Sometime last December, I declared to the world that I am a business. I loved the sound of it, so I took it seriously. Thus, this Stakeholder Report.

Starting Jan ‘24, I will be sending out a Stakeholder Report every month, with the following structure:

1. Updates from the previous month
   1. Work
   2. Interesting life experiences
2. Goals for the coming month + what I will do to achieve them
   1. Personal goals
   2. Building Decoding Draupadi goals
3. A short list of things I need help with

AK’s Promise: These will always be my best work. Meaning – good structure, thoughtful articulation, honesty. And everything will come with context and lessons. Not mere “updates.”

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Updates from the previous month.

I was terrified to set resolutions and monthly goals for myself.

Every New Year, the world rushes to reflect, find lessons and set resolutions for themselves. I did the first two. The third felt VERY scary. Why?

1. Misdirection: What if I set a meaningless goal? And spend all my energy chasing it?
2. Fear of failure: What if I pick a mountain 1000x bigger than I am and never climb it? 

I spent two weeks mulling over it before I finally decided. A year from now, I only want two things for myself: Agency and Health.

Agency: The ability to make my life decisions for myself 

Health: To feel strong + good in my body and just normal in my mind

I had the “Where-I-want-to-be?” and the “Why?” But not the “How?” And in most cases, that is a problem that can be solved.

Health seems easy. I know the way. It’s been drilled in my head since forever. Eat proper. Water. Sleep. Sun. Movement. And I am good on most fronts. And continuously trying to be more mindful.

Agency. No one teaches you that—only the basic school-college-fancy job path. For this, I sat down with Saurabh, asked questions, and got answers. Figured out the action points. Broke them down – from a 12-month thing to a MoM plan. Highly indicative. But also good to know that there’s a doable, possible path. (Should you like to know more deets from this chat, ping me!)

Met Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad.

Mini context: Sahil is the founder of Gumroad. Does some $21M in revenue.

Sahil did a Mumbai meetup and I found myself there. Hadn’t been super invested or closely following his work. But had read some interesting tweets, thoughts, etc. Now, a couple of things from this experience:

1/ Everything he talked about is already on the Internet. Why would I go to a meetup then?

The meetup clashed with another meeting so I reached the venue fashionably late. And I considered not going – because I was pretty sure everything he would have to say would already be on the Internet. So why make the effort + spend 2-3 hours to go see him talk? And I learnt why:

a. It was good to see him talk + conduct himself. In person. The Silicon Valley mannerism, if I may. He is fit. Sharp. Carries himself with panache. Has a way of rejecting questions or diplomatically avoiding them. WHICH WAS HAPPENING LIVE.

b. You meet and see people. To be honest, I did not meet anyone interesting there. I also did not put in the effort to talk to everyone there. In a room of 90 people, I probably chatted with 10 odd. So maybe that. But don’t you spot interesting people like that? They just seem to be, for lack of better words, interesting. 

c. Something about being in the same room as Sahil was a realisation, a tiny win (no this is not a win tbh), that the world is open to me. That dreaming big is possible. A younger AK would not have thought that realistically she’d ever meet a Sahil. Now that I have seen this oyster world in action, I am more pumped + driven to take the largest shots at greatness.

2/ I taught Sahil how to make the latest Gen-Z heart.

3/ Failure/Disappointment: Did not mention Decoding Draupadi.

For all the hoopla and banter I do about being the biggest spokesperson for your business, I did not utter the two most important words of my life in that room: Decoding. Draupadi.

Worse, I did not even realise this till Saurabh prompted me to think about it. Heck, I did not even write to him and it’s been 9 days!!

I have been thinking about why I didn’t/couldn’t. Here’s an honest submission:

a. I have realised I am not the most confident person when talking about it. I usually rely on C to do the pitching. And she does a brilliant job – better than I do at least. So one. And I will fix that now. How? By doing more talking about DD to new people. In different settings and contexts. 

If I may report, the other day I explained DD to the baristas at Starbucks. In Hindi. And later saw how little they could recall. Which said something about the effectiveness of my delivery. Been trying to do more as well. But this was interesting to talk about. Because Hindi.

b. I was scared to make a fool of myself. And that is a bullshit reason to not talk about something I spend all my life on. I do not want to be afraid of looking like a fool. In any room. And yet, there I was. Clearly, my ideal self and real self do not match. HOW TO FIX? 

Finding meaning in non-glamorous work.

