Blog
Words. Wisdom. Winners.
You have inspired me!
I am grateful to hear these words a lot of times.
But I think – what if I wasn’t there.
At that moment.
For that cause.
Would inspiration have missed the other person?
Or would he have sought it from someone or something else – nonetheless?
Meet new people
Attend talks
Watch TED
Read
Surround yourself with smart hardworking people
Build your mafia
Don’t leave inspiration to chance.
Silence is the best negotiation strategy
Months back I read a fascinating article on sales strategies. The most intriguing insight from the author, a seasoned sales guy and now a trainer, was
“Make your pitch and then remain silent. Do not speak. It’s a game – where the one who speaks first loses”
I have tried this in multiple interactions and it’s surprisingly works really well.
The urge to speak is almost always the urge to explain
And the urge to explain is almost always an excuse or justification.
Structure
Someone asked me last evening – is there a market for vertical classified websites.
There is a framework that can help, I answered.
A matrix of scale of industry versus frequency of need.
The deals industry has a framework too – merchant discount versus price customer has to pay to avail discount
As an ex-consultant, the operating word for us was structure. Whatever is it that you are trying to solve – put a structure on it. As simple as it may be.
Quadrants create that structure. Force you to visualize the problem into 4 distinct buckets – each with its own characteristic.
And that works because the world isn’t one size fits all anymore.
It never was!
Entrepreneurs are kids
I drop Vidur to school everyday.
The minute he enters and his bag is handed over to the teacher, I have to call his name out for him to respond
“Vidur, have a nice day”
Without looking back, he echoes the statement.
And goes in.
He meets the same people everyday
Goes to the same place everyday
Wears the same clothes everyday
Everyday is just like everyday
And yet
He enters with an enthusiasm that I can’t explain
He learns things he didn’t expect to
Or things he didn’t even know existed
He spends hours trying to make that house of books and goes at it again, goes at it again
And yet knows when he needs to move on
True entrepreneurs behave like kids
They are driven by a force most others can’t understand
And what’s seems a routine to others is actually not just everyday!
They say that I can move the mountains
And send them crashing into the sea
They say that I can walk on water
If I would follow and believe
with faith like a child
– Jars of Clay
Being unique
I am not blessed with super normal skills
No super high intelligence
No family wealth
I am average, at best
And I recognized this very early in life. And figured that the way to outperform others is to make myself unique
Not the best
Unique
Do several things at the same time
At a pace that others can’t match
Taking risks that others are scared to take
Reacting to failure as if it was always part of the plan
Not caring what the world thinks of me or my plans
If you are the best – someday someone else will be
If you are unique – you are the only one
I chose to be unique
As against being the best
I am the only Ankur Warikoo in the world
Sitting didn’t get us this far
Sitting
burns the least amount of calories
requires virtually no effort
is easy to do
everyone can do it
can happen anywhere anytime
is the most obvious response when you are tired
And yet – we have moved forward as a species because we chose not to just sit.
Don’t sit on your decisions.
The most dangerous people you will meet in your life are those who wish to sit and change nothing.
When do you stop to shop?
I have always wondered – how is it that people spend so much time shopping for 1 product? Wandering from shop to shop – bargaining – sampling – trying.
Simple answer is likely – they don’t know what they want
20% time spent on the shopping specs
80% time spent on trying to find the best – the best price, the best product, the best design, the best specs!
Turn the ratios
And stop when you first find what you wanted
Now apply this logic to life…
Co founders
Employees
Business associates
Investors
Marriage!
Trying to better what you wanted – is accepting you didn’t know what you want!
An excuse isn’t equal to output
When I can’t deliver on something I create an explanation for it.
As if the explanation is equal to the delivery I was meant to make.
It’s not!
As an entrepreneur my only job in the world is to create an environment as free of excuses as possible. All the tools, the right product, the right compensation, the right colleagues, the autonomy, the happiness.
Suddenly – there are no excuses to hide behind.
Success doesn’t need excuse as a companion.
The most honest place on earth
I feel is the Gym.
Everyone’s intentions become undeniably obvious within minutes.
Those that perform are the ones unaware that others are looking.
Pretty reflective of what life is all about. Isn’t it!
What’s your unpopular belief?
In the book “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel points to a fascinating question he asks during interviews
“What’s a strong personal belief that very few people in the world agree with you on?”
It’s a brilliant question. One that each one of us should answer for ourself – and in a moment we will know so much more about who we are.
This weekend to went to see the Taj Mahal. I have seen it before – but each time I see it I am in awe of the audacity of the dream that translated into this structure. The scale and magnitude of the belief.
And during a conversation I realized – the greatest things in the world were driven by individuals with a belief that no one believed in.
Find that belief
To find out what drives you
Ankur warikoo believes that he should do multiple things at the same time because he is blessed with the ability to manage them. Doing one thing at a time is such a waste of his life.
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