Rohin Dharmakumar
Rohin is The Ken’s co-founder and CEO. He has a hard time ranking his love for business, journalism, storytelling, entrepreneurship, and first principles thinking. A reporter at heart, Rohin has written many stories for The Ken.
Knowing what you’re truly bad at is a liberating experience. And it makes it easier for you to become better at the things you’re good at
Your podcast is amazing. I live in Bangalore so every day I listen to your podcasts while travelling and make notes on red signals (Trust me, there's ample time to do this).
Param Thakkar
Brilliant, brilliant!! Though it was far too long and I bet almost nobody will read every line of it, it was nevertheless brilliant in whatever I could catch….stopping at a few comments/sections ….I spent I think a little over 20 minutes going through the entire Newsletter. Really enjoyed it
Anurag Gupta
As I read this issue of TFP, I recall all the other Sundays that I've taken an afternoon off to savour this newsletter. Thank you for writing The First Principles. I especially appreciate your style of writing - it gives a sense of pace that comes from going on a long walk to mull over a decision or the feeling of taking a deep sigh after having written a journal entry.
Harshali Paralikar
Understanding what stories people want
Making great products from great journalism
Ignoring conventional wisdom in favour of First Principles
Connecting the dots via synthesis
Systems Thinking
Understanding what stories people want
Making great products from great journalism
Ignoring conventional wisdom in favour of First Principles
Connecting the dots via synthesis
Systems Thinking
I’m always curious because I’m a journalist. I’m always hopeful because I’m an entrepreneur.
It is much harder to let go of what you think you know than it is to learn what you don’t know.
Rohin is The Ken’s co-founder and CEO. He has a hard time ranking his love for business, journalism, storytelling, entrepreneurship, and first principles thinking. A reporter at heart, Rohin has written many stories for The Ken.
Your podcast is amazing. I live in Bangalore so every day I listen to your podcasts while travelling and make notes on red signals (Trust me, there's ample time to do this).
Param Thakkar
Brilliant, brilliant!! Though it was far too long and I bet almost nobody will read every line of it, it was nevertheless brilliant in whatever I could catch….stopping at a few comments/sections ….I spent I think a little over 20 minutes going through the entire Newsletter. Really enjoyed it
Anurag Gupta
As I read this issue of TFP, I recall all the other Sundays that I've taken an afternoon off to savour this newsletter. Thank you for writing The First Principles. I especially appreciate your style of writing - it gives a sense of pace that comes from going on a long walk to mull over a decision or the feeling of taking a deep sigh after having written a journal entry.
Harshali Paralikar
Knowing what you’re truly bad at is a liberating experience. And it makes it easier for you to become better at the things you’re good at
Understanding what stories people want
Making great products from great journalism
Ignoring conventional wisdom in favour of First Principles
Connecting the dots via synthesis
Systems Thinking
Understanding what stories people want
Making great products from great journalism
Ignoring conventional wisdom in favour of First Principles
Connecting the dots via synthesis
Systems Thinking
I’m always curious because I’m a journalist. I’m always hopeful because I’m an entrepreneur.
It is much harder to let go of what you think you know than it is to learn what you don’t know.
The Ken’s exclusive hands-on workshop is targeted at leaders, founders and executives of ambitious, high-growth organizations. I lead only a limited number of these workshops every year. If you would like to reserve one of those for your organization or team, please submit this form
Enrol NowI became a business journalist after degrees in engineering and management and three very different jobs. I’d quit two of those to write stories, albeit the fictional variety. As a business journalist, I learnt to write “true stories”. Stories whose foundations lay in reporting, meaning talking to as many people as possible. Stories whose accuracy came from rigorous research and fact-checking. But most importantly, stories that were also, well, stories. With narratives and structure, with characters and motivations, with emotions and stakes.
I started The Ken because I believed that there were enough people out there who would value original, deeply reported, and really interesting business stories enough to pay for them. Equally importantly, I wanted to package great business journalism into great subscription products that users would want to use each day. These beliefs continue to guide The Ken’s evolution as a business and as a journalism institution.
Human beings are creative, curious, ambitious, and resilient. They are also emotional and unreasonable. Finally, they believe. This is what makes innovation possible, and this is what drives me. I love being able to find opportunities hidden behind layers of conventional wisdom. I love being able to question assumptions that others take for granted. I love connecting dots across time and space, finding answers to questions that perhaps no one is asking.
CEO, The Ken
Podcast Host, First Principles
2001: PGDM, IIM Calcutta
1998: B.E. (Computer Science), RVCE
I value each story I’ve reported and written. Here are a few of my favourites.
After emerging out of nowhere and becoming number one in the world’s most competitive telecom market, Reliance Jio is in a bit of a tight spot
Bruised, battered but still standing after two years of the Jio explosion, Bharti Airtel wants to change the way it fights Jio
It’s not an app. It can’t be downloaded. It can’t be rated. It has no ads
How a passionate, volunteer-led think tank for India’s software product companies lost its way
A high-stakes game of capital featuring Flipkart, Tiger Global and SoftBank. And Snapdeal
Here are some of my favourite episodes of the First Principles podcast
The co-founder of Zerodha, shares some little known yet fascinating insights about the company, how he built it, and what drives him today
Finally, here are a few of my First Principles newsletters you might enjoy
Being surrounded by talented, ambitious, and friendly people can lift our careers over the long run much more than any one job or role ever can
Don’t be defensive about being a contrarian. Your ability to think different will be what differentiates you
Subtraction is a powerful decision-making tool because it forces us to think about two things very clearly—constraints and outcomes
"Making peace with the worst-case outcomes is important to ensure you don’t shy away from taking bets"
