Sahil ParikhThoughts about business, tech and life.2024-03-15T15:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/Sahil Parikhsahil.parikh@gmail.comDevin & AI2024-03-15T15:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2024/devin/<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HXH4yu227EQ?si=kstBUPVag_PGncbg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Remember, "Productivity booster, not a job stealer."</p>
Same as Ever (in Software)2024-02-21T11:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2024/software-constant/<p>While software development is constantly evolving (just look at the Javascript ecosystem!!!) there are some fundamental aspects of software that tend to remain constant (and evergreen) over time. It really doesn't matter what you use to build your software/ website etc. as long as the following hold true. People using your software will ALWAYS want your software to be:</p>
<p>FAST<br />
RELIABLE<br />
SECURE<br />
USABLE<br />
MAINTAINED</p>
<p>Remember this and build.</p>
Same as Ever2024-01-29T15:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2024/same-as-ever/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2024/same-as-ever-morgan-housel-book-cover.jpg" alt="Same As Ever><" /></p>
<p>Fantastic book on what will always remain the same - Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life. Learning about what remains the same is so much more wiser than trying to predict the future. Some really good gems in this book by Morgan! Enjoy the read.</p>
20242024-01-05T15:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2024/year-compass-2024/<p>A friend of mine shared the <a href="https://yearcompass.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YearCompass</a> a couple of days back and spending a few hours thinking about 2023 (where I came from) and 2024 (where I am going) was an absolute joy on a Sunday afternoon. This was a refreshing excersize than just jotting down the resolutions for the coming year. Being grateful for all the achievements of 2023 (small wins) is the fuel to do even better in 2024.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2024/year-compass.jpeg" alt="Year Compass><" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>YearCompass is a free booklet that helps you reflect on the year and plan the next one. With a set of carefully selected questions and exercises, YearCompass helps you uncover your own patterns and design the ideal year for yourself.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Learn from your mistakes, celebrate your victories, and set out a path you want to walk on. All you need is a quiet few hours and our booklet. New year's resolutions don't work.</p>
</blockquote>
Elon Musk2023-12-19T13:57:04Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/elon-musk/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/elon-musk.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>In a more conflicted way, he also wrestles with the core question about Musk: whether his bad behavior can be separated from the all-in drive that made him successful. "I've come to put him in the same category as Steve Jobs, which is that some people are just assholes, but they accomplish so much that I just have to sit back and say, 'That seems to be a package." Does that, I ask, excuse Musk's behavior? "Maybe if the price the world pays for this kind of accomplishment is a real asshole doing it, well, it's probably a price worth paying. That's how I've come to think about it, anyway." Then, after a pause, he adds, "But I wouldn't want to be that way."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This book is a detailed account of Musk's private and work life. I enjoyed reading his early days, building paypal, then Tesla, SpaceX launches, how he gets impossible projects done and finally the Twitter takeover. Each one was interesting in it's own way. Once you understand what he went through in his childhood you will understand why he love so much drama. Huge respect for someone who has impacted peer to peer payments (Paypal), electric cars, commercial space flight, reusable rockets, AI etc. I don't know anyone who has juggled so many cutting edge industries (not even SJ or BG).</p>
<p>Elon always figures out a way to make the impossible happen. There is always a solution to a problem.</p>
Money, Frugality, Independence, Respect & Admiration.2023-12-07T07:08:05Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/ambient-sounds/<p>I loved Morgan Housel's <a href="https://medium.com/sahilparikh/reading-the-psychology-of-money-9f04cb212309" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Psychology of Money</a> and I love reading his articles on money and everything around it. Two articles I thoroughy enjoyed reading this week were:</p>
<p><a href="https://collabfund.com/blog/frugal-vs-independent/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frugal vs. Independent</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most people are wired to seek status and success, not necessarily happiness. It’s remarkable to watch someone fight back against that trend. From the outside they appear frugal. But in fact they’ve rejected what the world tells them they should want and looked deeper, finding their happiness elsewhere.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>He quickly realized it wasn’t for him. Society told him he should want those things. But it wasn’t what actually made him happy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bottonline, find what makes you happy and don't follow the herd.</p>
<p><a href="https://collabfund.com/blog/respect-and-admiration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Respect and Admiration</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>What you want is respect and admiration from other people, and you think having expensive stuff will bring it.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Material stuff makes no difference when you’re respected and admired for internal traits.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I tend to view material desire as a loose proxy for the inverse of what else you have to offer the world. The higher my desire for fancy stuff, the less real value I have to offer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The above line is a home run.</p>
TypeScript Origins2023-12-06T10:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/typescript-origin/<iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U6s2pdxebSo?si=F87smOZD0a1aVmAd" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>I love <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/the-react-story/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">watching tech documentaries</a> on how languages/ frameworks evolved, the journey and the minds behind them. This is another piece of awesomeness. Who would have thought that Microsoft was going to go all-in on opensource and create TypeScript.</p>
<p>I am currently working on moving an entire <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/react-native-getting-started/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">React Native project</a> to <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/typescript/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TypeScript</a> and I can see the benefits of using TypeScript as the team grows - few bugs due to more coding discipline. At first I didn't like TypeScript - learning curve and if there are fewer bugs then how do I feel good about fixing stuff down the line :)</p>
<p>As you understand and use TypeScript, you will stop hating it. This is what happened to me.</p>
Capacity2023-11-08T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/capacity-not-time/<p><a href="https://theengineeringmanager.substack.com/p/manage-your-capacity-not-your-time" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Manage Your Capacity, Not Your Time</a> is a really good read by James Steiner.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>... it’s not the quantity of time that you are able to juggle, assign and manage that matters, it’s the quality of the time that you are able to spend on your tasks.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sometimes, I spend only a couple of hours in a deep flow state (this is called my capacity which is a function of my energy levels) and that is satisfying at the end of the day. It is quality over quantity. Staying late in the office is NOT a badge of honor!</p>
<p>I used to spend a lot of time in the office, on emails or just trying to "work". Over time as you grow older and mature you realize that there is a whole new life outside of work. In fact, this energizes you to get your work done in a timely manner so that you have capacity to do the other things that you love!</p>
<blockquote>
<p>...regardless of how much autonomy and self-directed time you accumulate, optimal allocation of your capacity is not a box packing problem where you must allocate every single minute of your day. This is an anti-pattern.</p>
</blockquote>
OpenAI DevDay 20232023-11-07T19:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/openai-devday-2023/<iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U9mJuUkhUzk?si=tI44KKs52Zlknm5r" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Lots of interesting things. Good bye AI wrapper companies!</p>
<p>There will be 2 events I will now look forward to every year - Apple and OpenAI.</p>
Getting Rich2023-11-07T19:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/getting-rich/<p>A phenomenal post by Morgan Housel - <a href="https://collabfund.com/blog/a-few-laws-of-getting-rich/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Few Laws of Getting Rich</a></p>
<p>Everyone talks about getting rich. But what about the downsides of wealth?</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>No one is going to remember you in 100 years.</strong><br />
So you might as well focus on what’s going to make you happy now, instead of what money might buy you in the future.<br />
There is a Scottish proverb: Be happy while you are living, for you are a long time dead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This should be required reading in every school so we have a generation of kids growing up knowing what the downsides of having wealth could be.</p>
Rails World 20232023-11-06T19:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/rails-world-2023/<iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iqXjGiQ_D-A?si=vshDSKgZJK9Dmczz" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Since 2007, I have enjoyed watching DHH talk about business and software. I don't use Rails but this keynote is worth the hour! A breath of fresh air.</p>
Stage Manager. Yuck.2023-11-01T19:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/stage-manager-distraction/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/stage-manager.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
<p>I love the Kindle. It does one thing and only one thing well - helps us read. There are no distractions, notifications and multiple windows. Just a perfect reading device.</p>
<p>I think of the same way for my iPad Pro. When I want to consume information, read some articles or quickly go through my emails, I'll fire up my iPad and go through each task with a full screen. Simple, smooth and I am in the flow when I have one thing in front of me.</p>
<p>The brain is at it's best when it can focus on one thing (think of Carl Newport's Deep Work) and that's why I dislike the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-use-stage-manager-with-ipad-and-mac/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stage Manager</a> feature that Apple introduced in the last few years. I don't see any point for Stage Manager to even exist on the iPad! I rather have my window full screen and do one thing at a time. If I need to switch I'll command+tab. With a smaller real estate why would I even want multiple windoes cluttering the screen?</p>
<p>I get it - Apple is adding multi-tasking capability to please everyone (and they give a way to turn off that feature) but if you are like me who likes to work on one thing at a time, then switching off Stage Manager across your devices is the way to go!</p>
Supercharged Developers2023-10-19T19:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/ai-for-developers/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/supercharged-developer.jpeg" alt="" /><br />
<em>"Supercharged developer" image created by ChatGPT4 + Dall E".</em></p>
<p>There are going to be two kinds of developers. One, who will be scared of adapting AI thinking that it is either AI or them. Two, the ones who use AI to supercharge themselves.</p>
<p>The latter are going to thrive.</p>
<p>Developers who adopt AI into their workflow are going to see massive productivity gains. Moreover, companies will realize that they need smaller teams as each developer will be able to output a whole lot more.</p>
<p>My guess is that AI will surely replace entry level freshers. Senior developers who know how the entire system works (software, database, architecture, APIs etc.) and how things fit into place will be valuable. Going wide will be better than going deep.</p>
<p>Getting to a proof of concept or minimum viable product will now take days instead of weeks. Companies will find that the time to bring their products to market is greatly reduced. For example, the other day, I created a simple reactnative app with animation within an hour and even asked ChatGPT 4 to explain me how everything works!</p>
<p>As developers get started using generative AI, they need to keep in mind that <strong>programming with AI is a new style of coding</strong>. It requires <strong>rethinking what you spend time on and what you offload to the computer.</strong> You spend more time thinking about the problem and how you are going to solve it rather than worring about syntax, loops, filters and what not. Those can easily be offloaded to AI.</p>
<p>For the last couple of months I have been using <a href="https://www.cursor.so/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cursor.so</a> and it's taken my productivity to another level. So much so, that I don't like writing mundane code anymore.</p>
<p>Here are 2 examples of feeling absolutely supercharged:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Example of converting a method to generic types (Typescript):<br />
<img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/typescript-1.png" alt="" /><br />
<img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/typescript-2.png" alt="" /></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Example of promping AI to update the code and then accepting the changes in green.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/cursor-ai.jpg" alt="" /></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>A word of caution - AI is still new and an unfinished technology. People are strongly advised to double-check any work completed by the AI.</p>
<p>Developers, good luck!</p>
Building Features2023-10-17T07:08:05Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/building-features/<p>Adding new features to an app takes thinking. The easiest solution is not always the right solution. Sometimes it could mean that you are probably taking the lazy route. Instead, think about how the feature is going to be adopted. Put yourself in the user's shoes. Feel what they will feel while coming in touch with the feature. Visualize them interacting with the software. Is the feature well integrated in the current flow so the user does not need to think?</p>
<p>A well thought out feature is when you stop making your users think!</p>
<p>Recently, our team at PPFAS, encountered a new feature which would let them instantly redeem their investments on the same day. The easiest route suggested was to create a button on the Redemption page and let users who want to do this click on "Insta Redemption". This was the lazy solution. People don't think of doing a redemption because there is an Insta Redemption feature. They do a redemption because they need the money!</p>
<p>A more elegant approach (in the works) is to build insta-redemption within the flow of redemption so the user does not need to think. When certain parameters for insta-redemption are met, we will trigger an insta-redemption and let the user know that is going to happen and they can expect the credit within the same day (or whatever the rules are). Simple, clean and precise.</p>
<p>Always, think about the user and how the solution benefits them.</p>
Reading Books2023-10-05T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/reading-books/<p>Sound advice from a friend when I asked him how he manages to read so many books in a month...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You can either do it the arithmetic way or the curiosity way.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Arithmetic way</strong><br />
Read 20 pages per day (can increase this number eventually) of any book you want to read. In a year you will at least finish 22-24 books cover to cover on average.</p>
<p><strong>Curiosity way</strong><br />
Read what you want to learn about & then don't bother too much about finishing books cover to cover because many things are repeated if you are reading about the same topic by different authors. Then you will not only end up reading more than 20-25 pages per day but also read to remember because you are already curious about the topic. Eventually the numbers will add up. Can comfortably cover 50+ books in a year.</p>
<p>Aim is not the number of books but aim is to learn.</p>
Test RSS2023-09-21T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/testrss/<p>Updated RSS plugin & code. Check 1, 2, 3</p>
My React Native Journey2023-09-18T07:08:05Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/react-native-getting-started/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/mountain-climbing.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>In 2022, I set out to challenge myself. I had no prior React/React Native experience and I hadn't used Javascript in a while. ES6 sounded like an ev car model. But, what I did know was that I had to jump in and get an app developed for <a href="https://amc.ppfas.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PPFAS</a> - as I was consulting with them and we had just lost our mobile developer and finding someone new was taking a while. I had the coding chops, inclination and a desire to learn. I wanted to deep dive into a project that would be challenging and would be something actual users would use. This financial app enabled customers to view and manage their investments.</p>
<p>This was it. I jumped in not knowing what I was getting myself into. The desire to learn and to get something amazing out was far more than the fears/ doubts that circled my mind. In April 2023, we launched the new app on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/ppfas-selfinvest/id1182805912?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobile.ppfas&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Android</a> :)</p>
<p>Here are my notes on my learnings and thoughts on this experience (in any order):</p>
<p><strong>React Native vs. Flutter</strong><br />
This was one of the articles I read last year which tilted by decision on using React Native instead of Flutter. I had dived into Flutter in 2020 and didn't find it intuitive. React on the other hand was easy and fun to learn. I just leaned towards React + Expo and decided this was the way to go.<br />
<a href="https://shift.infinite.red/flutter-is-better-than-react-native-fed10c92a768" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flutter is better than React Native*</a>*…in all the ways that don’t matter.</p>
<p><strong>Mosh's Course</strong><br />
I spent a few months deep diving through Mosh's <a href="https://codewithmosh.com/p/the-ultimate-react-native-course" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">React Native course</a>. I have referred to them while creating the app almost every week. Thank you Mosh! Money well spent.</p>
<p><strong>Back to Basics</strong><br />
While going through the course I often would branch out and would spend time brushing up on ES6 (e.g. map, reduce, filter etc.), JSON parsing and other fundamentals. It was good to get back to basics. Getting to learn React Navigation, Context Formik took a while but with playing around with code these things started to make sense. React Native is an universe on it's own. There is just so much to learn. I even spent a few days going through the <a href="https://reactnative.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">official docs</a> and scratched my head around how hooks worked. With React, one has to think in React!</p>
<p><strong>Expo</strong><br />
<a href="https://expo.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Expo</a> is an open-source platform for making universal native apps for Android, iOS, and the web with JavaScript and React. Mosh's tutorial explains Expo and getting started with it. It's SDK makes native device features accessible to your project - they have already done all the heavy lifting. With Expo Application Service, you will automate the entire build and release process as well (paid service). Creating React Native apps with expo is probably the best thing that has happened. Expo sped up a lot of my developement.</p>
<p><strong>Typescript</strong><br />
I wish I knew Typescript last year. It would have saved me time fixing bugs later on. Mosh does not touch upon Typescript in this course and I didn't have time to learn so many things including Typescript. Today, we are now going through the app and adding Typescript support.</p>
<p><strong>Resources</strong><br />
Stackoverlow and Youtube were absolute timesavers. Every problem you have, someone has already had it and it's documented somewhere! That is the beauty of the Internet and the tech community. I don't think there was ever a scenario where I was left without a solution or a workaround to a problem.</p>
<p><strong>AI</strong><br />
Over the last few months I am using AI (ChatGPT4) to speed up development of new features. I am currently trying <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/react-native-getting-started/cursor.so" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cursor.so</a> - it's a fork off VSCode with AI capabilities (freemium). I am getting a good understanding of what I should hand off to a computer and what I shuould write from scratch. Over the next few years, we'll look back and laugh at all the code we spent time on writing which was equivalent of making bricks for a building.</p>
<p><strong>Fewer People</strong><br />
I would have slowed down a lot if I was working with someone else and trying to mentor them my way of developing while learning to build. Contrary to what people think, you don't need many developers to get an app developed faster. A few good focused developers should suffice. Here, I was alone and learning and coding at good speed.</p>
<p><strong>Cheer On</strong><br />
I would often share screenshots of my progress on our slack channel. The cheers and thumbs-up increased my momentum. Sometimes, it's lonely working alone and an emoji is all you need.</p>
<p><strong>Testing</strong><br />
Once I picked up speed I would only test on the iOS simulator daily and once a week fire up the Android simulator to see if everything looked ok. Most of the time it did with just some minor adjustments.</p>
<p><strong>UI Component Libs</strong><br />
I went through various component style libraries but in the end I decided to create the components from scratch (thanks to Mosh's course). I wanted to minimize any learning curve associated with this project and focus on learning the core. I did go down a few rabbit holes with one of the style libraries only to come up empty handed. The UI librars had poor documentation and a few things just did not work - contrary to say Bootstrap for the web, these React Native UI libraries had not evolved to that level. I felt I was adding another layer of learning to my already learning layer of React Native and Javascript. It's actualy quite fun writing your own components and then reusing them everywhere.</p>
<p><strong>Web vs Mobile</strong><br />
Coming from the web, designing for the mobile was different. I had to distill everythere to make sure I have the minimum viable UI that fits onto the small screen. Instructions, help text, error/ success messages etc. were all cut down to look good on smaller screens.</p>
<p><strong>Journal</strong><br />
Since I was working alone, I kept an Apple note documenting everything I came across, had issues with etc while developing this app. This was my journal and even the tiniest detail would make it there. At the end of the day I would document what I am working on so that it becomes easier the next day to pick up from. Even a simple "my ssh key has expired and I need to renew them" would go into this so that the next time around I don't need to spend time looking for a solution. Now, with a small team, we maintain all our documentation on a git wiki.</p>
<p>My entry for April 1st, 2023 reads: ITS LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>I hope this is helpful to anyone starting a new project and feels it's going to be an uphill battle. Just keep in mind that everything that is built is built by people like you and me and they started at the bottom of the mountain. The rest is easy as long as you are willing to learn, solve problems and you keep reminding yourself on the "why am I doing this".</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Ask me anything <a href="https://twitter.com/sahilparikh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@sahilparikh</a></p>
Klack2023-09-14T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/klack/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/klack.png" alt="" /></p>
<p>There is an app for everything. I recently moved away from the K2 Keychron mechanical keyboard (my wrist would hurt) to using the Apple Magic Keyboard (sleek and similar width of the MBP).<br />
I missed the sound.<br />
I don't anymore.<br />
I love carefully crafted apps that do 1 thing right.<br />
Thank you <a href="https://tryklack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Klack</a>.</p>
ChatGPT New Line2023-08-09T07:46:23Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/chatgpt-new-line/<p>On the chatGPT promp, to go to the next line.....</p>
<p><strong>Hold the "Shift" key + Tap tap the "Enter" key.</strong></p>
<p>Saviour!</p>
Empathy in Software2023-08-07T11:06:59Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/empathy-in-software/<p>Over the years working with developers/ designers (mostly web fullstack) there is 1 critical skill that seperates an average developer/ designer from a really good developer/ designer. Although, communication ranks very high, it's not it. It's "<strong>empathy</strong>" - <em>the ability to imagine how another person is feeling and so understand his/her mood.</em></p>
<p>Can the developer put himself/herself into the user's shoes and feel what the user will feel when interacting with the feature he/she is developing? Can the developer gauge the frustration level if the feature is slow? Can the designer feel what the user will feel when presented with a red alert box for something which is trivial?</p>
<p>In the end, anyone can get the work done. But, getting it done with the end-user in mind is what seperates work that is well thought out and given it's due respect.</p>
Pure Bliss2023-07-25T13:03:29Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/pure-bliss/<p>Read this today on the blog and it hits home! I'll swap vim with vsc with an inbuilt terminal window</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pure bliss to me looks like an empty calendar, headphones on, vim and Chrome devtools/terminal open so I can get straight into my flow state.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And what management wants developers to do:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Well, you’re doing great at writing code, now in order to get promoted you will have to manage other people who write code.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.mux.com/blog/becoming-an-engineering-manager" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.mux.com/blog/becoming-an-engineering-manager</a></p>
<p>So true. Feels absurd if you think of coding as your craft and you want to get better at it. It's like telling an artist to stop painting and manage other artists.</p>
How to Dev2023-07-19T15:57:05Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/how-to-dev/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/logicman._3d_rendering_of_an_imac_desk_person_typing_and_apple__61152a92-3fe3-462d-bc8d-20b620dacaf4.png" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>Notes to my team</strong></p>
<p>Hey Guys,<br />
As we grow as a team and develop ____<em>, here are a few things to keep in mind (have included everyone from Thursdays 11am meet):<br />
<br />
<strong>Product Mindset</strong> - We are not working on clients projects here but on a product or multiple products. We and our customers are our clients. _____ Mobile is a product. _____ Web is a product. ____</em> Corporate and Partners are products. These products are used by lacs of people around India daily. At this given moment, someone is using something that you have worked on! Think of yourself as the caretaker of this product. Products need to be nurtured and taken care of just as an artist who takes care of his/her artwork. You need to always be mindful when adding and removing things from your product.</p>
<p>Put yourself in the user's shoes. <strong>Have empathy</strong> when working on any feature. How will the customer feel or think about this? But, also be mindful of your deadlines and realistic timelines.</p>
<p>A software's job is to <strong>help the business increase revenue and/or reduce cost</strong>. Anything that doesn't help do this is not important and might just be a "nice to have". This will help you prioritise.</p>
<p>There are other <strong>developers</strong> who work on the same code as you so be mindful about them. If you can reuse a component, then don't create something new. Anything new that you add creates technical debt and lives on for many years. Finishing and deploying a feature is only part of the software development process. How you write your code is another. As we grow, we will now have code reviews and pull/merge requests. Everyone's code will be reviewed by someone senior.</p>
<p><strong>UI should be consistent</strong> through your product. The same button cannot have blue on one screen and grey on the other. Imagine you get a car with 1 door blue and the rest white? If you are not sure of your UI then please ask Harshal for the web and me for the mobile.</p>
<p>You will never deploy features that are not yet completed or performance-checked. <strong>Just because it's working does not mean it's finished!</strong></p>
<p>If you are working on a current codebase, make sure you <strong>reuse code/components</strong> (and the way things are set up currently in the codebase) instead of creating and duplicating new components that do the same thing. Take some time to learn the current code. If you are confused, reach out to a developer. Send an email explaining your questions and what is confusing. Imagine what happens if every developer starts creating code their way? In a few years we will be left with spaghetti code which will be hard to understand and fix! Technical debt compounds and gets expensive to manage.</p>
<p><strong>Document everything!</strong> Eventually, we should reach a stage where every API, feature and process is documented in wikis. Write first, code later.</p>
<p>Use Slack for quick discussions and fixes. <strong>Use email for anything you would like your teammates to think about</strong> and get back in a day or so. Not everything is urgent and should be on Slack.</p>
<p>As we start using tools like Slack, Issues, Wikis etc. <strong>communication is paramount.</strong> Be clear, concise and to the point while explaining an issue, pull request or a feature. Take the time to write but make sure it's clear - ambiguous sentences wastes everyone's time - especially when people are working from different locations.</p>
<p>Slack has a nice huddle feature where you can quickly go to a 1-1 or 1-many call to figure out something. Instead of waiting for days for a reply to something, <strong>be proactive</strong>, reach out to your fellow teammate and figure out how to get something done.</p>
<p>Start using <strong>ChatGPT/ Bard</strong>. There are many resources online on how best to prompt GPTs. Go through them, take some courses and see how your productivity skyrockets. But, you would need to understand how to read the code ChatGPT gives you back. Don't trust it blindly.</p>
<p>If you have learnt something new (even if it's something really small) or found a new tool etc., show it off on the #random or #fun channel. <strong>Share your knowledge.</strong></p>
<p>Do keep an eye out on the <strong>#reading channel</strong>. There is always some good stuff to learn there. <br />
<br />
That's it! Reply if you don't understand something or just have a question. Good luck!</p>
TypeScript2023-07-12T06:41:47Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/typescript/<blockquote>
<p>“Would you rather have annoying error messages during development, or mind-numbing bugs in production” - unknown.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Strongly typed languages are a pleasure to work with. TypeScript (TS) is a subset of JavaScript (JS) that helps you check types while developing code. It fills a gap within JS. Learning TS will make you a better developer by explicitly seeing what data types you are using which inturn will make you think about the data you are using.</p>
Paperlike2023-07-06T13:57:04Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/paperlike/<blockquote>
<p>Unlike other screen protectors, Paperlike enhances your viewing experience. Made with superior display quality in mind, Paperlike never disrupts the experience of watching Netflix or YouTube. And the matte, anti-glare finish even lets you enjoy screen time while in the sun.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hands down the best screen protector for the iPad. Anti-glare, matte finish and writing on it feels like writing on paper. Worth the price!</p>
<p>I had tried a cheaper alternative from Amazon a few months back and they don’t even come close to Paperlike.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/img_0044.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Not Mumbai2023-06-06T14:34:43Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/not-mumbai/<p>This sort of a place is so calming coming from overly populated, no footpath, traf$$ked, crater-land Mumbai.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/img_7993.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Software Evolution + Technical Debt2023-05-26T06:43:10Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/software-evolution-technical-debt/<p>Information video on understanding technical debt in software. Understanding your code base , where technical debt lives and which developers work on what part of the code is the first step in tackling technical debt. It is not as easy as throwing more developers to a problem. Another interesting idea that was brought up was the fact that one does not need to refactor all the code to reduce technical debt - think the Pareto Principle. Most code that is changed often and worked on by developers lives in only a few files - identify those and priotize working on those.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w9YhmMPLQ4U" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>I saw this video on this blog - <a href="https://bartwullems.blogspot.com/2023/05/lehmans-laws-of-software-evolution.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://bartwullems.blogspot.com/2023/05/lehmans-laws-of-software-evolution.html</a></p>
Mysterious Japanese Joinery2023-03-23T11:58:13Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/mysterious-japanese-joinery/<p>This 8 minute video is cutting edge stuff.</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/GtdQoT7saz0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mysterious Japanese Joinery</a></p>
Go Deeper2023-03-23T11:51:42Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/go-deeper/<p>Software Developer -> Team Lead -> Product Manager -> ... -> CTO</p>
<p>But, instead what if you just did...</p>
<p>Software Developer -> Awesome Software Developer</p>
<p>Instead of going higher, go deeper. That is also an option.</p>
The React Story2023-02-24T10:23:38Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/the-react-story/<p>A must watch! This is a fabulous extremely well-made documentary (thanks Honeypot) on how React came into being and the story behind it. It highlights incredible software engineering achievements and great teamwork! Kudos.</p>
<iframe width="700" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8pDqJVdNa44" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
Software Materialism2023-02-21T16:19:39Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/software-materialism/<p>How many times we write software to finish a product and then think about moving on to the next shiny project. And then the next. And the next. Resumes are filled with acronyms.</p>
<p>What if we stick around in the first project and nurture it. Maintain it. Manage it. Optimise it. Grow it slowly. Focus on perfecting it. This reminds me of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi where Jiro’s aim in life is to perfect the art of making sushi. I feel immense satisfaction in maintaining and optimising a software project rather than looking for the next project so that I can up-skill again.</p>
<p>There is a satisfaction in maintaining and moving the needle slowly rather than always be chasing and building shiny new projects.</p>
Build2023-02-01T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2023/build/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2023/build-book-product.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>What a superb read. If you are building a product then this book is an easy to read, honest approach to what to look out for and how to overcome it. Every entreprenuer has to go on their own journey and Tony's journey is rather fascinating!</p>
<p><a href="https://www.generalmagicthemovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">General Magic</a>, iPod, iPhone and Nest. Wow!</p>
<p>Thank you Tony Fadell.</p>
The Best2022-10-14T04:00:45Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/the-best/<p>Normally, in one’s career the general thinking is to get experience, progress up the ranks, get more experience and “climb the ladder”. However, Tom Cruise in Top Gun Maverick has decades of experience and still a Captain.</p>
<p>This got me thinking.</p>
<p>If you are a software developer, why not become the best software developer rather than “climb the ladder” and eventually (where everyone lands up) start managing people (for which you could possibly suck at)!</p>
<p>Be the best at what you are.</p>
iOS 162022-09-14T21:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/ios16/<blockquote>
<p>The story of iOS 16 is all the things that your phone does when you’re not using it. Apple has been saying for years that we need a reset in our relationship with technology and that picking up our phones hundreds of times a day is not the right outcome. Apple, of course, is probably the company most to blame for that problem. And so, part of the idea with its new smartphone software is that there might be ways for your smartphone to be useful without you having to use it so much.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/23347903/ios-16-review-iphone-apple" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iOS 16 review: unlocking the lock screen</a></p>
<p>I am loving the new lock screen features of iOS 16. I disliked unlocking the phone a gazilliontimes to look at the widgets for meetings, reminders or stuff stored in <a href="https://culturedcode.com/things/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Things</a>. Now, it's a breeze and I feel I am on top of stuff that is due and wanting my attention. Although, this update should have happened much earlier!</p>
<p>Here are my personalised lock screens...</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/wallpaper-personal.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>My Personal Focus mode has WhatsApp notifications OFF (under Settings->Focus->Personal->Apps->Silence Notifications From). This is just amazing as I have this Focus mode on all day and I find WhatsApp notifications extremely distracting.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/wallpaper.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>In the evenings, I switch out of the Focus mode and let the notifications come in for a while.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/wallpaper-dnd.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>And when I want complete silence, I put on DND and head off to a Greek island :)</p>
Version 1.02022-09-14T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/version1/<p>I heard an interesting podcast yesterday in which the speaker mentioned about how he misses version 1.0 of a lot of apps that he has tried. This struck a chord in me. Version 1.0 comes out as fresh, slim and fast. Maybe, rought around the edges but still functional. And then, over the next few years it's starts to get stale, bloated and slow. I get it - software is a living thing that needs to be nurtured. However, adding features is not always the solution. Software can be small, opinionated, niche and completed. There is an art in managing that living thing without feeding it junk.</p>
<p>I miss version 1.0 of many apps that I currently use.</p>
Think Again by Adam Grant2022-06-01T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/think-again-adam-grant/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/adam-grant-book.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Think Again is a book about the benefit of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being wrong. Evidence has shown that creative geniuses are not attached to one identity, but constantly willing to rethink their stances and that leaders who admit they don't know something and seek critical feedback lead more productive and innovative teams.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>New evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skilllset, rethinking can be taught and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through learning about 'argument literacy'. And the final section 3 looks at how schools, businesses and governments fall short in building cultures that encourage rethinking.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>In the end, learning to rethink may be the secret skill to give you the edge in a world changing faster than ever.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55539565-think-again" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Think Again by Adam Grant on GoodReads</a></p>
<p>A fantastic read by Adam Grant. Ever so often, we all need to re-think and re-analyze everything in our lives. Pivoting is good. As we grow, we gather new information/ experiences and so our age-old beliefs also needs to be questioned and upgraded.</p>
<p>I loved this quote - <em>"We are living in space-age times, yet there are still so many of us thinking with stone-age minds."</em></p>
<p>Other authors talk about being resilient but I feel "thinking again" is the first step for preparing outselves in being resilient. Unknowingly, I have put this to practice in my life this year by jumping back into software development from entrepreneuship (read <a href="https://sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/in-code/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In Code</a>) and it feels great!</p>
Light vs Dark Mode2022-05-28T11:31:51Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/light-vs-dark-mode/<blockquote>
<p>Now on to programming. If you're using a dark colour scheme, you're deliberately adding extra delay, so says the Pulfrich effect. Sure the difference seems negligible, it's only a few milliseconds. Actually, it's a few milliseconds <em>every</em> time you "rescan" your screen; that's between 10 or 50 times a second, depending on what research you want to believe. Still you probably won't notice any real-time difference, but over time this adds up, and the extra effort needed by your eyes can become to feel exhausting.</p>
<p>Besides the Pulfrich effect, there are other reasons that make light colour schemes superior. First of there's what human eyes are used to, what they are built for. Most of us are awake during the day and asleep at night. The human eye is better adapted to interpreting light scenes with dark points of focus, instead of the other way around.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fantastic article by <a href="https://twitter.com/brendt_gd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brent</a> of <a href="https://stitcher.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stitcher</a> on why light themes are better according to science - <a href="https://stitcher.io/blog/why-light-themes-are-better-according-to-science" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"Which colour scheme is better?"</a></p>
<p>I am a convert.</p>
<p>I switched from Drakula to <a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.github-vscode-theme" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Github light</a> on VSCode with a font size of 14 (Macbook Pro M1 14 inch). In dim light, I switch to Github Dark Dimmed.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/github-theme-vscode.jpg" alt="" /></p>
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse2022-05-22T09:52:12Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse/<p>Explore the thoughts and feelings that unite us all through a story of 4 friends - the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse. Who could have thought that a few words and illustrations could have so much depth. <br />
<br />
This <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708884" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">book</a> should be mandatory reading in all schools. Thank you Charlie Mackesy.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/c62a738c-a175-4cc2-ae57-6e2bdd1b94e5.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
VSCode's Git2022-05-18T08:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/vscode-git/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/git-diff.jpg" alt="Git Diff" /></p>
<p>I have been using <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Visual Studio Code</a> (VSCode) since a year or so and absolutely love it. The real super power of VSCode are the extentions. Recently, I was about to pay for <a href="https://www.git-tower.com/mac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tower</a> (a Git client) and instead started commiting my code using the in-built Git feature of VSCode. Two of the extensions I use are:</p>
<p>Name: Git History<br />
Id: donjayamanne.githistory<br />
Description: View git log, file history, compare branches or commits<br />
Version: 0.6.19<br />
Publisher: Don Jayamanne<br />
VS Marketplace Link: <a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=donjayamanne.githistory" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=donjayamanne.githistory</a></p>
<p>Name: Git Graph<br />
Id: mhutchie.git-graph<br />
Description: View a Git Graph of your repository, and perform Git actions from the graph.<br />
Version: 1.30.0<br />
Publisher: mhutchie<br />
VS Marketplace Link: <a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mhutchie.git-graph" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mhutchie.git-graph</a></p>
<p>VSCode's Git works perfectly well for staging, committing with comments, viewing file history and diffs. I am assuming this covers most of the Git usage for most people including me.</p>
<p>I love it that my code, terminal and Git client are all in VSCode. Less command tabbing.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/git-graph.jpg" alt="Git Graph" /></p>
Kaketsugi2022-05-11T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/kaketsugi/<p><em>A little workshop in Minokamo City, central Japan receives countless requests from across Japan to repair damaged clothes. Kaketsugi, or invisible mending, is a technique for repairing holes or tears in fabric. The shop is run by a father-and-daughter team: Kataoka Tesshu, with 40 years of experience as a craftsman, and his daughter Goto Yoshiko. The pair research weaving patterns in fabrics and are able to use a needle to accurately weave threads into gaps as small as 0.1 millimeter. The program follows them as they restore the cherished garments they receive.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/5003184/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Watch the video</a></p>
