Gokul ⚡️ @gokulns Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Gokul ⚡️

@gokulns

12,240

Followers

730

Following

695

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15,373

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Head of Product @woltapp ( @doordash Int'l). Earlier lives: @gojekindonesia , 1x Founder. 💍 @soundyams . Proud dad. Opinions my own.

Berlin, Germany

Joined April 2011

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

9 months

Like I had tweeted earlier, 2023 was a bitch of a year. And I'm glad to be completing it in a good state! I wanted to share some of this stuff in the hope that it helps someone else. ~6 months ago, I got diagnosed with Severe Clinical Depression. "What!", you ask... I hear you...

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

9 months

Subscription hell.

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Gokul ⚡️

9 months

OK OK FINE. HERE'S A TEMPLATE!

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[Template] Subscription manager - MAKE A COPY AND USE

docs.google.com

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

(What I consider good) Career advice that no one asked me for: Over the past few weeks, I've been trying to crystallize some of my thoughts around winning in a job/career. Thought of putting this out there, in case it helps someone.

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Gokul ⚡️

9 months

Folks also look like they could do with an Expense Tracker template on Sheets. Been using this for ~6 years now. Life-changing stuff.

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[TEMPLATE] Expenses Spreadsheet

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Met someone from my town I've known since childhood, in Tokyo. He was someone who struggled so much with academics and with the stigma that comes with being poor academically. Looked down upon by pretty much everybody, he was essentially 'written off'.

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

9 months

Meanwhile in Europe... 😁

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

9 months

And many are asking what Pawblo Health Insurance is... 🤣 It's this fellow. He's healthy. My spending for his health insurance on the other hand... 🤣

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Okay, looks like many struggle with this salary negotiation piece. There is a ton of good content but here's my playbook. 1. Kill it in the interviews. If you have 5 rounds, make sure you're a Strong Yes on all 5. Hard but not impossible.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

@bchesky I respect Airbnb a lot but this is bad product design for two reasons. - You are still excluding taxes. People care about what goes out of their wallet. They don't care whether it's tax or to the host. - You should make this opt-in by default.🤷‍♂️

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Gokul ⚡️

9 months

People losing their mind about me subscribing to NYT for 4 eur a month and not losing their mind for spending 600 eur every year on my dogs health insurance. Says a lot about NYT 🤣😜

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

"People who've worked at Google/Microsoft for 15+ years laid off just like that." A sad reminder that no matter who you are or where you are, we are all merely a cell in someone else's spreadsheet. Always dispensable.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

✨ Career milestone: Product Lead → Head of Product at Wolt (DoorDash Int'l) 🎉😄

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Over the past few weeks, I've been speaking to a number of friends - many of them beneficiaries of the tech boom in a phenomenal way. People who are now worth double or triple digit crores. And I see a hierarchy-of-wealth pattern.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Want to hire this copy writer. 💯

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

This Elon Musk shit is getting boring now.

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Gokul ⚡️

5 months

The execution speed. Fuck me. Didn't know the "anything delivered in 10 min" extended to features on production too. 😁

@albinder

Albinder Dhindsa

5 months

It’s live! Everyone please thank Ankit’s mom 💛 We will polish the feature in next couple of weeks.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Okay they weren't lying about how beautiful Berlin is, on sunny days! 🌞

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

1/ You should manage your manager. Your manager shouldn't be managing you: This has been written enough but it needs to be said again. Because people (esp junior-mid folks) expect their managers to tell them next steps/what to do.

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Gokul ⚡️

9 months

@chheplo Yes, I have given up on my kid.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

It also goes to show how much the people in our life can shape it for the better, even when the world has written us off. After all, it's what they call love don't they? :) Today, I saw it for real. ♥️

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

As someone working on this space, there are three things that I can tell you.

@deepigoyal

Deepinder Goyal

3 years

Hello twitter, good morning :) I just want to tell you more about how 10-minute delivery works, and how it is as safe for our delivery partners as 30-minute delivery. This time, please take 2 minutes to read through this (before the outrage) :D (1/2)

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Gokul ⚡️

9 months

@adityarao310 🤣 I learn from the Absolute Top Expert @soundyams - look at our weekly shopping inventory list! 😁

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

It's 2021, there's a crazy talent war, and startups (STARTUPS!) in Bangalore still fucking ask for payslips before extending an offer. Recruiters who do this - what brand of morons are you? Candidates - if recruiters ask this, ask what the budget for the role is. You're ...

