. dependency inversion Imagine this simple component: class NewsletterSender {
  public constructor(
    private readonly mailer: Mailer,
    private readonly postRepository: PostRepository
  ) {}
  
  public sendLastBlogPosts(emailTo: string): void {
    const articles = this.postRepository.getLast(5)
    const content = articles.map(a => a.toString()).join("\n\n")
    this.mailer.send(emailTo, 'My blog newsletter', content)
  }
} As you can see, it depends on two other services. Following the optimum idea of using interfaces to abstract our dependencies, we could define them as: interface Mailer {
  send(to: string, subject: string, content: string): void
}

interface PostRepository {
  getLast(limit: number): Post[]
} Obviously, we will need some implementations for these abstractions also: class MailMonkeyMailer implements Mailer {
  public send(to: string, subject: string, content: string): void {
    // Some real implementation here
  }
}

class MyDbEnginePostRepository implements PostRepository {
  public getLast(limit: number): Post[] {
    // Some real implementation here
  }
} Based on this example, my ideal dependency injection library would allow us to register and use these services in a similar way to this: container.register(Mailer).use(MailMonkeyMailer)
container.register(PostRepository).use(MyDbEnginePostRepository)
container.registerAndUse(NewsletterSender) // as an alias of container.register(NewsletterSender).use(NewsletterSender)

const newsletterSender = container.get(NewsletterSender)
newsletterSender.sendLastBlogPosts('[email protected]') Unfortunately, . this is just impossible Design time VS run time Over time, if you use Typescript, the probability of googling about using interfaces at runtime tends to one; so, I’m afraid you already know the answer: you can’t. Interfaces, types, and those things that some people call syntactic sugar are not available after compiling to Javascript; therefore, they are not available at runtime. The above classes and interfaces will result in the following compiled JS code: class NewsletterSender {
  constructor(mailer, postRepository) {
    this.mailer = mailer;
    this.postRepository = postRepository;
  }
  sendLastBlogPosts(emailTo) {
    const articles = this.postRepository.getLast(5);
    const content = articles.map(a => a.toString()).join("\n\n");
    this.mailer.send(emailTo, 'My blog newsletter', content);
  }
}
class MailMonkeyMailer {
  send(to, subject, content) {
    // Some real implementation here
  }
}
class MyDbEnginePostRepository {
  getLast(limit) {
    // Some real implementation here
  }
} As you can see, there is no trace of the interfaces, and, because of this reason, most existing DI libraries offer a string-based or symbol-based solution, which is an approach that I don’t like. The relations between those symbols or strings and their corresponding interfaces are weak and based on conventions; thus, they are error-prone and hinder refactoring. . This highly opinionated assertion will probably cause reluctance from many people; but, a pure TS abstract class will be available at runtime and will allow auto-wiring with constructor-based dependency injection. Although you can think that this approach could introduce inheritance problems, it won’t; take into account that what I am suggesting is to implement and not extend these abstract classes. The best alternative is to use abstract classes By making this change, our new abstractions will look like this (the rest of the code will remain the same): abstract class Mailer {
  abstract send(to: string, subject: string, content: string): void
}

abstract class PostRepository {
  abstract getLast(limit: number): Post[]
} Regrettably, this is not enough. Decorators: a necessary evil We have managed to have some runtime constructs for the abstractions of our class collaborators by using abstract classes instead of interfaces; but, there is still a problem: the compiled Javascript isn’t relating those abstractions with the constructor parameters. Typescript provides a to expose data about the typings in the final compiled code; it consists of decorators with the and the compiler options activated. single official way experimentalDecorators emitDecoratorMetadata Finally, our example code will be: @SomeDecorator()
class NewsletterSender {
  // ...
}