<p>Focused deep work. Taking pride in doing one thing and only one thing really well in order to achieve perfection. This truly sums up Japanese culture. Reminds me of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiro_Dreams_of_Sushi" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jiro Dreams of Sushi.</a>. Must watch!</p>
KGC2022-05-08T08:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/kgc/<p>Visited KGC after more than 2 years. This is where I would read, have meetings, write my book and escape from the office. Best coffee in town.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2022/kgc.jpg" alt="" /></p>
Mechanical Watch2022-05-06T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/mechanical-watch/<p>Just wow.</p>
<p>By far the best watch post I have come across - <a href="https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a><br />
This is where the Internet is at its finest - discovery, learning (through animations) and sharing. Reminds me of those Encarta CDs from the mid 90s.</p>
Spend On2022-05-04T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/spend-on/<p>- Mattress</p>
<p>- Work chair</p>
<p>- Shoes</p>
<p>Because, we spend most of our time lying down, sitting or walking.</p>
Born to Create2022-05-03T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/born-to-create/<p>Shower musings...</p>
<p><strong>I am born to create software than to manage people.</strong></p>
<p>I am seeing myself get back into programming and creation. This is what I truly love doing - deep work, focus and problem solving. Programming gets me in the flow and everything else just drifts away. I am excited all day to get working and I feel this is my true north. Let's stay committed to it and trust the universe on this one.</p>
<p><strong>Small challenges daily = small wins daily.</strong></p>
<p>Since working on the new React Native project I am challenging myself everyday and week. I mentally decide what I am going to accomplish today (this is very specific) - "caching data for the Dashboard page" or "building the login form with Formik and validation with Yup". I keep a log of what I accomplish and the challenges (including links of all helpful articles) in Apple Notes. This has been immensely helpful in building out the app - it's not daunting anymore as I have broken up the project into crumbs.</p>
React Native2022-04-29T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/react-native/<p>I have been learning React Native since the last few months and now working on revamping the current PPFAS Selfinvest app (written in Ionic).</p>
<p>This is my current desk setup and I absolutely love it. Two big changes since the last time I posted my desk setup:</p>
<ol>
<li>Using a vertical monitor.</li>
<li>14 inch Macbook Pro (M1 Pro chip). It's proped up on a Twelve South GhostStand.</li>
</ol>
<p>I can now confidently say that having a fast computer increases developer productivity. Coding away next few months to get this app out. Lots to learn, debug and create :)</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/code-setup.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Programming2022-04-18T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/programming/<p>This sums up programming...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Programming isn't about what you know; it's about what you can figure out.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am currently learning <a href="https://reactnative.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">React Native</a> and building a project that will be used in production with hundred thousand users and more. I am learning, applying and figuring things out as I go. Thanks to the Internet (stackoverflow and reddit) every problem/ bug/ issue seems solvable with patience.</p>
Inner Power2022-03-23T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/inner-power/<p>This is something I realised over the past few months after reading <a href="https://drjoedispenza.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Joe Dispenza</a>, <a href="https://yungpueblo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yung Pueblo</a> etc. <em><strong>“Inner power comes when you realise that your thoughts are not you and you have the ability to step back and look at those thoughts and decide your path forward…”</strong></em></p>
<p>Up until this point, I would believe that if I am thinking it then it must be right and I need to go down that path. So, even negative thoughts would live endlessly and I would believe them to be a part of me (because I am thinking them).</p>
<p>No more.</p>
<p>Between the thought and awareness is the powerful moment where we create our reality.</p>
<p>Keeping this in mind has made me become mentally strong and has helped me push through this season to win Golfer of the Year at my club.</p>
Disconnect2022-03-15T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/disconnect/<p>The opposite of city and always-on life. Nothing can beat the serenity and calmness of the forest. Was good to disconnect from everything for 4 days. You come back refreshed but you also come back knowing that you are going to get sucked into a million things.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/f7767fb2-4332-4753-a830-46eb147a2ea6.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Do Nothing2022-01-29T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/do-nothing/<p>Last week's <a href="https://www.densediscovery.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dense Discovery</a> newsletter had an interesting take on productivity. I see this "lets make something new" happen a lot in the software industry. Huge respect to the mainteners of software. We need you'll!</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My research on Jenny Odell and her book How To Do Nothing for our interview in Offscreen opened my eyes to a more nuanced interpretation of productivity. Odell calls our conventional view of productivity a ‘forward at all costs’ concept that is obsessed with producing new things just because new things need to be produced. It’s a notion intrinsically linked to how we view and value ourselves in a capitalist society where only the ‘demonstratively new’ is valued while things like maintenance, care, rest or play are considered a waste of time.</p>
</blockquote>
Writing 2022-01-17T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/writing/<blockquote>
<p>But the move to remote working has enhanced the value of writing to the entire organisation, not just the corner office. When tasks are being handed off to colleagues in other locations, or people are working on a project “asynchronously”, meaning at a time of their choosing, comprehensive documentation is crucial. When new employees start work on something, they want the back story. When veterans depart an organisation, they should leave knowledge behind. Writing everything down sounds like an almighty pain. But so is turning up to a meeting and not having the foggiest what was decided last time out.</p>
<p>Software developers have already worked out the value of the written word. A research programme from Google into the ingredients of successful technology projects found that teams with high-quality documentation deliver software faster and more reliably. Gitlab, a code-hosting platform whose workforce is wholly remote, frames the secret of successful asynchronous working thus: “How would I deliver this message, present this work, or move this project forward right now if no one else on my team (or in my company) were awake?” Gitlab’s answer is “textual communication”. Its gospel is a handbook that is publicly available, stretches to more than 3,000 pages and lays out all of its internal processes.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2022/01/15/remote-work-and-the-importance-of-writing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Of remote work and writing</a></em><br />
<em>The Economist, Jan 15, 2022</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I couldn’t agree more! People who can articulate their thoughts clearly are going to shine post-pandemic. Unfortunately, in India, written communication has never be given a lot of value. I am already seeing this in companies that I work with. People with poor written communication are struggling to keep up and slow everything down.</p>
Apple Wallpapers2022-01-11T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/apple-wallpapers/<p>Love these vector wallpapers from <a href="https://basicappleguy.com/basicappleblog/rewind-2021-wallpapers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Basic Apple Guy</a>. Just superb. I find myself updating my wallpapers on iOS, iPadOS and macOS every 4-6 months. It’s refreshing.</p>
<p>My favorite is this one…</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/42575378-328a-4911-9027-8fdbd4c1df08.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Overcoming Fear2022-01-09T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2022/overcoming-fear/<p>Stumbled upon this Youtube video on Overcoming Fear. It's only a few minutes long and simply explained.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Fear and worry is... <strong>awareness</strong> leaving the present, going into the future (in your mind), creating the situation that has not happened and coming back to the present and worrying about it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9WicYGH5X4M" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>A beautiful affirmation to say everytime you are fearful - <strong>"I am alright, right now".</strong> One must develop concentration and will power to keep awareness on what you are doing (focus) and living in the present!</p>
VPN Not Needed2021-10-11T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/vpn-not-needed/<p>I came across <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/technology/personaltech/are-vpns-worth-it.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">It’s Time to Stop Paying for a VPN</a> on NYTimes and it piqued my interest. I went down a rabbit hole of research on the web to see if this was actually true and to learn more about if a VPN was really needed today.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/trust-but-verify-an-in-depth-analysis-of-expressvpns-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trust, but verify: An in-depth analysis of ExpressVPN's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week</a></p>
<p><a href="https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Don't use VPN services.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://github.com/trailofbits/algo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Algo VPN</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgxnwk/you-probably-dont-need-a-vpn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">You Probably Don't Need a VPN</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxpX_mubz2A" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Make Your Own VPN (And Why You Would Want to)</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/solutions/vpn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Run your own VPN server</a></p>
<p>I finally went ahead and setup my own private VPN on DigitalOcean by following <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3qD_LRFliM" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this video</a></p>
<p>I have it up and running and it works flawlessly. I am stopping my subscription to a VPN service and save around $40 a month. Here's why...</p>
<ul>
<li>Smaller VPN companies are getting bought by larger companies. Trust could be an issue.</li>
<li>Majority of the websites are HTTPS now. The traffic is anyways encrypted between my device and the website.</li>
<li>Apple in it's latest OS has enabled <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT212614" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Private Relay</a>.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>When Private Relay is enabled, your requests are sent through two separate, secure internet relays. Your IP address is visible to your network provider and to the first relay, which is operated by Apple. Your DNS records are encrypted, so neither party can see the address of the website you’re trying to visit. The second relay, which is operated by a third-party content provider, generates a temporary IP address, decrypts the name of the website you requested and connects you to the site. All of this is done using the latest internet standards to maintain a high-performance browsing experience while protecting your privacy.</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>
<p>I don't use public wifi. I prefer to share my cellular 4G bandwidth with any other devices.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I used to pay for a private endpoint also (static OpenVPN server on AWS which helps tunnel traffic) from the VPN provider which would help me connect (from that IP only) to my web admin console. Now, setting up one on DigitalOcean was a breeze, less expensive and completely in my control.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>So, currently all I use is the DigitalOcean private VPN server to connect to my web admin consoles. Let's see how this turns out next few weeks!</p>
My Desk Setup2021-09-30T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/my-desk-setup/<p>I am always fascinated to see how other developers work and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thedevlife/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">their desk setup</a> so since WFH is not going anywhere I decided to upgrade my desk setup at home.</p>
<p>Firstly, I gave up my 2019 iMac. Done.</p>
<p>I have an iMac, iPad, iPhone and a MacBook and I felt it was just insane managing all these devices. I didn't want to deal with 2 work computers and wanted to give up either the iMac or the MacBook. What works for me is to give up the iMac and use the MacBook in <a href="https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/64640-how-to-use-your-mac-laptop-in-closed-display-clamshell-mode/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">clamshell mode</a> at home.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/dual-setup-bias-lighting.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>I found this a bit cluttered so I finally put my Macbook in clamshell mode.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/desk-final-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>The desk is <a href="https://www.ikea.com/in/en/p/lommarp-desk-light-beige-60442825/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LOMMARP</a> and the chair is <a href="https://www.ikea.com/in/en/p/odger-chair-white-beige-40359997/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ODGAR</a> from IKEA.</p>
<p>Due to space constraints, I opted for the <a href="https://www.samsung.com/in/monitors/high-resolution/s60ua-24-24-inch-ips-uhd-4k-ls24a600ucwxxl/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Samsung 24 inch QHD monitor</a>. After a few weeks, I regretted not going in for a 27 inch 4K model. Being used to the iMac/ MacBooks, the lower resolution of the QHD is outright visible and a downgrade.</p>
<p>A friend of mine recommended the <a href="https://www.logitech.com/en-in/products/mice/mx-master-3.910-005698.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Logitech MX Master 3</a> mouse and at first I was skeptical. I was too used to using the <a href="https://www.apple.com/in/shop/product/MK2E3ZM/A/magic-mouse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple Magic Mouse</a>. However, after using the MX Master 3 for a week or so, I am in love with it. It's extremely ergonomic and it's easy on the wrists and fingers. I noticed I bend my fingers a lot less with the MX Master. In addition, with the Logi Options app (that you install on the Mac), I can map the mouse buttons/scroll to keystroke assignments and can literally go through my Safari tabs and triage mails in Superhuman without touching the keyboard. Extremely convenient!</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/mx-master-mouse.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Mechanical keyboards fascinate me - the clickety-clack sound (reminds me of the rains) and the lights. I was going to order the <a href="https://keychron.in/product/keychron-k2-v-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Keychron K2</a> last year but due to Covid they were not accepting any orders. I got one this year! These keyboards feel full-filling in a sense - the key press seems wholesome. Although, it does take time to get used to this keyboard, they are also a bit noisy (this one is the least noisy with the red switches) - heads-up if you are sharing your workspace with someone. Like the mouse, this keyboard does feel easier on my wrist than the Apple keyboard.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/keychron-k2-lights.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/bias-lighting-night.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>I don't work at night a lot but getting these <a href="https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0722N9K1R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">XERGY LED strip</a> for <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/213464/how-to-decrease-eye-fatigue-while-watching-tv-and-gaming-with-bias-lighting/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bias lighting</a> was a fun experiment (see the first image above). They look cool too! Just stick them behind the monitor and plug the end to the USB port for power. There is a small remote control connected to the wire through which you can control the lights, color etc.</p>
<p>There were a bunch of MacBook Arcs/Stands etc. on Amazon but the one I settled on was the <a href="https://www.twelvesouth.com/products/bookarc-macbook" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TwelveSouth BookArc</a>. They make the best accessories for the Mac with quality materials, sleek design and attention to details (e.g. 2 more silicon inserts for other MacBook models).</p>
<p>Lastly, I use this <a href="https://leuchtturm1917.com.au/shop/notebook-paperback-b6-ruled-softcover-123-numbered-pages-black/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leuchtturn1917 notebook</a> with a Staedler pigment liner 0.5 (brown) for note taking. This has served me well for the last 12 months.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/desk-final-2.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>That's all. This is my final desk setup.</p>
<p><strong>Note - Issues with the Samsung monitor</strong></p>
<p>At the end of the day, when I put the computer to sleep, the Samsung display goes black, then immediately lights up with the letters "USB-C". It then goes black, then powers up again, in a loop.</p>
<p>If I put the monitor off, my MacBook drains out of battery in the morning.</p>
<p>The solution I have settled for is to disconnect the USB-C and power-off the monitor. Not the ideal solution but I am pretty sure this is a Samsung issue and nothing wrong with my setup.</p>
Understanding Apple2021-09-20T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/understanding-apple/<p>Steven Sinofsky talks about Apple's software releases. <a href="https://twitter.com/stevesi/status/1440068556356415492?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read this thread</a> to understand Apple's philosphy and their quest for "relentless execution".</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/screenshot-2021-09-21-at-12.13.31-pm.png" alt="Apple's relentless execution" /></p>
Thoughts on the Apple Product Launch2021-09-15T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/thoughts-on-the-apple-product-launch/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/b189217b-f909-4d10-9e31-7c280b1b3911.jpeg" alt=" Apple Event September 14th, 2021" /></p>
<p>Here are my thoughts on Tuesday’s <a href="https://www.apple.com/in/apple-events/september-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple Event</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>iPhone 13 should have been called 12s.</li>
<li>The cinematic mode (machine learning algorithms to automate the focus shift) now on all iPhone 13 models is simply amazing! The average person now has the tool (and the power) to make professional-grade movies.</li>
<li>Thank you Apple for not making the watch series 7 display flatter (as the rumours suggested). The current look is great for a watch and does not warrant a change for the sake of an upgrade.</li>
<li>The iPad Mini is a good addition to the lineup. Although, we have moved to larger phones, I am not sure what the actual use case for an iPad mini is. Why would you get an iPad mini and not the regular iPad? More Portability?</li>
</ul>
<p>Just like every year, the rants on Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp didn’t stop. People need to stop wanting a different phone every year! Not only that’s an absurd thought (and technologically impossible every year) but sadly they are the ones who don’t understand Apple’s product philosophy - <strong>incremental changes in the quest for perfection!</strong></p>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong> - <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/posts/2021/understanding-apple/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read this thread by Steven Sinofsky</a></p>
Serendipity2021-09-14T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/serendipity/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/06c9211e-f894-40cd-a8e1-2ef6ca961f2d.jpeg" alt="Someone taking piano lessons" title="The Other Building" /></p>
<p>Someone has been taking music lessons in the building next door and I am grateful that the soothing music faintly flows into my home while I sip my coffee or green tea in the mornings and afternoons.</p>
A Psychologically Rich Life2021-08-26T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/a-psychologically-rich-life/<blockquote>
<p>What does a good life look like to you? For some, the phrase may conjure up images of a close-knit family, a steady job, and a Victorian house at the end of a street arched with oak trees. Others may focus on the goal of <a href="https://qz.com/509533/how-to-find-your-lifes-calling-while-also-making-a-big-difference/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">making a difference in the world</a>, whether by working as a nurse or teacher, volunteering, or pouring their energy into environmental activism.</p>
<p>According to Aristotlean theory, the first kind of life would be classified as “hedonic”—one based on pleasure, comfort, stability, and strong social relationships. The second is “eudaimonic,” primarily concerned with the sense of purpose and fulfillment one gets by contributing to the greater good. The ancient Greek philosopher outlined these ideas in his treatise <em>Nicomachean Ethics</em>, and the psychological sciences have pretty much stuck them ever since when discussing the possibilities of what people might want out of their time on Earth.</p>
<p>But a new <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-74886-001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>, published in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Review, suggests there’s a another way to live a good life. It isn’t focused on happiness or purpose, but rather it’s a life that’s “psychologically rich.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://qz.com/2049935/what-does-a-good-life-look-like/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fantastic article!</a></p>
iCloud Reminders Syncing Issue [Fixed]2021-08-15T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/icloud-reminders-syncing-issue-fixed/<p>For the last many many months, I would have issues with iCloud Reminders syncing well between my imac, macbook, ipad and iphone. I had to "complete" the reminder on all devices and this was truly frustrating. I tried all the usual troubleshooting tips (log out of all devices, log back in etc.) but the thing that worked for me was to make sure your Timezone and time formats are all the same across all devices.</p>
<p>Login to <a href="http://icloud.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">icloud.com</a> -> Account Settings → Timezone / Formats</p>
<p>Make sure the formats match your other device formats. My time format was off and by fixing this the syncing works like a charm :)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
Producer vs. Consumer2021-08-09T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/producer-vs-consumer/<p>I keep thinking about Carl Newport's book <strong><a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/deep-work-the-secret-to-achieving-peak-productivity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deep Work</a></strong> and how the most valuable people will be the ones who will be able to deep work and hence produce/ build things as opposed to being passive consumers (since they cannot focus their attention they cannot work for long hours to create something meaningful). The most scarce commodity right now is our "attention". It is completey fragmented. I can't even imagine what is going to happen to kids since the pandemic has acclelerated their online consumption to another level.</p>
<p>I am having a tough time writing this short piece as I am wondering if there are messages waiting to be answered on my phone. Or, did my wife call for something urgent. Sometimes, I just don't have the courage to put the phone away. But, its a habit to be cultivated. Tuck your phone away in a drawer (make sure it does not vibrate) for 15 minutes at first (and then increase this gradually). The beautiful thing about this is that eventually you will forget about it and be completely in the flow.</p>
<p>Just like exercise is for the body, this is exercise for the mind. Eventually, you'll be able to learn to live without the distractions and focus more on "producing" rather than "consuming".</p>
Upgrading RAM on an iMac2021-08-01T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/upgrading-ram-on-an-imac/<p>My 201 9 iMac was slowing down so I (with a help of a friend who did the entire upgrade) decided to upgrade the RAM from 8GB (4+4) to 16GB (8+8). The entire process took about 2.5 hours and the process is complicated and tedious.</p>
<p>Make sure you order the <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Laprite-Display-Adhesive-Strips-Opening/dp/B07QPGQ2SJ/ref=asc_df_B07QPGQ2SJ/?tag=googleshopdes-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=397081911002&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14825196353506682572&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007785&hvtargid=pla-851151829098&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hi" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adhesives</a> from Amazon so you can fit the display back after the upgrade is done - and before you stick the adhesives make sure to put back the display, power on the system and check (from the Apple menu) to see if the system recognizes the new RAM. It took a few minutes for this to happen.</p>
<p>I love how Youtube pretty much has everything needed for DIY - this is the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xDJ28Oe2XQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video</a> that helped us tremendously.</p>
<p>Apple - you don't have to make this so hard!</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/imac3.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/imac1.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/imac2.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Consuming Information2021-07-24T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/consuming-information/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/consuming-information.jpg" alt="Consuming Information" /></p>
<p>There is just so much information out there and so the biggest challenge has been to consume just the right amount of it without getting inundated and overwhlelmed. So, the question I ask myself is "is this piece of content relevant to what I am doing right now?". Many times it's not, so I give it a pass without feeling guilty. If the article is something that will teach me something new or is just a fun piece, I bookmark it and come back to it later.</p>
<p>I have been pruning my information diet over the year and this is what it has come to today...</p>
<p>Daily dip into Twitter, Reddit to scan what is most popular.</p>
<p>I love reading newsletters delivered to my <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/posts/2020/superhuman-email/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Superhuman</a> "News" inbox. The ones I enjoy are Techmeme, Pointer, Daily Stoic, Engadget, Shawn Blanc, TLDR Dan, NYTimes Daily Briefing, Benedict Evans and Dense Discovery.</p>
<p>I have subscribed to Wired, WSJ, NYTimes and Economist on my iPad and it does feel like an overkill sometimes. I let my mood dictate which of these publications I want to dip into a couple of times a week.</p>
<p>I absolutely avoid daily news (local/country). Most of it is just sensationalised and garbage. If I really want to waste time, I'll open up Google News to see what is going on.</p>
<p>I have removed all news/reading apps from my iPhone. This helps me avoid "snacking". This has been an ongoing experiment over the years.</p>
<p>I love the <a href="https://reederapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reeder app</a> and I have a few RSS feeds that I dip into once a week - AVC and Daring Fireball.</p>
<p>I used to listen to a lot of podcasts (<a href="https://www.pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pocketcasts</a>) but this has slowed down since last year. I need to be moving when I listen to podcasts! My current favorites are On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Indie Hackers and The Stack Overflow Podcast.</p>
<p>Lastly, my weekly reading includes reading and researching watches (a neat little hobby that I have found) on Youtube, Hodinkee, A Blog to Watch, Worn & Wound amongst others.</p>
An Elegant Defense2021-07-24T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/an-elegant-defense/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/an-elegant-defense.jpg" alt="An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives" title="An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is an ever-vigilant, omnipresent peacekeeping force in the Festival of Life.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I picked up this book as I came across it on Bill Gate’s <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Summer-Books-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> and thought it would be interesting to learn about the wonders of the immune system through four characters - intertwining stories with science.</p>
<p>There has been a lot of talk about our immune system during this pandemic and what intrigued me most over the last year is why covid19 affects some people and have little or apparent no effect on others of similar age. This book answers that question!</p>
<p>Besides, this is what we always knew about our immune system - we get an infection and our body sends white blood cells to fight it. However, the immune system is more complex and magical than this!</p>
<p>The immune system is our defense network - fighting illnesses, healing wounds, maintaining order and balance and keeping us alive. The system’s foot soldiers patrol our bodies with the worlds most sophisticated communication system. There is an entire purpose of the immune system than just fighting off infection. The immune system is tuned to find a balance <em>“between attacking and neutralising real dangers and showing sufficient restraint such that its potency didn’t destroy the body,”</em> Richtel writes. <em>“This is what makes our defence so elegant.”</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Your immune system isn’t a war machine. It’s a peacekeeping force that more than anything else seeks to create harmony. The job of the immune system is to circulate through this wild party, keeping an eye out for troublemakers and then—this is key—tossing out bad guys while doing as little damage to other cells as possible. This is not just because we don’t want to hurt our tissue. It is also because we need many of the alien organisms that live on and in us, including the billions of bacteria that live in our guts. A convincing argument is now being made that some of these microbes, far from threatening us, are welcome as essential allies. Our health depends on our harmonious interaction with a multitude of bacteria.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This book discusses the following…</p>
<p>History of the immune system.<br />
What are retroviruses?<br />
Cancer - something that is made by the body!<br />
What is Immunotherapy?<br />
Why are vaccines important and what do they do?<br />
Why sleep, reducing stress, being active, and good nutrition is important to the well-being of our immune system?<br />
Why should we avoid overuse of antibiotics?<br />
Why incest is not good for our survival?<br />
There is nothing like an immunity booster!<br />
What causes allergies?<br />
What is the purpose of inflammation and fever when we get sick?<br />
How does auto-immunity come about?<br />
What is a microbiome and what part does it play in keeping us healthy?<br />
Death is inevitable. Our immune system has a role to play!</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The reason is that the immune system hasn’t evolved to defend us as individuals. It has evolved to defend our genetic material and the species as a whole. It does an extraordinary job of keeping us alive until we reproduce and then rear our offspring. After that, it does an even better job of moving us out of the way.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>An informative, good read and by understanding the inner workings of our immune system we can make better decisions to live better and healthier. The most important takeaway for me is that the immune system is constantly seeking to maintain harmony and cooperation for our survival - and if we step back, zoom out - this is the answer to what evolution is for all life on this planet!</p>
Watches & the Pandemic2021-07-21T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/watches-the-pandemic/<p>A very interesting thought on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/fashion/watches-future-predictions.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"What's Next for Watches?"</a> in NYTimes by Peter Noel Murray.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How has the pandemic affected the consumer psyche?</p>
<p>The mind of the consumer has focused on uncertainty, vulnerability, the need for stability — that’s what’s driving all the conversations I’m having now.</p>
<p>People are asking themselves — largely driven by the pandemic, but compounded by the social unrest that’s going on — where are we headed? There are concerns about the economic future. People are reeling about what happens to jobs, local businesses. They are yearning for situations that are less disruptive and more predictive, so they can start to feel back in control of their lives.</p>
<p>From a strategic perspective, you’d better be talking about factors like authenticity and truth and timelessness — those kinds of constructs always have been an important part of the luxury mind- set, and never more than now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Swiss watches are just that - authentic, timeless and built to last. They provide the certainty that is more than required right now.</p>
<p>Strapping a Pilot's watch (pick your brand, <a href="https://www.iwc.com/en/home.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">I know mine</a>) feels apt in the current times - <em>navigating</em> the pandemic and everything that comes with it :)</p>
Big Timber2021-07-20T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/big-timber/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/big-timber.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>"The reality show follows the struggles and adventures faced by a brave but ill-tempered logger, his family, and his quirky crew as they collect and transport lumber on Vancouver Island. But as entertaining as it sounds, one wonders if Big Timber’s relatability creates a somewhat glorified vision of an industry that many environmentalists would call inherently problematic."</p>
<p>"To many people, the logging industry is often used as a symbol for all the environmental problems our world currently faces, thanks to humanity. When left unchecked, logging can cause soil erosion, habitat destruction, and contribute to the climate crisis. On top of that, cutting and transporting that wood often involves heavy, gas-powered machinery and trucks, which emit more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These are the exact thoughts that went through my mind when I watched Big Timber last week. My 10 yo daughter refused to watch it with me as she is extremely environmentally concious and did not like the idea of trees being cut. The "problem-solving" aspect of the show was great as the crew faces challenge after challenge. Although, I was left with a few questions after the last episode...</p>
<p>What do they do with the claim area once all the trees are logged?</p>
<p>Are there rules on how many trees on a mountain top can be cut and logged? The claim area looks like a giant scar on the mountain.</p>
<p>Do they replant trees? I would assume these trees have taken many many decades to grow to their size so are we short-changing and fooling ourselves by replanting? Will the damage be done by the time they grow back (if they ever do).</p>
Boredom2021-07-19T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/boredom/<blockquote>
<p>We try and avoid boredom, but actually boredom is a fundamental part of creativity. It's only when the mind wanders do we have space to come up truly creative solutions.</p>
<p>The issue with today's executive's back-to-back schedules is that there is no downtime, and therefore no room for boredom. Ergo, you can't be creative if you have a full calendar.</p>
<p>So I try not to keep a calendar. I keep my company's communication completely asynchronous and I make space for boredom.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Something I read today on <a href="https://blog.alexmaccaw.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alex MacCaw's blog</a>.</p>
<p>This is absolutely true. I catch myself shifting from different gadgets over the course of the day. Although, over the last year I have carved out some time in the afternoon to not do anything. Just like our bodies, our brains need rest.</p>
<p>Being busy should not be a badge of honour.</p>
WhatsApp or Email2021-07-13T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/whatsapp-or-email/<p>Every so often, I have questions for my friends. I want to know how they tackle a billing issue or if have they updated their vaccine certificate with their passport numbers etc. It's easy to just open up Whatsapp and fire along.</p>
<p>However, I am a little more hyper-aware of people's time and attention.</p>
<p>Is this what I am asking them urgent? Can it wait? If it can, then I fire off an email. They can take their time to write back and I am not waiting for an answer immediately.</p>
<p>It just feels more calm and the right thing to do.</p>
Daily Journal Prompt2021-07-07T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/daily-journal-prompt/<p>Thanks to <a href="https://www.neil.blog/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neil Pasricha's</a> <strong>"You Are Awesome: How to Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life"</strong> and <strong>"The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything"</strong> I have setup a new journal prompt daily (in <a href="https://dayoneapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DayOne</a>).</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2021/journal-entry.jpg" alt="My Daily Journal Entry" title="My Daily Journal Entry" /></p>
<p>While my coffee brews, I write for a few minutes.</p>
<p>It's a new habit, just like brushing my teeth or taking a shower. Are all days awesome? No. But, this habit helps align my internal rudder for the day and even if it helps make a 25% difference then it's worth it.</p>
<p>Thank you Neil.</p>
Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger2021-06-16T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/ride-of-a-lifetime-book/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2021/ride-of-a-lifetime.jpg" alt="The Ride of a Lifetime Book" title="The Ride of a Lifetime Book" /></p>
<p>The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company is an amazing book. If you liked Shoe Dog by Phil Nnight then you are definitely going to love this one. I was going to summarize the gems in this book but the author has already done that in the last chapter.</p>
<p>The best parts of the book were the interactions between Robert and Steve Jobs and the behind the scenes look at the Pixar deal.</p>
<p>Lots of candid examples on leadership without the boring management jargon. An easy read.</p>
Fractional CTO2021-06-10T20:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/fractional-cto/<p>I have always learnt new stuff. So, when the pandemic hit last year and I had more time on my hand (by working 100% remote), I dabbled with a bunch of things. I even blogged about my <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/posts/2020/in-code/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">love for programming</a>.</p>
<p>Flutter<br />
iOS Developement (Swift)<br />
JAMStack - (revamped this blog using Eleventy + TailWind CSS)<br />
Laravel<br />
React<br />
Rust</p>
<p>Besides running <a href="https://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> and helping with tech (mobile app, web app, software) in my <a href="https://amc.ppfas.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">family business</a>, I am always itching to explore the new things in tech and how it can <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">help companies grow</a>. Being involved on the tech-side at PPFAS was an eye-opener - you work on different problems and just focus on tech (unlike running your own company where there are other non-tech areas that needs attention - over the years I realised I feel happier thinking about tech than being a CEO). Besides, guiding non-tech companies on the right path to tech adoption is somewhat liberating.</p>
<p>This is in contrast to my product, Brightpod. I sometimes felt stuck doing the same thing for years. Solving the same problem and working on the same tech stack. Monotony sets in. Less is more but too little is not satisfying. For long, it felt like being boxed in an echo chamber.</p>
<p>Having amassed a ton of tech (mostly SaaS/ Cloud) and digital marketing experience in the last 2 decades and being confident with what I know and learning what I don’t know, someone mentioned I should be a “fractional/ virtual CTO” for companies that need a tech expert on their leadership team.</p>
<p>I guess I will have to try this out again to find out.</p>
WWDC212021-06-08T20:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/wwdc21/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/97022f94-1bc7-4ebc-b384-34a58735ca2a.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
<p>I love how Apple is incrementally focusing on health (mental, physical, awareness, attention) and slowly blowing away the competition with their tight integration between the desktop, laptop, tablet, watch and home entertainment. Here are my top features from yesterday’s <a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-events/?&mtid=209253us42347&aosid=p238&mnid=s6remak7s-dc_mtid_209253us42347_pcrid_525694783130_pgrid_123248628956_&cid=wwa-ae-kwgo-iphone-slid--lpurl--Brand-AppleLive-Post-" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WWDC21</a> event.</p>
<p><strong>iOS 15</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Notification Summary and set focus statuses.</li>
<li>FaceTime - spatial audio, portrait mode and sharing. No need for Zoom for non biz calls.</li>
<li>LiveText - search text in Photos.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>iPadOS 15</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>QuickNote - attach notes to web pages and anything else on the iPad.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>watchOS 8</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Mindfulness App - improve mental wellness.</li>
<li>Walking Steadiness - gait and balance measurement.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>MacOS Monterey</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Universal Control - use the same mouse and keyboard across your Mac and iPad.</li>
</ul>
Being a Beginner2021-05-28T20:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/being-a-beginner/<p>Over the last 45 days, I have been learning <a href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/01/20/what-is-rust-and-why-is-it-so-popular/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rust</a>, a programming language designed for performance and safety. I am not sure why I am learning Rust. I don’t have a project in mind or plain to get a job. Programming feels meditative and good. In these times, learning something new feels satisfying. Maybe it’s the novelty I am craving and the feeling of getting into the flow while working on a challenge.</p>
<p>I am currently going through <a href="http://exercism.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Exercism</a>. It’s a fantastic platform where you can practice code and get mentorship. Once you are done with your solution, you submit it for feedback. It makes you feel you are not alone and over time you learn how to write better code.</p>
<p>I started my career in the early 2000s as a Java programmer and getting back to compiling a Rust program feels immensely satisfying. Every morning when I get to learning Rust, I tell myself - it’s ok to be a beginner. I fire <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VSC</a>, the <a href="https://macpaw.com/how-to/use-terminal-on-mac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mac terminal</a> and humbly get to learning the basics without worrying about the end goal.</p>
<p>For now, it’s great to be a beginner, make mistakes, fumble and continue with the journey not knowing where it’s going to take me.</p>
Work From Home 2021-05-09T20:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/work-from-home/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/jade-scarlato-kkmrozfidjs-unsplash.jpg" alt="Thanks to Jade Scarlato for making this photo available freely on @unsplash" title="Thanks to Jade Scarlato for making this photo available freely on @unsplash" /></p>
<p>It’s been a year of the pandemic and I wanted to pen down some thoughts on remote work.</p>
<p>With most people I work with being part of the knowledge economy there have never been boundaries of when work starts and stops. Over the years, this has exacerbated with powerful smartphones. However, the pandemic has compounded “I am always on” and “You should be always on” to another level. Meetings scheduled anytime, meetings spilling later in the evening, WhatsApp groups created (instead of a Slack or a business tool) and the expectation to respond even on weekends. It wasn’t like this before.</p>
<p>People are trying to replace office presence to chat presence. The sooner you reply, the harder you are working.</p>
<p>Maybe, you feel that you need to work all the time so as to get your mind away from the anxiety-laden stress of the pandemic. That’s ok, but what happens to the team members you are working with?</p>
<p>Or, this sort of behaviour is coming from the mindset that since everyone is at home, they must be working. What else is there to do? Right?</p>
<p>Wrong.</p>
<p>I am all for remote work but we all need to realise that people have a life outside of work! They have families, hobbies and are up-skilling. Let’s be more mindful of other people’s times and commitments.</p>
<p>Do you live to work or work to live?</p>
Inward2021-05-09T20:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/inward/<p>I read a few pages of this book to recaliberate when I am feeling down or lost. It’s just fantastic!</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/0541dd7e-67c0-4bf6-844d-0abf371463cc.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/5642a83d-bd20-4b11-9a6b-ea7f24a919dd.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
