Rajesh Jain

Tim Martinez: “We are driven more by our desire to not fail, than our desire to succeed. It’s a seemingly small nuance, but once fully comprehended changes the way we understand our fellow humans and ourselves. The common internal dialogue…I’d love to start that business, but what if I failed? I want to ask for that promotion, but what if I got turned down? I’d like to invest into this strategic hire, but what if it doesn’t work out? Could you fail? Absolutely. Could you win? Absolutely. Is attempting to win the same as attempting to fail? They both start with an action – the “attempt”. As Wayne Gretzky said – “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.””

Economist: “There are two bigger problems with trying to move away from the tendency to blame. The first is that it requires a lot of effort. Blame is cheap and fast: “It was Nigel” takes one second to say and has the ring of truth. Documenting mistakes and making sure processes change as a result require much more structure. Blameless postmortems have long been part of the culture at Google, for instance, which has templates, reviews and discussion groups for them. The second problem is the boss. People with power are particularly prone to point fingers. A recent paper by academics at the University of California, San Diego, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore found that people who are in positions of authority are more likely to assume that others have choices and to blame them for failures…Bosses are the most visible people in a firm; when they point fingers, others will, too. If your company has a blame culture, the fault lies there.”

Economist: “Turkey could be on the brink of dictatorship…[Erdogan] has steadily co-opted institutions and eroded checks and balances. He has turned much of the media into a tool of state propaganda. He has, in effect, censored the internet. He has thrown many critics, including opposition leaders, into jail. He has sidelined rivals within the AK party. He has suborned the judiciary, using the courts to harass opponents. Approaching his third decade in power, he sits in a vast palace snapping orders at courtiers too frightened to tell him when he is wrong. His increasingly eccentric beliefs swiftly become public policy. Thus, he has imposed on a previously independent central bank a monetary theory that is flatly bonkers. He thinks the cure for inflation is to make money cheaper. This is the main reason why Turkish inflation is 64%. Living standards are shrivelling; tempers are fraying.”

Economist: “The most dramatic way technology could disrupt the culture business is by creating new categories of entertainment. Young adults in rich countries already devote more time to gaming than to broadcast television. Hollywood has been slow to catch on, but its Silicon Valley rivals are snapping up gaming IP. Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, whose games include “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush”, is worth nearly ten times what Amazon paid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, home of James Bond and Rocky Balboa. Movies based on games are becoming as popular as games based on movies. A series based on “The Last of Us”, a post-apocalyptic game, seems to be a critical success. Sonic the Hedgehog was among last year’s biggest films and Mario is likely to be among this year’s. Nintendo is opening a new Mario theme park next month—in Hollywood, no less. The great creative factories of Hollywood will have to adapt if they want to survive.”

Steven Schlafman: “You need to be unhappy with the status quo, have an exciting vision for the future, and determine practical and concrete first steps. That’s what scores of people, myself included, identify when we want to change something. However, Gleicher and Dannemiller argued those three factors alone don’t lead to change. Taken together, they need to be greater than the resistance of change—the “restraining forces,” as Lewin called them.”

Mint: “Large language models (LLMs) like GPT-3 and chatbots like ChatGPT are trained on billions of words from sources like the internet, books, and sources, including Common Crawl and Wikipedia, which makes them more knowledgeable than most humans. LLMs use transformer neural networks to read many words (sentences and paragraphs, too) at a time, figure out how they relate, and predict the following word. However, while LLMs such as GPT-3 and models like ChatGPT may outperform humans at some tasks, they do not understand what they read or write, unlike humans. Moreover, these models use human supervisors to make them more sensible and less toxic.”

From the book “Missing in Action“: “A fundamental concept underlying economic reasoning and public policy is the property rights system. To an Indian, the phrase ‘right to property’ conjures up the image of a rapacious zamindar exploiting peasants. This narrative has fostered a zero-sum perception—owning property is assumed to have occurred in the context of the violation of someone else’s human rights. This perception has, in turn, meant that the enforcement of property rights has always been weak in India. Once a fundamental right, the right to property under the Indian Constitution was deprecated to a constitutional right by the 44th amendment. Now the State can go about violating an individual’s right over their property, as long as it can couch this takeover is being done under vaguely defined ‘public interest’.”