// ... And the final compiled code: // here some auto-generated helpers like __decorate or __metadata
class Mailer {
}
class PostRepository {
}
let NewsletterSender = class NewsletterSender {
    constructor(mailer, postRepository) {
        this.mailer = mailer;
        this.postRepository = postRepository;
    }
    sendLastBlogPosts(emailTo) {
        const articles = this.postRepository.getLast(5);
        const content = articles.map(a => a.toString()).join("\n\n");
        this.mailer.send(emailTo, 'My blog newsletter', content);
    }
};
NewsletterSender = __decorate([
    SomeDecorator(),
    __metadata("design:paramtypes", [Mailer,
        PostRepository])
], NewsletterSender);
class MailMonkeyMailer {
    send(to, subject, content) {
        // Some real implementation here
    }
}
class MyDbEnginePostRepository {
    getLast(limit) {
        return [];
    }
} If you examine the generated code shown above, you will see that now it has enough information to implement the ideal library that I was thinking about in the first section of this post. Still, I will theorize about one thing more. If you apply the dependency inversion principle to a layered architecture, you will end up with what is called (or Ports & Adapters). This kind of architecture tries to keep the core of your applications decoupled from your infrastructure or concrete dependencies, which also means that it should not be aware of your inversion-of-control container or your dependency injection tool. It is hard to accomplish with the currently existing libraries because most of them require you to use their decorators on every service, including those in the inner layers of your app. The following example is what I don’t want to see through my whole app: Hexagonal Architecture import { Injectable } from 'some-fancy-di-lib'

@Injectable()
export class ThisIsADomainService {
  // ...
} This code would couple every single service with the library. Furthermore, if I want to stop using it in the future, I would need to change every service file to remove or change it. So, why not… some-fancy-di-lib export const MyService = (): ClassDecorator => {
  return <TFunction extends Function>(target: TFunction): TFunction => {
    return target
  }
}


import { MyService } from '../MyService'

@MyService()
export class ThisIsADomainService {
  // ...
} Every decorator, including those like the one shown above, and that does nothing, will trigger metadata generation, and that’s all we need. The problem with most existing DI libraries is that they won’t work with custom decorators like this because a critical part of their logic resides in the decorators they provide. My ideal library, and the one that I’d built, allows users to use their own created decorators if they want. The new wheel: DIOD is the new Dependency Injection library that I created for Typescript (Node.js or Browser) that has some unique features that are difficult (if not impossible) to be found in other libraries: DIOD Dependencies will be auto-wired based on constructor types exclusively; so, it will accept only abstract or concrete classes as constructor types. The functionality will never be compromised by the requirement to use the decorators provided by the library. Main features will be available using any decorator created by the user to avoid vendor-locking and coupling. Apart from those special ones, it also provides the following features out of the box: Lightweight: It will be always dependency-free and under 2kB Factory services: Using a factory to create services. User-provided services: Using a manually created instance to define a service. Scope: By default every service is transient, but they can be registered as singletons or as ‘per request’ (the same service instance will be used within a single request). Compiler: After all needed services are registered, the container needs to be built. During this build, DIOD will check for errors like missing dependencies, wrong configurations, or circular dependencies. Visibility: Services can be marked as private. Private services will be available only as dependencies and they will not be able to be queried from the IoC container. Tagging: Ability to tag services in the container and to query services based on tags. Support for vanilla JS: Usage with vanilla Javascript is possible by manually defining service dependencies. The library is available in the or on , be free to love it or hate it, if you reached here and enjoyed the reading you have already made my day. NPM Registry Github Also published . here

The Typescript Quirks That Pushed me to Create a New Dependency Injection Library

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Written Testimony Notes Dec 12, 2022, is part of . SBF was scheduled to testify before Congress a day before his on Dec 12, 2022 in the Bahamas. So, these are the notes that he would have presented in front of Congress that we never actually got to hear. You can jump to any part . HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series arrest here This is part 4 of 11. Feature Image: HackerNoon’s Midjourney AI, prompt “historical accounting quirks” What went wrong Alameda Research became insolvent when the economic environment changed (see ) here Failures of FTX’s internal controls FTX’s Dashboard: FTX’s dashboard for user positions did not display Alameda’s full position size on the platform, because of a historical accounting quirk. I now believe that Alameda’s position was over twice as large as what was displayed. My periodic assessments of the riskiness of our positions were often based on the dashboard’s numbers. Financials: FTX had annual audited GAAP financial statements, which to my knowledge were generally correct However, those were merely for FTX’s corporate financial state, not an audit of customer risk. Risk management: While FTX International had a team dedicated to financials, and to many other areas of the business, it did not have a team dedicated to risk management, or to user position monitoring I, as CEO, did not put adequate effort into monitoring risk on FTX Continue Reading Here

SBF explained FTX's failure to display Alameda's positions on its dashboard as an 'accounting quirk'