A Man & His Watch2021-03-27T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/a-man-his-watch/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/d45ba65b-fd3e-4079-8a76-9a0e2aa36c5d.png" alt="A Man & His Watch" title="A Man & His Watch" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“My father taught me early on to acquire things not based on the monetary value, but because you love them.”</p>
<p>- Henry Leutwyler, Photographer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This book is a fantastic read about the authentic stories of watches and their owners. My biggest takeaway after reading this book is - the value of a watch is not related to the price but to what it truly means to the owner - watches are incredibly personal, and it’s wrong to judge why someone is wearing a particular watch. A watch has a deeper meaning than keeping time, and it tells the world who you are. Sometimes, a watch is a conversation starter. You could be wearing a $100 watch, and it could mean the world to you than someone who is wearing a $100,000 watch having acquired it for bragging rights.</p>
<p>Reading the stories in this book is very humbling.</p>
Website Performance2021-03-10T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/website-performance/<p>I have been digging into <a href="https://jamstack.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JAMStack</a> and last year even updated this blog using Eleventy. JAMStack is a better, efficient and secure way to build websites. I am sold. The companies I work with have their web properties built using PHP and MYSQL. There is nothing wrong with this and it’s been working but in terms of performance and "is it the correct way to do something" it's utter crap. One does not need to go to the database to serve up a page. Instead what I think JAMStack has got right is to create the page during the build process. If there is no real-time data that needs to be pulled then it absolutely does not make sense to fetch data from a database. This takes a performance hit.</p>
<p>What I would love to see are these web properties being upgraded to JAMStack. Unfortunately, the biggest hurdle is "not enough time". Not enough time to learn something new. Not enough time to move away from the current tasks. Just not enough time. How does one learn a new stroke while they are already swimming?</p>
<p>Just like maintaining, upgrading to new skills and technologies is paramount. Managers and teams need to keep this in mind while planning the scope of projects. New features can wait. Focus on the performance of your sites. It's the one thing that your users will always care about.</p>
My Mediocre Skills2021-02-22T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/my-mediocre-skills/<blockquote>
<p>"With every skill you acquire, you double your odds of success."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I read this in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17859574-how-to-fail-at-almost-everything-and-still-win-big" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Scott Adams</a>, and it got me thinking of success and failure. I don't think there is anything like a failure. Everything is a learning experience, and every attempt that is not in line with your desired outcome gets you closer to your creation. And every skill you pick up on the way will help you in this endeavour.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Recapping my skill set: I have poor art skills, mediocre business skills, good but not great writing talent, and an early knowledge of the Internet. And I have a good but not great sense of humour. I'm like one big mediocre soup. None of my skills is world-class, but when my mediocre skills are combined, they become a powerful market force."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Surprisingly, I have experienced what Scott mentions in my life. Over the last two decades, I was involved in various things - In 1998, I started as a network troubleshooter at the Computer Science department at UNC-Chapel Hill. Then, I was a Flash developer, Perl programmer and a PHP developer. I even got an internship to be a tester at IBM at the Research Triangle Park. After I graduated in 2001 (ouch!!!) with a degree in B.S. in Mathematical Sciences, Computer Science, I got a full-time opportunity in early 2002 as a Java programmer. Over the next few years, I picked up web design skills in the evenings/nights and pitched to clients for projects so I could make some extra cash. Little did I know, but I had acquired skills to build and launch a Software As A Service product - design, development, writing, testing, marketing, communication (especially helpful in a remote scenario) etc. All of this got me ready to launch a bootstrapped SaaS product from India in 2007 (much ahead of mainstream SaaS/ Cloud) and several consulting gigs. The early mover advantage led to a <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">book publishing deal</a> in 2009 from Tata McGraw-Hill.</p>
<p>Back then, there were many doubts, and it wasn't ever smooth sailing. But, when I look back now, I can connect the dots. When it comes to skills, quantity often beats quality, and the universe has this magical way of tieing everything together.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"You can't <strong>connect the dots</strong> looking forward; you can only <strong>connect</strong> them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the <strong>dots</strong> will somehow <strong>connect</strong> in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever." - Steve Jobs</p>
</blockquote>
Sky Gradient2021-02-15T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/sky-gradient/<p>I came across <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/sky-gradients/473034/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jacob Harris’s article</a> in The Atlantic and decided to experiment with Sky Gradients. Here are two of mine. This is a good exercise in being present in the moment and noticing things around us.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/a500242d-8a6c-44ef-8368-ec8d082667e5.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/78ccc2b0-b9f1-4377-9845-c7f614840fa8.jpeg" alt="" /></p>
Security Catch-222021-02-10T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/security-catch-22/<blockquote>
<p>I’ve got hundreds of different vendors we use, from Microsoft to Box, Zoom, Slack, and so on. It only takes one,” says Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of the antivirus maker Malwarebytes, which disclosed in January that it had been a victim of the suspected Russian hacking spree. “It’s a catch-22. Rely on one vendor and you’re screwed if they get hit. Rely on multiple and all it takes is one. Rely on the big brands and deal with the consequences that they’re the most targeted. Rely on the small brands and deal with the consequences that they’re not yet investing in security.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/solarwinds-hack-china-usda/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SolarWinds hack on Wired</a></p>
<p>This is so well said!</p>
Soundscapes2021-02-03T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/soundscapes/<p>I have been fascinated by <a href="https://www.janawinderen.com/?utm_campaign=Tech%20Friend&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jana Winderen</a>‘s soundscapes after reading about it on Om's blog <a href="https://om.co/2021/01/03/a-chill-new-year-weekend/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a>. She is a Norway-based audio artist. She creates soundscapes by paying particular attention to “audio environments and to creatures which are hard for humans to access, both physically and aurally – deep under water, inside ice or in frequency ranges inaudible to the human ear.”</p>
<p>These soundscapes are perfect when you are reading or in deep work.</p>
Setting up Netlify CMS with Eleventy2021-02-01T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/setting-up-netlify-cms-with-eleventy/<p>On a recent trip I missed blogging as I did not have this repository setup on my laptop (which was primarily used by my daughter). So, when I got back I decided to setup Netlify CMS so that I could blog from anywhere and with any device.</p>
<p>After a few searches I came across these two article which did the job well.</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://dev.to/koabrook/creating-a-basic-blog-with-eleventy-and-netlify-cms-completely-from-scratch-197e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creating a basic blog with Eleventy and Netlify CMS completely from scratch</a></li>
<li><a href="https://codingthesmartway.com/building-a-blog-with-eleventy-and-netlify-cms-part-3-managing-blog-content-with-netlify-cms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Building A Blog With Eleventy And Netlify CMS – Part 3: Managing Blog Content With Netlify CMS</a></li>
</ol>
<p>I didn't get the setup 100% correct so I decided to dig in and see what the problem was. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind when setting up Netlify CMS with your Eleventy blog after you refer to the articles above.</p>
<p>This is extremely important! Make the Identity registration <a href="https://docs.netlify.com/visitor-access/identity/registration-login/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Invite only</a>. Suprisingly the above two posts don't talk about this. You don't want anyone to sign up and start posting on your blog!</p>
<p>Once you invite yourself, the Netlify invite link you get in your email needs to be edited so that you can confirm your email address. See johngage's comment <a href="https://community.netlify.com/t/common-issue-netlify-cms-git-gateway-email-not-confirmed/10690/11" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a> (you need to copy the link and edit the mandrill url).</p>
<p>The images/uploads folder needs to be on the root of your Eleventy blog. Then add the passthrough in the Eleventy.js file (see below).</p>
<p>Add the following 2 passthrough's in your Eleventy.js file. This will tell the build process to create these folders under _site:</p>
<pre><code>eleventyConfig.addPassthroughCopy("admin");
eleventyConfig.addPassthroughCopy("images");
</code></pre>
<p>Change the config.yml to suit your blog post template and filename format.</p>
<p>That's it. You are now ready to use Netlify CMS's power to publish your posts from anywhere.</p>
Create Less Friction2021-02-01T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/create-less-friction/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/images/uploads/homepod-mini.jpg" alt="HomePod mini" title="HomePod mini" /></p>
<p>Recently, after getting the HomePod Mini, I have been listening to a lot more music. My earlier Bluetooth speaker would need charging, and I had to manually turn it on before listening -- sometimes I wouldn't bother. Today, I woke up and said: "Hey Siri, play the lazy morning playlist".</p>
<p>It's because of less friction to get things going.</p>
<p>Some other areas where we can try to keep less friction are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Keep your daily journal on your bedside or the desk. If you use an app like DayOne, make sure it's open when you restart your computer.</li>
<li>Keep your gym clothes, sneakers and socks out the night before.</li>
<li>Keep your book/ kindle on your bedside so you can read for 15 minutes before going to bed.</li>
<li>Keep your code editor open so you can get back to coding quickly. As a tip, make sure you have the next steps on what you are working on laid out in a text editor, so you don't need to think about where you left off.</li>
</ul>
20 Things I Learnt and Experienced in 20202021-01-19T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2021/20-things-i-learnt-in-2020/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2021/it-is-what-it-is.jpeg" alt="It Is What It Is ><" /></p>
<p>20 things I learnt and experienced in 2020 (which I otherwise might have overlooked in a normal year).</p>
<ol>
<li>Shit can hit the roof tomorrow. Make the most of today. Take nothing for granted.</li>
<li>What doesn’t kill you (twin surgeries during the lockdown), does makes you stronger.</li>
<li>The world is run by software. The traditional office and 9-5 is overrated. You can reclaim a lot of time by working remotely.</li>
<li>You can get through life by studying Stoicsm.</li>
<li>Living and remote working from another country is refreshing.</li>
<li>You don’t need to go to the gym to workout.</li>
<li>Never ever re-think or put off a travel plan.</li>
<li>Learning new skills (programming languages, app dev) is therapeutic.</li>
<li>Reading can take you to places even in a lockdown.</li>
<li>Kids can inspire you in tough times.</li>
<li>Personal connection is real. Never put off meeting a friend.</li>
<li>Adaptability is our greatest strength.</li>
<li>Being alone with your thoughts for extended time is hard.</li>
<li>Journaling is calming.</li>
<li>Mental health is more important than our physical health.</li>
<li>Not being able to do a lot of things is actually quite humbling.</li>
<li>A strong support system can get you through the toughest of challenges.</li>
<li>You are stronger than you think you are.</li>
<li>In times of need people are inherently, extremely helpful.</li>
<li>It is what it is.</li>
</ol>
<p>💪🏼🤟🏼👍🏼🙏🏼🏆</p>
Always Be Learning2020-10-08T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/always-be-earning/<p>In June, I blogged about my <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/in-code/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">love for coding</a>. I wanted to get back to coding and develop something out of nothing. However, I felt rusty and didn't know where to begin. Earlier this year, I had taken a few courses on Flutter and Swift OS on Udemy and thought I'd build a mobile app. But, web development is what I feel inclined to get into and I wanted to learn to become a full-stack developer so that I had full control over the entire development process. A part of me wanted to learn <a href="https://reactjs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">React.js</a> and <a href="https://nextjs.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Next.js</a>, but something kept telling me I needed to firm up my foundation as I had been away from web development for way too long (btw, I started my career as a web developer from 2000 to 2007). I wanted to get a good grip on HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript before I learnt any of the JavaScript frameworks. Since I was comfortable with <a href="https://www.udemy.com/user/4b4368a3-b5c8-4529-aa65-2056ec31f37e/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Angela Yu's</a> courses on Udemy (she is a fantastic teacher), I started her <a href="https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-web-development-bootcamp/learn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Complete Web Development Bootcamp Course</a> 2 months back. It has 35 sections, 469 lectures, 54 hours long and <a href="https://att-b.udemycdn.com/2019-11-27_10-02-09-78b379e5f460fea12d012e228fc8cb0a/original.pdf?secure=_xYoyy9xZ0ufLkS8BaWKcA%3D%3D%2C1602146172&filename=Web+Dev+Syllabus.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">packed with awesomeness</a>.</p>
<p>HTML 5<br />
CSS 3<br />
Bootstrap 4<br />
JavaScript ES6<br />
JQuery<br />
Unix/Git<br />
Node.js<br />
Express.js<br />
EJS<br />
MongoDB + Mongoose<br />
Restful APIs<br />
Authentication & Security<br />
React.js</p>
<p>I did feel weird learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Jquery again, but I set my ego aside and chugged along.</p>
<p>My main aim for the course was to know what was possible (even the tiny things) so that I could use those superpowers to become a maker. For example, once I learned about Express.js and setting up routes, I had the power to set up a site with multiple pages and post requests. With EJS, I could take out the header and footer of a page and inject them on any of the pages without duplicating code. HTML5 has options for placeholders in forms - I didn't know this until I went through the course. Better yet, the React.js course had me using <a href="https://codesandbox.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Code Sandbox</a>, a web-based IDE and prototyping tool for rapid web dev.</p>
<p>These courses are not about learning the syntax, <strong>but to know what is possible when you are dreaming about building something.</strong> There are things we know we know. There are things we know we don't know. And then there are things we don't know we don't know. I realized I needed to focus on the last one to increase my breadth of knowledge in web development. Just go out and explore different technologies, platforms and strategies to see what is possible.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to building something for myself in the coming months by putting all this knowledge to use. It is much more exciting now that I know how to stitch something from start to finish (FullStack?).</p>
<p>Always be learning.</p>
The Way I Bullet Journal2020-09-17T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/bullet-journal/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/notes.jpg" alt="Reading Books ><" /></p>
<p>Over in July, I picked up the <a href="https://bulletjournal.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bullet Journal</a> method of planning my day, week and month. At first, it felt too much work but the beauty of picking up a pen and paper first thing in the morning felt refreshing.</p>
<p>I have tried Things, Todoist, writing tasks in Apple Notes and a bunch of other tools. None of these has worked post the “honeymoon period”. <strong>I realised the issue for me was extreme easy of use - it was too easy to add, update, move tasks around in these tools that often lead to colossal clutter and eventual abandonment.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The Bullet Journal method (commonly called BuJo) provides a bit of friction which is a good thing.</strong> Writing is work, so it forces you to think of what goes into your plan. I write (unlike a copy/paste which is extremely easy to do!) incomplete tasks again the next day so if I see something repeating it makes me wonder if I need to get it done.</p>
<p>This constant refinement brings clarity, control and makes my BuJo the single source of truth of getting things done. Whenever a thought comes in while I am doing a task, I log it in. When I know it’s in the BuJo, I know I will get to it and plan it out in the coming weeks. I don’t worry about forgetting things anymore, which I believe creates cognitive overload.</p>
<p><strong>In our digital world, writing is calming.</strong> As the website says, BuJo is “The Analog Method for the Digital Age”, and it is the best way to start your day planning.</p>
Focused Product - Kindle2020-08-25T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/kindle/<p>Lately, I have been taking a break from my Kindle and reading some fiction classics the good ol’ fashioned way. What I miss about the Kindle (and my daughter agrees with me) is the dictionary! The Kindle makes it so easy to look up a word.</p>
<p>When I am in the flow while reading a book, I need to whip out my phone and swip right for the dictionary. I have tried Siri, but it’s hopeless. By the time I get the meaning of the word I am already distracted (that flow of messages/chats etc.) and snapped out of the story. Or maybe, I might want to just dip into an app just for a minute to check out something. Focus gone.</p>
<p>More over, this conversation got us talking about how the Kindle is such an amazing focused and portable device. <strong>It does one thing and one thing absolutely well and it is an absolute pleasure reading and learning on the Kindle.</strong></p>
Yin and Yang - Can My Apple and Mechanical Watches Co-Exist?2020-08-09T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/apple-and-mechanical-watches/<p>A watch has been an extension of my wrist since I was a little kid. It started with a Swatch in school, Fossil in college, IWC at work and now the utilitarian Apple Watch for everyday life.</p>
<p>In 2018, I started wearing the Apple Watch solely for golf so that I could use the GPS feature to tell me the distance from the ball to the hole. It was light on the wrist and served this purpose beautifully. For me, the Apple Watch became the ideal sports and fitness watch.</p>
<p>However, over the last year, the Apple Watch has gradually become my day watch getting 80% of my wrist time. Over the previous six months in between my surgeries and national lockdown, it’s gotten 100%. Being at home, I haven’t worn my mechanical watches, and as I open my cupboard each day, I see them frozen in time. This repeated experience got me thinking about what it means to own them, what they mean to me and can they co-exist with the Apple Watch?</p>
<p>The Apple Watch is an exceptional tool watch that does more than what you might need. I wear it all day to get the most value out of it - post the surgeries the Apple Watch helped me gauge how active I was during the recovery period. Besides, it helped me set timers and reminders for my meds and other post-surgery care. I seem to check-in with my phone a bit less since I can get some of the information I need right on my wrist (all notifications except reminders are off, so there are no interruptions). The Apple Watch is my companion in getting back to an active and productive lifestyle. It’s like I have a coach and we are in this together.</p>
<p>Mechanical watches do less. I love it that you don’t need to charge them and they are an analog reminder in my already digital life. They are timeless, and the fact that they will outlive me is comforting. By winding them, I am breathing life into them. They personify the passing of time - ticking away into the future at its own pace.</p>
<p>I’ll whip out one of the mechanical watches when I want to <strong>disconnect, take it slow and unwind</strong> - trips, night outs and weekends. For day-to-day <strong>hustle, work, sports and fitness</strong> it’s Apple that’s watching out for me.</p>
Digital Detox2020-08-04T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/digital-detox/<p>My daughter imposed a digital detox yesterday the past Sunday. It was liberating at first, and then the withdrawal symptoms kicked in. But, the first half of the day was like:</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/calm.jpg" alt="Digital Detox ><" /></p>
<p>Knowing that you can use the phone only for a little while in the morning got me to an extreme planning mode. It was classic Parkinson's law - <em>work expands to fill the time available for its completion</em>. I spent the first 15-20 mins going through all tasks in July and looking ahead in August in my <a href="https://bulletjournal.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bullet Journal</a>.</p>
<p>Next, I replied to a few emails and cleared my inbox and messages.</p>
<p>At this stage, my mind was clear, and I shut my computer for good for the day and tucked my phone into my drawer. <strong>Out of sight is out of mind.</strong></p>
<p>With my journal in hand, I started doing a bit of offline planning for the next issue of <a href="https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tech Friend</a>. I had uninterrupted forced thinking. I even wrote my feelings about what I was feeling during the digital detox, which came to be this post. There was no phone to escape to. Just me, my thoughts and my pen. Ironically, the idea that flowed on pen and paper were of quality - <strong>the friction we create by writing (as opposed to the easiness of typing) makes one think about what you are writing down.</strong></p>
<p>I felt I was in extreme flow state. <strong>Producing ideas felt great instead of consuming information on various devices.</strong></p>
<p>Later, I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon reading and clearing out a few drawers and organizing things. It felt liberating.</p>
<p>Did I feel the urge to check my phone? Of course, I did. We are creatures of habit. I was fine the first half of the day, but then the willpower wore off, and I wanted to reach to check my mail, WhatsApp and Instagram. What is the world talking about, and could I have missed out on something important?</p>
<p>Although, it is not half bad an idea to do this once a week - disconnect from the world, give two hoots about what is happening elsewhere and connect with yourself and the people around you.</p>
<p><em>“Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.”</em> ― Cal Newport, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/45502249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World</a></p>
6 Days Being Superhuman2020-07-27T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/superhuman-email/<p>I came across praises for <a href="http://superhuman.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Superhuman</a> on my Twitter feed, so once I finished my <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/hey-impressions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hey trial</a>, I decided to see what all the fuss was all about. Is Superhuman that good? How good can an email software be? Like most people, paying $30 per month for an email app does seem a lot initially. Maybe, they could have priced it at $9 a month? Or maybe $49? Being a software guy, I understand and value paying for good software.</p>
<p>It's not about the money always. Not everyone gets it.</p>
<p>It's about how software makes you feel. The balance between simplicity, UI/UX and features. More importantly, the delight you feel when you interact with software that helps you with your email - because you are checking your mail multiple times in a day.</p>
<p>This is where Superhuman strikes a fantastic balance. Clean, minimal, powerful and a joy to use. At one point, I wished for many more emails so that I could use Superhuman to process them (weird but true) . Over the last decade, I have tried every decent email app out there (starting with Sparrow), and I can tell you that Superhuman has by far the best interface and feel. They are the Porsche of email apps.</p>
<p>Sure, I could use Gmail, but there is something about using a standalone email app. I never liked processing my emails on the browser and always longed for a good app.</p>
<p>Superhuman's white-glove onboarding was fantastic - although I consider myself a power user, <a href="https://twitter.com/camthesnakeman" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cameron</a> talking me through setting up and triaging my emails was pretty smooth and unique.</p>
<p>Superhuman is quick. <a href="https://craigmod.com/essays/fast_software/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Extremely fast</a>. The ton of keyboard shortcuts makes it easy to triage through email. A few features that I use daily are timezone send later (send a mail to SP at 8 am in San Francisco), split inbox (Important, News, Other), remind me later (remind me in 2 days if the person has not responded to my mail - this should be a must in all email apps) and snippets (text templates).</p>
<p>Getting to inbox zero is not a must-have for me. But, look at what happens when you achieve it. Superhuman is simply a delight to use.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/superhuman/inbox-zero-1-final.png" alt="Superhuman Email ><" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/superhuman/inbox-zero-2-final.png" alt="Superhuman Email ><" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/superhuman/inbox-zero-3-final.png" alt="Superhuman Email ><" /></p>
Setting up the iMac - zsh, Oh My Zsh & Dracula2020-07-10T11:44:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/setting-up-ohmyzsh-git-terminal/<p>Setting up a new computer is refreshing and a chance to start over. So, this week when I finally decided to get my iMac from the office, I spent the first day setting up the shell, terminal, themes, git, vsc and this blog repo with ssh keys on Github. A big screen increases productivity and speeds up development.</p>
<h2 id="shell">Shell <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/setting-up-ohmyzsh-git-terminal/#shell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>Let's check which shell I am using.</p>
<pre class="language-shell"><code class="language-shell"><span class="token builtin class-name">echo</span> <span class="token variable">$0</span></code></pre>
<p>Apple announced that the default shell in macOS 10.15 Catalina will be <code>zsh</code>. <code>bash</code> has been the default shell since Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. But, we'll need to switch this manually.</p>
<pre class="language-shell"><code class="language-shell">$ chsh <span class="token parameter variable">-s</span> /bin/zsh</code></pre>
<p>This will prompt for your password. This command will not change the current shell. Close the current shell and open a new one.</p>
<h2 id="oh-my-zsh">Oh My Zsh <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/setting-up-ohmyzsh-git-terminal/#oh-my-zsh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/zsh.png" alt="Oh My Zsh ><" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Oh My Zsh is a delightful, open source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration. It comes bundled with thousands of helpful functions, helpers, plugins, themes,</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I had setup <a href="https://ohmyz.sh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oh My Zsh</a> on my MacBook and can’t do with out it anymore. Oh My Zsh is a layer on top of your zsh shell with a bunch of plugins to make your life easier. This is a fantastic article that I followed to get Oh My Zsh installed and working - <a href="https://jilles.me/badassify-your-terminal-and-shell/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Badassify your terminal and shell</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Here are my Oh My Zsh favourite plugins:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Syntax highlighting</a> - It enables highlighting of commands whilst they are typed at a zsh prompt into an interactive terminal. This helps in reviewing commands before running them, particularly in catching syntax errors.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Auto-Suggestions</a> - It suggests commands as you type based on history and completions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Double Tab after a cd command to get an interactive file list.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Better and more descriptive Git integration.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>I followed this article <a href="https://medium.com/wearetheledger/oh-my-zsh-made-for-cli-lovers-installation-guide-3131ca5491fb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oh-My-Zsh! A Work of CLI Magic — Tutorial for Ubuntu</a><br />
to install plugins and learn some shortcuts.</p>
<p>I customised the <code>~/.zshrc</code> to show the full path to my working directory. Add this line to the bottom of the file:</p>
<pre class="language-shell"><code class="language-shell"><span class="token assign-left variable">PROMPT</span><span class="token operator">=</span><span class="token variable">${PROMPT<span class="token operator">/</span>\<span class="token operator">%</span>c<span class="token operator">/</span>\<span class="token operator">%</span>~}</span></code></pre>
<p>And now source the .zshrc file.</p>
<pre class="language-shell"><code class="language-shell"><span class="token builtin class-name">source</span> ~/.zshrc </code></pre>
<h2 id="dracula">Dracula <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/setting-up-ohmyzsh-git-terminal/#dracula" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>The colors of this theme are soothing so I decided to get it setup for zsh and Visual Studio Code.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://draculatheme.com/zsh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dark theme for Zsh and 107+ apps — Dracula</a></strong></p>
<pre class="language-shell"><code class="language-shell"><span class="token function">git</span> clone https://github.com/dracula/zsh.git dracula<br /><span class="token function">mv</span> ~/dracula/dracula.zsh-theme ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/dracula.zsh-theme</code></pre>
<p>Open <code>~/.zshrc</code> and change the the line <code>ZSH_THEME=”robbyrussell”</code> to <code>ZSH_THEME=”dracula”</code>.</p>
<p>Source the <code>~/.zshrc</code>. If you get errors then you need to move the <code>/lib</code> folder as mentioned <a href="https://github.com/dracula/zsh/issues/11" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://draculatheme.com/visual-studio-code/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dark theme for Visual Studio Code and 107+ apps — Dracula</a></strong></p>
<p>The installation using the command palette is pretty straightforward.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/vsc.png" alt="VSC Dracula ><" /></p>
Tip - Disable cmd+q for Safari2020-07-09T11:44:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/disable-safari-cmd-q/<p>How many times have you accidentally quit Safari by pressing <strong>cmd+q</strong> instead of <strong>cmd+w</strong> (closing a tab)? For me, this happens almost daily.</p>
<p>Here is a small tip to disable cmd+q:</p>
<p><code>System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts > Click the + button</code></p>
<p>Choose Safari from the dropdown. Under the title put <code>Stop</code> and add <code>cmd+q</code> as the shortcut.</p>
<p>That is it. A small daily frustration removed.</p>
<p><em>"Stop" (stop reloading the page) has a keyboard shortbut already associated with it (see under the 'View' menu for Safari) but since I have never used it I am going to override it.</em></p>
Goodbye Squarespace. Hello Eleventy, Tailwind CSS and Netlify!2020-07-05T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/<p>Early last month, I came across <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eleventy</a>, a simple static site generator, and this got me curious. Together with <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tailwind CSS</a> (a utility first CSS framework), I thought of transitioning my blog from <a href="http://squarespace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Squarespace</a> to Eleventy, host it on <a href="http://netlify.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Netlify</a> and take control of my content. I disliked the experience of creating and publishing on Squarespace (way too clunky!).</p>
<p>So, the journey began to set up Eleventy with Tailwind CSS and to eventually move everything from Squarespace here. Bryce's post <a href="https://brycewray.com/posts/2020/05/going-solo-eleventy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Going solo with Eleventy</a> was my starting point. I cloned his public repo <a href="https://github.com/brycewray/eleventy_solo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eleventy_solo</a> and started digging around on localhost. Make sure you study <code>package.json</code>, <code>postcss.config.js</code>, <code>tailwind.config.js</code> and <code>eleventy.js</code> files.</p>
<p>In this post, I will highlight the issues I faced while getting Tailwind CSS to work with Eleventy. I would highly recommend you also go through <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/docs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eleventy's Documentation</a> to understand how it works.</p>
<p>All the code for this setup is on my <a href="https://github.com/logicman/eleventy-sample-blog-twcss" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Github</a>.</p>
<h2 id="making-it-work-on-localhost">Making it work on localhost <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/#making-it-work-on-localhost" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>Clone and set up the official <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/docs/starter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eleventy-base-blog</a> starter project. I also grabbed the <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/components/buttons/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">button code</a> from Tailwind's site and pasted it at the bottom of index.njk (see it in the screenshot below). Since we don't have Tailwind CSS installed, it won't work yet!</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/sample-blog.png" alt="Setup Blog" /></p>
<p>Let's push this code to Github now. I created a new repo on Github called <a href="https://github.com/logicman/eleventy-sample-blog-twcss" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'eleventy-sample-blog-twcss'</a>.</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">git</span> status<br /><span class="token function">git</span> <span class="token function">add</span> <span class="token builtin class-name">.</span><br /><span class="token function">git</span> init<br /><span class="token function">git</span> commit <span class="token parameter variable">-m</span> <span class="token string">"first commit"</span><br /><span class="token function">git</span> remote set-url origin https://github.com/logicman/eleventy-sample-blog-twcss.git<br /><span class="token function">git</span> push</code></pre>
<p>Next, set up a free account on Netlify and follow the steps to <a href="https://www.netlify.com/blog/2016/09/29/a-step-by-step-guide-deploying-on-netlify/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deploy my site</a> when you <code>git push</code> to Github (by default auto-deploy is enabled on your new Netlify account). Just to make sure everything works - I made changes to the index.njk file again and pushed the code. I wanted to see if Netlify would pick it up and auto-deploy. It worked. So, at this stage, we have our base blog working on Eleventy, and we can make changes and publish our site!</p>
<h2 id="postcss">PostCSS <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/#postcss" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>Since Tailwind is written in PostCSS, we'll need <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/docs/using-with-preprocessors/#using-postcss-as-your-preprocessor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PostCSS</a> to generate the final CSS file. This is a helpful article to <a href="https://blog.alexdevero.com/postcss-quick-introduction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">understand PostCSS</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>PostCSS is rather a CSS parser, framework or API that allows us to use plugins which can do various tasks. By itself, without any plugins, it actually does nothing, it doesn’t transform CSS in any way. We can install it parse a CSS through it and the result will be the same as the raw CSS we used. Sure, we can say this about preprocessors as well. We can take raw CSS, use Sass or LESS, and the result will be again the same.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We'll need to install a bunch of <strong>PostCSS</strong> plugins.</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> postcss autoprefixer --save-dev<br /><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> postcss-import <span class="token parameter variable">--save</span><br /><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> postcss-partial-import postcss-preset-env postcss-css-variables postcss-nesting --save-dev<br /><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> postcss-clean <span class="token parameter variable">--save</span> </code></pre>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">touch</span> postcss.config.js</code></pre>
<p>Add these to your <code>postcss.config.js</code>:</p>
<pre class="language-js"><code class="language-js">module<span class="token punctuation">.</span>exports <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token literal-property property">plugins</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token punctuation">[</span><br /> <span class="token function">require</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'postcss-import'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token function">require</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'tailwindcss'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span> <br /> <span class="token function">require</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'autoprefixer'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token function">require</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'postcss-preset-env'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token punctuation">{</span> <span class="token literal-property property">stage</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token number">1</span> <span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token function">require</span><span class="token punctuation">(</span><span class="token string">'postcss-clean'</span><span class="token punctuation">)</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /><span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span></code></pre>
<p>Now, add <code>postcss-cli</code>, so that we can use PostCSS in our testbuild process.</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> <span class="token parameter variable">-D</span> postcss-cli </code></pre>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> npm-run-all --save-dev</code></pre>
<p>Open the <code>package.json</code> file and update your scripts to match this.</p>
<pre class="language-json"><code class="language-json"><span class="token property">"scripts"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token property">"build"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"eleventy"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"watch"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"eleventy --watch"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"serve"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"eleventy --serve"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"debug"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"DEBUG=* eleventy"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"clean"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"rm -rf _site"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"start"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"npm-run-all clean --parallel dev:*"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"dev:postcss"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"postcss assets/index.css -d _site/css/ --config ./postcss.config.js -w"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"dev:eleventy"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"ELEVENTY_ENV=development npx @11ty/eleventy --watch --quiet"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"dev:bsync"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"browser-sync start --server ./_site -w --no-open --no-notify --no-ghost-mode"</span><br /> <span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span></code></pre>
<h2 id="tailwind-css">Tailwind CSS <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/#tailwind-css" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>Next, <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/docs/installation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">install</a> Tailwind CSS.</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">npm</span> <span class="token function">install</span> tailwindcss</code></pre>
<p>⚠️ <strong>Important</strong>: Rename the current index.css file to <code>11ty.css</code>. Create a new file called <code>index.css</code> and add the Tailwind CSS (see below) and import the <code>11ty.css</code> at the very top. I don't know why, but I had to rename the <code>css</code> folder to <code>assets</code> (or anything else you want) to get this working (<a href="https://github.com/11ty/eleventy/issues/1300" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Github Issue</a>).</p>
<pre class="language-css"><code class="language-css"><span class="token comment">/* add to newly created index.css */</span><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@import</span> <span class="token string">'11ty.css'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@tailwind</span> base<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@tailwind</span> components<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@tailwind</span> utilities<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span></code></pre>
<p>Create the Tailwind config file (you'll need it later).</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash">npx tailwindcss init</code></pre>
<p>The <code>tailwind.config.js</code> file is at the root of your project.</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token function">npm</span> run start</code></pre>
<p>Voila! The site loads with the button styles in Tailwind CSS 🏆.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/sample-blog-twcss.png" alt="Blog with Tailwind CSS Working ><" /></p>
<h2 id="define-base-styles">Define Base Styles <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/#define-base-styles" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>If you have lost your base styles, I recommend you look at Tailwind’s post on <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/docs/preflight/#headings-are-unstyled" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pre-flight</a>. You will have to define your base styles again (see the Extending Pre-flight section).</p>
<pre class="language-css"><code class="language-css"><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@import</span> <span class="token string">'11ty.css'</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><br /><span class="token comment">/* purgecss start ignore */</span><br /><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@tailwind</span> base<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><br /><span class="token selector">h1</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@apply</span> text-3xl<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><span class="token punctuation">}</span><br /><span class="token selector">h2</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@apply</span> text-2xl<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><span class="token punctuation">}</span><br /><span class="token selector">h3</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@apply</span> text-lg<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><span class="token punctuation">}</span><br /><span class="token selector">a</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@apply</span> text-blue-600 underline<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><span class="token punctuation">}</span><br /><br /><span class="token comment">/* purgecss end ignore */</span><br /><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@tailwind</span> components<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span><br /><br /><span class="token atrule"><span class="token rule">@tailwind</span> utilities<span class="token punctuation">;</span></span></code></pre>
<h2 id="testbuild-process-%26-purgecss">TestBuild Process & PurgeCSS <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/#testbuild-process-%26-purgecss" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>Open up <code>tailwind.config.js</code> and add these to the purge settings:</p>
<pre class="language-js"><code class="language-js">module<span class="token punctuation">.</span>exports <span class="token operator">=</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token literal-property property">purge</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token literal-property property">content</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token punctuation">[</span><br /> <span class="token string">'./**/*.js'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token string">'./**/*.11ty.js'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token string">'./**/*.html'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token string">'./**/*.njk'</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token punctuation">]</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /><span class="token operator">...</span></code></pre>
<p>We'll need to check whether PurgeCSS is set to ignore the CSS and the base Tailwind CSS as described in the latest <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/docs/controlling-file-size/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tailwind CSS docs</a> - Tailwind will automatically purge unused styles from your CSS during the build process.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> PurgeCSS typically runs only in <em>production</em>, so you won’t see the change until you do either <code>npm run testbuild</code>.</p>