Shane Parrish: “Here is something counterintuitive: it’s easier to do something daily rather than a few times a week…Doing something every day turns desired behavior into default behavior. When willpower is lacking, routine takes over.”

Technology Review: 10 breakthrough technologies of 2023. “CRISPR for high cholesterol, AI that makes images, a chip design that changes everything (RISC-V), Mass-market military drones, Abortion pills via telemedicine, Organs on demand, the inevitable EV, James Webb Space Telescope, Ancient DNA analysis, Battery recycling.”

Nathan Baschez: “You’ve probably heard the phrase “writing is thinking” before. The idea is that as you put thoughts into words, the thoughts themselves start to change, and new thoughts emerge. I’ve experienced the transformative power of putting words to paper, and it alone is a great reason to take the time to write. But there are also other, less well-publicized benefits to writing. Here are five use cases that I’ve found to be most useful and interesting…Writing is managing, engineering, searching, testing, and leading.”

Tanay Jaipuria on the state of Generative AI. “The rapid speed of development of Generative AI is transforming the way we think about technology. Not only has it opened up a world of creative possibilities, but it has also made numerous everyday tasks easier and more efficient.”

WSJ: “If India’s economy had kept pace with China over the past 40 years, India would currently have a GDP of $10 trillion instead of $2.73 trillion. Between the military spending an economy of that size can support and the economic and political clout it would give Indian businesspeople and diplomats, there would be no “China threat” in the Indo-Pacific. When and if the gap between India and China begins to close, the balance of power in Asia will also start to shift, and China will need to rethink its approach to regional and world politics. America’s problem in Asia is not that China is too rich. It is that India is too poor. In the short to medium term, the imbalance between the two Asian giants requires the U.S. to work with our allies to keep Chinese ambitions and power in check. But even as we focus on the clear and present danger, we must keep the big picture in mind. The U.S. and India have disagreed and will disagree on many things, but America’s national interests are firmly tied to India’s success.”

Eamonn Butler: “As Richard Cobden realised, the non-material, non-economic benefits of trade are also profound. Regardless of their economic impact, the choice, innovation, and progress that are brought by trade improve our lives and the world we live in. Trade brings us better clothing, a better diet, better healthcare, better technology and much else. Peace, which is not only valuable in its own right but also essential to economic life, is also promoted by trade, because trade demands that we deal with people from outside our own country and culture. To trade well with others, we must come to understand – and respect, or at least tolerate – their values. Such familiarity diminishes any hostility we may have towards them.” [via CafeHayek]

FT: “It is a quarter of a century since the first quantum bits, or qubits, were hooked together to make a rudimentary quantum computer. With their ability to represent both the ones and zeros in traditional computers at the same time, qubits are the most basic components of systems that could far surpass today’s computers in solving certain types of problem. Since then, headway has depended less on hard science than on applied engineering: creating more stable qubits that can hold their quantum state for more than a tiny fraction of a second, linking them together in larger systems and coming up with new forms of programming to exploit the characteristics of the technology…The quantum age is unlikely to unfold with the same sense of metronomic inevitability. It has the potential to deliver big surprises, both on the upside and downside. A global race is on to devise new techniques to control and exploit quantum effects, and to create far more effective algorithms — raising the possibility of sudden leaps in performance.”

Token Dispatch: “A soulbound token is a type of token that is unique in the way that it is tied to an individual’s identity. It is called “soulbound” because it is bound to the identity of the person who holds it and can only be transferred or used by that person. This differs from traditional tokens, which can be freely transferred between individuals without restrictions. The concept of soulbound tokens is based on the idea that every individual has a unique digital identity, which can be verified using blockchain technology. Linking a token to an individual’s identity can represent ownership of digital assets, such as digital collectibles, virtual real estate, and other forms of digital property. Additionally, soulbound tokens can be used as a form of identification, allowing individuals to prove their identity online and access certain services or platforms.”

