| Sunday, 10 August 2025 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Remember how I wrote about triangulation a few weeks ago? Well, this week the universe sent me a wink back in return.
A few days earlier, I was in Mumbai to interview Anand Jain, the co-founder of Clevertap, for the next episode of the First Principles podcast (it airs on Monday).
We were talking about one critical tension that founders of 10- to 15-year-old organisations inevitably encounter: how to balance promoting from within versus hiring from the outside, both of which come with their own advantages and challenges.
“But what we’ve learned, every time we failed, is (that) we did not hand hold the person. Hand holding is making sure that you’re working with the person to get them into the fold and culture of that function. See, (promoting) homegrown talent into a new role could mean that they’re very good at, say, engineering, but they may not know anything about customer success or running marketing. And you have to now help sandpaper them into this new role,” said Anand.
Then, later during the week, one of my colleagues used the same sandpaper analogy to explain what The Ken had done to her career over time. She got the reference from observing how professional painters first sandpapered the walls of her home before painting them.
Finally, she reminded me of the Steve Jobs “rock tumbler” anecdote, which I’d used in an earlier edition of this very newsletter.
Meta triangulation! Thank you for that. Let me share my gratitude by recommending a wonderful (and cheap) “deep-work aid” that I bought recently.
It’s a beautiful and surprisingly well-designed Pomodoro timer. You can use it to focus on tasks for up to 60 minutes at a time (I use the standard 25 minutes). Head over to Amazon India and search for Pomodoro timer. You should find it pretty easily.
For today, here’s what we have for you:
1. Rubber Ducking
2. So long, farewell 📚
3. Built to last 📸
1. Rubber Ducking
I think I’ve told you earlier that I don’t have a way to visualise you.
I enjoy reading The Ken because it is informative, the articles are well researched, well written, without the spin and bias. I admire The Ken team for their dedication to getting closer to the true picture.
Hari Buggana
Chairman and MD, InvAscent
Transparent, Honest, Detailed. To me, The Ken has been this since the day I subscribed to them. The research that they put into each story and the way it is presented is thoroughly interesting. Personally, I’ve always had a great time interacting with the publication and reading the stories.
Harshil Mathur
CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay
The Ken has proven naysayers wrong by successfully running a digital news publication on a pure-subscription business model in India. They have shown that discerning readers are willing to pay for well-researched, well-written, in-dept news articles.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited
As a designer, it’s easy to get lost in the craft of building products. As a business owner however, keeping up with a rapidly changing landscape is key to saying relevant. The Ken doesn’t just help me stay on top of what’s happening in India(and beyond), but makes it fun to do so.
Rahul Gonsalves
Co-founder and CEO, Obvious Ventures