TL;DR This isn’t another blog full of pie-in-the-sky theories or frameworks that make you feel like you’re getting a crash course in advanced calculus from Jackson Pollock. No, this is real talk from someone who’s been in the trenches—often clueless, occasionally brilliant. So, strap in. As of writing this, I’ve only been a “real” product manager for about a year and three months, and somehow, at 31, I’m Head of Product at a gamification platform serving Fortune 500 retail customers. And while I swear I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time, I’m also somehow looked up to as the most experienced member of the product team. Welcome to the startup life. Here’s how I survive (and sometimes even thrive) in this sadistic world of startup product management. The Myth of the Average Day Let’s start with a reality check: If you’re still searching for what an “average day” looks like in product management, just… stop. PMs tell a lot of stories—almost half of which are true—so believe me when I say, no two days are alike. I’m either deep into financial forecasting (seriously, why am I the one doing this?) or whiteboarding design ideas that probably won’t make it past launch lunch. It’s chaos, but hey, it keeps me on my toes. Action Item: Embrace the madness. If you’re waiting for a routine, you’re going to be waiting for your way into getting RIF’d. Learn to jump from task to task like you’re on an obstacle course and get comfy with being uncomfy. Communication: It’s Not Mind-Reading When I first started, I thought I was so good at communicating. Turns out, You can’t be good at communicating on day one, month one, or even year one. Every company has its own culture and nuances. It’s like assuming that just because you’re an English-speaking American from Idaho that you’re basically also a Londoner (The answer is a big fat “no” by the way, speaking from experience). Making sure all parts of the org—devs, designers, QA, and external business units—are on the same page is basically your full-time job as a PM. You have to know how your teams best absorb information and influence that into your company’s culture. Since we’re a gamification company, we communicate visually so I explain and facilitate communications visually and interactively. I practically live on Miro, where my team’s litter flows and wireframes with sticky notes and comments in real-time like a caffeinated ant colony. Action Item: Talk. Like, actually talk to your team. Use tools like Miro, but remember, you’re the one responsible for making sure everyone gets heard. Think of yourself as the ambassador to each department, minus the diplomatic immunity (brace yourself). Design, Iterate, Break It, Fix It, Repeat “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” — Not Albert Einstein Design something, test it, break it, fix it, and do it all again next week. I’m constantly tinkering with designs and ideas, but here’s the thing: As a PM, it’s my job to pump the brakes when people start getting too excited. Not every idea deserves a sprint, even if it sounds like the next big thing. Action Item: Keep iterating, but don’t let your team jump off the deep end without checking if there’s water in the pool first. You’ve got to validate, or you’ll end up building a beautiful feature nobody wants. RICE: How to Cook It and Then Break It Down Look, I like the RICE priority matrix framework as much as the next PM, but let’s be real—it’s too vague sometimes. Quick Tip: When you see the word “framework,” think of it as a mound of clay in pottery class. It’s there for you to shape into something useful to your specific case. Please, please—for the love of Marty Cagan—do NOT use a vanilla PM framework without tailoring it to your product team’s nuanced needs. For example: What exactly is Impact? For my company, it makes sense to break it down into four things: strategic, objective, financial, and market demand. And when it comes to Effort? Oh, you bet I’ve got that sliced up into four things as well: dev, QA, UX, and business. Tailor RICE (or any framework) to your company. Action Item: Don’t worship at the PM framework altar. Make them work for you by getting specific. Break things down into chunks that actually reflect your team’s reality. You’re the one who has to explain this to your Founder/CEO, after all. Stakeholder Alignment: Like Herding Minotaurs in a Labyrinth Aligning stakeholders is like trying to get eight territorial bull-human hybrids to play nice in the yard without destroying the hedges—good luck. The business team wants everything done yesterday, while devs are (rightly) freaking out about timelines and burnout. I try to make the roadmap and all documents as visible as possible and involve stakeholders in Slack huddles, but everyone is busy, and not everyone will see the product as the number one priority. You just have to smile, nod, and then do whatever actually needs to be done. Action Item: Involve stakeholders early and often, but don’t let them run wild. You’re the ringmaster of this circus, so keep the roadmap from turning into a chaotic free-for-all. You