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

2/ Work bacwards. Always: People default to 'working forward' from status quo. But it's better to work backwards from an outcome/deadline. The people who do the latter tend to find creative ways to overcome roadblocks and find it easier to project manage stuff.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

So, there's Bangalore, then the Bangalore airport which is not in Bangalore, and then there's the Bangalore airport runway, which is not in the airport?🤣

@siddharth3

Siddharth Singh

2 years

Today I learned: the new runway at the Bengaluru airport from the old terminal requires the plane to cover over 15km on ground! That’s 30 mins of travel.

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Gokul ⚡️

1 year

The rabies story was super scary. When we moved Pawblo to Germany, I was surprised by the level of scrutiny he (as a dog from India - a High-Risk country). We had to spend ₹21,000 on a blood test where his blood sample had to be sent to London for a rabies-free certificate.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Okay Google, define pure love.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Took my *fifth* COVID vaccine shot (2 in India and 3 in Germany). I'm done. Now COVID should take vaccine against me.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

@bchesky Your direct competitor does this very well!

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Wow found the UI/UX park finally!

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

7/ Do serious work without being a serious person: Taking yourself and your pretty little charters/domains too seriously simply shows you are insecure in your skin. Make jokes about yourself and help people laugh, even in difficult circumstances. And always celebrate the team.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

4/ Learn to write well: Even if you aren't good at anything else, you'll still be a P75 worker. Good writing skills are underrated and people who're really good at what they do can still struggle to progress because they can't articulate well. (On Writing Well is a killer book)

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Whoever built this must be fired.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

I've lived in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore. Of the three, Chennai was actually the most livable for me (barring the weather) - low CoL, great eateries, and really good infra. I moved out of Bangalore because the city is anything but livable.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

3/ Speaking of project management, if you can't get your own work/calendar in order, it's going to be massively hard to win. As you grow senior, you're going to be worrying about 28 things at once. Learn to manage threads (GTD is a good framework; GTD also is working backwards).

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

1. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, says no to faster, cheaper, more convenient stuff. The right question is not "who wants this?" but "who's gonna say no?" There's a definite correlation between speed of deliveries and customer retention in any on demand service.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

I'll get hate for saying this but always trust Indians to break any trust based system and be proud of it. 🙌 (Reminded of why companies in Europe now apparently have Indian specific contracts 🤷🏼‍♂️)

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Gokul ⚡️

9 months

Bloody hell. 🥲

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

5/ Nobody likes people who whine. Or people who optimize only for themselves: I have NEVER seen these two types of people get very far. You want to bring positive vibes and you want your company, broader team, your team, and then you, to win.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

This is the first time I've seen the girl (except their wedding day) but I'm a fan. I'm blown away by her grit, the nature of her love, and his readiness to follow her lead. Their relationship got a new admirer and their dreams got a new cheerleader today.

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Gokul ⚡️

8 months

A lot of my career advice lately: "Don't become a PM unless you really, really, really care about the craft. The world REALLY doesn't need more middling PMs."

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

3. All consumer behavior is manufactured. Nobody 'needs' food delivery at the touch of a button, nobody 'needs' a cab. It's idiotic to think getting food delivered in 30 mins via an app is 'less' of an entitlement than getting it in 10 mins.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

This week, last year, seeing the second wave ravage the country, I decided to leave India for good. Grateful to have been privileged enough to have done it within 4 months of the decision, hard as the decision was. Hope this pays off in the long term.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Adios, @gojektech ! 👋

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Gokul ⚡️

4 years

As promised, dropping my thoughts on the math around buying a house (versus renting it). Debates are welcome. :)

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The Math on Buying a House

And why you probably shouldn’t.

gokulns.medium.com

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Gokul ⚡️

12 days

Spent the last few days in Bavaria. This region is just incredible. 😀

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

No Indian startup gets touchpoints like @urbancompany_UC does. If I'm bringing someone home right now, my #1 question would be are they vaccinated? More so if it's a stranger. Very well done! 👏 (Not sure if Swiggy/Zomato do this yet)

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Weekend well spent. 3 new countries in 3 days, starting with King's Landing ... err, Dubrovnik in Croatia. 🇭🇷

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

If you're panicking over the financial weather, remember: - All bull runs end. - In a 5-7 year horizon, it'll be fine. - Focus on job/fin stability. - Build a 12-18 mo emergency corpus. - Upskill or reskill. - Breathe and chill. Nobody remembers dotcom, 9/11, 2008. Same.

