Over the years, I’ve written a lot – usually, in bursts. There have been many resets and attempts at consistency.
This is another one. Read on for some thoughts…👇
startup investor, trail runner
Over the years, I’ve written a lot – usually, in bursts. There have been many resets and attempts at consistency.
This is another one. Read on for some thoughts…👇
We’re about nine weeks (!) into 2022. Studies show that 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions will have given up on them by now. At first glance, it might look like I’m one of them. I made some ambitious goals, and I’m not on track to meet all of them. I don’t consider that failure. I used to, though. For most of my twenties, I gave up on my resolutions by Valentine’s Day💔. This was really discouraging. Every time I tried to improve myself, I ended up feeling like more of a failure. For a few years, I stopped trying altogether.
Then, when I was 25, I realized how unhappy I was. I didn’t feel professionally fulfilled or challenged, and it was affecting my confidence. I sat at a desk all day and needed something to get me out of the office and out of my head. So, I went for the classic office-worker physical challenge: the half marathon. I found a local trail race and signed up. I love hiking, so this seemed like a way to kill two birds with one stone: get back in shape and spend some time in nature. I figured once I had the date set—and the money down 💸—I would be motivated to train and stick with my goal.
Spoiler alert 🚨: That didn’t happen. I toed the starting line completely unprepared. Running 21 kilometers isn’t easy under any circumstances, but trail running requires even more strength, stability, and endurance to handle the terrain and altitude changes. I was in trouble and I knew it. I started the race with no expectations but simply with the goal to make it as far as I could. Throughout the race, everything that could go wrong did, and I finished as the organizers were loading up the vans. When I crossed the finish line, there technically wasn’t a line there anymore.
But, I did finish! Maybe it was grit. Maybe it was perseverance. Maybe I was just too stubborn to give up. Regardless, I felt amazing. I immediately signed up for another race—that’s how they get you! This time, it was a 70k race six months out.
“Okay,” I thought to myself. “I will definitely train for this one.”
Continue reading “Why I overcommit to resolutions”TL;DR: I'm taking paternity leave for 6 weeks, and expect to be back at work by mid-December.
My wife and I are expecting our firstborn son in <2 weeks; though, in the words of our OBGYN, “only God knows when he’ll arrive“. We couldn’t be more excited about this new chapter in life and the many adventures that await us!
I always knew that I would like to take time off for the birth of my child. A couple of months ago, I began to give the duration of leave some serious thought.
You see, I’m a solo GP at a VC firm – the only founder of the org. And while I had planned to have a full-time employee by now, I’m still working on 27V all by myself. Don’t worry, I still love every second of it!
However, this does mean that when I take time off, all work stops. 27V is, effectively, paused. No deal flow conversations, no new investments, no portfolio support, no firm operations, nothing. And for me, that is scary as s***!
Continue reading “On paternity leave”It’s 27V’s birthday today! 🎂🎉🥂When I started raising my first fund in 2019, I couldn’t have predicted everything that has happened in these past two years (except for the continued success of Fiveable, Toggle & 101Edu — my first 3 investments — which seemed inevitable 🚀 even then). What I can say for sure is that my experience has taught me many lessons to apply to the next chapter of 27V — and confirmed a few I already knew, but needed to be reminded of 😜.
If the past two years have taught me anything, it’s that you can’t predict the future. The next year’s going to be even more special as it will bring on my biggest adventure yet with the birth of my first child. I’m sure becoming a father will change how I think about education, work, and everything else! But whether I’m supporting the Batra family or the #27Vfam, I’ll keep abiding by the same principles: showing up authentically, doing the math, rolling with the punches, and supporting the team as best as I can. Cheers to another two years 🍻, and more 🤞
As a VC who spends a lot of time and money investing in education, people are often surprised to learn that I didn’t really care much for what was being taught in class. I wasn’t a bad student. Teachers liked me, mostly because I was nice 😇 and followed the rules. My grades were decent, and I performed highly when I needed to (on standardized tests). But, my head was rarely in the classroom. This stayed true for the entirety of my academic career, elementary school through college. If pressed to tell you a single thing I learned in a classroom, I’d have a hard time answering.
This might not seem like an argument for education, but hear me out.
I wasn’t focused on school, not because learning wasn’t important to me, but because I was finding opportunities to build knowledge and skills elsewhere 🤯. I spent my days planning school events, participating in public speaking competitions and putting together theatre productions. While at university, I organized a conference for which more than a thousand students and teachers traveled to my home city to participate. I was managing inventories and accounts, coordinating logistics and programming, practicing my TED Talk voice, and more.
I was learning a lot! I just wasn’t at a desk while doing it.
This is called experiential learning, or learning by doing. Experiential learning occurs when learners take an active approach in the learning process, compared to the passive approach of listening to a lecture.
Continue reading “I can’t tell you a single thing I learned in school. Here’s why that doesn’t matter…”last updated: 30 April 2021 this guide is republished from an internal document that was hitherto visible only to 27V team members and portfolio founders.
Run to keep sane
Always curious, always learning
True measure of success is how helpful one is and one’s relationships
I recently ran a subscription audit; enlisted are the tools/services I pay for.
I conducted a bit of a subscription-audit this past week. It’s amazing how the SaaS business model has totally consumed our world today. I’ve heard, as I’m sure you have too, from many of friends & family that they often forget they’re still subscribed to an app or service they no longer use – years later!
I recently had an investor friend ask for my opinion on Homeschooling. This is what I think – concerns and opportunities.
I recently had an investor friend of mine reach out to ask what my opinion on Homeschooling is, especially as it relates to investing in the many startups building products/solutions for the space.
Given the current situation that the world finds itself in – locked down, learning & working at home – there is definitely increased attention on the concept with many parents considering it a viable alternative to the uncertain future of in-person learning. I will add that this has been a growing trend for a while now; been reviewing relevant companies for more than a year now.
My concerns re. the homeschooling market are:
Continue reading “Thoughts on Homeschooling”