might feel like you’ll get fired for saying “no” to senior stakeholders, but the alternative is getting fired for building a bloated, buggy, unusable heap of garbage (always keep your PM resume up-to-date 😉). AI: The Admin Hack You Didn’t Know You Needed Confession time: AI has saved my life. Well, okay, maybe not literally, but it’s definitely saved my sanity. I’m not building AI into my product (yet), but I am using it to make my work life a whole lot easier. From automating Jira tickets to handling bug reports, AI has freed me from hours of admin work. Quick Tip: Whatever it is you’re trying to automate, someone has already done it. Find a YouTube video, follow along, and then use ChatGPT to refine and fill in the gaps. Now, I actually have time to do product-y things, like thinking about big-picture strategy. Weird, right? Action Item: Let AI handle the boring stuff. Automate the grunt work so you can put on the black turtleneck and sound smart and inspiring in meetings (or at least pretend to). Relationships Matter More Than Any Framework Sure, frameworks are great, but guess what? People are more important. Some devs just want to code in peace, while others want to be part of the product discussion. My job is to make sure the ones who want to hide in their cave are left alone, while the ones who want to collaborate have a seat at the table. Action Item: Get to know your team. Understand their quirks, and manage them accordingly. Build trust, or be prepared to have your grand plans completely ignored. Bottom Line Product management isn’t about memorizing frameworks or pretending you’ve got it all figured out—don’t be that person. Play dumb. Play curious. Play caring. But don’t play smart(er) than anyone else. Embrace the mess, keep your team on track, and figure it out as you go. Make peace with the fact that you’ll always be a noob—I have. So, if you’ve learned anything from this, take this advice as a high-level guide, twist it, tweak it, and tailor it to your specific product situation. Because product “management” isn’t about theory—it’s about strategy and execution. And if all else fails, just let AI handle your Jira tickets and Confluence PRDs. K Bye! © James Effarah You've reached the end. TL;DR This isn’t another blog full of pie-in-the-sky theories or frameworks that make you feel like you’re getting a crash course in advanced calculus from Jackson Pollock. No, this is real talk from someone who’s been in the trenches—often clueless, occasionally brilliant. So, strap in. As of writing this, I’ve only been a “real” product manager for about a year and three months, and somehow, at 31, I’m Head of Product at a gamification platform serving Fortune 500 retail customers. And while I swear I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time, I’m also somehow looked up to as the most experienced member of the product team. swear Welcome to the startup life. Welcome to the startup life. Here’s how I survive (and sometimes even thrive) in this sadistic world of startup product management. The Myth of the Average Day The Myth of the Average Day Let’s start with a reality check: If you’re still searching for what an “average day” looks like in product management, just… stop. PMs tell a lot of stories—almost half of which are true—so believe me when I say, no two days are alike. I’m either deep into financial forecasting (seriously, why am I the one doing this?) or whiteboarding design ideas that probably won’t make it past launch lunch. whiteboarding design ideas launch It’s chaos, but hey, it keeps me on my toes. Action Item: Embrace the madness. If you’re waiting for a routine, you’re going to be waiting for your way into getting RIF’d . Learn to jump from task to task like you’re on an obstacle course and get comfy with being uncomfy. RIF’d Communication: It’s Not Mind-Reading Communication: It’s Not Mind-Reading When I first started, I thought I was so good at communicating. Turns out, You can’t be good at communicating on day one, month one, or even year one. Every company has its own culture and nuances. It’s like assuming that just because you’re an English-speaking American from Idaho that you’re basically also a Londoner (The answer is a big fat “no” by the way, speaking from experience). “no” “no” Making sure all parts of the org—devs, designers, QA, and external business units—are on the same page is basically your full-time job as a PM. You have to know how your teams best absorb information and influence that into your company’s culture. Since we’re a gamification company, we communicate visually so I explain and facilitate communications visually and interactively. I practically live on Miro , where my team’s litter flows and wireframes with sticky notes and comments in real-time like a caffeinated ant colony. Miro Action Item: Talk. Like, actually talk to your team. Use tools like Miro, but remember, you’re the one responsible for making sure everyone gets heard. Think of yourself as the ambassador to each department, minus the diplomatic immunity (brace yourself). Design, Iterate, Break It, Fix It, Repeat