Lessons Learned from 2021
My startup journey 2021 - So far ...
Here is how my 2021 went, I go with concepts of game theory and strategy in my life so, I did call - ALL IN as a poker call to work full time in a startup. And it’s a crazy roller coaster ride, if one works in startups he knows it’s all about DIY(Do It Yourself) concept, not on first order thinking but on the second order, as DIY to get hold and control of a product that you’re building - learn Product Management, to build the product - Learn the latest tech trend and be a coder to adopt any new tech, to sell and market - Learn how to sell and how marketing works, and the learning curve is crazy and it never stops, not all the learnings are not enough to handle the helm of the ship of the startup.
Huddleup is a Horizontal SaaS platform built for business owners to run and manage any kind of business be it, hotel, restaurant, ghost kitchen, fashion house, a local business like an auto workshop, or home services - Huddleup Businesses
Run an End To End business from mobile, each features a business needs: inventory and catalog management, payment integration, analytics, marketing toolkits, and AI-based systems for assistance and recommendations to users. Explore more here - https://huddleup.tech/features
Working as a CTO and Product Manager at HuddleUp started in 2021, I learned a lot of lessons, lot of experiences. Some basic points or basic things which we all know too well but we don’t use every day.
Also, talking with people every day is also a big task, switching context, what and how to communicate with each one is great learning. If you talk to different people every day listen to them and share ideas or just share anything it’s daily compound growth, not just the same topic but different every day, bit by bit. 2021 was also a difficult year with lots of ups and downs, but I kept my cool because a smooth sea never makes a great sailor.
My greatest learning from 2021 was hiring and managing a team, still learning and a lot to learn. Although right now I’m managing a small tech team of 8-10 people and the opportunity and growth are exponential. And my co-founder Aditya whom I have taken as my mentor teaches me everything, he is an Ex-Qualcomm Product / Tech Manager, and for me, it’s a lifetime opportunity to learn from him and work alongside with him.
here are my small yet powerful learnings :
Build a leadership mindset and do the actions of leaders
Synthesize the information
Ask the right questions
Plan resources - people / teams / anything strategize it
Make and share agenda before prior to the meetings
Decide early - estimate early and make decisions
Follow-up with the team
How to put your points
How to persuade anyone
How to hire and observe for red flags
Try early and plan it thoroughly
Write things down, be very clear yourself before sharing with others
Make visuals and share them with the team for a better understanding
Books that I read and it stretched my thinking a lot in 2021
Art of Strategy - Avinash Dixit
Aghora: Part 1 - Rober Svaboda
Principles -Ray Dalio
Mental Models - Shane Parish
Coffee Can Investing - Saurabh Mukherjee
Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda
The Moonshot Game - Rahul Chandra
Zenyoga - Dr. P J Saher
On Product Management
Product Thinking Vs Project Thinking
On Hiring
Ankur Wariko’s Gyan on Hiring
Skills Can be taught. Attitude is really hard to teach
This year 2022 I will continue my learning, starting with Web3.0 projects, new books new domains, and compounding my knowledge base over the year, writing and sharing things that will quantify my dedication to the year 2022 on personal growth.