<p>Update your scripts in package.json to have <code>testbuild</code> so we can test out if PurgeCSS is working.</p>
<pre class="language-json"><code class="language-json"> <span class="token property">"scripts"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token punctuation">{</span><br /> <span class="token property">"clean"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"rm -rf _site"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"start"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"npm-run-all clean --parallel dev:*"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"dev:postcss"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"postcss assets/index.css -d _site/css/ --config ./postcss.config.js -w"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"dev:eleventy"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"ELEVENTY_ENV=development npx @11ty/eleventy --watch --quiet"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"dev:bsync"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"browser-sync start --server ./_site -w --no-open --no-notify --no-ghost-mode"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"testProd:postcss"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"postcss assets/index.css -d _site/css/ --config ./postcss.config.js -w"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"testProd:bsync"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"browser-sync start --server ./_site -w --no-open --no-notify --no-ghost-mode"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"testProd:eleventy"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"ELEVENTY_ENV=production npx @11ty/eleventy --output=./_site --watch"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"testbuild"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"NODE_ENV=production npm-run-all clean --parallel testProd:*"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"watch"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"eleventy --watch"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"serve"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"eleventy --serve"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"debug"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"DEBUG=* eleventy"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /> <span class="token property">"build"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"eleventy"</span><br /> <span class="token punctuation">}</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span></code></pre>
<p>The CSS file in <code>_site/css/index.css</code> is ~ 2 MB in size.</p>
<p>Run <code>npm run testbuild</code> and see if PurgeCSS works. The size is now 14K (minified)!</p>
<p>Set up your build process by adding these to the scripts section:</p>
<pre class="language-json"><code class="language-json"><span class="token property">"build"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"NODE_ENV=production npm-run-all clean --parallel prod:*"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /><span class="token property">"prod:postcss"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"postcss assets/index.css -d _site/css/ --config ./postcss.config.js"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span><br /><span class="token property">"prod:eleventy"</span><span class="token operator">:</span> <span class="token string">"ELEVENTY_ENV=production npx @11ty/eleventy --output=./_site"</span><span class="token punctuation">,</span></code></pre>
<p>You should be able to now run <code>npm run build</code> also. This is what Netlify will use to build your site. Try it out.</p>
<h2 id="moving-content-from-squarespace">Moving Content from Squarespace <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/moving-squarespace-eleventy/#moving-content-from-squarespace" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h2>
<p>Next up was to move my content from Squarespace to Eleventy.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><a href="https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206566687-Exporting-your-site" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Exported</a> my content in XML.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Found a <a href="https://github.com/streetcredlabs/streetcred.co-squarespace-to-static-converter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">XML to markdown converter</a> 🙏. One change I made was to update the <code>index.js</code> file (see the 'Frontmater we expect in our static site setup') in this repo to match what Frontmatter I wanted to include in all my posts.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Once the posts were done, I copied them year-wise to my repo under <code>/posts/</code>. E.g. <code>/posts/2020</code>, <code>/posts/2019</code> etc. The .md filenames started with a date which I wanted to remove (see image below).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Going into each year's sub-folder under <code>/posts</code> I ran this command to strip off the date from the filenames:</p>
</li>
</ol>
<pre class="language-bash"><code class="language-bash"><span class="token keyword">for</span> <span class="token for-or-select variable">f</span> <span class="token keyword">in</span> *<span class="token punctuation">;</span> <span class="token keyword">do</span> <span class="token function">mv</span> <span class="token string">"<span class="token variable">$f</span>"</span> <span class="token string">"<span class="token variable">${f<span class="token operator">:</span>16}</span>"</span><span class="token punctuation">;</span> <span class="token keyword">done</span></code></pre>
<ol start="5">
<li>
<p>I still had to go through each post, download the image from Squarespace, copy it to the respective year folder (e.g. <code>/img/2020/</code>) folder and then set the path correctly in the *.md files.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Double-check the front-matter, add tags, update the date if needed and I was good to go...</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/filename-change.png" alt="Changing Filenames ><" /></p>
<p>That's it. I refreshed my blog, and Tailwind CSS worked with my content and here is this site! 😎</p>
<p><em>Good luck with your move and ping me if you need help with anything. This post could not have been possible without <a href="https://brycewray.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bryce Wray</a> - thank you so much for all the help!</em></p>
In Code2020-06-30T11:44:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/in-code/<p>The lockdown in India started on March 24th. It's been three months and has been a challenging experience for me. I have been home since mid February, post my first surgery. While recovering, I had ample time to think about the road ahead, what's working and what is not in my professional life. My mind was buzzing on most days. Some days I would be aware of my thoughts, and the other days it would be a downward spiral. Having so much time to think can sometimes be detrimental, and I often forced it to steer to a better place. By the way, <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/posts/2020/coders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coders</a> by Clive Thompson is a great book if you want to understand programmers/ coders/ developers (whatever you want to call them).</p>
<p>Over the last year, I did feel I was treading <a href="https://jennifer365.com/blog/upstream-vs-downstream-living" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">upstream</a>. I was managing Brightpod (it is self-running and does not require a lot of attention), but I wasn't doing anything new. I didn't know if I wanted to start another product, write another book or work with different companies to get their tech stacks in order. I felt I was not producing anything! One afternoon, I read <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549469/ikigai-by-hector-garcia-and-francesc-miralles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ikigai</a> and thought about what's going on—I used to be very passionate about what I did so why was I confused?</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/sahil-coding.jpg" alt="Sahil Coding ><" /></p>
<p>After my second surgery three weeks ago, I spent a few more days thinking about what excited me when I was out of college and starting my career in software development (circa 2000). I think I have done what I could have with Brightpod in a crowded marketplace. Now, my mind keeps nudging me to do more. Maybe, even find a new home for Brightpod.</p>
<p><em>Programming is a way to express yourself.</em></p>
<p>I took myself to where it all started.</p>
<p>Back in 2000, I was a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill as a computer science student. Outside of class, and on weekends, I would code and constantly learn new things. I would sample code, create random side projects or help out on dev forums. While at school, my custom flash-based website got me a fantastic part-time coding gig with a neuroscience professor at the nearby Duke University.</p>
<p>In software, the joy of building something out of nothing is what excited me. Even when I got a job with an e-healthcare company, I was developing online services while living in the ‘terminal’ and "IDE" :) I enjoyed solving problems. I loved writing code and being in the zone. It felt like meditation.</p>
<p>After I moved back to India in 2005, I caught the entrepreneur's bug and started a web design and development company. I would still write software and design websites, but my goal was to build a team to do it so that I could be the ‘chief trailblazer’.</p>
<p>In 2007, I effectively stopped writing software and built a team to do the same—I decided to steer the ship instead. I am so grateful that I experienced this journey. It came with different highs of being <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/featured/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">featured</a> in various publications, being <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/featured/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interviewed</a> and invited to <a href="https://sahilparikh.dev/speaking/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">speaking engagements</a>. Oh, and not to mention being an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/SaaS-EDGE-Companies-Competitive-Advantage/dp/0071321349" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">author</a>. Do I regret that decision? No. I had to experience being a CEO to know what I love doing. As they say, the journey is more important than the end goal.</p>
<p>In March of this year, I realised that I would take being homebound as a way to dive back into code and to see if I still enjoy doing it. I want to see where this takes me, rediscover the part of me that feels connected to self. I started learning Flutter. Then, in April, I dived into Swift programming. After my second surgery in early June, I plunged into <a href="http://11ty.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eleventy</a> & <a href="http://tailwindcss.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tailwind CSS</a> - my personal goal was to move this blog from Squarespace to here (Eleventy, Tailwind CSS on Netlify). I ran git commands, learned about NPM, build process, cloned repositories (to see how others have done something similar), understood some <a href="https://mozilla.github.io/nunjucks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nunjucks</a>, interacted with a few developers on Twitter and just soaked up a lot of stuff to get this blog going. I got the feeling of being left out of so much that has happened in the front-end stack.</p>
<p>Last week, I bought sahilparikh.dev (to firm up my decision on going on this path) and moving all my posts here.</p>
<p>What I am feeling right now is a deep sense of satisfaction when I am ‘in code’. It feels like going downstream. I wake up early to get started, and time flies by. Other than that, I am going to use this personal blog as a playground to write and try out new things for the next few months. Who knows where this journey will take me, but I am keeping an open mind and just doing what I used to love.</p>
<p>Do more of what makes you happy. Everything else will fall into place.</p>
First Impressions of HEY.com2020-06-30T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/hey-impressions/<p>Basecamp's new <a href="https://www.hey.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HEY</a> email service has a take on what email should be in 2020. But, the thought of having it as my primary email does not seem appealing. Gmail works just fine, and I don't see a magnitude of awesomeness in HEY to spend time forwarding emails and using it as my primary email. My bank, the government, utilities and subscriptions that I use are all linked to my current email. I could set up forwarding, but that means I will have my email in two different places. I can use HEY as a secondary email for newsletters etc. but that is not worth $99. It just seemed I would be complicating life. <strong>Less is more</strong>.</p>
<p>I haven't used HEY a lot but here are my first impressions:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Fantastic on-boarding! Even if you don't want to get a new email address, you should sign up to experience their on-boarding.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I am not a fan of their UI colours - especially that green for Imbox! Somtimes, the page seems cluttered with too many colors.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/hey-screenshot.png" alt="HEY Screenshot ><" /></p>
<ol start="3">
<li>
<p>I am so used to archiving emails. Where is the archive? <a href="https://hey.com/the-hey-way/#flow" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">It is not there</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Having a separate section called "The Feed" for all newsletters etc. to me is like using a "read later" service like Pocket/ Instapaper. I know I will never get to it. The only way I read my newsletters is because they are in my inbox.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I liked the idea of Screener, Set Aside, and Reply Later. They seem to be new features, but I can do the same in Gmail. Here is how:</p>
</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Screener is similar to "Filter messages like this".</li>
<li>For Set Aside or Reply Later, I star a message in Gmail to move the message to the "Starred" emails (using the priority inbox). These are emails I need handy, or I need to reply later.</li>
<li>I snooze individual emails in Gmail if I don't need to action them right now and can get to them over the weekend.</li>
</ul>
<p>A novelty factor is considerably exciting amidst the lockdown and thanks to the HEY team to get me excited. Sadly, this is not for me.</p>
Weathering the Storm2020-05-08T05:56:19Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/weathering-the-storm/<p>This pandemic has created havoc, and the worst is yet to come as some people say. My friends who run retail and service businesses are in dire straights. Their retail shops are closed, but they are paying rent and employee salaries (I do believe in supporting team members in these times!). It is a domino effect across industries. You don't get paid so how do you pay it forward? Your business is not making any money, so where do you shell out the rent? The worst is the uncertainty that goes with this situation - how long will this last? Will everything be ok in 2 months? Will I be able to start my retail shop?</p>
<p>These are indeed unusual and tough times.</p>
<p>It is easy to get trapped in the negative spiral of problems. However, another way to look at this is from being solutions-oriented. If people can't come to your retail shop, maybe, you need to plan to start thinking about a full e-commerce operation. If you are losing clients in your web development or consulting business (because there is nothing to develop right now), maybe, you could offer new services that companies might require right now! For example, I pretty sure companies wouldn't mind doing an audit of their website for usability, security or SEO.</p>
<p><em>Anything that can help businesses get to a better point for when this is over is an opportunity right now!</em></p>
<p>Either we can mull over problems or sit up and take to the battlefield.</p>
Highlights from Coders by Clive Thompson2020-04-21T11:32:44Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/coders/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/coders.jpg" alt="Coders, by Clive Thompson ><" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>writing code that changes people’s everyday lives</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Code is speech; speech a human utters to silicon, which makes the machine come to life and do our will. This makes code oddly literary.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s been a story of people who discovered they liked the combination of logic and art that lets you talk to machines.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If you really want to understand at a high level the way that those who code think, it’s useful to construct, from the ground up, what they actually do all day long. The type of people who get intrigued by the field are the ones who enjoy building, tinkering, playing with logic. But the ones who stay and thrive are the ones who can survive something much more mundane and grinding: The bugs.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Feature creep,” Krieger was discovering, is a particular challenge of the coder personality. It’s much more fun to create new things, to get an idea at 10:00 p.m. for something to add to your app—a mapping animation! emailable alerts!—and to excitedly bang it until 4:00 a.m., pushing new code into the world. It’s not so much fun to refine and improve things that exist. Programmers are constantly tempted to turn their tools into Swiss Army knives. Burbn languished, with a small user base.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I craved those moments of absolute clarity and success, the moment when the program came to life, doing precisely what I asked it to. Gabriella Coleman is an anthropologist friend of mine who</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The distance between looking like a genius and looking like an idiot in programming? It’s one character wide.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>One estimate suggests that coders spend 10 times the amount of time parsing lines of software than they do writing them. This is another reason coders can be so snippish and judgy about the style of their colleague’s code. They know they may eventually need to read it.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The programmer personality is someone who has the ability to derive a tremendous sense of joy from an incredibly small moment of success.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Indeed, for many programmers, a profound allure of coding is that it’s a refuge from the unpredictability of humans, from their grayscale emotions and needs.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>And she, like me, discovered the narcotic pleasures of solving everyday problems, watching a nonfunctioning bit of code suddenly spring to life: “There’s something about those many little wins, I think, that make coding extremely satisfying in a way that other things weren’t. If I’m solving a simple little problem like finding a glitch, a bug, I’m like—‘Oh, that was done! All right, that’s done, now it’s a little bit better.’ I can see it taking shape. It’s like sculpting.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But it’s also an amazingly fragile state. The slightest interruption, and that carefully assembled understanding can vanish in a puff. Thus, the one thing that drives coders into a blind fury is someone pinging them when they’re in the zone. They’re trying desperately to maintain an ethereal crystal lattice in their minds, and now somebody is asking them, Hey, did you get that email I sent you?, and poof, it’s gone.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I tell people, you always take pride in your code. You should always be refactoring it, it should look like you’ve been working on it, when people see it,” he said. A single flabbily written function would convey something other than total commitment to the craft. “I’m a firm believer in the broken-windows theory. You find a bug, you hunt it down and kill it.” Indeed, when Cohen was working hard, he hated anything that took him out of the flow, even eating. While making himself a sandwich in his kitchen, back when I visited him for Wired, he complained that it was taking too long. “Sometimes I wish there were just some way to install energy in your body, like the Terminator putting a battery in his chest,” he said.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>These engineers got into coding not just from the thrill of commanding a machine but because it let them make something compelling and useful, for others to see and use.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But mostly, what makes front-end coders a breed apart is they have to think deeply about their users</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Back-end coders need to worry about reliability, about making bits move around speedily. Front-end coders have to do that too, while also guiding the eye and the hand.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But nearly every one found deep, almost soulful pleasure in taking something inefficient and ratcheting it up a notch</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Removing the friction from a system is an aesthetic joy; their eyes blaze when they talk about making something run faster, or how they eliminated some bothersome human effort from a process.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Back in the ’70s when he was cocreating the UNIX operating system, the legendary coder Ken Thompson created “cron,” a scheduling command: You can tell the computer to run a program or accomplish a task at a particular time in the future, over and over again. Thompson reportedly called it cron in honor of the Greek word for “time.” Setting up a repeated task is known as a “cron job,” and</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Humans are inherently pretty lazy; as Nicholas Carr notes in The Glass Cage, when someone offers us the ability to take a shortcut, we take it. We only discover later that we may have traded off an ingrained skill—or, in the case of calculus, never learned it in the first place. But it’s incredibly hard to resist because we’re constantly given new tools from programmers who’ve figured out how to remove friction from daily life.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We want the digital world around us to react as crisply; Google found that a mere 100-to-400-millisecond delay in returning search results produced a small but regular decrease in how many searches people type.)</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>proverbial 10,000 hours: You code and code and code and code, gradually getting better, until years on you’re at the top of your field. But there’s another point, which Newhouse noted: Most truly useful coding isn’t a lone-gunman activity. It’s a deeply social team sport.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But the actual measured magnitudes have astounded all of us.” The upshot, he argued, is that one could hypothetically construct the world’s best coding team by simply paring down to nothing but the most awesome performers. If a team had 200 coders and only 25 were true stars, “fire the 175 troops” and leave the 25 rock stars alone to get the work done.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But coding is an insight-based form of labor, more akin to writing a poem. Merely adding more people doesn’t help, because the solution to any problem is liable to come not from the sweat of many brows but from the lightning-strike aha moment of a single insightful individual. The</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you make a list of the great software built in the last fifty years, you’d find that in virtually every case, it’s one or two people. It’s almost never a team of three hundred. It’s at most a team of one or two.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>One of the things that makes coding weird, as an industry, is that people can teach themselves how to do it. There aren’t very many technical professions that work this way.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>He showed up early and stayed late, and he discovered he loved the Zen-like state of coding. “I love the time I have in the morning: I have my code, I have my laptop, and I have my headphones. It’s like my peace time. I’m coding and nothing is bothering me.</p>
</blockquote>
Learning and Coding2020-04-20T11:02:48Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/learning-coding-flutter/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/learning-flutter.png" alt="Learning Flutter ><" /></p>
<p>This is the fourth week of the lockdown and it feels that life has slowed down. There is a lot of uncertaintly in the air, but it is better to control what you can (your time) rather than get into the rabbit hole of what if’s (easier said than done, I know).</p>
<p>The best decision I made last month is to join this Udemy course - <a href="https://www.udemy.com/course/flutter-bootcamp-with-dart/l" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Complete 2020 Flutter Development Bootcamp with Dart</a> - <em>Flutter is a mobile SDK that allows you to create cross-platform mobile applications (so you can write one code and run the app both on Android and iOS). You write code in Dart, a language developed by Google.</em></p>
<p>I am 80% done and can now pretty much write a full fledged app - this immense power of able to get things done on your own is just too addictive. I started my career as a coder and went into enterprenuership for the last decade. Somehow, the deep focus of coding (not to mention the power to create something out of nothing) is something I realised that I missed and love. I don’t know what app I will design/develop but I have hoped onto the “creator” journey for now :)</p>
<p>By the way, if you want to understand coders, do read Clive Thompson's book <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/539883/coders-by-clive-thompson/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coders</a>.</p>
Puzzle Time2020-03-31T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/puzzle-during-lockdown/<p>We challenged ourselves to a 1000 piece puzzle during the first week of lockdown! It took us 1 week to finish - part teamwork and part solo. Downtime between tasks were channelled in finishing a little bit of the puzzle rather than scrolling endlessly on social media. This got our ‘deep work’ juices flowing as well.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/puzzle-time-1.jpg" alt="Puzzle Time ><" /></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/puzzle-time-2.jpg" alt="Puzzle Time ><" /></p>
New Kind of Daily Spam2020-03-11T05:48:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/new-kind-of-spam/<p><strong>WhatsApp/ iMessage</strong></p>
<p><em>Daily “health” and “life is beautiful” gifs</em></p>
<p><em>News articles stating the end of the world</em></p>
<p><em>Friends showing off their new material possessions</em></p>
<p><em>The carpenter you just met last week sending you greeting images</em></p>
<p><em>Jio sending you 4-6 messages for a recharge</em></p>
<p><em>Your bank updating you on your balance every day</em></p>
<p>Too much noise. We need a granular way to block these. Now, don’t say AI and machine learning!</p>
Facebook Is Evesdropping2020-03-10T05:21:35Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2020/facebook-is-evesdropping/<p>Two days back my wife and me were talking about me joining a Flutter course on Udemy and today she gets this on her feed. There are many more examples of us discussing something and the next day an ad pops up for the same subject.</p>
<p>This is a gross violation of privacy and I am not sure how people are ok with this!!!</p>
<p>It’s listening.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2020/udemy-course.jpg" alt="Facebook is listening ><" /></p>
Tech Friend2019-10-10T07:03:41Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/tech-friend/<p>I always wanted to start a personal weekly newsletter and late last month I started one. Tech Friend is 3 issues down and I am currently curating links on tech, biz and life.</p>
<p>September 24<br />
<a href="https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh/issues/charging-cables-apple-being-a-bifurcator-flywheel-concept-company-of-one-issue-1-200262" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh/issues/charging-cables-apple-being-a-bifurcator-flywheel-concept-company-of-one-issue-1-200262</a></p>
<p>October 2<br />
<a href="https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh/issues/succeeding-at-work-securing-email-journaling-ipados-and-more-issue-2-202251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh/issues/succeeding-at-work-securing-email-journaling-ipados-and-more-issue-2-202251</a></p>
<p>October 8<br />
<a href="https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh/issues/google-data-website-speed-pizza-robot-forest-app-and-starting-with-why-issue-3-203601" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.getrevue.co/profile/sahilparikh/issues/google-data-website-speed-pizza-robot-forest-app-and-starting-with-why-issue-3-203601</a></p>
<p>Do sign up (click on any one of the issues above and the signup form is on the top of the issue) if you think this might interest you.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
Blockchain Reading2019-09-09T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/blockchain-reading/<p>Soaking it up on a quiet Tuesday morning.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/blockchain-book.jpg" alt="Blockchain ><" /></p>
The Obstacle Is The Way2019-08-27T04:41:17Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/the-obstacle-is-the-way/<p><em>"The impediment to action advances action, and what stands in the way becomes the way"</em></p>
<p>Fabulous personal development book on how to tackle obstacles/ adversity to your advantage. Embrace them instead of getting worked up or anxious. There is a hidden meaning and opportunity in each obstacle we face.</p>
<p>A few Kindle highlights of the book:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“And from what we know, he truly saw each and every one of these obstacles as an opportunity to practice some virtue: patience, courage, humility, resourcefulness, reason, justice, and creativity.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, outlined when he described what happens to businesses in tumultuous times:<br />
“Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It says: Okay, you’ve got to do something very difficult. Don’t focus on that. Instead break it down into pieces. Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well. And then move on to...</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/the-obstacle-is-the-way.jpg" alt="The Obstacle Is The Way ><" /></p>
Fast Software2019-07-30T09:16:45Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/fast-software/<p>Read this piece today - <a href="https://craigmod.com/essays/fast_software/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fast Software, the Best Software</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Software that’s speedy usually means it’s focused. Like a good tool, it often means that it’s simple, but that’s not necessarily true. Speed in software is probably the most valuable, least valued asset. To me, speedy software is the difference between an application smoothly integrating into your life, and one called upon with great reluctance.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Speed and reliability are often intuited hand-in-hand. Speed can be a good proxy for general engineering quality. If an application slows down on simple tasks, then it can mean the engineers aren’t obsessive detail sticklers. Not always, but it can mean disastrous other issues lurk. I want all my craftspeople to stickle.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>I love software that does this: Software that unbloats over time. This should be the goal of all software. The longer it’s around, the more elegant it should become. Smooth over like a river stone.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But why is slow bad? Fast software is not always good software, but slow software is rarely able to rise to greatness. Fast software gives the user a chance to “meld” with its toolset. That is, not break flow.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>It feels — intuitively — that software (beyond core functionality) should aim for speed. Speed as a proxy for efficiency. If a piece of software is becoming taurine-esque, unwieldy, then perhaps it shouldn’t be a <em>single</em> piece of software. Ultimately, to be fast is to be light. And to be light is to lessen the burden on someone or some task. This is the ultimate goal: For our pocket supercomputers to lessen burdens, not increase them. For our mega-powered laptops to enable a kind of fluency — not battle, or struggle — of creation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such a brilliant essay. Agree 100%. Fast software makes the user feel good about themselves.</p>
The Great Hack2019-07-29T04:55:50Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/the-great-hack/<p>A rainy, wet weekend is the best for a movie in the afternoon. Netflix had nudged me via email (clever!) that <a href="https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80117542" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Great Hack</a> has been released so I decided to watch it. I did follow a bit of the Cambridge Analytica scandal when it broke so I knew what the move was about but did not know the finer details which the movie portrayed so well - the whistleblowers, secret meetings and bringing this entire saga together in 1.5 hrs.</p>
<p>What was mind-boggling was the mining of user data, analysing emotions through the data and then targeted messaging on Facebook to change the person's views on certain subjects i.e. altering human behaviour! This is plain wrong.</p>
<p>We all have come to terms that "Data is the new oil". Companies have a responsibility to protect and safeguard personal data and let people know what, when and how their data is being used. I guess this is the reason why the <a href="https://eugdpr.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GDPR</a> was created.</p>
<p>Watch this documentary if you haven't already. It will open your eyes to what is happening behind the scenes on how much do the social networks know about us - more than what we know about ourselves!</p>
Simon Grimm of Devdactic2019-07-24T06:37:06Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/simon-grimm-of-devdactic/<p>Today, we interview <a href="https://twitter.com/schlimmson" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Simon</a>, a developer, educator and consultant at <a href="https://devdactic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Devdactic</a>. He is the creator of the <a href="https://ionicacademy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ionic Academy</a> - I have gone through some of his tutorials while learning the Ionic framework and they are just excellent!</p>
<hr />
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/simon-grimm.jpg" alt="Simon Grimm ><" /></p>
<p><strong>Location:</strong> Münster, Germany.<br />
<strong>Favorite gadget:</strong> Apple AirPods.<br />
<strong>Start your day with:</strong> At 5am with the 5 Minute Journal, my Winners Bible and 10 minute meditation with the Headspace App.<br />
<strong>Favorite time-saving trick:</strong> Stop and recognise that you procrastinate (e.g. watch YT), make a short pause and then focus 100% on work again.<br />
<strong>Daily reading:</strong> I just put articles I want to read into the Pocket app and then forget about them. Only reading books before sleep right now!</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/simon-grimm-setup.jpg" alt="Simon’s Workspace ><" /></p>
<p><strong>Describe an average day at Devdactic? What does your morning routine look like?</strong></p>
<p>I try to get up early for my morning routine, then I put in like 1.5 hrs of deep work while my wife and baby are still asleep. Then we have breakfast together and I get the morning to work on whatever tasks I have planned. We take lunch together, I get back into my tasks and end the day around 4pm. I have a “shutdown work” task to wrap up my day and I mentally sign off from my tasks (mostly) once I finish that task!</p>
<p>Because I work from home and am my own boss, I try to still have a regular workday so I can still have this great employee feeling on Friday when the work week is over. Weekends are mostly for my family and sometimes side projects if I find the time.</p>
<p><strong>How do you juggle between being a founder (and creating courses) as well as being a developer?</strong></p>
<p>I try to theme my week. Mon+Tue are my high energy days, I either create new courses, videos, content and feel like I already achieved something important early during the week. Wednesday is then for client work, and Thursday for my own projects and growth of the Ionic Academy that I ran.</p>
<p>For Friday I got all the administrative tasks and things like answering all YouTube comments and recording welcome videos for my new members. This also gives me some buffer at the end of the week if I still need to finish something else.</p>
<p>Finally, I try to balance being a teacher and being a developer as good as possible. I still experience real life problems in client projects that I can then use for my content creation work to show how things can be solved! This gives me a nice balance and I can stay relevant</p>
<p><strong>How did you get into programming? Do you focus on a few languages or try to learn new things going along? Any tips for newbie programmers?</strong></p>
<p>I started early (like with 13) with C++ because my big brother was into it and I wanted to learn these things as well. I basically followed everything he did so I also learned HTML and PHP back then. In school and university we learned Java but I never really liked it.</p>
<p>The change came when I learned ObjectiveC to build an iPhone app during my university time. From that time on I was sold to mobile!</p>
<p>This got me my first job, but I quickly also picked up the pretty new Ionic Framework and Angular back then, and I finally sticked with that until today.</p>
<p>I don't branch out into other languages at the moment because it’s really hard to have skills in all the frameworks like Vue, React and Angular at the same time.</p>
<p>However, when you get the basic idea of programming you can quickly pick up new languages. I can get into Python real quickly or understand what some Swift or Ruby code is doing. Once you are at a specific level, things really start to get easier!</p>
<p>My tip for newbies: Don’t fear to get deeper into problems. Look at the root of a problem, dive into Git repositories and see why something is failing. There is always a reason why, and you can find it out. It will teach you a lot and is a boost for your confidence and mentality.</p>
<p><strong>What is your dev setup look like? What apps/tools do you use to help you aid in your development work?</strong></p>
<p>I have an iMac in my home office and another MBP for downstairs/outside. I use Visual Studio Code for coding and besides that a bunch of apps like:</p>
<p>- SourceTree for my Git repository management<br />
- Todoist for managing tasks<br />
- Slack for communications<br />
- Postman for API testing<br />
- Bear (instead of Evernote) for taking all notes</p>
<p><strong>What does your wind down routine look like?</strong></p>
<p>I finish my shutdown task to know that I have wrapped up all open ends for the day. I get downstairs to my family, we grab a coffe together or go for a walk with the baby and then my mind get’s into a different mood quickly!</p>
<hr />
<p><em>A big thanks to Simon for taking the time out to answer these questions! If you are a developer and love to be featured here please get in touch with me.</em></p>
Company of One by Paul Jarvis2019-06-18T03:16:14Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/book-company-of-one/<p>I have been an entrepreneur for the last 14 years. There have been times when I have been torn between growing my company to the VC-backed levels or to remain small but highly profitable. I know I would mostly lean to the latter (I value my independence and freedom a lot) but the “growth at any cost mindset” seems like the evil twin that keep surfacing in books, lessons and talks. When I meet people at social gatherings, the common question asked is not how much profit you have made by how many people work under you and how fast you are growing!</p>
<p>I came across the <a href="https://ofone.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Company of One</a> book on one of the blogs and immediately decided to read it. It 100% resonated with me. I love building software and earning while I sleep (passive recurring income). I love my free time to pick up a sport, travel or just to have a balanced life. I don’t want to be locked into a 9-5, clock-in clock-out culture. Autonomy and independence to work from anywhere, anytime is paramount. A lean company that is small and profitable is something that is just the perfect fit.</p>
<p>This book is an encouragement to all the other entrepreneurs who want to remain small yet profitable — <em><strong>we can choose to design our work around our life!</strong></em></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/company-of-one.jpg" alt="Company of One by Paul Jarvis ><" /></p>
iPad Pro & iPhone 52019-06-12T09:15:35Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/Ipad-pro-2018/<p>The 2018 11-inch iPad Pro reminds me of the iPhone 5. I prefer the sharper edges than the curves that were introduced from the iPhone 6.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/ipadpro.jpg" alt="iPad Pro 2018 ><" /></p>
Maxim Ananov of HazeOver2019-06-07T07:28:46Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/maxim-ananov-of-hazeover/<p>Today, we interview <a href="https://twitter.com/pointum" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Maxim</a>, an independent software developer. I have been using <a href="https://hazeover.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HazeOver</a> since the last 4 years and it is one of the small mac utilities that I just HAVE TO install on a new machine.</p>
<hr />
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/maxim-ananov.png" alt="Maxim Ananov ><" /></p>
<p><strong>Location:</strong> Pskov, Russia.<br />
<strong>Favorite gadget:</strong> The new iPad Pro.<br />
<strong>Start your day with:</strong> I start my day around noon with a hearty brunch.<br />
<strong>Favorite time-saving trick:</strong> I use sheets of paper to outline tasks for the day and the nearest future. I find it satisfying to cross them out one by one and then crumble and throw out the sheet when it's complete.<br />
<strong>Daily reading:</strong> I have a couple dozen of RSS subscriptions that I skim though regularly. Mostly tech, design and Mac related websites.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/maxim-setup.jpg" alt="Maxim Ananov ><" /></p>
<p><strong>Describe an average day at your company? What does your morning routine look like?</strong></p>
<p>I'm an individual developer and without a boss and hard deadlines so my routine is quite sloppy. I work at home and there's no regular schedule. Some days I do nothing but ruminate and plan things to do or look for ideas. Some days I code 12-16 hours in a row when I get in the flow. The hardest part is to make myself get started. Then I lose track of time and can't get myself to stop working. It's not something that I'd recommend as a way to make things done, but it works for me.</p>
<p><strong>How did you get into programming? Do you focus on a few languages or try to learn new things going along? Any tips for newbie programmers?</strong></p>
<p>I got interested in programming when I was a kid in the 90s. My cousin showed me some simple programming stuff on ZX Spectrum. For my projects I tend to do everything myself. So I had to teach myself different skills along the way to realize my ideas – programming, scripting, web development, copywriting and design. I'm in no way an expert in those fields, but I learn just enough to solve related problems. For example for an app I design and code it, draw an icon, create a website and write content for it.</p>
<p>My number one tip for a newbie programmer would be to keep learning stuff even if it's not directly related to programming or a single language. Don't lock yourself into a knowledge bubble. You'd be more effective at understanding how your work relates to other fields. If you work in a team, you'd integrate better and it gives you new ideas and perspective. Also some skills transfer really well to new knowledge domains.</p>
<p><strong>What is your dev setup look like? What apps/tools do you use to help you aid in your development work?</strong></p>
<p>I work on a 15" MacBook Pro. That's the only prerequisite. For better or worse it gives me flexibility to work anywhere. Sometimes I work at the table, then I move on to a sofa with the laptop on my belly. And when I travel I can get work done on the go or in a park. Some parts of my apps were written on a long haul bus trips or a flights.</p>
<p><strong>What does your wind down routine look like?</strong></p>
<p>To wind down I play some video games.</p>
<hr />
<p><em>A big thanks to Maxim for taking the time out to answer these questions! If you are a developer and love to be featured here please get in touch with me.</em></p>
System + Processes2019-06-01T18:30:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/system-process/<p>Companies and teams can work like a well-oiled machine. It does not have to be chaotic at work. A lot of misery can be put to rest if people at companies documented processes and systems in place. When I consult with companies, this is one of the first things I look for. How prepared is this company to scale?</p>
<p>People create processes (the way they work) but never document them.</p>
<p>Is it because they are afraid that their job will be dispensible now that they have given an exact blueprint of how they work and what needs to be done? Are they lazy to get this done because “why bother, the works getting done” mentality? This to me is a “hoarders” mindset - people who want to protect their jobs at any cost. These people stick to the same routine and seldom grow. They love the comfort of repetative tasks that have a predictable outcome.</p>
<p>Instead, companies need people who learn, teach others let go and grow. You don’t need to move between jobs at a company but by creating processes (documenting, letting go or improving the way you work) you can get your current work done more efficiently and can focus on higher-value core work. For example, a manager who is spending most of his week fire-fighting with clients and co-ordinate with vendors can set up systems so that others in his team (or a new employee in the future) can help him do some of the busy work while he uses his energy on more important work!</p>
<p>Here are a few examples of processes that you can think of creating to speed up work and save time:</p>
<ul>
<li>Document outlining what to do when your website/servers go offline so you are not scrambling when shit hits the roof!</li>
<li>A document for the next feature in your software project so programmers have all the specs needed (gathers from all the stakeholders at once) to get the project done well before the deadline.</li>
<li>A writer’s manual outlining common mistakes and the overall tone for the company/brand so that as you scale and hire more writers the tone and message of the content will remain in-sync.</li>
</ul>
<p>Systems and processes are cogs in a company. It just depends on how well-oiled they are!</p>