Design, Iterate, Break It, Fix It, Repeat “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” — Not Albert Einstein Not Albert Einstein Design something, test it, break it, fix it, and do it all again next week. I’m constantly tinkering with designs and ideas, but here’s the thing: As a PM, it’s my job to pump the brakes when people start getting too excited. Not every idea deserves a sprint, even if it sounds like the next big thing. Action Item: Keep iterating, but don’t let your team jump off the deep end without checking if there’s water in the pool first. You’ve got to validate, or you’ll end up building a beautiful feature nobody wants. RICE: How to Cook It and Then Break It Down RICE: How to Cook It and Then Break It Down Look, I like the RICE priority matrix framework as much as the next PM, but let’s be real—it’s too vague sometimes. RICE priority matrix Quick Tip: When you see the word “framework,” think of it as a mound of clay in pottery class. It’s there for you to shape into something useful to your specific case. Quick Tip: Please, please—for the love of Marty Cagan —do NOT use a vanilla PM framework without tailoring it to your product team’s nuanced needs. Marty Cagan For example: What exactly is Impact ? is Impact For my company, it makes sense to break it down into four things: strategic, objective, financial, and market demand. And when it comes to Effort ? Effort Oh, you bet I’ve got that sliced up into four things as well: dev, QA, UX, and business. Tailor RICE (or any framework) to your company. Action Item: Don’t worship at the PM framework altar. Make them work for you by getting specific. Break things down into chunks that actually reflect your team’s reality. You’re the one who has to explain this to your Founder/CEO, after all. PM framework Stakeholder Alignment: Like Herding Minotaurs in a Labyrinth Stakeholder Alignment: Like Herding Minotaurs in a Labyrinth Aligning stakeholders is like trying to get eight territorial bull-human hybrids to play nice in the yard without destroying the hedges—good luck. The business team wants everything done yesterday, while devs are (rightly) freaking out about timelines and burnout. I try to make the roadmap and all documents as visible as possible and involve stakeholders in Slack huddles, but everyone is busy, and not everyone will see the product as the number one priority. You just have to smile, nod, and then do whatever actually needs to be done. Action Item: Involve stakeholders early and often, but don’t let them run wild. You’re the ringmaster of this circus, so keep the roadmap from turning into a chaotic free-for-all. You might feel like you’ll get fired for saying “no” to senior stakeholders, but the alternative is getting fired for building a bloated, buggy, unusable heap of garbage ( always keep your PM resume up-to-date 😉). always keep your PM resume up-to-date AI: The Admin Hack You Didn’t Know You Needed AI: The Admin Hack You Didn’t Know You Needed Confession time: AI has saved my life. Well, okay, maybe not literally, but it’s definitely saved my sanity. I’m not building AI into my product (yet), but I am using it to make my work life a whole lot easier. From automating Jira tickets to handling bug reports, AI has freed me from hours of admin work. automating Jira tickets Quick Tip: Whatever it is you’re trying to automate, someone has already done it. Quick Tip: Find a YouTube video, follow along, and then use ChatGPT to refine and fill in the gaps. Now, I actually have time to do product-y things, like thinking about big-picture strategy. Weird, right? Action Item: Let AI handle the boring stuff. Automate the grunt work so you can put on the black turtleneck and sound smart and inspiring in meetings (or at least pretend to). Relationships Matter More Than Any Framework Relationships Matter More Than Any Framework Sure, frameworks are great, but guess what? People are more important. Some devs just want to code in peace, while others want to be part of the product discussion. My job is to make sure the ones who want to hide in their cave are left alone, while the ones who want to collaborate have a seat at the table. Action Item: Get to know your team. Understand their quirks, and manage them accordingly. Build trust, or be prepared to have your grand plans completely ignored. Bottom Line Product management isn’t about memorizing frameworks or pretending you’ve got it all figured out—don’t be that person. Play dumb. Play curious. Play caring. But don’t play smart(er) than anyone else. Embrace the mess, keep your team on track, and figure it out as you go. Make peace with the fact that you’ll always be a noob—I have. So, if you’ve learned anything from this, take this advice as a high-level guide, twist it, tweak it, and tailor it to your specific product situation. Because product “management” isn’t about theory—it’s about strategy and execution. “management” “management” And if all else fails, just let AI handle your Jira tickets and Confluence PRDs. K Bye! © James Effarah You've reached the end.

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