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Gokul ⚡️

4 years

2021, let’s do this! 🎯😇

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Look ma, I made it to The Ken. 🙈

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

It's a testament to how hard people who don't have the academic survival skills, have it. And how long term the effects can be. How many such flowers are we burying even before they can bloom? How many don't find any saviors?

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Man - people with powerful passports really are blessed. 🙏 The amount of insane documentation/shit you have to go through to get a visa on a crappy passport like India. 😰

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

11 months

Hiring for my team at Wolt (DoorDash Int'l) 🎉 - Sr PMs or higher for a Product Lead role. 🔥 - Amazing charter / Incredible learning + growth / Great brand! 🚀 - Stockholm/Helsinki/Berlin (relocation assist 🌍) Please reach out if this is interesting / RT for karma! 🙏

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Gokul ⚡️

4 months

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Genuinely curious: People who have tried 10-min grocery delivery startups, what specific use case did you try them for? [Except to see if they actually deliver in 10 min] 😛

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Thank you, Bangalore, for everything. It's time for a new 🏡

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Friendly reminder to all brands/startups: You don't *have* to do an April Fools campaign. Really.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Hugs today to all friends running subscription businesses in India.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

It is told that therapists are suddenly fully booked out because designers have to cope with using Adobe again.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Do you see Zelensky’s speeches pretty much *every night* talking facts and updates about the crisis, directly to the people? This is what many (myself included) expected of Modi during the second wave - an expectation at which he spectacularly failed.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Been observing this: - No coffee after 12 ~30 mins of (even mild) workout Lead to better sleep. And I wake up fresh and sharp. Am I imagining this or are these things actually linked?

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Some designer/PM at Google saw that if you have a table spilling over to the next page on Google Docs, the 'header' must be present on both pages. And ... I am just thankful. #itsthelittlethings Seriously, immense respect to the Google Docs team. Killer work. 🙏

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

And you know what? I really hope they succeed and show the morons who looked down on him back home how it's done. Teachers, friends, other acquaintances - all the morons.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

10/ Growth comes from working on problems that matter to the business. If your charter is not in the top 3 priorities of the org, you're going to find it hard to grow even if you excel in your role. It's an unfortunate reality.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Everything in Bangalore seems 30-50% more expensive than Sep 2021 prices. 🤔

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

This is stuff of the top of my head. Will add more / flesh this out as a blog post! I think a massive amount of potential is wasted in: - Poor management of self - Expecting others to care about your growth - Whining about bad workplaces/teams - Optimizing too much for self

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Facebook Audio Rooms are here - that’s cool. But the real explosive growth on audio spaces is gonna happen when they launch it on WhatsApp. Gonna be insane. - Serendipitous family calls. - Group bhajan sessions. - Addas amongst friends.

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

2 years

✨

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

He showed a remarkable degree of curiosity about my life in Germany and was super conversant overall (not him at all!) I was stunned at the transformation. Turns out the girl has been chiseling him bit by bit and helping him find his direction in life over the course of 2 years.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

8/ Processes are good. Rituals are good. Don't be fooled into thinking you are any different and can get by without processes. For yourself, for your team, for cross-team work - there's no substitute to good process.

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Gokul ⚡️

4 years

My water can guy posts the dankest philosophy.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

6/ Politics is real. Optics matter: BUT, there's two kinds - positive projection of your work and undermining of others' work. Again, there's a way to rise above politics (see earlier tweet) and focus on positive optics. Because people who undermine others don't get too far.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Why is it called Single Sign On when I have to do it multiple times a day?

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

A week in India. How long should I wait before I write a thread about UPI?

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Some professional news. ✨ Tuesday will be my last day at @gojekindonesia , my home for the past 1.5 years. It's been a wild, wild, wild ride.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

The engagement farmers on Twitter are REALLY getting on my nerves. “Chrome is used by 1.2 billion people. But not everyone is using it right. Here are 11 tips to help you use Chrome to save food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa.” Fucking annoying.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

Good interview! I don't know how Zepto as a business will turn out, but love this clarity. Underrated.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

💯 This has been my BIGGEST revelation in the past 2 months, as I started ramping up recovery from depression. I suspect that one of the reasons highly ambitious people 'resist' (yes, resist) happiness is because it feels like settling.