Matthias Gansrigler of Eternal Storms Software2019-05-20T09:57:53Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/matthias-gansrigler-of-eternal-storms-software/<p>Today, we interview <a href="https://twitter.com/eternalstorms" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matthias</a> (an independent Mac/ iOS software developer) from <a href="https://eternalstorms.at/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eternal Storms Software</a> - makers of Yoink, ScreenFloat, Transloader, Glimpses etc. I use Yoink daily and love how small apps can improve the way one works!</p>
<hr />
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/matthias-eternal-storms-software.jpg" alt="Matthias ><" /></p>
<p><strong>Location:</strong> Austria, Europe<br />
<strong>Favorite gadget:</strong> I recently acquired an Apple Watch, and I love it. I also adore my AirPods :)<br />
<strong>Start your day with:</strong> Getting on my stationary bike. And coffee.<br />
<strong>Favorite time-saving trick:</strong> I usually get eMails out of the way while I drink my coffee, and then only skim over new ones and attend to those needing attention right away. Others I’ll get to in the evening. This helps in staying focused on my programming work without too many distractions. Not launching Twitter during most of the day also helps ;)<br />
<strong>Daily reading:</strong> I’m currently into Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels. I also recently read <a href="https://pragprog.com/book/atcrime/your-code-as-a-crime-scene" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Your Code as a Crime Scene”</a> by Adam Tornhill - it was eye-opening.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/eternal-storms-software.jpg" alt="Matthias ><" /></p>
<p><strong>Describe an average day at Eternal Storms Software? What does your morning routine look like?</strong></p>
<p>I get up at 6 AM (give or take - I do like to snooze from time to time :P) and get on my stationary bike for half an hour. Then I take a shower, get some coffee and check my mails. Afterwards, I quickly plan a rough schedule of what I have to do that day (which app I should work on) and start working. At around 2 PM, my girlfriend and I will have lunch for about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes, and then it’s back to work until the evening, at around 8 PM. Depending on my workload, sometimes I’ll get back to work at 10 PM until 1-2 AM (this is where the snoozing comes from in the morning - coming full circle in a day in the life of Eternal Storms Software :D</p>
<p><strong>How do you juggle between being a founder (and running things) as well as being a developer?</strong></p>
<p>It can be difficult at times. What I love doing is work on my apps - it’s what I wish I could do all day long, without interruptions. Having to do support, PR, bookkeeping and all the other stuff that comes with running a business is necessary, and I enjoy doing it, but sometimes I wish I could hire somebody to take that off my hands.</p>
<p><strong>How did you get into programming? Do you focus on a few languages or try to learn new things going along? Any tips for newbie programmers?</strong></p>
<p>I’m not sure how I got into programming. I got started with HyperCard on a Macintosh Classic. Nothing serious, obviously, as I was maybe 6 or 7 years old at the time. When my dad bought a Macintosh Performa 5320 CD a few years later, I moved on to realBASIC and wanted to write a soccer manager game (I never got far :D). After that, I moved on to Xcode and Objective-C and took over an iTunes helper app (sadly, I forgot from whom and what the app was called before I took it over), and soon thereafter released GimmeSomeTune, my first real public app, that would display the currently playing song in iTunes and automatically download artwork for albums and lyrics for songs.</p>
<p>As for learning - I try to learn things going along, as they pop up, “as needed”, if you will. I’d love to learn more about Swift, for example, but with about 5 apps (all still Objective-C only), I currently don’t have the time to learn the language or even switch to it. But I’d love to do it some time.</p>
<p>I only have two tips for newbie programmers:</p>
<ol>
<li>Do not give up! It can be frustrating some times (and even when you’re no longer a newbie programmer, you’ll get frustrated) - but keep at it, you’ll get better and better.</li>
<li>Start learning with a real project (it doesn’t matter if it’s “only” an app you use yourself) - I found that learning by “isolated” tutorials didn’t work for me. But - in my example - with having GimmeSomeTune to work on, I had a goal, something I wanted to achieve and work towards. It’ll do wonders.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>What is your dev setup look like? What apps/tools do you use to help you aid in your development work?</strong></p>
<p>I work on a 27’’ iMac and a 15’’ MacBook Pro.<br />
I use Xcode to develop my apps, and <a href="https://coderunnerapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CodeRunner</a> for PHP stuff for personal projects.<br />
For blogging, I use <a href="https://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MarsEdit</a>.<br />
For communicating with clients, I use <a href="https://slack.com/downloads/mac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Slack</a>, <a href="https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Skype</a> and <a href="https://trello.com/en/platforms" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trello</a>.<br />
I plan and schedule appointments using Calendar and Reminders.<br />
A not necessarily developer-related tool I can only recommend is <a href="https://folivora.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BetterTouchTool</a>.</p>
<p><strong>What does your wind down routine look like?</strong></p>
<p>I usually check emails one more time, and then either relax on the couch reading, watching some TV show, or, more often, playing something on the Nintendo Switch with my girlfriend ;)</p>
<hr />
<p><em>A big thanks to Matthias for taking the time out to answer these questions! If you are a developer and love to be featured here please get in touch with me.</em></p>
Nike Fit2019-05-19T08:59:42Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/nike-fit/<p>I came across the Nike Fit app today in the news . Love it when non-tech companies leverage technology in unique ways to move business forward. Kudos.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Enter Nike Fit, a new scanning solution that uses a proprietary combination of computer vision, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Personally, I love these kind of use cases for our phones. In addition, Fit resonates with me as I have had massive hesitations in ordering footwear online - and never do for this reason - what if they don’t fit?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Using your smartphone’s camera, Nike Fit will scan your feet, collecting 13 data points mapping your foot morphology for both feet within a matter of seconds. This hyper-accurate scan of your unique foot dimension can then be stored in your NikePlus member profile and easily used for future shopping online and in-store.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Read more about this here - <a href="https://news.nike.com/news/nike-fit-digital-foot-measurement-tool" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nike News</a></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/nike-fit.jpg" alt="Nike Fit ><" /></p>
Apple Watch 4 Complications2019-05-17T06:47:36Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/apple-watch-4/<p>I love mechanical watches (a touch of analog in a digital world) but recently I have been wearing my Apple Watch on workdays.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/apple-watch-4.jpg" alt="Apple Watch ><" /></p>
<p>The customisable world clock complication helps me know the time in places where people I care about are traveling to and/or remote devs are working from.</p>
<p>The calendar entry on the top keeps me up to date with my next meeting (well, today is Friday).</p>
<p>Auto Unlock - the watch unlocks my Mac.</p>
Remote Dev2019-05-17T06:30:51Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/remote-dev/<p>For software projects, I am a big believer in remote work. 100%.</p>
<p>However, I have never built a 100% remote team from scratch. I have always worked with developers in the office first (get to know them really well), and then have them work remotely (if they wanted to or if they moved to another country). Yesterday, I was thinking about how it would be like to on-board a remote developer that I have never met. Here are a few things that came to my mind…</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Get to know the developer through calls, chat and email. This is crucial. I prefer to know the person before I start working with them - especially their working style.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Communication for work and expectations should be spot on. Don’t leave everything in email. Use Google Docs & Spreadsheets when needed to lay down the plan, specifications or notes.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Manage expectations so that we both are on the same wavelength. The developer needs to know what the end goal looks or feels like.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Weekly updates - here, I should be able to gauge efficiency and problem-solving skills. If something is taking too long, does the developer have the knack to get it resolved swiftly? Or, if work is getting done quickly, then does the code look efficient and well written?</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Come to think of it, shouldn’t these rules apply to non-remote developers also?</p>
<p>Because remote devs are out of sight, they sometimes are out of mind - which is a good thing. You give them the space to create their work instead of walking up to them to discuss bugs, features that they are not going to be working on this week!</p>
A Fresh Start2019-05-15T06:05:58Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/a-fresh-start/<p>Whenever I get a new device (Mac, iPad or iPhone) I don’t migrate data from the old device but I start from scratch. This is a way to re-think if I really need those apps that I have installed over the years. A clean install is a fresh start.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2019/fresh-start.jpg" alt="A Fresh Start" /></p>
<p>So, a few months back when I switched laptops, I had the opportunity to go through this exercise again. Here are some things that I changed and the apps that I must-have!</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Did not setup mail accounts on the default Mail app. Gmail is a better alternative in my opinion - web-based, fast and does not cache emails on the Mac.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Did not install <a href="https://www.macbartender.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bartender</a> (tool to organise the menu bar). This forces me to have fewer apps on the menu bar.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://eternalstorms.at/yoink/mac/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yoink</a> - the best drag and drop tool I have come across for the Mac. Super helpful.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://www.1password.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1Password</a> - the best password manager I have come across. Been using this for 7 years now!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://evernote.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evernote</a> - I am done exploring new notes apps. There are plenty and new ones come and old ones go. I have used Evernote for 8 years now and the switching costs are way too high for me. Most importantly, Evernote just works.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unsplash-wallpapers/id1284863847?mt=12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Unsplash Wallpapers</a> - a neat app that updates your wallpaper everyday from Unsplash’s library - “From space pics taken by NASA, to bewitching urban streetscapes, to astounding shots of nature taken by high-flying drones—find mesmerizing wallpaper for your Mac in seconds”.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>It feels good - doing away with the old and bringing in the new!</p>
A Month Without Instagram2019-04-24T09:18:03Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2019/a-month-without-instagram/<p>I finally deleted the Instagram app off my iPhone on March 14 and things couldn’t have been better! I have regained time, focus and now plow the wasted “instagram” time to do things that are more meaningful. In no way I have perfected the art of <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/0349413681" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deep Work</a> (fantastic book by Carl Newport) but this is the second step I have taken (the first was removing Facebook last year) of getting social apps off my phone.</p>
<p>Like many others, I was not using Instagram for anything meaningful. It filled my downtime or wait-time. Many times a day I would dip into Instagram to scroll through pictures of places to visit, what my friends have shared and of watches, cars etc. It was more of a chill place - but I realised it was getting a bit obsessive. I rather log on from the iPad or desktop once a week to see what people are upto than constantly many times a day. My screen time had Instagram second to WhatsApp! So, clearing I was was wasting time not getting anything meaningful in return.</p>
<p>On day 1 of no instagram, I accidentally swiped left to get to the icon. Muscle memory at work :)</p>
<p>On day 3, I picked up my phone to get to instagram when I had some downtime only to realise it is not there. I just moved on and read an article instead.</p>
<p>After a week, I had completely forgotten Instagram. The addiction had gone. It is now been over a month and I don’t miss it!</p>
<p>In fact, last week I removed Twitter and LinkedIn as well - no more social apps on my phone. Again, don’t miss it and if I need to I log on to these platforms once a week from the iPad or Mac.</p>
<p>Although, I must say that removing something distracting will not get you to automatically focus on something more important! You need to be aware of that something else you risk plowing that time into something meaningless as well!</p>
AAPL Today2018-05-04T16:06:56Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2018/aapl-today-ath/<blockquote>
<p>"Shrugging off concerns that Apple missed smartphone unit sales estimates in its most recent quarter, Buffett explained that spending time trying to guess how many iPhone X devices were sold in a three-month period “totally misses the point” of the stock.“ <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/apple-aapl-stock-warren-buffett-is-keeping-shares-above-water.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Link</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Exactly! Completely myopic in my view. I am guessing that analysts are now going to update their target for AAPL. What AAPL has is a growing ecosystem comprised of hardware and software. Unbeatable.</p>
Summer2018-04-30T09:15:31Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2018/summer/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2018/summer.jpg" alt="Summer ><" /></p>
<p>What a great way to spend summer!</p>
Coding as a Founder2017-09-19T11:14:20Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/coding-as-a-founder/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/coding-founder.jpg" alt="Founder Coding ><" /></p>
<p>I started my career as a software developer in 2002 after graduating in B.S. Mathematical Sciences/ Computer Science from the <a href="http://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</a>. I love building software. <em>You could think of something, code it and change people’s lives.</em> For me, this is a very powerful thought.</p>
<p>Over the last decade I haven’t done much programming. A little bit here and there to fix success/error messages, language and some UI stuff. I often get that itch to contribute one small feature or an improvement every month. I have often compared programming to meditation. Put on your headphones, get in the zone and complete focus for a few hours. You come out really refreshed. I feel the same with golf.</p>
<p>I took myself up on this offer of a monthly sprint and started plugging away a few weeks back on introducing Themes within <a href="https://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a>. I always wanted Themes and so this was more of a selfish reason to code away and get it done. I was sure that customers would love this too. What is there not to like with personalizing your account. 🤓</p>
<p>I normally would code in the afternoon or post-dinner. I would love to do it first thing in the morning but being a founder (wearing multiple hats) I prefer to jump into email and customer emails first. Get everything out of the way, delegate stuff and then you have a clear mind to focus on building logic.</p>
<h4 id="my-coding-tools-on-the-macbook-12">MY CODING TOOLS ON THE MACBOOK 12 <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/coding-as-a-founder/#my-coding-tools-on-the-macbook-12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h4>
<p>Sublime Text</p>
<p>Mamp Pro</p>
<p>Sequal Pro</p>
<p>SourceTree</p>
<h4 id="my-plan-in-a-nutshell">MY PLAN IN A NUTSHELL <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/coding-as-a-founder/#my-plan-in-a-nutshell" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h4>
<p>I first plan out the feature in Evernote. Make sure I have everything outlined. Then I start coding the UI and make it work with dummy data from the database. Once my logic works, I start to code the backend and get everything working on my localhost. I often share screenshots using Droplr on our Slack channel.</p>
<p>What I really am particular about is code formatting and documentation. Every developer needs to take this seriously. Write code that everyone can understand. The logic should be concise and the code well optimized. In software, you can write code to get from A to B but what counts is how quick (what I call optimized code) one can get from A to B without unnecessary overhead. Code is poetry. So very true.</p>
<p>I pushed my code for a review yesterday and today we launched 10 beautiful themes 😀. I handpicked all the color combinations myself from this site I found — <a href="https://coolors.co/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://coolors.co</a></p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/theme1.png" alt="Themse ><" /></p>
<p>1 to 6 themes in Brightpod</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/theme2.png" alt="Themse ><" /></p>
<p>7 to 10 themes in Brightpod</p>
<p>As a founder, there is nothing more exciting than making a major improvement to your product that you have seen grow up.</p>
<p><em>If you are a founder, do you work on improving your product? If so, please let me know in the comments below 👇🏼</em></p>
Build it for yourself2017-08-09T08:56:37Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/build-it-for-yourself/<p>An interesting observation came up while having dinner at a friend’s place last evening.</p>
<p>They had made Italian. The spaghetti came out on the dining table, and we plated up. I tasted it and found it pretty good — with the perfect hint of spice. But, my close friend preferred to have the spaghetti sauce a little bit chunkier. Someone else wanted it their way. My wife looks at me. This incident is the perfect case of ‘featuritis’ (coincidentally, just a couple of hours back I was telling her how difficult it is to please every Brightpod customer). Here, we were four of us (similar tastes, backgrounds, etc.) and couldn’t agree on the perfect spaghetti then how could we expect everyone (from more than 110 countries) signing up for Brightpod to be satisfied with what we have to offer them?</p>
<p>Pleasing everyone is impossible.</p>
<p>So don’t! Make the dish that you like and attract people who like what you like.</p>
<p><em>“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”</em> — Bill Cosby</p>
Add one more feature or else…2017-08-03T06:49:40Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/add-one-more-feature-or-else/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/add-feature.jpg" alt="Add Feature ><" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Any eta on sorting personal tasks, specifically by date? If we can’t have that soon we’ll have to move to another project mgmt platform</p>
</blockquote>
<p>First thought: “oh no, they are going to leave. We should do something”.</p>
<p>Over the last few years, we have gotten a bit slammed with this kind of requests from customers. Earlier, I would panic and start fluttering around my developers to get it fixed. Now, I take a deep breadth. There is no need to panic and if the customer needs to leave, they will regardless. A feature does not save your product! Revenues don’t increase because of more features.</p>
<p>Bottomline, no one can be held hostage to feature requests. But, wait. We are still growing, and every customer counts. Yes, that is true, but you rather have 100 right customers than 200 of them who take you on a different path of software customization. In the end, your bloated software product will lose its voice and will be doing many things for many people.</p>
<p>Focus.</p>
<p>I am not implying that you shouldn’t listen to your customers. Some feature suggestions are great. Just don’t get caught up in these kinds of emails. Assess the email. See if the feature or improvement would benefit the majority of your customers. If it does, then plan it in your development roadmap instead of trying to push it out this week. Lastly, don’t promise a date when the feature gets launched. I have made this (promising a date) and have been burnt a few times — due to bug related issues, something more urgent coming up, etc.</p>
<p>So, the next time a customer tries to put you in this position send them this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thanks for taking the time out to send in your feedback. We will certainly take this up with our team and see if this could be beneficial to most of our customers, fits the vision of our product and does not complicate the app for all our users.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If we do decide to get this done, we’ll announce it within the app and also on our twitter channel @brightpodapp.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>How do you’ll handle the “under the knife” scenarios?</p>
Simon Sinek - The Finite and Infinite Games of Leadership2017-07-17T07:55:31Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/simon-sinek-the-finite-and-infinite-games-of-leadership-talks-at-google/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/simon-sinek.jpg" alt="Simon Sinek Talk at Google ><" /></p>
<p>This is a <a href="https://youtu.be/_osKgFwKoDQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">must-watch video</a> if you are running or working in a company. A few gems from the video (written as I understood the talk):</p>
<ol>
<li>The goal is not to beat your competition, but the goal is to outlast your competition.</li>
<li>Don’t compete on features.</li>
<li>Infinite players thing long term and focus on their vision, values etc. They make their decisions by first seeing if the decision fits within their long term vision.</li>
<li>Infinite players don’t worry about short-term losses or ups and downs.</li>
<li>Compete with yourself. Build your company for the long terms. Maybe, have a 50 or 100 year vision. At first, your vision will make you feel uncomfortable and might be unachievable.</li>
<li>People (employees, clients etc.) would want to be associated with your company because of your “movement”. Why do you exist?</li>
</ol>
Living in the moment2017-07-03T11:26:39Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/living-in-the-moment/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/greece.jpg" alt="Greece ><" /></p>
<p><em>Enjoying the view and a pint of Mythos beer in Greece. No phone needed.</em></p>
<p>You know it is temporary. You will get back to routine life and back to all the worries, fears and thoughts that creep in again. That is why a holiday forces you to enjoy every moment — to soak in as much as you can as it is going to be going away soon. And what better than to go on a complete internet/information diet. A mental detox of sorts. It is just so relaxing and therapeutic.</p>
<p>I cut off from the Internet while away. My smartphone usage is at an all time low. I don’t carry my laptop. Just an iPad and phone. This time, I hardly used the iPad — it’s ok to leave that behind too. Here is typically what I do on the smartphone…</p>
<p>Shut off all notifications.</p>
<p>Skim once or twice through work and personal emails. If there is anything, I have asked my team to either call or WhatsApp me. Nothing usually happens.</p>
<p>Share photos on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sahilpparikh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram</a> a few times in the day. (I couldn’t resist :) )</p>
<p>Dip into Facebook once a day.</p>
<p>WhatsApp a bit.</p>
<p>No news. No Twitter. No feeds. No newsletters. I get on a complete information diet.</p>
<p>Rest of the smartphone usage is all Google Maps (best traveling app ever) and a bit of Chrome for general research about the place.</p>
<p>When I am back, there is this vacuum created the first few days. Getting back to work takes a bit of time. But after a couple of days, I am back and how! Refreshed and ready to take on any challenge.</p>
<p><strong>Seriously, why stick your head into your phone when you can live in the present, seize the moment and enjoy the view.</strong></p>
4 Months of Android2017-06-07T02:52:26Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/4-months-of-android/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/android-experience.png" alt="Android Experience" /></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The smartphone platform wars are pretty much over, and Apple and Google won</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The above line is from <a href="https://medium.com/u/78c5166b8328" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Benedict Evans</a>’s article “<a href="http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2016/7/25/platform-wars-final-score" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Platform wars: the final score</a> (July 2016)</p>
<hr />
<p>I have been using an iPhone since the last 8 years. On late January this year I <a href="https://sahilparikh.com/my-very-first-experience-with-android-on-google-pixel-980a2777ff78" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decided</a> to give Android a go on Google Pixel. I realized that both platforms have similar features and hardware (or they will at the end of every year as each one plays catch-up). To me, the biggest kicker is the software (core apps I use daily) and that makes all the difference.</p>
<p>Somehow, I haven’t missed iOS on iPhone 7. All the popular apps just work on both the platforms. iOS has an edge over the UI and how buttery it feels while scrolling and switching screens. Android does not have that finesse but I am ok overlooking it for what it provides — <strong>an excellent ecosystem of Google services (which I use personally and for work) all tied together with the power of machine learning (ML)and AI.</strong> Everyone is talking about ML and AI but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnm83GqgqPE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google is all-in</a>. Google Assistant knows everything about me and my travel plans — I am ok with that. I am traveling today and my flight details have already popped up on the Pixel. The Amazon package that I ordered last week shows that it is delayed and will arrive after 2 days.</p>
<p>Google Assistant, which I use daily is way way smarter and better than Siri.</p>
<p>What I have noticed in the last few years is that Google has done an amazing job with their software and keeps improving them on both platforms. The following apps that I use daily on Android are just way better than their iOS counterparts (sadly, <a href="https://www.apple.com/in/ios/ios-11-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iOS 11</a> isn’t going to make them better either).</p>
<p><strong>Inbox for Gmail (or Gmail)</strong><br />
Try searching your mails in the stock mail app 🙄</p>
<p><strong>Google Calendar</strong><br />
Beautifully designed!</p>
<p><strong>Google Maps</strong> <br />
Seriously, don’t know anyone using Apple Maps.</p>
<p><strong>Google Photos</strong><br />
Super smart.</p>
<p>I could and have used these app on iOS but then Siri would be clueless. Siri needs me to use the Apple core apps which I don’t think are feature-rich. I believe that if you are in one ecosystem (Android or iOS) use the tools of that ecosystem.</p>
<p>But, there are things that I don’t like with Android….</p>
<ol>
<li>Apps asking for access. Paranoia sets in.</li>
<li>Scrolling is not as smooth as iOS</li>
<li>Apps crash more frequently than iOS.</li>
<li>Typing is not as smooth as iOS. I just turned off vibrate on keypress and it’s a bit better.</li>
</ol>
<p>Both the ecosystems are converging as far as features and quality is concerned. Today, it is just a matter of knowing which one you want to give your data to which in-turn will give you back meaningful data so that you can save time and make better day to day decisions.</p>
<p>If I had to bet on one of these companies getting ML and AI right it is going to be Google. Crunching and making sense of data is in their DNA. To me, that is where the future is. For now, I don’t see myself coming back to iOS on the iPhone.</p>
Hello, Google Pixel2017-01-31T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2017/my-very-first-experience-with-android-on-google-pixel/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2017/google-pixel.png" alt="Google Pixel Screen" /></p>
<p>Let me get this out of the way — I am a huge Apple fan and own pretty much the entire product line. I love Apple because of their control over hardware and software. So, when Google <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN9OhliypPo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> the Pixel last year I was curious to give it a try. We are working on an app for <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> so I used that as an excuse to get my hands on the Google Pixel (unadulterated Android + hardware controlled by Google) and decided it was time to give Android a spin.</p>
<p>Towards the end of last year, I watched the launch of the Pixel and felt that Google wants to take smartphones to another level — machine learning, deep learning, AI, virual reality and all the other hardcore mathematics stuff. Bottomlime, a phone should feel good as well as be super smart — contextually aware.</p>
<p>The hardware on the iPhone 7 and the Google Pixel is similar, give or take a few specs. <strong>You don’t make a decision on hardware but on the software and the ecosystem.</strong> This got me thinking….Siri does not know much about me as I use mostly Google services (even on the iOS) — Gmail, Google Apps, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Docs etc. If Google already has all this data then why not see if it helps me in my everyday life. Plus, I have never been impressed with Apple’s core software (Mail, Calendar, Numbers, Pages…).</p>
<p>Enter <a href="https://madeby.google.com/intl/en_in/phone/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pixel</a>.</p>
<p>Switching to Android was seamless. Transfer of data was smooth.</p>
<p>Phone has a good feel. Looks like the iPhone 6. The fingerprint scanner at the back is a nice touch. You can even swipe on the fingerprint scanner to drop down the notification bar on the screen.</p>
<p>The homescreen with the customization and widgets (a core feature of Android) lets your clear things up. My daughter loves it that you can actually see the wallpaper in the unlocked mode.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.androidexplained.com/pixel-ambient-display/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ambient display</a> notifications are great. I check this phone far less now which helps with focus.</p>
<p>Google Now reminds me to leave the office to pick up my daughter and tells me how much time it will take me to get to her class (map included). It even showed me a stock when it was down 2% today.</p>
<p>I think the best part of the Pixel is the contextually- aware <strong>Google Assistant</strong>. It beats Siri hands down. I asked Siri for my flight details this week and it asked me if it should check on Uber. Google Assistant quickly pulled it up. The assistant is contextual and answers follow-up questions very intuitively. I changed a calendar event without any trouble.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>We have reached a sort of commoditization in smartphones so the future will be won by tailoring a unique personalized experience by the use of contextually aware smart software.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I do miss the sleekness of the iOS and how the iPhone feels and “it just works”. I have told myself that I am going to give Pixel a fair shot and see if it actually helps me in my day to day work.</p>
<p>Being curious is good :)</p>
<p>More on my experience in the next post. Stay tuned.</p>
Having Conviction2016-12-06T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2016/having-conviction/<p>What a <a href="https://youtu.be/szXqJ2IIk8U" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fantastic talk</a> by Jeff Lawson (of Twilio) on having conviction when running a business or starting up.</p>
<p>Daily, you need to ask yourself 2 questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Does the world need my product?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Do I love my product, market and customers?</p>
</li>
</ol>
Pay for Software2016-10-26T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2016/pay-for-software/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2016/software-paid.jpg" alt="Pay For Software ><" /></p>
<p>I just upgraded to <a href="https://blog.newtonhq.com/an-important-update-on-newton-cc02e05691ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Newton</a> (previously CloudMagic). Yes, I am paying a yearly subscription for an email service for two reasons:</p>
<p>#1 Personally, I have tried pretty much ever mail app that has come (and gone) and Newton to me is the best.</p>
<p>Newton is fast with a crisp user-interface and is available on iOS and Mac. It just works. Composing an email is a smooth process (the text size is perfect) and the app is smart enough to know that an email to a friend should go out from your personal email (it switches this automatically and you can see this before you send out the email). I have had no issues with rendering of incoming mails including my daily newsletters/daily digests. The advance features (which they call supercharges) are great too. With so much of our my communication revolving around email (prefer email to Slack) my email service needs to have the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Undo Send — “Pull back that email blunder you just sent.”</li>
<li>Snooze — “Set your emails to come back to inbox at a more convenient time. Prioritize and pick them up at a later time when you’re ready to go.” I make that golf tournament draw email pop back up in my inbox 2 days prior to the tournament day.</li>
<li>Remind me in x days if the person hasn’t responded <br />
Some of my important emails to non-tech-savvy-I-am-not-good-at-processing-my-inbox-smartly people had gone unanswered to I am not able to be on top of those mails.</li>
<li>Send Later — “Schedule emails to be sent at the perfect time without having to wait for it.”</li>
</ol>
<p>#2. It is good to pay for software that helps you work better.</p>
<p>When Newton released their paid yearly subscriptions (and its not much when you think about it monthly) there was a lot of complaining on Twitter; unfortunately, people don’t like change and people don’t like to pay for software. When nothing else is free why should software be free? It takes a lot to build and sustain good quality software. Software companies have to pay for servers, bandwidth, rent, teams etc. too! It is a real business.</p>
<p>Look at what happened to Mailbox and Sparrow -> Awesome free software, gets popular, gets bought, gets shut down. Who loses? Us! Maybe, just maybe, if they had charged for it things could be different.</p>
<p>Over the last year I have started to support companies that build good software that help me work better. I pay for it. It makes me feel better.</p>
One Trait to Look for When Hiring Developers for Your SaaS Product.2016-07-04T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2016/one-trait-to-look-for-when-hiring-developers-for-your-saas-product/<p>Over the years I have come to realize that there is one trait that you need to look out for when hiring developers for your product team.</p>
<p>It all boils down to having a solid <strong>“attention to detail”.</strong></p>
<p>The developer should love to fine tune, nurture and optimize code. If something is not right, they should feel uncomfortable and fix it before it adds to the technical debt of the software. Bottom-line, they should deeply care for the code.</p>
<p>In fact, I ask a few questions in the interview to gauge their attention to detail. You can even do a quick back and forth via email. The way they write their email and answer your questions tells you a lot about who they are and if they care about the minute details.</p>
<p>95% of the people I interview don’t fit working in a product environment. It is tough to find the 5% (cause these are really good developers) but when you do, these people will count for nearly 3–5 average developers. And, you rather have a team with a few really good developers than many many mediocre ones.</p>
WhatsApp Is Eating Productivity2016-05-11T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2016/whatsapp-is-eating-productivity/<p>Lately, I have been observing that WhatsApp and other messaging tools are sucking out productivity from the workplace. People work with their phones next to their keyboards and are constantly distracted. This is counter-intuitive to focused “deep work” — multi-tasking is very counter-productive and every time you switch tasks you lose mental energy (switching costs).</p>
<p>Solution: keep your phones face down and check it once every couple of hours or so. Works wonders. Yesterday, in an hour I missed 9 WhatsApp messages, 3 iMessages and 4 phone calls. None of them were urgent.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2016/whatsapp-productivity.jpg" alt="WhatsApp is eating productivity ><" /></p>
<p>By the way, check out this book called <a href="http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deep Work</a> by Cal Newport. After reading a sample chapter this is next on my reading list.</p>
Interview Process2015-10-07T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2015/interview-process/<p>I have been interviewing people for a couple of positions at Brightpod: <br />
1. full stack PHP developer <br />
2. digital marketer.</p>
<p>Most of the emails I get are from <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/jobs.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod’s Job page</a> — so, I find some dedicated time, sit back and go through each of them once or twice a week.</p>
<p>I delete about 50% of these emails due to spelling errors, communication issues and un-impressive resumes. Sometimes, you just feel that the person will never fit in.</p>
<p>For the remaining, I try to set up an informal phone chat. A causal phone call is a good way to remove bias that could be associated when you actually meet the person. The phone call is about the person’s current projects and what they have accomplished so far. For a developer I try to understand their best projects and the ones they loved working on. This gives me a sense of what they like to work on. For a digital marketer I would like to learn more about a successful project that they were a part of — this gives me an idea of whether they just sent out some tweets or actually drove traffic to a site.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, I come across people have not even checked out Brightpod. This shocks me to no end. After further probing, these people want to just work on something, they don’t care which product they are working on. I generally tend to avoid hiring these people as they don’t know what they want.</p>
<p>Now, back to the very few that got through the next round. I generally do an email back and forth to see how responsive and creative they are and if they can clearly communicate. This is important when working in a team where email/Slack/Brightpod communication is paramount.</p>
<p>Next up, would be an invitation to the Brightpod HQ.</p>
Not Selling Responsibly2015-09-30T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2015/not-selling-responsibly/<p>People are selling, selling and selling all day. Cold calls, emails, sms, WhatsApp, banner ads etc. It just never ends.</p>
<p>It interrupts.</p>
<p>Interruptions created by these selling tactics is distasteful. When you push, push and push your marketing message to me, I move further and further away.</p>
<p>Instead, imagine the flip side. Actively looking for something and coming across one of these products. I am a ready buyer. It is easy to close me. But, this take work and not everyone is proactive about spreading their message. Push marketing is easy. It is for the lazy.</p>
<p>Protect your attention. It is the most sought after commodity today.</p>
Twitter Consumption2015-09-21T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2015/twitter-consumption/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2015/twitter-usage.jpg" alt="Twitter Consumption ><" /></p>
<p>I have had a love-hate relationship with Twitter. I am more active over the weekends when I scan my feed a few times. During the week I seldom scan my feed. I always find my timeline to be noisy even though I unfollow often. If I am catching up on tech news I prefer to just scan tech news (either in Flipboard or Reeder) rather than scan my Twitter timeline which also has a lot of other stuff thrown in — random conversations, retweeets etc. I have tried Twitter lists but it just doesn’t seem to stick.</p>
Playing Golf Makes Me a Better Leader2014-05-08T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2014/playing-golf-makes-me-a-better-leader/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2014/golf.jpg" alt="Playing Golf Makes Me a Better Leader ><" /></p>
<p><em>Early morning tee-off</em></p>
<p>I have been playing golf for 20 years (yeah, started when I was 15) with a break of 5 years beteen 2009–2013. I started playing again last year (best stress buster while I build <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a>) and it’s just been fantastic. Some people think of golf as a waste of time but I think there is a lot to learn from this game that can make you a better leader…</p>
<p><strong>Don’t look back</strong> at what happened on the previous holes. Think present and future.</p>
<p><strong>Mind and body coordination</strong>. The muscles that constitute your swing should move in-sync. One mistake and the ball will NOT go straight. Attention to detail is paramount.</p>
<p><strong>Control your mood</strong> if things go bad. Golf is a mind game. A bad mood and a good swing don’t relate.</p>
<p><strong>Build accuracy</strong>. You need to know exactly how much you are going to hit.</p>
<p><strong>Commitment</strong>. Some holes are crap and the others you birdie. Keep up the spirit to finish the game regardless of how you performed on each hole.</p>
<p><strong>Make quick decisions</strong>. Should you play a putter from the sand if the sand is not too soft or would you hit a low iron if stuck behind a tree?</p>
<p><strong>Take calculated Risks</strong>. Would you play a safe iron shot or go for the big driver shot when you know you can comfortably par the whole using an iron.</p>
<p><strong>Uncertainty</strong>. The wind might take your ball to the left. Deal with it.</p>
<p><strong>Follow through</strong> on every shot. No fear.</p>
<p>A good hole does not mean that the next one is also going to be good. You gotta <strong>work for it</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Luck</strong> plays a part but don’t hold onto luck. You can’t repeat a hole in one.</p>
<p>What worked last weekend might not work this time. Learn to <strong>improvise</strong> and <strong>adapt</strong> to the changing course, pin placement or weather conditions.</p>
<p><strong>Teamwork</strong>. We always play in teams of 2 in each four ball.</p>
<p><strong>Friendship</strong>. Golf provides opportunities to meet new people.</p>
<p>The more you <strong>practice</strong> the better you get at it.</p>
<p>The course calls you back every week. It’s a challenge that is thrown at you. <strong>Go conquer</strong>.</p>
<p><em>Do you play golf? Have any tips? Would love to hear them in the comments below.</em></p>
Digital Omnivores2014-04-15T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2014/digital-omnivores/<p>I read an interesting article over the weekend titled <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/49185346-b6aa-11e3-8695-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The era of the (digital) omnivore is upon us</a>. The author defines a digital omnivore as a person comfortable with consumer technology, these are the growing population of consumers who own a laptop, a smartphone, and a tablet.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the US, this population is growing rapidly — from 10 per cent in 2011 to 37 per cent in 2013 according to Deloitte’s Digital Democracy survey.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Moreover digital omnivores are people who: <br />
1. Own multiple devices. <br />
2. Early adopters of technology. <br />
3. Want to bring their devices to the enterprise <br />
4. Want their enterprise software to behave like their consumer software — fast loading, well designed and on all their devices. <br />
5. They shuttle between the phone, laptop and tablet. <br />
6. Check their social profiles daily and multiple times. <br />
7. Don’t hesitate to express their concern about a brand on their social networks.</p>
<p>If you are building a web service I highly recommend that you do not ignore the digital omnivores. Not only are they comfortable being early adopters but its here where word of mouth online generally starts.</p>
Beach Art2014-02-22T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2014/focus-on-the-process-and-not-the-result/<p>Beautiful, temporary beach art.</p>
<p>I highly recommend you check out <a href="http://www.viralnova.com/beach-art/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Andres Amador’s art</a>. His art is temporary as eventually it will be washed away by the waves.</p>
<p>His motto — Focus on the process and not the result.</p>
<p>It is refreshing to see someone do something different.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2014/beach-art.jpg" alt="Beach Art ><" /></p>
Building a Business at the Cost Of What?2013-11-27T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/building-a-business-at-the-cost-of/<p>Inc. has got a great article on Box founder Aaron Levie — <a href="http://www.inc.com/magazine/201312/eric-markowitz/aaron-levie-entrepreneur-of-the-year.html?cid=home1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Don’t Bet Against Aaron Levie.</a></p>
<p>He has built Box into a great business. However, I was a bit stumped on the personal front:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Levie’s routine over the past several years has been stringent. He wakes at around 10. He showers quickly, and arrives at the office by 11 a.m. He downs two coffees, sometimes holding two cups at once. He rarely eats breakfast or, for that matter, lunch. He spends 90 percent of his daylight hours in meetings or interviews, to which he walks very quickly or even runs. He is almost never at his desk. At around 7:30 p.m., he takes a nap for about an hour, and when he wakes up, he gets really, really productive. Each night, he probably sends a couple of hundred emails, and by 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., he’s finally done. Levie does not take weekends off, and, in the last handful of years, he has taken one vacation, a three-day trip to Mexico with his girlfriend.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Rarely eats breakfast & lunch!</p>
<p>No sports!</p>
<p>Working through the evenings!</p>
<p>No vacations!</p>