On a rushed morning, I stepped out of the shower and sat down to find the best cover for a reel. On DD. And then got back to getting ready and leaving home. At that moment I realised, how much I would have hated the task of designing 7 different covers and checking which one looked the best, had it not been for something I cared about.

I have done tons of non-glamorous work. Filing visiting cards. Finding names of climate leaders + their contacts. Asking people bullshit questions about their lingerie and filling in survey forms. And hated them all.

Today, when I have DD happening for me, I can see why these tasks were important. The best cover matters because it makes people watch a reel. Which adds up and converts to reach. Which builds distribution. Which opens doors for us. Yes, it’s a stretch but I know it adds. I have seen it add up over the past year. 

So here’s the lesson: I want anyone I work with to find meaning in the work.

We are building a database of women leaders in India. I love doing it. Because I see why it matters – the big picture. It is the same work that I did for Climate Story Labs. But I looked at it in isolation. And it was dry to me. Had I known, or been shown, the grand vision, I’d definitely be more invested.

As a leader, I want to help people see/find the meaning. As a do-er, I want to always look for the meaning.

We did Decoding Draupadi’s first community meetup!

No notes. Just see you at the next one?

Beach dates, Origami, Seafood festival.

Beach dates: It is Saurabh’s New Year resolution to see more sunsets. Or some esoteric version of it. So whenever I can, I go to the beach with the Sunset Club. And I quite like it. We talk. We play. We learn. We see the sun go down. Whatever. Each one is different. I am sure this is not sustainable, but I would love to find a version of this slowness/pause that fits in my everyday life.

Origami: In my Digital Innovations class, our professor – Mezzy Sir – made us do origami. Why? Because he wanted to prove to us that it is, indeed, possible to get everyone engaged in the lecture. We made suns and tulips and swans. It is one of the few lectures I will never forget.

Seafood festival: Ved took me, C and mummy to the Versova Seafood festival. It was something I had not seen before. Stalls and stalls of fishes and squids and crabs and salmons and whatnot. In a thousand different preparations. And fisher-folks dressed SO BEAUTIFULLY. So much joy. So much light. Looking forward to the next one in Jan ‘25!

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Looking pudhe.

Personal Goals.

1. I will be more articulate. HOW?Make notes of ALL my thoughts and observations. I tried to do this for a hiring call for C4E and I could make more concrete sense of my “vibes.”
2. I want to be “the Michael Jordan of speaking.” HOW?Speak more sense. While my brain is full of thoughts, I think I am just lazy with making the effort to help other people understand what I mean. Or I am not sure of myself. I do not know. The point is, I want to make myself think over things and talk about them and find the right words. That’s a start. From that to finding bigger groups to address will probably be a long way. Or I might just find a town crier job.
3. I will be healthy. HOW?Habit stacking. Ping me for details!
4. Build distribution. HOW? AND HOW MUCH?LinkedIn: 5000 followers. Instagram: 1000. Bas.It is very much a vanity goal. But it’s the moon that lands me in the stars.How: CONSISTENT. POSTING. MORE. INTERACTING.
5. Meet more people. HOW? AND HOW MUCH?Cool college kids: 10 new people/week
   Cool (college kids)’: 10-15 people/weekHow: I am not sure about this one. UM. Yeah, no. I do not know. Maybe I go back home with this and return next month with the solution that worked?

Building DD Goals.

While I help all open (and to-be projects) take their form, my main things are these:

1. Draupadi on the Dais
   1. Content: 1x/day 
   2. Outreach: 10x leaders/day
   3. Intro + profiling + explaining the branding agency: 100 women on OUR database
   4. Podcast recordings: 30 episodes
2. Content
   1. LinkedIn: Edit + post + design, 1x/day
   2. IG: Edit + post + design, 1x/day. 1000 followers HOW?
3. KEEP SANITY FOR OTHER THINGS ON THE SIDE AND NOT LET FOMO KILL ME
4. Women’s Day idea, personal branding deck, meaty marketing agency deck, merch, washroom stickers, campus ambassadors, et al.

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How can you help me?

1. Eradicate mandatory attendance practices
2. How do I meet more people? In person? How can I make this into a process?
3. Bully me into healthier lifestyle choices: Choosing 7 hours of sleep over some work. Not eating junk. Whatever.
4. Point out any gaps in my thinking from this letter. Tell me better.
5. Do you know a woman leader we could feature on Draupadi on the Dais. Connect me?

This month, there has not been enough action to come to the world with VERY specific asks. Next time, I shall be more prepared!

Thank you,

Anshika!