@ShaneAParrish

Shane Parrish

3 months

Being happy with what you have doesn’t prevent you from pursuing what you want.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Dude discovers that banks' business model is tantamount to fraud.

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Gokul ⚡️

7 months

My hot take(s): Purely from a user preference perspective, I fail to see how it’s any different from ‘Halal’ or ‘Kosher’. My mom, for eg, would not go to a restaurant that serves meat (and practically starved once in Kerala) - I imagine folks like her using this.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

At least one message per day from folks in mid/senior levels at startups in India complaining about extreme work levels and The Hustle. IMO - the insane levels of work expected make sense only if there's enough equity upside. For most late stage startups...

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

3 months

Jun 22, 2023 to Jun 26, 2024. Goodbye, Escitalopram. Thanks for being a good friend - here's hoping we never meet again! 😊

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

9 months

Like I had tweeted earlier, 2023 was a bitch of a year. And I'm glad to be completing it in a good state! I wanted to share some of this stuff in the hope that it helps someone else. ~6 months ago, I got diagnosed with Severe Clinical Depression. "What!", you ask... I hear you...

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

2. The people designing these systems do think of human costs. I work on delivery partner products and I can tell you that zomato's thoughtfulness in regards to delivery partner experience actually is off the charts great. :)

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

It's live! 🚀

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Should you move to Europe?

A hopefully helpful framework.

gokulns.medium.com

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Life update that’s a bit overdue: @soundyams and I have moved to Berlin with Baby A. 😇 (Pawblo is joining us here in about 10 days, too! 🐶)

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Don’t understand the fuss. Some of the most helpful product insights came during my shifts as a Courier! :) (Doing a delivery shift is a part of onboarding at Wolt!)

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@JoshuaOgundu

Josh

3 years

DoorDash is making employees including the CEO to do one dash a month and employees are upset

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

Simplest definition: Ownership is not saying “My job is done; everything else be damned”. It’s saying “My job is not done until THE job is done” You don’t need to own everything but whatever touches your purview, you *actually* own. This is possibly THE defining work ethic.

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Gokul ⚡️

2 years

He's delivering food on UberEATS and she works as an English teacher. But they're saving up to open a restaurant next year and a string of other businesses.

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

4 years

Some personal news: Super pleased to share with the world that @soundyams and I are now brand new parents of Gokul 2.0. 😉 The mom and the Junior are both doing fine. 🙌

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

I’d posted a tweet few months back around ₹1cr+ salaries not being that uncommon in India in tech today, and many didn’t think that was possible, but it is. This TC article nails it.

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Dispatch from Bangalore | TechCrunch

A startup founder, who hasn’t had much sleep all week, woke up on a recent Sunday to a phone call from his co-founder. A senior engineer was feeling burnt

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Lot of desi tech folks in Berlin looking to hangout and jam - maybe it makes sense to host a full fledged meetup! If you're in Berlin or know someone in Berlin who might be interested in a tech/product meetup, tag them. Will see if I can set something up. 😀

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

Read the Gaurav Munjal profile. And have heard a lot about Unacademy's aggressive culture ... But I honestly don't think there's a founder/team in India that executes better.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 months

9/ But good process != good outcomes: You can absolutely be doing the thing right, while also absolutely doing the wrong thing. Working backwards from an outcome + Having good processes/rituals to guide you can be a powerful combo.

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Gokul ⚡️

3 years

What fantastic, localized copy. :)

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Unpopular opinion 1: Most companies have way more PMs than are needed. Most product teams are more bloat than value. Unpopular opinion 2: 1 is caused by career ladders that define growth based on number of reports, so weird useless scopes get created.

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

2 years

Finally wrote that "Should you move to Europe?" blog post I've been putting off for long. Will share later today. 😀

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

1 year

The legendary European out-of-office emails have started. 🤣

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@gokulns

Gokul ⚡️

3 months

11/ Can’t believe I forgot the most important advice! Ownership: Ownership is everything. Ownership is being the difference between being an indifferent blocker and someone who ploughs through to get shit done.

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