Yesterday was such a painful day. Opendoor, where I worked for three years, had to lay-off more than 35% of their workforce. Even though I left a few months ago, the pain felt very real. To try and help, I started a spreadsheet for the folks who were impacted to find their next home faster.… Continue reading 2020 Opendoor Layoffs
Category: A few thoughts
quick scribbles
2020 W15: Exploring something new, Tool(s) du jour, and interesting links
Seattle @ Sunset (Unsplash) COVID-19's impact has changed so much. There's millions of people or the 10's of thousands of small businesses across the world who's trajectories are now changed forever - mostly negatively. I remain hopeful that this will make us stronger in the long-run even though it'll come at a tremendous cost. Exploring,… Continue reading 2020 W15: Exploring something new, Tool(s) du jour, and interesting links
2020 W13: YourStack, Twitter lists, online board games, and empty streets
Twitter List Timelines My home screen right now I completely missed the announcement that you could make lists into timelines on mobile but glad to have stumbled upon it this week. This was always possible on TweetDeck but to have it on your phone has completely changed my mobile experience. I can finally go ahead… Continue reading 2020 W13: YourStack, Twitter lists, online board games, and empty streets
First Podcast
Varadh's first podcast appearance
Thinking about COVID-19
What if under 30 people start self-quratining at home prior to even getting tested?
2020 W11
Starting a new category called Scribbles where I write a little something daily; low-pressure, short, and likely half baked thoughts. Today's my birthday and it's been a whirlwind of a week leading up to it. From getting ready to go skiing with friends to self-isolating and cancelling the trip. It's been a hard week but… Continue reading 2020 W11
$5k Angel Investments: Uber Seed
Yes, $5k checks existed even on Uber's cap table.
2020 W4
I’m an operator exploring new ideas and investing in exceptional founders, usually pre-hype. Post investing, strive to be their first call until they’ve moved onto the next chapter. I've been an operator at startups for the last 4 years (mostrecently, Opendoor) focused on product, operations, and community. I’m always looking to chat with people who are… Continue reading 2020 W4
2019 Books
Books read by Varadh in 2019
Crossborder SaaS
For some time there have been Indian companies building SaaS products and selling it across the world (Zoho/Freshworks/etc.) but we're now starting to see global companies thinking about how to sell and price their products in India. While India's nowhere near the next top destination for selling SaaS in terms of short-term revenue opportunities, rough… Continue reading Crossborder SaaS
May ’19: Interesting Newsletters I Subscribe To
Brain Food (Shane Parrish): Here is your weekly dose of Brain Food, a signal in a world full of noise. Breaking Smart (VGR): Seeking serendipity through technology Buried Reads (Morrils): Buried Reads for Startups is sent weekly on Saturday morning. It includes the best blog posts that week from founders and venture capitalists. We read… Continue reading May ’19: Interesting Newsletters I Subscribe To
Switching from Audible to Scribd…^ Some Links Related to Audio
When somebody mentions "audiobook" there's a high probability you'd probably think of the Amazon-owned entity, "Audible". I, too, did for the longest time. I didn't even think anyone else offered audiobooks. Plus, I've been on an Audible annual subscription for about two years now. Tweeting on something related to this, Jackson tweeted back basically saying:… Continue reading Switching from Audible to Scribd…^ Some Links Related to Audio
2019-01: Finding a new daily routine
This week's definitely been one of the hardest I've had in a while as there's been a lot of changes in my day to day: living in India, inconsistent daily patterns, starting to work again though this time remotely and in the opposite timezone, a missing workouts, and trying to balance spending time with family,… Continue reading 2019-01: Finding a new daily routine
BCC Protection
At Opendoor, there’s a healthy default towards transparency. While we are a Slack-heavy company, we still use email a good amount--especially for communicating with external parties. However, email and transparency aren’t something that goes hand-in-hand, unless you’re Stripe I II. Luckily, BCC can be used to build openness and keeping relevant internal parties in the… Continue reading BCC Protection
DBX’s S-1: Bottom’s Up SaaS
The first companies that come to mind as one thinks about users as the gateway into an organization are Dropbox and Slack. While their individual mechanics are different, they’re very good at getting users to join orgs that then pay. In addition to building a 10x better product, they have the strong brand & community… Continue reading DBX’s S-1: Bottom’s Up SaaS
Product of the Week: Wells Fargo Card-Free ATM
A few weeks ago, I saw an interesting billboard by Wells Fargo near one of the first few exit ramps of the freeway after crossing into San Francisco via the Bay Bridge. The billboard illustrated Wells Fargo's latest consumer experience/offering - Card Free ATM Access. I was excited because this was one of those product ideas… Continue reading Product of the Week: Wells Fargo Card-Free ATM
What If You Had Bought $AAPL instead of Apple?
I could barely sleep last night so I decided to head to my desk and do a fun project: How much money would you have today if you had purchased the $AAPL stock instead of buying the Apple Product? I do recognize the bias of picking the company that has generated the more shareholder value… Continue reading What If You Had Bought $AAPL instead of Apple?
Experiment: Personal Finance
Congratulations to some startup at Battery and Pine on the new round.— Parker Thompson (@pt) September 3, 2016 There were some really fun/good replies to this tweet that was referring to how recently funded startups but super expensive chairs. The one reply that stood out to me was a link to this post written by Tren Griffin… Continue reading Experiment: Personal Finance
Selling Textbooks at UCLA
Earlier today, I tried to sell a few textbooks that had been lying on my desk to see if I could make a few bucks for them before I move up to Mountain View. The process turned out to be harder than I expected. Given, the incentives of the system don't encourage reselling of books… Continue reading Selling Textbooks at UCLA