WSJ: “The World Trade Organization, the embodiment of [the] rules-based order, has increasingly been sidelined as countries turn to export controls, subsidies and tariffs to promote domestic industries or kneecap adversaries….[The] clash exemplifies the tensions chipping away at the world trading system. Under the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, members tacitly agreed not to invoke national security, says William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. That tacit agreement no longer exists. If others follow U.S. precedent, “the whole system is useless: It invites everyone to make a national security claim every time.””

WSJ: “Once suitable only for making prototypes, 3-D printing is now reliable enough for mass-produced commercial products, upending the way manufacturing works…3-D printing, also known as “additive manufacturing,” generally works by adding tiny layers of material—usually powdered metal or plastic—one at a time to form an item, and fusing them with binding agents, lasers or other methods. Thus, parts are “grown” instead of forged, cast, molded, or machined as in traditional manufacturing. Just a decade ago, this kind of manufacturing was, with rare exceptions, suitable only for creating prototypes. What’s different now is that newer technology lets these systems print objects strong enough to be used in finished products—and relatively quickly. Recently, for example, General Motors made 60,000 weatherproof seals using 3-D printing, in plastic, rather than making them the old-fashioned way, to make sure it could deliver its 2022 Chevy Tahoe on time. The forthcoming Cadillac Celestiq, an “ultra-luxury” vehicle, will include more than 100 3-D-printed parts. BMW is making broad use of 3-D-printed parts throughout its lineup. Mercury Marine is producing its newest V12, 600-horsepower outboard motor with 3-D-printed molds.”

Bloomberg: “Since the end of the Cold War, however, progressives and conservatives have largely converged in a broad consensus about globalization, international finance and liberal free trade. As the old ideological battles over economic interests became increasingly irrelevant, fights over cultural, national and racial identities began to take their place. Instead of clear interests, politics now appeal more and more to people’s emotions, about what it means to be British (or English), or American, or Jewish, or White, gay, transgender or Black. When those emotions involve existential fears of losing status to outsiders, or immigrants, or ethnic and religious minorities, extremist appeals become much more potent.”

S Shanthi writes about proficorns: “Proficorns is basically a term used for companies that are profitable. Rajesh Jain, founder and managing director, Netcore Cloud, who apparently coined the word defines proficorn as a company having four characteristics: profitable, private, promoter-funded and having a reasonable valuation (say, $100 million or more). In a 2020 blogpost, he spoke about how and why he coined this word. “In a recent Netcore Advisory Board meeting, one of the members remarked that Netcore had built a very interesting and different model – of profitable growth, without raising external capital. This needed to be talked about more, as an alternative to the “unicorn” growth model – where lots of capital is raised and burnt through quickly in the quest for rapid growth at all costs. As I was listening, a word came to my mind – “profi-corn”. I said it aloud, and everyone loved it. I spoke about this in a US visit earlier this year, and got a positive response – the word has a certain ring to it,” he writes. This word has gained traction today at the back of a slowdown in funding and companies, including many unicorns, resorting to steps like layoffs in order to sustain their businesses. Many stakeholders from the ecosystem are coming out in the open to talk about profitability while quoting examples of successful bootstrapped companies such as Zerodha and Zoho.”

WSJ: “Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period. If you want to make one decision to ensure your own health and happiness, it should be to cultivate warm relationships of all kinds.”

David Brooks: “A society can get a lot wrong as long as it gets the big thing right. And that big thing is this: If a society is good at unlocking creativity, at nurturing the abilities of its people, then its ills can be surmounted.he economist Tyler Cowen suggests a thought experiment to illustrate this point. Take out a piece of paper. In one column, list all of the major problems this country faces—inequality, political polarization, social distrust, climate change, and so on. In another column, write seven words: “America has more talent than ever before.” Cowen’s point is that column B is more important than column A. Societies don’t decline when they are in the midst of disruption and mess; they decline when they lose energy. And creative energy is one thing America has in abundance.”