<p>I am guessing that work is life then. Great for some people but personally, I wouldn’t trade my freedom for even a million dollars. To me, success is something very different!</p>
Do.com Shuts Down, Transparency & Alternatives2013-10-27T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/do-com-shuts-down-transparency-and-alternatives/<p>I woke up Saturday to the news of <a href="http://do.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Do.com</a>’s <a href="https://do.com/done" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shut down</a>.</p>
<p>This is what a <a href="http://do.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Do.com</a> customer would have felt:</p>
<ol>
<li>Open email.</li>
<li>WTF, they are shutting down.</li>
<li>No way, how can Salesforce shut down one of their products.</li>
<li>What! They haven’t given me a reason. Just a pathetic email telling me that the service will stop on Jan 31, 2014.</li>
<li>Scratching head — Salesforce has so much money and resources that they could easily keep the service running for the love of their customers. They better have a strong enough reason to shut down.</li>
<li>Hmm... another free software bites the dust.</li>
</ol>
<p>Who wouldn’t be annoyed. Not that businesses and products can’t shut down but because businesses choose to be less transparent. Salesforce should have conveyed something meaningful to it’s customers. <strong>Lesson: Never take your customers for granted. Be open.</strong></p>
<p>Luckily, I am not a <a href="http://do.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Do.com</a> customer. I would never be one cause I am a <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">competitor</a>. A very small one, indeed. But, that doesn’t matter right? They are gone and I am here. Trusting your business with using a service from a large, established company does not guarantee anything. It never did. The same is the case when using free software to power critical functions of your business. Free looks attractive but comes with it’s own hidden costs.</p>
<p><strong>Smaller software firms should not be afraid to compete with larger firms.</strong> We have passion, drive and are super focused. We are lean and agile. We have a lot more to lose and a lot more at stake. We are less corporate and sometime more transparent.</p>
<p>The software business is about how passionate you are about making and maintaining software that people love using everyday. That’s it. If this drives you, you are unstoppable.</p>
The Other Lens2013-10-06T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/the-other-lens/<blockquote>
<p>The Samsung Galaxy Gear says “First!” in hardware form. Samsung has beaten Google and Apple as the first major manufacturer to market, but much like the Internet commenter, it has sacrificed substance for the sake of timing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I was reading <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/death-by-incompatibility-a-samsung-galaxy-gear-review/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Death by incompatibility: A Samsung Galaxy Gear review”</a> on <a href="http://arstechnica.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ArsTechnica</a> and the snippet above got me thinking...</p>
<p>Contrary to the popular belief, what if just for a moment remove money and market share from the equation.</p>
<p>Then, maybe, you can...</p>
<p>Focus on building something that people really care about and love.</p>
<p>Spend more time refining your product rather than pushing out something mediocre.</p>
<p>Think and ponder about what people want.</p>
<p>Try this...</p>
<p>Close your eyes and think about all the happy customers using your product. Stay there for 2 minutes.</p>
<p>You might just visualize new insights into how to better solve their problems.</p>
<p>Money is just the by-product of what happens when you do the right thing — making useful things for your customers to help them lead a better life.</p>
<p>Sometimes, it is good to switch focus and see through the other lens.</p>
Free Software?2013-10-01T11:32:47Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/there-is-no-free-lunch-why-free-software/<h4 id="buy-software.-support-the-teams-behind-so-that-they-can-build-more-of-the-good-stuff.-using-better-software-sometimes-means-living-a-better-life.">Buy software. Support the teams behind so that they can build more of the good stuff. Using better software sometimes means living a better life. <a class="direct-link" href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/there-is-no-free-lunch-why-free-software/#buy-software.-support-the-teams-behind-so-that-they-can-build-more-of-the-good-stuff.-using-better-software-sometimes-means-living-a-better-life." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">#</a></h4>
<p>Software must be one of the few (or the only) industry that gives out its products for free. People have gotten used to free software. They will pay $3 a day for their cappuccinos every month, but will think hard to subscribe to a $30 app which can greatly improve the way they work. But hey, if you are selling software then it must be free. That is the trend these days.</p>
<p>The other day, I was having a casual chat with my developer. He had mentioned to his friends that his company pays for a tool to help them with their customer engagement and analytics. Immediately, they laughed at him and asked him why he couldn’t just find a free alternative. Is he crazy paying for software? I am assuming these were the young, 20-something guys who are just so used to free consumer apps that the thought of paying for software is catastrophic.</p>
<p>I love paying for the apps I use for business. Honestly, I don’t care much about free consumer apps that rely on eyeballs, ads or the thinking that the consumer is “paying” via their attention. etc. In my opinion, it is better to build something fantastic, charge for it, become profitable and grow. As a software guy, I know what it takes to build something. Developers have bills to pay. Some common expenses are rent, salaries, utility bills etc. If they are a small company then they have salaries and other office expenses. Building and selling software is their bread and butter. Free is good when it is in “Free”mium. You let your consumers try it before you buy it. But to expect or not pay for the software you love is plain wrong.</p>
<p>Tell me, which products are free in this world?</p>
<p>Do artists or photographers give out their work for free?</p>
<p>When you goto a restaurant, do you get a free meal?</p>
<p>You do pay for your cable television.</p>
<p>When you goto a shop, do you get a free shirt?</p>
<p>Bottom line, is there anything that is free in this world that doesn’t come at a price — the most important being quality.</p>
<p>So, why software? Why does software have to be free? In my opinion, every piece of software (even consumer) should be paid — even if it means $1.</p>
<p>Buy software. Support the teams behind so that they can build more of the good stuff. Using better software sometimes means living a better life.</p>
Getting Feedback for Your SaaS App2013-08-27T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/getting-feedback-for-your-saas-app/<p>We all want to know what people using our web apps are thinking. We sometimes wish we could tap into their brains while they are going through each of those features. Unfortunately, we end up not getting much feedback early on. Imagine if every person in your trial funnel tells you why he/she liked or did not like your web app. Now, that would be awesome. Sadly, this rarely happens.</p>
<p>I am currently in the midst of growing <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a>. Getting feedback early on is super important and this is what I am learning.</p>
<p>If people love your software, they will respond to you as if they are a part of your team. If they genuinely love your app and it solves their problem then either you will hear from them or they will bring out their credit card and upgrade. There is a correlation between positive feedback and a high probability to upgrade.</p>
<p>It is ok if everyone does not open or respond your emails. I have witnessed an open rate anywhere from 20% to 30% and a response rate of 5%-10%. Lets look at human psychology: As SaaS vendors we feel our web app is the most important thing in the world. We are emotionally tied to our business and product. Does someone who has just signed up or is on the trial period think the same way? No. Maybe they are also trying other apps. Or, they are doing a million other things and trying the app is just one of their sub-tasks. Think about it. How many emails have you got and how many times have you responded?</p>
<p>I have seen customers who use <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> for 2 days, disappear for the remainder of the trial and then come back on the last day to upgrade. Completely strange and it boggles my mind. So, do not fret if your emails aren’t answered. Assume people are busy. Tap them a few times and let it go.</p>
<p>Feedback apps (chat, in-app windows) are good when people have a problem, report a bug or have a general suggestion. They don’t help when you want real feedback e.g. how is my app helping you solve your problem or why would my app not work for your company etc. The best way to get real feedback is to ask — drop a personal email and ask for feedback.</p>
<p>Use email for feedback. Emails are not urgent and it shows that you respect the other person’s time.</p>
<p>Setting up Skype calls can get frustrating if you have to go back and forth to setup a mutually agreeable time.</p>
<p>What I am trying lately is to do some research on the people who are in trial and match certain criteria. I then drop them a highly personalised email. This is a lot of work and maybe counter-intuitive to running an automated, low-touch SaaS business. But, in our highly-automated world, who would not like a customised email just for them. It shows you care.</p>
Learn to Change & Don’t Program Everything Yet2013-08-14T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/learn-to-change-and-dont-program-everything-yet/<p>I came across a really good startup article on my Twitter feed today and I thought I’d share it with you’ll — <a href="https://medium.com/who-what-why/c744d79a6e76" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">From a Mailchimp email and Wufoo form to $25k in 3 months</a>.</p>
<p>While we are currently growing <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a>, I like reading articles (mostly experience pieces) on how other startups have ramped up growth. It is like asking yourself — “are you doing enough?”.</p>
<p>A few points this post makes caught my attention and are almost like golden rules to follow when building a product:</p>
<p><strong>1. Don’t be afraid to change.</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although we had over 15,000 app developers signed on, what we were building wasn’t the solution to the real problem in app discovery.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>After the meeting, my co-founders and I sat in our office thinking, “so what the hell do we do next? Do we keep going down a rabbit hole knowing that there probably won’t be a light at the end of the tunnel?”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We ended up spending the next week re-thinking everything we thought was true, resulting in one of the most stressful times in our company’s life.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>After peeling back the layers of our company, we realized that no amount of marketing can save a poorly constructed app.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>To solve this, we needed to find a way to help people create better quality mobile products, increasing their chances for success.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teams should spend time thinking about what they are doing, what is working and what is not. If something is not working then switch gears and try something new, There is nothing wrong with that. Out here in India, I always see people resistance to change. The thought goes “oh, we have spent so much time doing this, how can we let it go and do something else”.</p>
<p>Focus on what is working and the results. Less on what you have done.</p>
<p><strong>2. Start manually. Don’t wait to program everything.</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everything behind the scenes was still mostly manual, but we started to replace the most pressing issues with technology.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Developer-run startups have this urge to automate and program everything and only when everything is finished then release it to the world. A few people I spoke to last week had a good product but had not even started marketing it. Why? Because they were still putting the finishing touches to the app. What a bummer!</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes when you think up an idea you immediately picture a vision of what the final product will look like — there’s going to be a wall, chat, portfolios, and more.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>This can sometimes paralyze you from starting because the task seems so daunting, you begin to think that you’ll need to hire more people or raise funding to get this done.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Instead, my advice is to start. Don’t wait for everything to be perfectly figured out. If you start, you’re already 90 percent ahead of the game and you’d be surprised how far you can get.</p>
</blockquote>
Biz Thoughts - Think Today, Not Tomorrow.2013-06-29T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/biz-thoughts-think-today-not-tomorrow/<p>It is exciting to think about the future of your business but that should not be at the cost of missing out on the present.</p>
<p>Knowing how last weeks traffic came to your site is more important than bringing another 10,000 visitors to your site.</p>
<p>Learning about your current conversion rate of 8% is more important than your goal of converting 15% of the visitors to your trial signups.</p>
<p>Knowing which features customers use today instead of building new ones is paramount.</p>
<p>Your current 5 customers will tell you a lot about your business than the 100 customer your team wants to close in the coming months.</p>
<p>Think today. Think small. See what’s happening in your business right now. Patterns are easy to analyze with a very small data set. There will be a ton of insights you will get by just studying today’s data. This is the gold that you need to mine. Not tomorrow’s traffic, customers or conversions. Those are just goals that we obsess about at the cost of not knowing the present.</p>
<p>Sometimes you need to put your telescope aside and pick up the shovel to uncover hidden gems.</p>
8 Things I Learnt After Launching My SaaS App, Brightpod2013-06-26T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/8-things-i-learnt-after-launching-my-saas-app-brightpod/<p><a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> was <a href="http://blog.brightpod.com/from-idea-to-launch-the-brightpod-journey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a> on April 16th. We did what we could — wrote about it, spread it on social networks and <a href="http://blog.brightpod.com/blogger-love-for-brightpod/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">connected with bloggers</a>. It has been around 2 months now and I wanted to sum up some stuff that I have learnt.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>People in beta didn’t upgrade. It was folks whom came to our site organically are the ones most likely to upgrade. Don’t expect friends to upgrade. They just want to know what you are up to.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Automating analytics can save you a ton of time that otherwise would have gone in creating excel dashboards etc. We use Google Analytics, KISSMetrics and Intercom. They work wonders. This powers our marketing and product management plans.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Blogging helps. If you believe in something you need to write about it and align with people who think the same way. In the last few months we have built up our blog to have 58 articles. 20% of the traffic to the blog is now organic (almost all from Google searches). Around 8% of blog readers convert to a trial signup. The key is to have well written and researched posts that help people. No fluff.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Going niche (collaboration for marketing teams) was a good decision and I still stick by it. I met skeptics along the way but I still believe that the future of SaaS apps is going niche. General-purpose apps have been built and there are plenty to choose from. Going niche is where you need to really think about how your app affects your chosen target audience. Today, 80% of our customers are marketing and creative agencies that use Brightpod with their clients on a daily basis.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Did someone say that software is eating the world? I think that should be changed to “free is eating the world”. Free apps and services are hard to compete with.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Customers want features. In reality, 37Signal’s “less is more” doesn’t hold true. Less is always less. More is great. Customers want more features for the same price or for free.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Low touch worked a few years back when there were fewer apps and online services. Today, the Internet is flooded with dozens of apps for every category. It is impossible to just compete on features, simplicity and a marketing website. Automatic inbound is great but still not enough. Customers want service. They want to know that there is a team out there who is taking care of them and who is also helping them grow their business.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Ultimately, it all boils down to value. Your app could be wonderfully designed, fast, speedy, clean and with cool real-time sh** built into it. But, if the customer does not see value for their business (growth, saved time etc.) then no matter what you do they are not going to be paying for it. Focus on delivering value through all these channels and nothing else.</p>
</li>
</ol>
12 Tips for a Stress-Free Vacation From a SaaS Entrepreneur2013-06-12T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/12-tips-for-a-stress-free-vacation-from-a-saas-entrepreneur/<p><em>“A man should never neglect his family for business.” — Walt Disney</em></p>
<p>Vacation is a good time to disconnect from <a href="http://www.synage.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work</a> and take a break to relax, rejuvenate and refresh. It is extremely important (for your sanity) and I can’t believe that some entrepreneurs actually preach working all day and slogging it out without a break. That would be being a slave to your business. The whole point of building a business is to have it run without you. If it can’t, then you are as good as self employed.</p>
<p>I have had a very busy time with <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> in the last couple of months and taking a break last month was a great call. Although, you don’t want to think about business while in the pool or at the beach but there are thoughts that creep into your mind about your business. It is normal to think about how the web app is functioning. Being an avid traveller, I used to get a bit anxious about my business. However, over time I have trained my mind to let go of work and instead enjoy a stress free vacation.</p>
<p><strong>Plan before you head out</strong></p>
<p>Spend the last week with each of your team members (assuming its a small team) and plan out deliverables for when you return. I normally plan a 3–4 important tasks for everyone with priorities. Also discuss worst case scenarios so key employees know what to do in case they need to handle a crisis.</p>
<p><strong>Daily automatic standup</strong></p>
<p>We are experimenting with an automated daily standup for our small team. Every evening we all get an email asking us to reply back with stuff done that day. The next day each one of us receives a digest of everyone’s work for the previous day. This helps all of us to be in the loop — especially important when you have team members who work remotely.</p>
<p><strong>Everyone handles support</strong></p>
<p>Answering customer emails is not just for a single “support” person. Everyone, especially developers, are looped into incoming emails from customers through <a href="http://www.intercom.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intercom</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Managed hosting</strong></p>
<p>I have always hosted with Rackspace. Just love their level of support if something goes wrong. I want my team to focus on building <a href="http://www.synage.com/manifesto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“gracious” software</a> and not worry about network and server issues.</p>
<p><strong>Daily backups</strong></p>
<p>We backup all data daily so in the event of a failure everything can be restored. This helps me sleep better at night and of course, enjoy my vacation.</p>
<p><strong>Are the bills paid?</strong></p>
<p>A week before, I do a quick check to make sure all our bills are paid (e.g. hosting) and a quick check to make sure my credit cards are not expiring while I am away (and that they have sufficient balance for automatic business expenses).</p>
<p><strong>Ditch the laptop</strong></p>
<p>The laptop is always going to be a symbol of work. However, a tablet can not only help you get work done (crank out some emails) but can also be a source of entertainment while you are away.</p>
<p><strong>Schedule email checks</strong></p>
<p>On vacations, I check mail twice. Once, after breakfast (so I don’t think about work during the lavish buffet spread) and once in the evening. Honestly, if shit were to go wrong you would get messages and frantic calls — or your team will track you down.</p>
<p><strong>No devices on the beach or pool</strong></p>
<p>This is a strict rule I follow not to mention the paranoia of having sand and/or water get into my devices :) I don’t want to be that workaholic guy on a vacation constantly looking down at a screen. That is just sad.</p>
<p><strong>No Notifications</strong></p>
<p>I turn off all notifications on my phone and tablet. The only 3 things that matter are phone calls, messages and emails. I don’t give a damn about Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Feedly, Pocket etc.</p>
<p><strong>News Free</strong></p>
<p>No newspaper, Twitter, or even TV news. Trust me, you won’t miss a thing because the same news gets recycled over and over again. You come back from a vacation and it is the same crap. Once back, I always come to realise how much of the day we waste on non-important things just to stay busy.</p>
<p><strong>Say f$$$ it</strong></p>
<p>Being on a vacation is MY TIME that I have earned it. No one can take it away from me. Sometimes you just have to say f$$$ it to everything that is nagging you and just enjoy the present moment.</p>
<p><em>“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” — Buddha</em></p>
Productivity Hacks of a Startup Dad2013-05-28T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/productivity-hacks-of-a-startup-dad/<blockquote>
<p>“Live for today because yesterday is gone and tomorrow is unknown.” — Anonymous</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have a two year old daughter and a <a href="http://www.synage.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">startup</a>. Over the last couple of years I have come to value a balanced life. Most startup stories would talk about gruelling hours and all-nighters. This isn’t the case with me as I believe entrepreneurship is not just about working hard but working smart. If you can manage your time efficiently then you can get out of the office at 5, catch a game of tennis and have enough time left to spend at home.</p>
<p>Last year, we were busy building <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> and these are some of my productivity hacks that I used (and still use) on a daily basis to get my share of a balanced work day.</p>
<p><strong>Plan the night before</strong></p>
<p>Once she is asleep I take 10 minutes and plan my next day — what do I want to accomplish, calls I need to make and things I need to look at.</p>
<p><strong>Early Mornings</strong></p>
<p>Planning the night before helps me get a head start the next morning. I try to get the most important work done early in the morning when everyone is asleep. I quickly check my mail (feel compelled to since I am in the web business) and then get on to some writing. This helps my flow of thoughts throughout the day.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t build a routine</strong></p>
<p>After reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Power of Habit</a> book I thought I would build a routine. However, this didn’t work out. Routines are boring. Instead, I focus on getting myself organised so I feel in control.</p>
<p><strong>News Diet</strong></p>
<p>I limit myself to very little general or world news. In fact, if it is very important I’ll probably hear about it on Twitter. Think about it — we don’t consume much news when we are on a vacation. What happens when we are back? Nothing changes. It’s the same type of news circulating. One of the articles I read a while back mentioned that if news made your smart then journalists would be the smartest people on this earth :)</p>
<p><strong>Procrastinate Reading</strong></p>
<p>I used to read daily. Now, it is mostly over the weekends when I am a bit more relaxed and my reading list does not feel like a task list. However, I realised that not everything is as interesting as it sounds. Tip: a lot of the articles seem useful when you save them (to a read it later service like Pocket or Instapaper) but don’t seem that important when you actually get to reading them.</p>
<p><strong>Switch Off Email Notifications</strong></p>
<p>Push email is overrated. I have push email off and experience true bliss. I want to be in control when I check mail and not the other way around.</p>
<p><strong>VIP Notifications</strong></p>
<p>Apple Mail has a nifty VIP feature which I love. I now can control who I want to hear from. I can even exercise the Do Not Disturb mode post 11pm when I need to concentrate on some tasks. The VIP feature is the ideal middle-ground to having some push notifications rather than non at all.</p>
<p><strong>Pick up the Phone</strong></p>
<p>I pick up the phone if I can get something done faster than email. It cuts down the back and forth.</p>
<p><strong>Limit Social Networks</strong></p>
<p>Facebook and Twitter are good to dip into real quickly between tasks. Unless you are a social media marketer I don’t see why you would want to spend a cumulative time of more than 10–15 minutes a work day on Twitter and Facebook.</p>
<p><strong>Delegate like a Champ</strong></p>
<p>I used to jump in a try to do everything. I guess it comes from being a web designer and developer. Today, I delegate stuff to my team and work on building the business and understanding our customers.</p>
<p><strong>Use Analytics Tools</strong></p>
<p>I personally love software that can give me a report and an analysis of what’s happening with our business. Isn’t that what software should do? We have started using <a href="http://www.kissmetrics.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">KISSMetrics</a> and <a href="http://www.intercom.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intercom</a> at <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> and they save me a ton of time. Without them we would have to manually create cohort charts, calculate churn, revenue and manage the conversion funnel.</p>
<p><strong>Minimum Viable Daily Tasks</strong></p>
<p>Recently, I have been practicing a new time management technique and I am calling it the “Minimum Viable Daily Tasks”. Here is how it works: Choose the minimum amount of work that needs to be done everyday so that you have a big smile on your face when you are heading home in the evening. If you accomplish anything more then it is a bonus.</p>
<p>My motto (which gets emailed to me everyday via <a href="http://www.ifttt.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ifttt</a> is: Life is short. Work smart. Have fun. I am reminded of this everyday. I am still learning to manage my time better and would love to hear your thoughts if you’ll are a startup dad/mom.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/my-daughter-me.jpg" alt="My Daughter and Me ><" /></p>
Doing Things in Context2013-05-08T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/doing-things-in-context/<p>I can spend a whole day just reading articles, blog posts and answers on <a href="http://www.quora.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quora</a>. There are so many topics to read about. I often catch myself bouncing between different topics and I keep telling myself that this is just so not productive. At the end of my reading sprint I just don’t know what I read about. It is like eating a buffet and trying to cramp every thing on your dish. You did consume the food but you feel like shit!</p>
<p>However, I recently have starting reading and doing things <strong>in context of my current project(s)</strong>. For example, during the <a href="http://blog.brightpod.com/from-idea-to-launch-the-brightpod-journey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod launch</a> I would filter out all information that were NOT related to:</p>
<ul>
<li>how a launch should be done</li>
<li>successful and failed product launches</li>
<li>what to expect from a launch</li>
<li>how to get in touch with bloggers</li>
<li>getting things ready for the launch</li>
<li>should you send a press release?<br />
...</li>
</ul>
<p>Since we have launched, my current project is to work with the marketing team to bring in relevant traffic and manage the conversion funnel. For this I would filter out all information that is NOT related to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Online marketing channels</li>
<li>b2b SaaS conversion metrics</li>
<li>How to increase traffic and growth</li>
<li>Building the right landing page<br />
...</li>
</ul>
<p>Get the point? Working in context helps me focus. I have also found that I easily digest a piece of content that is in context with what I am doing — maybe, because I am thinking about it and my mind is already on a similar wavelength.</p>
Minimum Viable Daily Tasks for Founders2013-04-23T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/minimum-viable-daily-tasks-for-founders-and-ceos/<p>As a startup founder or CEO we have a lot of different things that we need to look at each day. There are times when I come home and wonder where the day went? Did I try to cramp too much in the day? Was I trying to be too ambitious with my tasks? Recently, I have been practicing something and I am calling it the “Minimum Viable Daily Tasks”.</p>
<p><strong>Here is how it works:</strong> Choose the minimum amount of work that needs to be done everyday so that you have a big smile on your face when you are heading home in the evening. If you accomplish anything more then it is a bonus. Go treat yourself to a beer :)</p>
<p>I use a personal task manager called Wunderlist (syncs beautifully on all iOS devices) to plan my day (I plan the night before). I then select only one, two or maximum three most important tasks that I want to work on tomorrow. That is it.</p>
<p>For example, today I have the following on my list:</p>
<ul>
<li>Start to write a guest post.</li>
<li>Review & make changes to design on the payments page for <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Try it. I can’t guarantee if it will work for you but what I can guarantee is that you will feel much more relaxed, focused and in control everyday. Oh, not to mention the smile while you are ordering that beer :)</p>
Building a SaaS Business — 2007 vs 20132013-03-31T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/building-a-saas-business-2007-vs-2013/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/saas-business.jpg" alt="SaaS Business ><" /></p>
<p>We built <a href="http://www.deskaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeskAway</a> during 2006–2007. This was my plunge into the software product business from a service business. Looking back, I am glad I had the sense to realise that SaaS/ Cloud was going to be the future of the software business. In addition, a service business can be a good money churner but very hard to scale. I often felt I was running a HR company. On the flip side, I was a newbie to the product space. I looked at how other companies (all in North America) had hacked it and thus began my journey in the SaaS space.</p>
<p>In July 2007 we released DeskAway to the world — which meant, just our team.</p>
<p>The next few weeks were about email — I opened up my email program (Thunderbird for Windows) and fired off a few dozen mails to friends, family and recent business contacts.</p>
<p>We then spent the next 4 months adding new features (including a payment gateway) to DeskAway.</p>
<p>Welcome and user on-boarding messages were setup as cron jobs so updating or adding more messages meant messing with the code.</p>
<p>Cloud servers were unheard of so we hosted on a Rackspace dedicated server and paid a bomb for it.</p>
<p>Scalable file storage like Amazon S3 was new and I was hesitant to use it. It was easier storing files on the dedicated server itself.</p>
<p>I don’t think email delivery services like <a href="http://www.postmarkapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Postmark</a> and <a href="http://www.sendgrid.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sendgrid</a> existed or even if they did I had not heard of them.</p>
<p>During this time Twitter was being used by early adopters. A couple of blogs covered us and I thought this was awesome.</p>
<p>We started collecting emails early on and sent out newsletters every month.</p>
<p>We got our first customer after nearly 6 months. This happened on January 1st — do you know the feeling of partying it up New Years night (and that too in Dubai) and waking up groggy just to see an upgrade.</p>
<p>We weren’t aware of any tools to measure app analytics and what our initial users were doing.</p>
<p>Most decisions back in 2007–2008 were made on a hunch. We saw what others were doing in the SaaS space and tried to experiment. In India, there were very very few people who I could talk to regarding enterprise SaaS. This was just so new.</p>
<p><strong>Things were slow, manual and social media was just about picking up speed.</strong></p>
<p><strong>» Fast-forward 2013.</strong></p>
<p>Things have changed and how. I am having a blast building and growing <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> — a ridiculously simple task management app for marketing teams.</p>
<p>We use numerous tools to help build and automate Brightpod.</p>
<p>Our prospects are buzzing and hanging out on Twitter and Quora. We listen to what they want and engage. Just like in real life but now we can do this sitting at home.</p>
<p>I am learning from a dozens of SaaS experts tweeting on my timeline — @dharmesh, @joelgascoigne, @cdixon, @hnshah, @davidcummings, @ttunguz, @lincolnmurphy, @jasonlk and @destraynor. They write/share stuff on customer on-boarding, best practices, guides, marketing, measuring churn rate etc. Fantastic stuff!</p>
<p>Inbound marketing is a fantastic way to get warm leads into your sales funnel by having them find your product.</p>
<p>I get a stream of information (which I filter regularly) on digital marketing from KissMetrics, Search Engine Watch, Social Media Examiner etc.</p>
<p>If I am stuck, I can find my way out by a simple google search.</p>
<p>Today, user analytics is a piece of cake thanks to KissMetrics and Intercom. I feel in control.</p>
<p>There are tons of blogs and directories where we can get <a href="http://blog.brightpod.com/happy-brightpod-team/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod reviewed</a>.</p>
<p>Most importantly, people are getting very used to using SaaS and Cloud tools and are well educated compared to 2007. Back then, I had to explain prospects the benefits of SaaS. I <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/writing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> dozens of articles and even <a href="https://www.sahilparikh.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote a book</a> on why every company must leverage SaaS. Today, it’s educating people on the benefits of the product and how it can make their lives easier. The SaaS buy-in has long happened.</p>
<p>Today, I can run my business from my iPhone. Most of the apps that power Brightpod are backed by an apps so I can check-in even if I am on a beach in Mykonos, Greece (the best place in the world).</p>
<p>Responsive design frameworks are so awesome (<a href="http://foundation.zurb.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Foundation</a>, <a href="http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bootstrap</a>, <a href="http://www.getskeleton.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Skeleton</a> etc.) that I setup the <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod website</a> without any help so my dev team could focus on the product.</p>
<p>I have an Evernote notebook where I save useful code snippets, Javascript scripts, CSS hacks, libraries etc. This list is growing every week. Developers are writing less code today than they were before.</p>
<p>The SaaS journey has been amazing so far. It is so much faster in 2013. The world is much much smaller. Even more exciting is building out Brightpod and experimenting with a lot of new things. The next 6 months will be interesting as we reach out to more people.</p>
<p>Lot learnt and lots to learn.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi</p>
</blockquote>
You Should Pay for the Software You Use2013-03-21T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/you-should-pay-for-the-software-you-use/<p>A great piece by <a href="https://twitter.com/fmanjoo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Farhad Manjoo</a> on <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/03/google_reader_why_did_everyone_s_favorite_rss_program_die_what_free_web.single.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Why Did Google Reader Die?</a></p>
<p><strong>Pay for the software you use. They might live longer.</strong></p>
<p>Here are snippets from his article which just make so much sense…</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Reader’s death illustrates a terrible downside of cloud software — sometimes your favorite, most indispensable thing just goes away. Yes, software would get discontinued back in the days when we relied on desktop apps, but when desktop software died it wasn’t really dead. If you’re still a fan of ancient versions of WordPerfect or Lotus 1–2–3, you can keep using them on your aging DOS box. But when cloud software dies, it goes away for good. If the company that’s killing it is decent, it may let you export your data. But you’ll never, ever be able to use its code again.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>That’s why we should all consider Reader’s death a wake-up call — a reminder that any time you choose to get involved with a new app, you should think about the long haul. It’s not a good idea to hook up with every great app that comes along, even if it’s terrifically innovative and mind-bogglingly cheap or even free. Indeed, you should be <em>especially</em> wary if something seems too cheap. That’s because software is expensive. To build and maintain the best software requires engineering and design talent that will only stick around when a company has an obvious way to make money. If you want to use programs that last, it’s not enough to consider how well they work. You’ve also got to be sure that there’s a solid business model attached to the code.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>But companies that take your money are at least signaling to you that their software is just as important to them as it is to you. On the other hand, companies that don’t take your money and won’t even say how the product you love will ever make money — hey, they’re fun for a romp, but don’t be surprised when they ditch town in the middle of the night.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>I encourage you to do the same, if you can afford it. Free stuff online is great, but nothing is free forever. If you care for something, open your wallet.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
Goodbye Google Reader2013-03-15T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/goodbye-google-reader/<p>So, Google decides to axe Google Reader by July 1st, 2013. Is Feedburner next? ;)</p>
<p>Big deal. Just spend some time and take your feeds to <a href="http://www.feedly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Feedly</a> or these <a href="http://thenextweb.com/media/2013/03/14/as-google-reader-is-killed-off-flipboard-feedly-reeder-and-others-offer-rss-alternatives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">alternatives</a>. I have been <a href="http://sahilparikh.com/post/44445036781/feedly-is-my-app-of-the-month-for-february" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">using Feedly</a> since a month now and love it.</p>
<p>What did you expect?</p>
<p>Google Reader is free.</p>
<p>Google Reader is NOT Google’s focus area. Adwords is. Google is more of a media company. Their main source of revenue is Adwords so they clearly don’t give a shit about Reader. Though, they should just open source it and give it to the community.</p>
<p>I would be more worried if Google decided to purge Gmail. No, they won’t ever do that :)</p>
<p>This reaffirms my belief in this statement:</p>
<p><strong>Pay for the software you use. They might live longer.</strong></p>
A Marketer’s Guide to Speeding Up Your Website2013-03-14T10:58:14Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/a-marketers-guide-to-speeding-up-your-website/<p>You know this but let me reiterate — your website (or landing page) is your most important asset. It’s the backbone of your business. Whether you run an online campaign, are setting up Facebook pages or managing a Google Adwords campaign, most likely your goal is to parachute people to your website. Once they drop on your site they are all yours. Things are now in your control.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/website-speed.png" alt="Website Speed ><" /></p>
<p>A slow website is a marketers nightmare.</p>
<p>Google incorporates site speed in search rankings. Don’t believe me? Matt Cutts from Google talks about it <a href="http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/site-speed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. It doesn’t matter if you have spent a crap load on design and it looks awesome. What really really matters is if it loads quickly.</p>
<p>Think about this for a second: How do you feel when you are asked to wait at a restaurant?</p>
<p>Got it? So, here are 10 things you can tell your web designer (or whoever is managing your website) so that you can spring clean and speed up your website and not lose customers.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Use</strong> <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/12/11/responsive-web-design/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>responsive web design</strong></a>. My two favourites are <a href="http://localhost/www.getskeleton.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Skeleton</a> and <a href="http://foundation.zurb.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Foundation</a>. They are small collections of CSS & Javascript files that can help you rapidly develop sites that look beautiful at any size, be it a 17" laptop screen or an iPhone. Say goodbye to tables and get your site ready in a few hours. The <a href="http://brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">brightpod.com</a> site is done using Foundation.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Test your website’s speed</strong> using <a href="http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pingdom</a> and <a href="http://gtmetrix.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GTMetrix</a>. These free tools analyse your site and also give you tips what you can improve.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Compress your website pages</strong> using <a href="http://betterexplained.com/articles/how-to-optimize-your-site-with-gzip-compression/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GZip</a>. If your web server is Apache, you can ask your network dude to get this done. What this means is: your web server will deliver compressed files over the Internet whenever someone goes to your homepage. Which is easier to throw with the hand — a tennis ball or a soccer ball.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Use</strong> <a href="http://css-tricks.com/css-sprites/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>image sprites</strong></a>. What this means is that instead of loading each image using an img tag, you group all images in an image file (so you only need to load one image file) and then call each image using CSS. This is a great way to reduce web server requests if you have a lot of images (banners, icons etc.) on the page. Once you have your image sprite you can use <a href="http://www.spritecow.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sprite Cow</a> to generate CSS for your image sprite.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Use Yahoo’s <a href="http://www.smushit.com/ysmush.it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Smush.it</a> to <strong>optimise images</strong> without causing any change to the visual quality of the image.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Remove unused CSS</strong> in all our CSS files. A cleanup is always good when you are done designing your site. Less code the better.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Make sure you <strong>define a width and a height for all images</strong> on your webpage. This helps save time since the browser doesn’t have to do the work of calculating the dimensions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Minify all javascript files</strong>. This means that you are compressing your javascript files to remove any white space (which takes up some file space). <a href="http://www.webmaster-source.com/minimus/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Minimus</a> is nice little minify utility for OS X. Just drag and drop your Javascript files to have them minified.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>There are tons of services online that ask you to add a bit of Javascript to your web page so that they can do what they have to. Think Google Analytics, KISSMetrics, SnapEngage, WebEngage, CrazyEgg etc. <strong>Defer parsing of Javascript till to the end of the page.</strong> Place the Javascript in the footer of your webpage and not on the header. One exception is if you use a font library like <a href="https://typekit.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Typekit</a>. Typekit fonts take over the default font till the page is completely loaded. So for a while, the user’s see the headings in Times New Roman. So it is better to move the Typekit Javascript code back to the header so the user doesn’t see a change in the font family (that would be a crappy user experience).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Don’t clutter your homepage with social plugins</strong> (Twitter, Facebook etc.) unless you absolutely need them. These buttons come with their own baggage and we really didn’t think it was worth having them on the front page. If either of these API’s become slow (or go down) it would impact the way your page would load.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>That’s it! Copy and paste this post and send it to your web designer. <a href="http://twitter.com/sahilparikh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thank me later</a> :)</p>
<p>Stay productive and good luck with your business.</p>
How Brightpod Got Featured on TheNextWeb and GigaOM Pro?2013-03-12T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/how-brightpod-got-featured-on-thenextweb-and-gigaom-pro/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/getting-featured.jpg" alt="Getting Featured ><" /></p>
<p>Technology writers are the new PR rockstars. They hold a lot of clout and can make or break your SaaS business. Every SaaS company should have a Blogger Outreach strategy (call it whatever). Seriously, if you are not reaching out to tech writers then you probably need to be fired. If I had to work on three things while growing <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a> then reaching out to writers would be one of them. Here are some things that I follow. I hope they work for you too.</p>
<p><em>Warning: You are in the wrong place if you are looking for a magic formula or secret for getting featured on top technology blogs. For others, read on.</em></p>
<p>We are in the age of social proof. People trust and then buy your service because others have said (and are saying) good things about it. Even if people come across your site on Google, they are going to dig a little more and see what others think about your product. Here is where getting featured on top technology blogs help. They have thousands of readers (mostly early adopters) and their pages normally rank high on Google. Not to mention that a good review can increase your credibility and boost visitors to your site.</p>
<p>First, identify the writers that you want to connect with. Read their articles. Comment on them. Follow them on Twitter. Don’t stalk. Don’t pester them with requests on featuring your startup. Just work on building a relationship.</p>
<p><strong>Prep time: What do you need to do before you get in touch with tech writers?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Prepare a simple email that talks about your product that may interest the tech writer. Respect their time. These people get a ton of email so be brief and to the point. Here is one variation of what I have sent out.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Hey _____,</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod.com</a> is in private beta and wanted to see if you’ll would be interested in reviewing it. Happy to provide free accounts for your readers with a special code.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Brightpod is a marketing collaboration software built for marketing teams in mind. Most of them currently use a general purpose collaboration tool. We want to help them grow their business by making it easy to plan, organize & track all their digital marketing projects in one place. Clients are spending more and more money on digital marketing. Marketing firms have more work that they can handle. This is where Brightpod comes in.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>You can signup on <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.brightpod.com</a> and use the code “founders”. Have a great weekend.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Cheers,</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Sahil</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Make sure your website is updated and has more information on your app — features, pricing and a clear value proposition.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Writers normally will include a screenshot if they feature your app. Make it easy for them to grab your product images from your site. Ours is <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/features-benefits.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Your app signup process and on-boarding should work smooth.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Be sure to read up on what the writer writes about. Don’t contact an enterprise software blogger about your consumer app.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Don’t be desperate to get your app reviewed. These guys are super busy. Send them the email and wait. Give them some time. You are not their first (or even fifth) priority.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A writer might respond to you with a thank you. This does not mean you are going to get featured. This is an acknowledgement that they have received your email. Hold on to your excitement.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Writers will also decline your offer. Don’t lose faith. Keep building the relationship. A Techcrunch contributor signed up for Brightpod but instantly told me that this is not something he is interested in currently. That is ok. Move on.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If they report a bug, fix it immediately and let them know that you have fixed it. This shows you care about your product and are quick to communicate. When <a href="http://twitter.com/stoweboyd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stowe</a> from GigaOm Pro started using Brightpod he encountered a few bugs that broke his user experience. We felt shitty about it and took it as a first priority to fix it. He was happy that we were proactive.This always helps.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Reviewed! Now what?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Watch your signups :)</li>
<li>Be nice. Thank the writer via email and Twitter.</li>
<li>Keep them updated with new product updates. Who knows, they might feature your app again cause they love your latest feature release.</li>
<li>Send them a small gift :)</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/brightpod-tees.jpg" alt="Brightpod Tees ><" /></p>
<p>I hope this article was helpful. Good luck with your app!</p>
How Happy Was the Brightpod Team Last Month?2013-03-04T11:39:15Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/how-happy-was-the-brightpod-team-last-month/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/brightpod-team-happy.png" alt="Brightpod Love ><" /></p>
<p>February was a busy month for all of us here at Brightpod. Honestly, which month isn’t? We made many updates to Brightpod. <a href="https://twitter.com/ssunil/status/304564161956958208" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">We deploy code on a daily basis</a>. We told ourselves that we are not going to be playing the feature game. What we are going to focus on is just one thing: whether people love using out software the way it is today. Another question we keep asking ourselves is — “Can we help improve the way people work and manage their digital marketing campaigns?”</p>
<p>Soon came in the reviews from top technology blogs. This put a smile on our face and gave a sense of achievement — it is always good to hear good things about your product from other people. After putting in so much work for 10 months we were hungry for feedback.</p>
<p>Stowe Boyd of GigaOm Pro, in his post <a href="http://pro.gigaom.com/blog/brightpod-is-a-small-and-simple-work-media-application-worth-looking-at/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod is a small and simple work media tool worth looking at</a> mentioned…</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Brightpod is a new small and simple work media application that delivers minimum functionality with maximum simplicity. It could be a textbook example for the minimum viable product, in a clean and intuitive design.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Abhimanyu Ghoshal of TheNextWeb, in his article <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/02/24/synage-softwares-brightpod-a-collaboration-app-for-digital-marketers-readies-for-launch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Synage Software’s Brightpod, a collaboration app for digital marketers, readies for launch</a> mentioned…</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Using Brightpod is dead simple and doesn’t need much time to get used to. It’s a great tool to cut down on all the confusion and clutter caused by long email chains while working with teams and clients on the same project. Plus, its neat and clean UI is a joy to use. I manage a handful of social media accounts for clients, and would love to be able to reroute all their correspondence through Brightpod to make things easier.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ashish Sinha of NextBigWhat, in his article <a href="http://www.nextbigwhat.com/task-collaboration-for-digital-marketers-brightpod-297/#simpleAuthor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BrightPod Brings a Bright Perspective to Task Management for Digital Marketers</a> mentioned…</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Well, the answer lies in the very fact that most of the project management tools are designed for generic use-cases and configuring them to match your requirement is a tough task. What BrightPod brings to the table is a super simplified user experience — apart from the fact that the product is simple to use (even marketers can use it!) as opposed to others like Asana which are mostly meant for tech community.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>And then there was some love from people on Twitter…</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/sahilparikh/status/307119328321490945" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/sahilparikh/status/307119328321490945</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/sameergshah/status/306058952783835136" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/sameergshah/status/306058952783835136</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/Ashwin%5C_d/status/305997434025295873" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/Ashwin\_d/status/305997434025295873</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/harshilkaria/status/299583577509724160" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/harshilkaria/status/299583577509724160</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/SinghBasant/status/298692489508962304" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/SinghBasant/status/298692489508962304</a></p>
<p>March will be even bigger!</p>
Making Money or Making a Living?2013-03-04T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/making-money-or-making-a-living/<p>I received a mail an hour ago and I thought I should share it with you’ll. It probably is one of those chain mails that makes their way around every so once in a while. But, this one had some substance to it — Making money or making a living. How many times we keep chasing after money only to forget to live. Here is the gist…</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So, what happened? Where did they go wrong? They most certainly made lots and lots of money.They were very wealthy . But what did they lack then?</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>In fact , as much as they knew how to make a living, they forgot to make a life! Instead, they just made Money! Money provides comfort and status, so true. It also provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy; and shelter for the homeless, yet, noteworthy to mention that is only a medium of exchange.</p>
<p>Our education system needs to share two kinds of education. One that teaches us skills on how to make a living; and one that teaches us values on how to live life, free from entrapment of chasing after an illusion of happiness. Many people are entrapped in that chase neglecting health, family, the social responsibilities,</p>
<p>the environment and moment by moment of real deep fresh breathing. The kids are sleeping when we leave home. They are sleeping when we come home.</p>
<p>Twenty years later, we WILL turn back, and they’ll all be gone. Same goes for our health, dreams, and purpose in life . Twenty years later, they will all be gone or afar distant memory .</p>
<p>Without water, a ship cannot move. The ship needs water. Yet, if the water gets<br />
into the ship, the ship will face problems and potentially sink. Similarly, we live in a time where earning is a necessity; but let not the earning enter our hearts; for, what was once a means of living, will become heavy chain, an entrapment and a means of destruction !!!???</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>So take a moment and ask yourself ….</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>“Has the water entered my ship ?”</p>
</blockquote>
Do You Make Your Customers Feel Special?2013-02-22T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/do-you-make-your-customers-feel-special/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2013/evernote-badge.png" alt="Evernote Badge ><" /></p>
<p>I like this simple touch that Evernote adds to your account when you become a premium member. Makes you feel important. Are you doing something like this for your app?</p>
Building a Simple Routine2013-01-07T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2013/building-a-simple-routine/<p>I just started reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-Business-ebook/dp/B0055PGUYU" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Power of Habit</a> book on my Kindle this past weekend. I will blog more about the book within a week when I get deeper into it. However, as I was sitting home yesterday I was motiviated to create a simple plan that will help me NOT WASTE TIME on social networks and reading endlessly when I have more important things to do.</p>
<p>Building a routine for the things I tend to do everyday so that I don’t have to think about doing it. It should eventually become a habit.</p>
<p><strong>Tech News</strong><br />
Skim through <a href="http://techmeme.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Techmeme.com</a> and <a href="http://thenextweb.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TheNextWeb.com</a> first thing every morning.</p>
<p><strong>Twitter</strong><br />
I have a well curated Twitter stream that gives me everything from breaking news, fun stuff, facts to Cloud Computing, startups and entrepreneurship. This is best to dip into before work (only last 3 hours of tweets ~ 200 tweets), post lunch (chill out time) and at night. Twitter has become an important part of my life.</p>
<p><strong>Facebook</strong><br />
Mainly to see what friends are upto. I catch myself opening the Facebook app on my phone a dozen of times a day. Now, Facebook is moved down to the evening post-work.</p>
<p><strong>RSS Feeds</strong><br />
I follow a few dozen blogs and am going to go through this once a week on the weekend. If the article is so popular then it will either show up on <a href="http://techmeme.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Techmeme.com</a> or on my Twitter feed.</p>
<p><strong>Read It Later (Pocket) Articles</strong><br />
Articles that I come across everyday get saved into my Pocket account. I often debate whether I should open up Pocket when I have some free time. Then again, I can also dip into Twitter or go through the RSS feeds. Articles saved on Pocket take a while to read (most of them seem useless when I get to them so I just mark them as archived) I am going to spend some time over the weekend to go through these articles.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this will make me even more productive during the week :) What is your routine?</p>
2 Things to Keep in Mind When Starting a SaaS Business2012-12-11T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/2-things-to-keep-in-mind-when-starting-a-saas-business/<p>This week, I met up with an entrepreneur who wanted to build a SaaS business. Most people want all the gyan and so ask you to tell them everything they need to know when building a SaaS business. However, this guy asked me to tell him just 2 most important things that he should keep in mind when starting a SaaS business.</p>
<p>He wanted the main course. No side-orders.</p>
<p>It made me think a bit. Focus. De-clutter.</p>
<p>I started…</p>
<p><strong>Product ease.</strong></p>
<p>The easier the product the better the chances of adoption without too much hand holding. You want people to come to your site, signup and start using your app without any friction. The on boarding process should be a no-brainer. Remember, these days people are impatient and have a lot of choices. Confusion will breed the thought of logging out and going to your competitor. In my opinion, design a simple product first.</p>
<p><strong>Product benefits.</strong></p>
<p>Sell benefits, not features. It doesn’t really matter if you have a lot of feature or very few features. What matters is if your product can demonstrate the benefit (or the value) to my business within a short span of time. For my new app, <a href="http://www.brightpod.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brightpod</a>, we started using <a href="http://www.intercom.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Intercom</a>, <a href="http://www.kissmetrics.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kissmetrics</a> and <a href="http://www.newrelic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NewRelic</a> and were just blown away the first week. These apps start collecting data from the very first day and show you how you can use the data to improve your business.</p>
<p>You could have a lot of funding or the best team but if you can’t build something thats easy to adopt and which can quickly show me value then no amount of money can help.</p>
Access to Same Software2012-12-07T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/access-to-same-software/<blockquote>
<p>When everyone has access to the same tools …<br />
then having a tool isn’t much of an advantage. The industrial age, the age of scarcity, depended in part on the advantages that came with owning tools others didn’t own. Time for a new advantage. It might be your network, the connections that trust you. And it might be your expertise. But most of all, I’m betting it’s your attitude.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>- Seth Godin</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is so true. We run our businesses using a variety of tools. The 2 latest tools that I have been using for Brightpod are Intercom and Kissmetrics. They help me understand our users and make better decisions. I am sure other people use these tools also. We all now have the power to view our conversion funnel and see important metrics related to our business. What will differentiate one business from the other is the product, UI, business decisions and most importantly what we believe in.</p>
<p>Software, cloud storage, hosting etc. are all becoming commodities.</p>
Startup lessons from a Sushi Chef2012-12-06T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/startup-lessons-from-a-sushi-chef/<p>I just finished watching a movie/documentary titled <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jiro Dreams of Sushi</a>. Jiro Uno is one of the top sushi chefs in Japan and has dedicated all his life to perfecting the art of making sushi. His small restaurant in Japan is below a subway and takes reservations a couple of months in advance. A meal for one costs a minimum of 30000 yen. That’s around $366 or Rs 19,800. Jiro is extremely meticulous, focused and a true perfectionist. To the extent that he buys Tuna from a seller who only sells Tuna. The same goes with shrimp.</p>
<p>His goal in life is to come in each day and try to make better sushi. What amazes people is that the sushi he makes is extremely simple (something you will see in any restaurant) but what sets it apart is the richness and depth in flavours.</p>
<p>His principles can be readily applied to web startups.</p>
<p><strong>Focus</strong> — one one thing and try to be the best at it. “This is what makes you successful” is how he sums up this concept as.</p>
<p><strong>Be Meticulous</strong> — take care of your UI, UX, messages and pixels. Everything needs to be aligned properly to create an exceptional experience for your user.</p>
<p><strong>Achieve Perfection</strong> — software is never finished. However, you can come into work each and day try to make it better than yesterday. There is immense satisfaction in improving something.</p>
<p><strong>Simplicity</strong> — people try to make software complex. The more features the better it is. That is completely wrong. Instead, the challenge lies in making software simpler. Personally, I believe that having more or less features doesn’t matter. Ultimately, what matters is ease of use and simplicity.</p>
<p>Jiro is fortunate to find what he loves doing. I think it is a matter of digging deep inside you and having the guts to get up every day and doing what you truly love.</p>
<p>Be focused, meticulous and strive for perfection.</p>
<p>Money, fame will eventually follow...</p>
Being a Freedom Entrepreneur2012-11-28T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/being-a-freedom-entrepreneur/<p>Recently, I have been spending a few hours everyday at a location (Kala Ghoda Cafe, Starbucks) other than our office. It feels great and most of the time I get more work done than being in the office. Although, especially in India, people frown upon you when they see that you are not in the office. It means you don’t work. Being outside the office (unless you are in sales) between 9–5 means “goofing off".</p>
<p>I met an old friend today at 4:30pm walking back from the cafe. He immediately asked me why I wasn’t in the office. Yes, inquisitive. I told him that I like working from anywhere and the nature of my business allows me this flexibility. He just shrugged his shoulders. Like most people he didn’t get it. Even older folks that I meet don’t get the new style of working. They had their 9–5s. We have our little chunks of work throughout the day. For some of us it’s the nature of our business to check-in early in the morning and post dinner.</p>
<p>Someday, I would love to have the Synage team work remotely — less overheads for the business and no traveling (it’s a b**** to travel by the local trains here). That extra time you gain everyday can be plow back into something you love doing.</p>
<p>So the next time someone tries to be inquisitive I am going to tell him that I am a freedom entrepreneur — not bound by the shackles of corporate lifestyle design.</p>
Details Matter2012-11-16T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/little-things-that-matter-in-designing-software/<p>We are putting the final wraps on Brightpod — our new collaboration app for marketing professionals. I am extremely picky over little things. These might look trivial but go a long way in building what is called a “positive user experience”.</p>
<ul>
<li>Are the images and text in the header aligned?</li>
<li>Text and radio buttons that are next to each other need to be aligned vertically.</li>
<li>Every heading, sub-heading, instruction text and plain text need to be formatted correctly on every page of the app.</li>
<li>Wordings of error and success messages</li>
<li>Are the colour of the buttons ok?</li>
<li>If a sentence has a lot of text then how does it look when the text is wrapped?</li>
<li>Can we minimise the number of links in the header?</li>
<li>What is the minimum links required in the footer?</li>
<li>How can we make the instruction text simple yet effective?</li>
</ul>
<p>I then go through every page of the app (and imagine that I am a new user) and notice how I feel. If something doesn’t feel right I revisit it and see if it can be made better. For example, we have a page where we list all Pods (pods is a lingo we use for projects) and then there are “Archive” buttons next to each Pod. Clicking on this button opens up an alert box which just asks me if I want to archive the pod. Quite useless. A better way would be to tell the user what an archived pod means and if there was a way to un-archive the pod. The addition of these few lines go a long way in making the user feel comfortable about performing certain actions within the software.</p>
<p>This weekend I will be taking up the new website and making sure it is simple and easy to understand for new visitors.</p>
Saas In India2012-10-19T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/why-indian-businesses-are-going-to-lap-up-cloud-software/<p><em>My article</em> <a href="http://www.moneycontrol.com/smementor/mentorade/starting-up/why-indian-businessesgoing-to-lapcloud-software-769466.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>appeared</em></a> <em>on <a href="http://moneycontrol.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moneycontrol.com</a>’s SME Mentor section on Oct 16, 2012</em></p>
<p>It might alarm the weatherman but ‘increasing Cloud cover’ is a term that’s bringing cheer to the SME space. And it’s important to understand why? Eventually, almost all software will be delivered via the Cloud. No, there’s no escaping it — this will be the standard.</p>
<p>I have spent 6 years in the Cloud space and most of our customers are from North America. However, in recent times, an increasing number of small business customers from India have been signing up to use our products. In fact, in the last couple of years, there has been an explosion in the Indian start-up ecosytem. With Amazon and Rackspace hosting Cloud services, anyone, anywhere can build anything, really inexpensively. So if you have a good idea, there’s no excuse to not implement it over the Cloud.</p>
<p>This technology provides a great opportunity for Indian businesses as well customers, who will not be buying software off the shelf any more. So no longer will your vendor arrive at your office with a briefcase of CDs to install or upgrade your software. You simply sign up for it on the Web.</p>
<p>The Cloud is a new model by which software is developed, hosted and delivered. It refers to software that is accessed via a Web browser on a subscription basis (monthly or annually). Different from the traditional model where a customer buys a license to software and assumes ownership for its maintenance and installation, Cloud presents significant advantages to the customer.</p>
<p><strong>Inexpensive:</strong> Let’s face it, we are a cost-concsious society. We love the utility-driven model. We pay for a host of services on a monthly basis, such as electricity, newspapers and mobile services, with the option to cancel them any time. And why own when you can rent? Isn’t it easier to shell out Rs 500 for a world-class piece of software than to pay a few lakh rupees? The beauty of the Cloud is that there are no hardware, implementation or acquisition costs to run the applications. It is the responsibility of the Cloud vendor to manage and run the application with utmost security, performance and reliability.</p>
<p><strong>Free:</strong> Wow, who doesn’t like that? There are plenty of Cloud software that have a free plan, where you can use them till you need more power or features. For instance, take Google Apps for business. You can set up your company email, and share docs and spreadsheets in minutes. If you need more users or space, you pay for it.</p>
<p><strong>Pay As You Go:</strong> This is great for small companies and start-ups, which usually don’t want to shell out a lot of cash upfront. It’s sort of like EMI, where you break down the cost into smaller components. In addition, you have immediate access to new features and functionality. Unlike traditional software, where upgrades happen once a year or once in 6 months, the Cloud vendor continuously pushes new updates and customers can access them immediately. It’s sort of like logging into Gmail tomorrow and seeing new features that Google has released.</p>
<p><strong>After-Sales Service:</strong> Since the software application is delivered over the Cloud, it is important for the Cloud vendor to focus on customer service and experience. Since this is a subscription model, the vendor is judged on a month-month basis and the pressure to innovate or risk losing business is greater. Hence, after-sales service with Cloud vendors is exceptional. I wish this extended to other types of businesses in India!</p>
<p>In India, there are millions of small businesses that still don’t use any software at all. SMEs are less tied down by historical investments in technology infrastructure, and organisational obstacles to adoption. Here’s a huge opportunity for Cloud vendors to create web-designed software products for the Indian SME market.</p>
<p>Build something awesome and let SMEs lap it up!</p>
Dealing With Anxiety2012-08-21T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/dealing-with-anxiety/<p>As entrepreneurs we deal with anxiety every day. I have spoken to a few people who actually wake up each day with a burning sensation in their stomachs. A few others rush to check their email cause they anticipate something has gone awfully wrong with their business. Other than a good hour of exercise, here are 3 ways to cope with bad stress:</p>
<p><strong>Ask yourself: Am I an idiot?</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.”<br />
- Marcus Tullius Cicero</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We all know that most things we worry about are trivial and will sort themselves out. Even then, we make the mistake of worrying about the same issues day in and day out.</p>
<p><strong>F$ck It</strong></p>
<p>Say f*uck it to the situation and tell yourself that you are going to solve the issue or move on. Another perspective: think about what your current problem would look like if someone you cared about was in danger or just disgnosed with a grave illness. As an entrepreneur we usually worry about stuff that a year later we can laugh at.</p>
<p><strong>The world is not going to end</strong></p>
<p>Seriously, think about it. What is the worst that can happen? The world is not going to end.</p>
<p>Awareness is an important ally. Be aware of your daily problems (create a journal entry in <a href="http://www.dayoneapp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DayOne App</a> if that would help) and keep talking to yourself to calm down.</p>
<p>An an entrepreneur, do you have any other methods to tackle anxiety?</p>
Building Gracious Software2012-08-06T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/building-gracious-software/<p>What I love about software is summed up in this one line:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you can think it, you can code it”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My love for software started in 1998 (at <a href="http://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNC</a>) — first designing websites and then progressed into web development. When I came back to India in 2005 I started a <a href="http://www.synage.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SaaS company</a> to show the world that India is not just an outsourcing destination and can come up with global products. I saw my work as a natural progression, and when I look back I can <a href="http://www.sahilparikh.com/s/2010/04/25/steve-jobs-speech-at-stanford-you-need-to-find-what-you-love-this-was-the-speech-that-changed-my-life/img" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">connect the dots</a>. Although, over the last few years I have stopped coding (I felt marketing was much important than coding if you are leading a startup/team). Today, software is not just for the techies. It is for everyone and is going to become ubiquitous. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mark Andreeseen</a> fantastically pointed this out in one of my favorite articles: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903480904576512250915629460.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Why Software is Eating the World”</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Gracious Software</strong></p>
<p>As software becomes “everywhere” there is a certain responsibility that we have when designing and developing software. Here, is my list of points or checklist to make sure we always come up with superior, well designed software to seamlessly integrate technology into people’s lives.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Pleasant</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software is zen-like and should make you feel at ease, calm and good when using it. Spending time with Gracious software should be like taking a quiet walk in the garden.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Kind</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software exhibits kindness. Messages (error, alerts) should be friendly, polite and NEVER overwhelming or threatening.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Easy to Use</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software is “grandma-proof”. If your grandma can’t navigate between pages then you need to go back to the drawing board.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Friendly</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software should show me the way and guide me to places I have never been before (only when I am ready for them).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Not Intimidating</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A blank page with no data and a page with a lot of data are intimidating. Gracious software should make me feel right at home by designing pages that have just the right information for me to take the next step.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Fast, Smooth and Swift</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software is not sluggish. It is swift. It respects your time and is fast.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Smart</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software doesn’t make you think. It can calculate stuff. It will tell you when you are late or going to be late. It should be able to predict and foresee problems.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Good Looking</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Gracious software looks clean, uncluttered and well designed. It is a pleasure to use gracious software every day.</p>
</li>
</ol>
Do SaaS Founders Enjoy a Good Work-Life Balance?2012-07-20T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/do-saas-founders-enjoy-a-good-work-life-balance/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2012/saas-life.jpg" alt="Work Life Balance ><" /></p>
<p>I love SaaS, and I am also a big believer in a good work-life balance.</p>
<p>The biggest reason I love building a SaaS business (or any kind of pure-play Internet business) is that it gives me the freedom to work from anywhere/anytime, and I don’t need to rack-up flying time to suck-up to anyone (think clients in a service business). I dis-like the rigidity of the corporate 9–5 life.</p>
<p>A SaaS business can also make you feel trapped sometimes — the notion that you need to be connected all times of the day. I am sure this is a mindset issue, but it takes a lot of discipline to switch-off (I am getting there) post late-evening.</p>
<p>So, how can you enjoy a balanced life and still run a 24/7 SaaS business? I think these points might help:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Support emails come in any time of the day. You possibly cannot answer all emails immediately. Eventually, it will drive you insane. You either delegate support to 2–3 people in your team and/or set the right expectations with your clients. An 18–24 hr turn around time is good enough for most support queries.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Set up <a href="http://www.pingdom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pingdom</a> to SMS you when something goes wrong with your servers.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Get managed support with your hosting company so if something goes wrong they can act first. It is like having an outsourced network admin team.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Have a killer (smart) team in place so the burden does not solely fall on the founder. Yeah, I know this has been repeated a million times but I just had to put this down.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Don’t check mail post-dinner and have better email etiquette.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Turn off push notification for email and other things you “think” are important. If it is urgent, you will get a call.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Take frequent breaks either on weekend or longer vacations. It will get you rejuvenated.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Enjoy a Recurring Revenue Business2012-07-09T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/enjoy-a-recurring-revenue-business/<p>Today, coincidentally, two startup entrepreneurs asked me the same question. Should we run a service business or slowly transition into a product business? Having run both, a service business (for 5 years) and a <a href="http://www.deskaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">product business</a> (4 years) my answer was straightforward — try to get the product business as soon as possible.</p>
<p>You can enjoy superb recurring revenues with a scalable product. Service businesses are too dependent on people. For example, I am currently in talks with a couple of digital marketing companies, and one of them still hasn’t gotten back to me after our last discussion 2 weeks back (hello! we are not in the 1980’s!). The reason — the dude who was working on my brief is out sick. I am not saying that all service businesses are like this, but the point is that they are heavily dependent on people doing the end work. You want to grow revenue. Get some more project. Oh, damn, we need more people to run this project….and the chicken & egg situation goes on.</p>
<p>We phased out our service business quite some years back. Today, we enjoy decent recurring income from our <a href="http://www.synage.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SaaS business</a>. We don’t need to hire more people for more customers who use our app. The beauty is that it allows us a balanced lifestyle with almost zero sales meetings and sucking up to clients.</p>
<p>So, IMHO, strive to get to a product business as soon as possible — provided that you have the capability/inclination to run a product business and are currently “stuck” in the service rut. It’s a magical feeling when you wake up every day and see more and more people pay for your product.</p>
What I Want to Build2012-07-03T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/what-i-want-to-build/<p>Yesterday, on the way home my wife I spoke about a successful friend we know. He did not have big ambitions but is extremely wealthy and lives a very comfortable life. We concluded that the reason he could achieve this is because he knew what he wanted. He was clear and focused on what was important to him and what he wanted from his business and personal life.</p>
<p>I started thinking…</p>
<p><strong>Do I want to build a big company with $50-$100M in revenue, lots of employees and take it public?</strong></p>
<p>OR</p>
<p><strong>Do I want to build an insanely profitable, small business ($5-$10M), have fewer people and have an amazing work-life balance?</strong> <em>Note: $5-$10M might seem like a small number if you are in the US/UK but is a very very good target for an Indian company (operating fully from India) in the SaaS space.</em></p>
<p>Somehow I feel I am leaning towards the latter. Small, intimate businesses excite me. I prefer to concentrate on a few things. I am hands-on. I love product design and user-experience. I rather have fewer customers paying more than a lot of customers paying little. You don’t need a whole lot of capital, but what you require is an insanely awesome product(s). I am up for that challenge. I don’t believe in push-sales so doing away with a sales team is fine. They key is to generate traffic through inbound marketing and have a touch-free sales process. I envision a team that manages and teaches clients but never sells to them.</p>
<p>Big exits and payouts are hot in the tech world, but it’s something the whole world is chasing. I am happy if my business remains small, hugely profitable, popular and it gives me the time and flexibility to explore my other goals & passions.</p>
<p>My measure of a successful person is whether or not he has TIME.</p>
<p>Time to spend time with the family. <br />
Time to go on a holiday.<br />
Time to not work on a given day. <br />
Time to meet friends.<br />
Time to work from anywhere. <br />
Time to read a book in the middle of the day. <br />
…<em>You know what I mean.</em></p>
<p>Life is short so you better know what you are up to.</p>
Evenings2012-05-08T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/when-is-the-last-time-you-saw-the-sun-set/<p><img src="https://www.sahilparikh.com/img/2012/sunset.jpg" alt="Sunset @ Lake Macquarie ><" /></p>
<p>When we were kids we used to play in the evenings.</p>
<p>As we grow older there is less focus on play and more focus on work. Working long means you are productive and working hard. Evenings are suddenly gone. When is the last time you saw the sun set?</p>
<p>Bring back your evening and you bring back so much more meaning to your life. Go for a walk or play a sport. Hang out with friends. There is no point dwelling over a computer screen all day pretending to work. Instead, work smart and fast. Technology should help us get things done faster so that we have more time for the things we cherish the most in life.</p>
<p>Remember, life is short. Work smart. Have fun.</p>
You Win Some, You Lose Some2012-03-21T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/you-win-some-you-lose-some-common-reasons-for-churn-in-a-saas-business/<p>You work rigorously at getting your product shipped and aquiring customers. Then, after a month, all of a sudden you start seeing cancellations. This is one of the most frustrating parts of running a SaaS business. To add to the wound you don’t know why people cancel; UNLESS you ask them.</p>
<p>We recently did a compilation of all the reasons why customers cancel their subscription for our app <a href="http://www.deskaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeskAway</a>. It is heartbreaking to see them go but that’s how life is — you win some, you lose some.</p>
<p><em>(in random order)</em></p>
<p><strong>Lack of features</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>One of the biggest drawbacks is that there is no task dependency. Our projects are complex and we are used to this.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is one of the most common reason why people cancel. People want stuff that you don’t have. They subscribed thinking you may develop the feature but quit if they don’t see it happen. I have learnt that you can’t please everyone when running a SaaS business. I do believe in a feature-rich app (less is always less, more is great) but adding features (just to please customers) that don’t gel with the vision of your app is a strict no-no.</p>
<p>“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” — Bill Cosby</p>
<p><strong>Lack of adoption</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It did not seem prudent to continue to spend money on something that was not being used. There was a very slow adoption rate on our side and we should have pushed more. We may revisit your product in the future.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is common with collaborative apps — when you need a commitment to use from everyone in the team. I feel this has been the biggest challenge. Teams that use project management tools (as opposed to the ones that are satisfied with collaborating over email) have a different attitude and understanding towards using a system-driven approach to getting work done. They care about being on top of their work and having a transparent and smooth workflow.</p>
<p><strong>I want a swiss-army knife</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s great for project management; but I also need customer management. If it was more widget/gadget based, it may have met our needs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This somewhat ties in with the lack of features point above. People pay for the app but realize that they want CRM, Email Marketing and a gazzilion other things. There is nothing you can do here but to wish them good luck cause they are definitely not your target audience (unless if you plan to bloat your app).</p>
<p><strong>Closing down the company</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>We cancelled because we are moving towards closing down the company and I was very happy with your product. We used it all the time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Absolutely nothing that you can do here. Hope that everyone using your tool starts their own venture (or join other companies) and yours is the solution they choose to use.</p>
<p><strong>Using a competitor’s product</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are now using INSERT COMPETITOR that is free. It offers very little support in providing multiple project / team management, but my it fits very well into my teams ideas of what an individual task management app should do. So through diplomatic process, we’ve been using it and I’ve been supplementing it with other apps. I researched A LOT of project management apps out there and was happy with my choice to initially choose DeskAway.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most people jump ship if they see something that is free. That is ok and we are completly fine with that. In this world you get what you pay for.</p>
<p><strong>What we were working on is ‘frozen’</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It has nothing to do with your service, the project is frozen so currently I do not use it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perfectly fine. We have seen people restart their subscriptions once their projects get a go-ahead.</p>
<p><strong>Budget Cuts</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I liked your product/service. It’s just really tight right now and I had to make cuts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We started out thinking that with such a low price-point there is no way companies will find us expensive. However, when you are talking about tiny teams of 2–5 people even $25 a month is an accountable monthly expense. Allow these teams to downgrade to a free plan and still use the app.</p>
<p><strong>The app evangelist left the company</strong></p>
<p>“It was simply that as a group we were not using it. This was not due to the lack of the deskaway project but more changes in our operational procedures.”</p>
<p>There are some companies that have one designated person that acts as a project manager and drives the adoption of the app within the teams. When he is gone things come falling apart.</p>
<p><strong>I am paying for trying it</strong></p>
<p>Yes, we have had people who would pay for the app even though we have a free 30-day trial. They would discontinue if it did not fit their needs for the above reasons.</p>
Procrastinate Reading to Save Time2012-03-12T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/procrastinate-reading-to-save-time/<p>At the end of the week, I noticed that I had a lot of reading on my plate. During the week, I would favorite tweets, save articles to Instapaper, have a back log of blogs (less than 10) in my RSS reader, have articles sent by friends/biz contacts via email etc… Stuff piles up and you start to feel annoyed by all the stuff there is still to read. However, I realized that not everything is as interesting as it sounds. Plus, a lot of the articles seem useful when you save them (to read later) but don’t seem that important when you actually get to reading them.</p>
<p>The idea is to procrastinate.</p>
<p>So, I have started a 2–4 day rule. Articles that I look at 2–4 days later seem less and less important to read than 0 day. I can skip them easily — without feeling guilty.</p>
<p>Try it and it see if this method helps you stay away from information overload and save time.</p>
Simplicity2012-02-27T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2012/is-simplicity-a-usp-in-a-saas-business/<p>Happy Monday folks!</p>
<p>If you run a SaaS company then I highly recommend you subscribe to <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/petercohen1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Cohen’s</a> monthly newsletter on <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109350760615&s=536&e=0019twB7ydg8Yu-l2fQl7PE0sgOgx2WmmXtwXESBhv08s7NpVWZJagPmo9CY4VXcuBe1-pWm41aZwmoVkEeevUKGpzCBRLqRLWalbAsct07s-VCg5dhZvUH36RGmZLVYg2E" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SaaS Marketing</a>. Good stuff! His latest newsletter talks about <a href="http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=gpv5zvcab&v=001p_xH-twv5vUOtKiZhyORTVZ9ObHuGh8u6COEU8XzQ6FRvfRAsC_UEgX0IM4BznX7o6mezVDqAxK8Osk-ECayJq3NqbBPdxmE2o3hTUwL42lbJhhWsm63XA%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SaaS and simplicity</a> — how everyone should focus on simple software, less features, jargon-free marketing speak, simple pricing etc. Basically, simplify everything — this makes sense since if you sell to small business (and hence don’t have a sales team) and want to run a friction-less service. You want to make the ride through the conversion funnel as easy as possible:</p>
<ul>
<li>understand your value proposition on your maketing site</li>
<li>signing up is hassle-free</li>