WSJ: “The [US] government and companies are spending billions on a frenetic effort to build up domestic manufacturing and safeguard the supply of chips. Since 2020, semiconductor companies have proposed more than 40 projects across the country worth nearly $200 billion that would create 40,000 jobs, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. It’s a big bet on an industry that is defining the contours of international economic competition and determining countries’ political, technological and military advantage. “Where the oil reserves are located has defined geopolitics for the last five decades,” Intel Corp. Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger declared at a Wall Street Journal conference in October. “Where the chip factories are for the next five decades is more important.”…While one barrel of oil is much like another, semiconductors come in a bewildering range of types, capabilities and costs and depend on a multilayered supply chain spanning thousands of inputs and numerous countries. Given the economies of scale, the U.S. can’t produce all of these itself.”

Matt Gorniak: “The best way to view the world of B2B Commerce is in 3 stages. First, it was a world of spreadsheets and lots of manual processes. Second, where most B2B companies are today – a world built around making it easier for the seller to sell. Tools like CRM, CPQ, ERP etc. make sales processes faster and more efficient for the seller.  Third is the new age of B2B where new kings will be crowned. Today it’s not about just making it easier for sellers to sell. What’s changed is that now it’s about making it easy for buyers to buy. B2B winners will make it easy for customers to buy on their terms. They will show more or their product and deliver amazing, seamless, and efficient product experiences that keep their customers coming back.”

Ramachandra Guha: “The degradation of the Indian party system is more or less complete, with one set of political parties becoming family firms, and another set becoming quasi-religious cults exalting their leader as a living god. The broader consequences of this depressing trend remain to be examined. The political party is arguably the most important institution of modern society, on whose healthy functioning democracy itself vitally depends. If parties themselves operate in a culture of deference and obedience, if they mandate family-worship or hero-worship, what does this signify for the wider political culture? If a leader wants only praise from his party colleagues, would he ever be inclined to promote a free press? If a leader demands unquestioning loyalty from party members, why would he, when in power, not then demand unquestioning support for his mala fide acts of policy from the bureaucracy, the police, the media, or the judiciary?”

The Economist writes that India’s “rocketing Internet growth has stalled”. It writes: “Of the country’s roughly 1bn mobile-phone users, a third still use old-fashioned dumbphones, mainly for voice calls. And recent data suggest that they are not about to upgrade them. All but a tiny proportion of Indian internet users get online using their phones. Yet the number of wireless broadband connections is flat. In October last year, the latest month for which figures are available, the telecoms regulator counted 790m wireless broadband connections, barely exceeding the previous peak of 789m, which was recorded in August 2021. (The number of subscribers is lower than this, because many people have more than one connection.) Smartphone sales are down. After growing for a decade, sales peaked at 161m units in 2021, according to idc, a market researcher, which reckons that last year the number fell to 148m. Meanwhile the average smartphone price has surged, from $163 before the pandemic to $220 in 2022.”

Evan Armstrong: “Self-improvement is great and productivity is wonderful, but something about this vein of thought feels off. When I try to follow this advice, I may temporarily get more stuff done, but it comes at the expense of my soul. I feel like an obsessive-compulsive lumberjack, hyper-focused on marginal improvements in my sawing technique—until one day, as I finish my labors, I realize I accidentally clear-cut the forest for the trees. The little things we do to make ourselves better may end up draining us dry. Instead, I would argue for the unoptimized life…We get so caught up in the daily grind, in the pursuit of the next step of the ladder, that we miss the point of being. I think the default state of life is that we will get filled up with small things. Whether small productivity improvements or minor inconveniences, it doesn’t matter. Either take away our chance to focus on something more.”