<li>trying out and understanding your app is a piece of cake</li>
<li>your cusomter support answers are to the point and simple to follow</li>
<li>and the list goes on…</li>
</ul>
<p>However, this brings me to one dilemma — is “simplicity” going to be a non USP going forward? If all SaaS apps follow the simplicity mantra (we do too!) then are we all going to sound the same? Is the concept of “simplicity” commoditized and should SaaS companies look for an alternative USP?</p>
Is Your Business a Feature?2011-11-22T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/is-your-business-a-feature/<p>I am amazed by some of the funding news making the rounds. Are Angels/VCs funding apps or businesses? Maybe the team has a glorified future plan that impressed the VC’s. Lucky and good for them. Though, merely having a feature is not going to cut it. Are we in a bubble?</p>
<p>I am secretly hoping that the entrepreneur is not stoping at the feature. A feature will take you to the first 100 customers. To get more, you need a business — vision, mission, philosophy, creating your tribe (as Seth Godin puts it), and ofcourse, a powerful product. Your product needs to be an integral part of your customer’s business. Just because he is using your feature today does not mean he is going to use it tomorrow. Someone else will come with that exact same feature and include it within their core app. Then what? In the Cloud, it is somewhat easy for small businesses to switch providers. They don’t have a big capex with your company.</p>
<p>Take for example a website feedback/poll widget. Personally, I think it is a feature that can be coded in a couple of days. Sure, it is a start to something big. That “something big” needs to show up when a customer signs up. You need to include them into your entire vision.</p>
<p>We were a feature in our early days. Had we been just a mere task management app we would have been killed by now. Ironically, I am amazed to see just task management apps getting funded. Wow!</p>
First 1002011-09-19T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/how-to-get-your-saas-business-its-first-100-customers-informationweek/<blockquote>
<p>I’ll take you back to 2007. We spent almost a year developing our Software As A Service (SaaS) project collaboration product, DeskAway. It was ready to go live but the uphill climb of getting our first 100 customers had just begun. We wanted to be profitable while bootstrapping.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Luckily, I realized early on (after being burnt a few times trying to do offline sales for an online product) that SaaS vendors should utilize low-cost marketing techniques to gain market traction and increase user adoption in markets that were evolved (like the US). While old-school software had marketing budgets of millions of dollars and sold by downloads or via CDs, selling SaaS requires an understanding of the Web, user behavior and implementing online techniques and methods.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>As I look back today, the following strategies were instrumental in getting us to our golden 100 customer mark — the mantra being (for any online business) to get as many qualified leads to our website, convert them into trial users and then into paid customers.<br />
**<br />
Tap into the known**<br />
Before DeskAway, we built websites for small businesses. We used an in-house application (which later became DeskAway) to organize, manage and track their projects. When we launched, these were the first people we approached to power their businesses with DeskAway.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Free</strong><br />
When starting out, I spoke to a very successful SaaS entrepreneur in the U.S. and he advised me to give out 50 free accounts of DeskAway to business friends and acquaintances. While I am a believer in people actually paying for a product (then they begin to really value it and give you candid feedback), this free strategy helped us spread the word initially.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Conference/ Events</strong><br />
In January 2008, I applied for a spot at the prestigious start-up event called Proto run by Vijay Anand. A week later I got a call from him saying that we were chosen to present DeskAway in Chennai. We pitched DeskAway to an audience full of entrepreneurs, small business owners, bloggers and VCs. This event helped us build initial credibility and gain traction with early adopters in India.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Self-promotion</strong><br />
My team scrounged the Web for blogs that discussed/reviewed small business SaaS tools, project management, collaboration, working virtually etc. We used a combination of Google Alerts and RSS Feeds. We shared our views and followed up with comments saying that, “This is DeskAway and here is why people should use us.” Our analytics showed that people actually clicked on our comments and came to the site to sign up for the app.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Build virality</strong><br />
Email marketing companies always amaze me. People use their software and send mail to thousands of their subscribers. Each mail going out has the email marketing software company’s name and logo. I liked this model and built it into DeskAway so any personal email reminders going out to an agency’s clients will be “powered by DeskAway”. A link will take them to our site where they can try out the software for their own business.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Be your own PR company</strong><br />
We contacted top bloggers in our industry (in India as well as abroad) and wrote them a quick pitch on why they should review our product. Back in 2007/2008 we were one of the first SaaS providers in India and convincing them to review us was relatively easy. Web Worker Daily liked our pitch and reviewed DeskAway in May 2008 which led to thousands of visitors to our site and sign-ups every minute for the first few days.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Writing</strong><br />
I started writing for online publications and blogs early on. My first article was featured on ThinkVitamin in mid-2008 and spoke about the 7 hats an entrepreneur should wear when starting out. When people appreciate what you write, they will quickly look up who you are and see what you do. Hundreds of people came to the site to try out our product after the article was published live. Till date, I write a lot, not to mention my book ‘The SaaS Edge’ that was published early this year. Who would have thought that writing plays a key role in growing a software business?</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Finally, we hit the 100 customer mark in September 2008.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>None of the above would have worked had we not started with a simple product and evolved it over the last few years. It was important that DeskAway solved a problem that the the customer cared about. Working hard to get noticed would bring in the curious Jims, but a solid product would convert them into happy-to-be-paying Jennys.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>via <a href="http://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-19/How_to_get_your_SaaS_business_its_first_100_customers.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">informationweek.in</a></p>
Answering Emails2011-08-22T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/should-a-startup-ceo-participate-in-customer-service/<p>Initially, absolutely. As the company grows this needs to be delegated out.</p>
<p>Back in 2008 I used to handle all incoming support and customer service mails. Today, our Support Ninja handles all tickets on Zendesk. Sometimes I feel I should jump back into <a href="http://blog.snapengage.com/2011/08/5-reasons-why-startup-ceo-should-answer-support-emails/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">answering</a> support queries. A part of me says that I have more important things to take care of and getting email notifications for support queries is a huge huge distraction! Besides, a simple faq query need not wait getting answered if I am busy. I should not be the bottleneck. It should be picked up and answered by anyone in the team (this would be my ideal scenario of democratizing the support process).</p>
<p>Support queries can come at any time of the day when you are a SaaS provider. Since I might be doing something more important (UI, Analytics, Marketing, Partnerships etc.) we have decided that any and every ticket is answered by the Ninja. Most of the tickets are generic questions, how-tos, bugs, please give me a discount, billing related queries. These are things that are easily delegated between our Support Ninja and Accounts Genie. Anything outside of this domain gets filtered to me. I have asked them to keep me in the loop with marketing, partnership queries, larger problems, pissed off users and happy customers. Feature requests get put in a master list which I am kept up to date.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://getsatisfaction.com/deskaway" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GetSatisfaction</a> customer forum is very active. I get an email whenever someone posts a new message (or a comment). If its not urgent I tend to reply 2–3 times a week. Others in the team participate if they can get to the post sooner.</p>
<p>As a startup CEO how do you handle customer support?</p>
Success2011-06-23T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/success/<p>Moving into a bigger office meant you were successful. Driving a bigger car meant you were successful. Having more employees meant you were successful. You could earn a lot but still be a slave to your work.</p>
<p>Today, the currency of a success is having free time. Time to take a trip. Time to spend time with family and friends. Time to take a nap in the afternoon. Time to do whatever you desire and whenever you desire it. That is the true power of a successful person and this is what you should strive for. The rest will follow.</p>
Code of Conduct for SaaS Companies2011-06-21T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/code-of-conduct-for-saas-companies/<p>SaaS companies sell to the invisible. Hence, it becomes even more challenging to create an exceptional experience for their website visitors and customers. The vision for this Code of Conduct (CoC) is for companies to play by a set of standards so that they can delight their prospects/ customers and create a better conversion rate to grow their business.</p>
<p><strong>Instant Signup</strong><br />
You should be able to come to our site and sign up instantly and try out the software. You will never have to fill out a form to contact sales.</p>
<p><strong>Online Payments</strong><br />
A positive trial will allow you to subscribe to one of the paying plans. You can pay online through a credit card and once successful, you will be taken to you activated paid account immediately.</p>
<p><strong>SSL Encryption</strong><br />
We take security seriously and any traffic to and from your computer to our server is encrypted using atleast 256-bit encryption. As proof you can see the ‘lock’ symbol on your browser’s location bar when you visit any of our secure pages.</p>
<p><strong>Clear Pricing</strong><br />
We are transparent in our prices and plans and list out what you get when you subscribe to any of our plans. We even mention if we have a free plan to get started.</p>
<p><strong>Feature/ Tour</strong><br />
Even before your try our software you can see a range of screenshots on what you can expect when you signup. A tour will present our value proposition and benefit to your business.</p>
<p><strong>Customer Casestudies</strong><br />
We wouldn’t be in business without our customers. See how others have benefited from using our software by reading their stories.</p>
<p><strong>System Status</strong><br />
We are committed maximum uptime of our software. Hence, we have made this information public to let you know our server’s past performance and downtime (if any).</p>
<p><strong>Active Blog</strong><br />
In a virtual world where we don’t even meet our customers clear communication is becoming important. We write our candid thoughts on our blog and keep an open discussion for all our visitors.</p>
<p><strong>Export Data</strong><br />
As a customer you own your data on our servers and are free to take a backup of it at any given time.</p>
<p><strong>Help/ Support</strong><br />
We have a robust online help section with videos, forums, faqs so that you can self-help yourself if you get stuck. Our dedicated support email will always be open if you wish to contact us with your queries and we’d be happy to email you within 24 hours.</p>
Key Takeaways - The Angry Birds Story2011-05-03T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/key-takeaways-the-angry-birds-story/<p>I just completed reading a rather long article on ‘<a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/how-rovio-made-angry-birds-a-winner?page=all" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How Rovio made Angry Birds a Winner</a>’. Amazing story! If you have the time then do go through it. For the busy, here are key takeaways…</p>
<p><strong>Disney 2.0</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>It went straight to the top of <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/06/mac-app-store-opens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the new Mac App Store in January</a>, selling 150,000 copies in its first week. Sixty thousand <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/competitions/2011/angry-birds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Angry Birds</em> soft toys</a> have been sold. In January, the trailer for the new <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7gIpfrQdAI" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Angry Birds Rio</em></a> racked up 500,000 YouTube views in a weekend; on official videos alone, <em>Angry Birds</em> has had 27 million total views. In total, the “brand” has taken more than €50 million: not bad for a game that cost €100,000 to make.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Patience…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Both Heds know the value of patience: the overnight success of <em>Angry Birds</em> took eight years. Mikael and Niklas had been thinking about video games for long before that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Leverage a platform…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rather than negotiating individually with mobile manufactures and carriers, game developers could now reach an audience of millions through a single company, Apple. In a stroke, it solved the problem of distribution that had hindered Rovio.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Persistence…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We felt we had done our best game so far.” <em>Angry Birds</em> was Rovio’s 52nd title.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Find and conquer a small nice/market first…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We realised very early on it would be tough to break those markets. So we tried to get a following in the smaller nations,” says Matt Wilson, head of marketing. It took only a few hundred purchases to get the game to number one in the Finnish App Store. The same went for Sweden and Denmark, then Greece and the Czech Republic.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Find an influencer…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>But they built a way in to the larger app stores, putting the game out through Chillingo, an independent publisher which had been successful with several titles and had a good relationship with Apple. “Once we could prove that we had got up in these different stores, then didn’t fall,” says Wilson, “we went to Apple with Chillingo and said, ‘We’ve got something here.’”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Simplicity rules and constantly reward your users…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s also incredibly simple,” says Griffiths. “If it were too complicated, people wouldn’t persist. Addictions in the true sense are about constant rewards. I’ve never met anyone addicted to a bi-weekly national lottery, because there’s only two chances a week. On a slot machine, when you can gamble 30 times a minute, that’s very rewarding. On a game like <em>Angry Birds</em>, it’s every few seconds.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Not bad for the initial capital…</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the initial outlay of €100,000 (the company has since invested more), Rovio has had 20 million paid downloads for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and 20 million ad-supported downloads on Android.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Read the entire story — <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/how-rovio-made-angry-birds-a-winner?page=all" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How Rovio made Angry Birds a Winner</a></p>
Startup Dad2011-04-04T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/startup-dad/<p>I have a 4.5 month-old daughter and she has taught me a few thing over the last few months. A lots changed after her arrival but the best part is that I feel I am being much more productive as well as spending time with the family.</p>
<p>Her schedule is still a bit erratic so waking up once or twice a night is normal for now. Though, I finally roll out of bed around 6:30am and spend time with her till about 8am (sometimes it is earlier). Between this time I check my mail and social updates (Twitter/ Facebook) on my iPhone. It is a quick way to filter out stuff and keep the emails that I want to get to later. Before she arrived I would spend endless hours on social networks, check my mail quite a few times a day and feel compel to reply immediately. <em><strong>Dad, nothing is that urgent as you make it out to be.</strong></em></p>
<p>Once she is back in bed around 8am I log on and get some work done before I get ready and head to the office around 10:30am. My office time is reserved for the important stuff — talking to the developers, discussing issues, checking-in to see how our accounts are doing, planning our next move, discussing analytics and getting updates from the team. Earlier, I would work on multiple things and have a hard time prioritizing since in a startup there is a butt-load that needs to be done and somehow everything seems important. <em><strong>Dad, why don’t you prioritize more strictly and only get 1–2 things accomplished in the day. Why don’t you ask yourself — “what accomplishment will make me happy at the end of the day?”</strong></em></p>
<p>I am back home in the evening anytime between 6–7pm and hang out with her till she is off to bed anytime between 9–11pm. Sometimes if she is napping I either catch up with the others in the family or fire up the iPad to get some reading done. Other times we either meet friends or just catch up on a movie at home. We rarely stay out late at night anymore. <em><strong>Dad, being disciplined about your time is great. This way your energy levels will be up and you can spend more time with me.</strong></em></p>
<p>I am spending less time ‘in’ my business and probably spending more time ‘on’ it. Though I sometimes do feel guilty of ‘working’ less. Maybe I am working smarter since I don’t want to sacrifice family time for being on the Web.</p>
<p>Besides the above here are a few additional behavioural changes that might help you if you are nurturing two babies…</p>
<p><strong>Reading Articles:</strong> use <a href="http://www.instapaper.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instapaper</a> to save all articles that you come across or friends send you. Then, when you have time go through them. You don’t have to read everything. Just the ones that matter. You won’t fail if you miss out on a few.</p>
<p><strong>Facebook/ Twitter</strong>: good between tasks or while you are traveling. Unless you are a social media marketer, I don’t see why you would want to spend a cummulative time of more than 30 minutes daily.</p>
<p><strong>Watching startup videos</strong>: nurturing a business means learning from others. Mind you, there is a ton of stuff out there that promise to make you smarter. I came across Mixergy and thought “wow, I could learn from others”. In the end, I just didn’t have time to sit through the videos — which were btw, amazing. What I do now is to go through the RSS feed for Mixergy and save videos to <a href="http://www.radbox.me/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Radbox</a> for later viewing. I’ll check them out maybe on a flight or something. But for now, not viewing them is not going to make me dummer.</p>
<p><strong>Emails</strong>: I am still guilty of checking my emails multiple times a day and more so often on my phone. My travel time to the office is 20 minutes so I try to get most of the emails knocked out before I reach the office. I don’t care about zero inbox anymore as long as work get done, I have replied to important mails and stuff has been delegated. Maybe, on a weekend I will sit with a beer and empty out the inbox.</p>
Killer Startups From India2011-03-25T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/reasons-you-will-see-killer-web-startups-from-india-soon/<p>We put the baby to sleep after her morning feed and my brain went back to thinking about all things web. My wife and me had a brief discussion on how soon before we see a wave of killer web startups from India. Some of the things that came to our mind were…</p>
<p><strong>1. It’s just the beginning</strong></p>
<p>The U.S. has always been 3–5 years ahead of us when it comes to the Internet. We are just beginning to see the rise of Internet startups here.</p>
<p>This is evident when there is no decent payment gateway that offers subscription billing — crucial component in providing on-demand services via the cloud automatically!</p>
<p><strong>2. Broadband Penetration</strong></p>
<p>If the chip in your computer did not evolve then we would be still stuck with Windows 98! Similarly, if people (your consumers) don’t have a basic broadband connection then they are not going to be wanting to use better, faster and newer apps. Innovation sparks a certain kind of demand for newer and better solutions/ideas. Today, broadband connections are easier to get and are far more reliable than 5 years back (when we moved back from the U.S. to India).</p>
<p><strong>3. Aesthetics</strong></p>
<p>We need to concentrate on attention to detail and good-looking front-facing websites. Design is as important as development. Developing code is a commodity here and hence every developer feels he can start a web business. I see startups think about how the end-user will use their site and what he/she will feel at every click. Developers have started to care about aesthetics.</p>
<p><strong>4. Marketing</strong></p>
<p>We have always been a service-oriented economy. Our programmers have produced code for other people — evident from the fact that you don’t see many ads from Indian tech companies (besides hiring). Tech startups are slowly realizing the potential of telling a story, invoking a feeling and spreading their message.</p>
<p><strong>5. Risk Averse</strong></p>
<p>We have been a very risk-averse society. Indian parents (and even grand-parents) want their kids to get a good education and a job from a MNC. Working in a startup was not cool and taking a risk meant that you might not get married if you don’t show your to-be in-laws that you are not ‘settled’ yet. This is changing with the new generation being independent and explorers.</p>
<p>Watch this space as a lot is going to change in the next 3–5 years — thanks to the Cloud!</p>
Before Social Media2011-03-23T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/before-social-media/<p>The other day I was having a conversation with a gentlemen at a nearby coffee shop and it led to him asking me as to how companies marketed their services/product before ‘social media’ kicked in. Was it harder or longer to get the message across?</p>
<p>I told him of a company I know that started at my <a href="https://www.unc.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">university</a> in 2002, has just 1 web product and now is a plus $20 million company. I know that they did heavy online marketing back in the days. This was before Facebook, Twitter etc.</p>
<p>I pondered his question for a bit and then realized that things hadn’t changed. Online marketing was still the same — SEO, SEM, Banner Advertising, Email Marketing, Directory Listing, Blogging and Affiliate Marketing. The goal is still to drive maximum traffic to the site. Content is still king. You still need to work on creating remarkable content and deliver it through these channels. What has changed is the transportation of content — social media is a 2-way transport channel/ medium where conversations happen (as more and more people are flocking online) — think of it as a big party hall where people are talking to each other but its all digital. It doesn’t replace the other channels — it complements them and takes your message to more people.</p>
<p>Your content is still the more important piece of the puzzle.</p>
Ticket to SaaS2011-03-21T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/ticket-to-saas/<p>Over the weekend I had an interesting conversation with a developer who wanted to start a web biz and hopefully move away from custom web development. I think this is the trend I am seeing amongst developers. SaaS/ Cloud is hot, the tools are there to get something up and running quickly (and inexpensively) and most people want this to be their ticket from getting out of the service (web development, design etc.) business. I am happy that we are thinking this way. We need more world-class products. I thought I’d share my thoughts from my conversation as I think the following 2 points are really important for the transition to happen and it might help if you are caught in the middle…</p>
<p><strong>Charge Early</strong><br />
Say you have 5–10 companies using your beta app — it is easy to get this going since most of these would be either your current web development clients or friends/family. If you really want to measure the value of your app you need to make sure they pay for using your app. It could be anything — even Rs 100 a month. Just have them pay something for their use. When money exchanges hands it opens up new conversations and possibilities.</p>
<p>The next time you are getting a beta user on board tell them that they will have to pay for the app — Try it and see for yourself. The feedback you will get will be very real.</p>
<p><strong>Act As-If</strong> <em>(reminds me of the</em> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181984/quotes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>line</em></a> *by Ben Affleck in the movie Boiler Room)*Act as if you already own your dream SaaS company. Walk in to your prospects office like you already own your product and are on your way to have a ton of paying customers. Act as if you don’t really need them — in this case, no sucking up. Say no to customizations. If they know that you are into web dev then tell them that you are slowly phasing this out and concentrating on the product. Be confident of who you want to be. The SaaS app is also their ticket to saving time, cost or <insert your="" value="">.</insert></p>
<p>Just my 2 paisa.</p>
A Developer I Wouldn’t Hire2011-03-18T07:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/a-developer-i-wouldnt-hire/<p>Who codes for himself and not the product/ team.</p>
<p>Who never documents code.</p>
<p>Who cannot explain what he is working on — verbal or via email.</p>
<p>Who cannot explain the logic clearly before beginning to code.</p>
<p>Who is not acquainted with js, jquery, Ajax…</p>
<p>Who refuses to test his code.</p>
<p>Who doesn’t commit often to the repos.</p>
<p>Who doesn’t keep up with tech news, latest technologies etc. I once asked a developer if he knew what the ‘Cloud’ meant and he looked up.</p>
Your Idle Time2011-03-03T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/your-idle-time/<p>I have noticed the excessive addiction to “pretending to be busy” when on ‘idle time’ — the time you don’t have anything to do or are in the middle of things.</p>
<p>With the easy availability of tools it is easy to pretend to be doing work — that includes reading, tweeting, retweeting, liking etc.</p>
<p>It is like working out but not taking a breather between exercises. Blocking out part of the day to just sit and think, scribble something on paper and plan your (or your startups) next move is extremely important. This is the time when ideas happen, you get that ‘aha’ moment, you reflect on certain things, or you just stare at the road/garden/sea and blank out (could double up as a semi-meditative activity).</p>
<p>It is refreshing than reading another one of those "Valley" success stories or ways in which you can get more visitors to your site.</p>
<p>Try it and see for yourself. If you have already, then do let me and others know how NOT “seeming to be busy” helped you.</p>
Gmail’s Fiasco - It's Not Cloud Computing to Blame2011-03-02T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/gmails-fiasco-it-is-not-cloud-computing-to-blame/<p>Google’s latest fiasco of disabling/ resetting 150,000 Gmail accounts over the last week has once again started a barrage of <a href="http://techland.time.com/2011/03/01/gmail-backup/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trash-talking</a> articles on cloud computing and how putting your data out there is not a good way to run a business. I completely disagree. In the tech world, like it or not, SHIT HAPPENS! It used to happen before when you would get the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blue Screen of Death</a> (courtesy Microsoft Windows Family) but all you could do is to cry alone in your misery. You then would have to go running around like a headless-chicken to find someone who could fix your computer and salvage any data that could be retrieved. With the Cloud, at least that is shifted to the vendor who is more of an expert than you are at restoring your computer/ server.</p>
<p>The problems in technology are similar. You just hear about it more today because of social media and a lot of chatter online.</p>
<p>More importantly, it is important to see how fast the service provider (in this case Google) addressed and fixed the problem. Here is the official announcement from Google — <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/gmail-back-soon-for-everyone.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gmail back soon for everyone</a> — it is timely and shows how they are working on to restore the affected accounts. Here is the latest update on the <a href="http://www.google.com/appsstatus#rm=1&di=1&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apps Status Dashboard</a> which keeps you up to date with the restore process.</p>
<p>So, the next time you sign up for a Cloud service, remember, SHIT WILL HAPPEN.</p>
<p>On a side, I am assuming Cloud Backup services are going to have high conversion rates this week as they play on the fear mentality of consumers.</p>
Are You Playing in a Crowded Space?2011-02-28T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/are-you-playing-in-a-crowded-space/<p>People often tell me that we are playing in a crowded space — project collaboration. In my opinion, with globalization, anyone-can-build-anything in the Cloud, almost everyone today is playing in a crowded space whether it’s in mobile, web apps or desktop apps. There are tens of hundreds of apps for everything.</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing this game.</p>
<p>As for us, people often weigh one project collaboration product similar to the other since they might have similar features. Its true that all project collaboration tools have Projects, Milestones and Tasks. The difference is in the flavour of the product and service. There are multiple car companies each manufacturing a car — but their approach, design, user experience and brand is completely different. They can co-exist and prosper.</p>
<p>In my opinion it is ok to play in a crowded space as long as you are solving a problem using a set of principles that your users/customers understand and the target audience is large enough. It is absolutely OK to not invent something new but to take an existing process/service/app etc. and improve upon it.</p>
<p>I personally like mass-market products (project collaboration, helpdesk, email marketing, crm, analytics) that have a large market and can be fairly generic. There is so much you can do with them once you build your initial customer base.</p>
Small Businesses Rock2011-02-20T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/small-businesses-rock/<p>I have had two distinct experiences with large companies.</p>
<p>It all started when I did a short stint at IBM back in 2000. I was in my senior year at UNC Chapel Hill and working for IBM looked good on the resume not to mention that it paid almost $40 an hour!</p>
<p>In 2005, when I moved back to India my wife and I started a web design and development agency. Initially, most of our clients were small businesses but the thrill of banking a large company was a high. Late 2005 we pitched and successfully started designing and managing websites for big businesses in India. They certainly helped us get more business.</p>
<p>Though, looking back at the last 10 years I can honestly say that even though the money was good working for large companies (as an employee as well as an entrepreneur) I much enjoy working with small businesses. You get to work closely with their founders as opposed to highly paid job-hopping managers who sometimes really don’t value what you are trying to say. Decisions are made faster than you think compared to the long-drawn approval process within large businesses. In addition, it is fun to help small businesses grow and compete with the larger boys. There is just so much energy and enthusiasm to adapt to new ideas and creative inputs. There are less or no meetings and the relationship is largely informal.</p>
<p>Today, even at DeskAway, we are a small business serving other small businesses from all around the world. That is how I would want it to be even if it meant losing large clients who would demand our time for training, presentations, negotiations and a lot of sucking up…and certainly don’t see ourselves selling enterprise software with 6 month sales cycles — how boring!</p>
<p>Small businesses rock!</p>
Simple Software2011-02-15T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/thoughts-on-simplicity/<p>Being a simple software in the web world helps with user adoption. However, it does backfire sometimes. “If it is simple then why should I pay for it? My uncle’s son can build a similar simple app. Something so simple might not be as powerful...”</p>
<p>There is a group of people that tend to put a premium and pay for complicated, complex and very feature-rich, bloated software.</p>
<p>Then again, there is an art to keeping things simple, easy to use and less complicated. Not only the product but also peppering simplicity in all your communication and user experiences.</p>
<p>In today’s information-rich, busy, digitally-noisy world, the one way you can stand out is by being simple, hassle-free and smooth to work with.</p>
Starting a Web Product Company From India?2011-02-14T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/starting-a-web-product-company-from-india/<p><em>Update March 4, 2011: This post was featured in</em> <a href="http://www.pluggd.in/how-to-build-an-internet-product-business-from-india-297/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Pluggd.in</em></a>* — one of the top blogs on technology and startups in India.*</p>
<p>I recently (see my slides below) gave a talk at iWeekend Mumbai (IIT Campus) on the 10 things one should look out for when building a product company. While going through my notes I realized I had some additional stuff that I had jotted down. So, here is all of my brain-dump (including the stuff on the slides)…</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Keep scalability and cost efficiency in mind. Products are highly scalable but also expensive and time consuming to build and market.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Most programmers you will meet will be veterans of the service industry. Watch out. Hiring for a product company needs a shift in thinking. In addition, I always believe in hiring for attitude.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Try to keep a slim team initially. Get ready to wear multiple hats — development, design, marketing and support.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Do not use offline strategies to build an online business. Marketing offline will increase the cost of customer acquisition. Selling SaaS to Indian companies will include multiple demos, presentations and negotiations. You need to evaluate if that is worth the cost of the product that you are selling. Instead focus on online marketing strategies — SEO, blogs, email marketing, social media, forums, q&a sites etc.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Startups are hungry for attention and reviews. People know that and take advantage of this. Avoid startup events that will ask you to pay money to participate and lure you to meeting tens of VC’s. That is BS. Instead use that money for product development or customer acquisition.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Build your initial user base quickly. Give free accounts and see how people use your product. Get early feedback and iterate.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Focus on the minimal viable product that does a couple of things well. Don’t let featuritis get to you.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Charge early and try to break-even or get profitable. There is lot to learn when people won’t pay for your product.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Get quotes, testimonials and case studies from initial paying customers. This early credibility will go a long way to get others interested in your product and might just increase the conversion rate on your website. People like to know that others have liked your site and are using it.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Build an affiliate program. Instead of one to one, think one to many. Most brick and mortar companies have gotten big by leveraging ‘partners’ or ‘resellers’. The same applies to an online business.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Get noticed early. Get reviewed in blogs. This is one of the best ways to spread the word.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Create a clean and slick website. Back when I was in the web design business there was a stat which said that people take 1/20th of a second to make a decision about the site they are on. Make sure the initial user experience is a good one.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>In the iPhone/iPad era an ugly looking/feeling app is not going to cut it. Make sure your user interface is crisp. People will like your product if it feels good. This includes the speed of your app and site.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Customers buy your vision and not what you are selling. There are tons of others who are selling the same thing as you. What you need to do is to fix your vision and truly understand why you are in business.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Measure metrics and understand analytics. Everything on the web is measurable. Do this weekly. Create various spreadsheets to track traffic, engagement, visitor to trial, trial to paid, churn, traffic sources etc.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Paid online marketing is expensive. Instead, spread the word via social media. It is much more personal and effective.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Have someone with above average English writing skills. You will need an online community manager, customer service rep and someone who can maintain your website and blog. Broken English doesn’t cut it anymore.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lastly, don’t get too caught up in code. Remember, you are building a business, not just a product.</p>
</li>
</ul>
What Goes Into Writing a Book2011-01-27T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/what-goes-into-writing-a-book/<p>After I published the ‘How I managed running a startup and writing a book’ blog 10 days ago, a couple of people asked me what exactly goes into writing a book. Yesterday, being a holiday (Republic Day in India) I thought of penning down my thoughts early in the morning. Hope you find it helpful if you are onto writing something…</p>
<p><strong>Theme</strong><br />
You have to nail the theme and scope of the book before you start to do anything. Imagine your book as a business — would you start a business not knowing what services you are going to provide and what you want to achieve? Initially, with so many ideas bouncing around in my head, I had trouble zeroing in on a theme for the book. I wrote down all possible ideas/themes and then asked myself — ‘what do I really want to convey to my audience that could help them with their business’?</p>
<p><em>The main theme of the book will revolve around how businesses can harness the power of Software As A Service (SaaS), Web 2.0 and on-demand computing to lower cost, increase efficiency and productivity.</em></p>
<p><strong>Audience</strong><br />
You wouldn’t start a business without knowing whom you are selling to. Having a clear idea of your audience will help you set the tone of the chapters. I knew I was not writing a technical book and hence was addressing non-technical entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals — these people would prefer an easy to read book with little or no technical jargon (they have enough jargon at their workplace). These people have heard of Web 2.0, Social Media, Cloud Computing, SaaS but really don’t know how to use them in their business. This book is going to be for them.</p>
<p><em>This book should be easy to read for people on a trans-atlantic flight</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Build The Plan</strong><br />
Once you have the theme in place you need to plan out the sections and how each section would be broken down into chapters. Your sections/chapters may/will change a bit as you go along but at this stage you need to have an idea of the ‘skeleton’ of the book. Something like a blueprint architects make before building a home.</p>
<p><em>Imagine this as a game — you need to get to all of those sections before getting your book printed.</em></p>
<p><strong>Draft</strong>s<br />
Since I was familiar with most of my topics (due to my experience being in the web world and experience with <a href="http://www.deskaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeskAway</a>) I decided to write my first draft without any research. This was more of a mind dump. I started writing a couple of hours every day and spent more time over the weekends. I only wrote when I was charged up to put down some thoughts. I didn’t force myself to write even if it meant that I wouldn’t write for a few days in a row. Eventually after a few months, I had my first draft ready.</p>
<p>For every piece of content that needed backing I had left a note to myself. I wasn’t worried about filling in facts/numbers/stats — they were easier to fill later on. I also made a note wherever I thought it would be interesting to fill in a case study or a quote.</p>
<p>At this time I had created several projects in DeskAway and assigned some research work to a couple of people who were helping me with collecting statistics and facts simultaneously.</p>
<p><strong>Incremental Improvement</strong><br />
I read and re-read what I had written and made changes to anything that felt out of sync. It is amazing how editing makes you re-think about what you have written and helps you improve upon your earlier version. Today, I have gotten used to reading my writing (blog, website, newsletter or anything other type of communication) at least a few times over a couple of days.</p>
<p><strong>Research</strong><br />
Even with the Web, getting the right examples, numbers, facts was not easy. Google search often brought articles back from 2001–2002 which I couldn’t use. Unless I was looking for historical data, I only used facts from articles within the last year. I bookmarked my research using delicious.</p>
<p>I could get some facts from Gartner, Frost & Sullivan, Springboard and Forrester — but most of their research is paid. I stuck to well-known sites like TechCrunch, Mashable, Time, Wikipedia, NYTimes, USAToday, ZDNet, BusinessWeek, InfoWorld, Wired etc. I was hesitant to take any data off personal blogs — if I did find any I would do a search to see if it had a credible source.</p>
<p><strong>Getting Case studies</strong><br />
I thought of getting case studies from a list of about 50 people from around the world whom I had shortlisted. These people were categorized in a spreadsheet as ‘Web 2.0 Experts’, ‘Consumers of Web 2.0/ Social Media — Business Owners’, ‘SaaS Founders/ Experts’ and ‘Venture Capitalists’.</p>
<p>I collected their email addresses and sent them an email telling them what I was working on and if they could help. About 95% of the people got back to me within a week with a willingness to answer a few questions. I set up email interviews and Skype calls over the next month. I updated the spreadsheet with color codes — Grey — Not responded, Red — Not Interested, Orange — Waiting for response, Green — Got response.</p>
<p>I kept adding to this list as I discovered interesting people on Twitter/ Web during the rest of the months that I was writing. A quick reply on Twitter was so much easier sometimes than getting in touch through traditional means.</p>
<p><strong>Peppering</strong><br />
Getting the above information was amazing since it gave me multi-dimensional perspective on the book. It seemed that my manuscript was going to have multiple voices. In addition, I was strengthening my case and re-enforcing my theme. It was on my third draft that I peppered my chapters with case studies and quotes.</p>
<p><strong>Visuals</strong><br />
One weekend I sat and sketched out 20 simple illustrations that could explain 20 concepts visually. This was given to my web designer who sent me back jpeg files that I could include within all my chapters.</p>
<p><strong>Updates</strong><br />
I updated statistics atleast 3–4 times and once just before I sent the manuscript to my publishers. At one point my stats read that Twitter daily tweets were in the range of 16 million whereas at the time of my last update it had gone up to 50–60 million per day. Such is the fast-paced life on the Web.</p>
<p>The project was huge with a lot of minor details and the only way (looking back) I completed it was because of meticulous planning and getting the bigger picture in front of me early on. Doesn’t that seem like a mini-snapshot taken from a book call ‘life’? :)</p>
How I Managed Running a Startup & Writing a Book2011-01-13T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2011/how-i-managed-running-a-startup-and-writing-a-book/<p>A chance meeting at the Cricket Club of India (popularly known as the CCI club) bar in late 2008 led to this nascent idea turning into something concrete…</p>
<p>This is where I first met my publishers — <a href="http://www.tatamcgrawhill.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tata McGraw-Hill</a>. We started a conversation dating back to my move from the U.S. back to India in 2005, starting <a href="http://www.deskaway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeskAway</a> in late 2007 and being extremely passionate and optimistic about Software As A Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing in India — especially how everything is moving online and why/how business owners/ professionals can leverage online tools & techniques to gain competitive advantage. We ended up mutually agreeing a need for a book on Web 2.0 and SaaS (btw, this is the first book on SaaS from India).</p>
<p>After corresponding with them for the next few months, they finally liked my idea of having a non-technical book targeted towards business owners and taking them through a journey from Web 2.0 to Enterprise 2.0 and how software today is considered sexy and a must-have for every business. Most importantly, as the new generation grows up and joins the workforce, they will want software/tools that looks and feels like Facebook — not something that they need to install or configure on their computers or servers.</p>
<p>This chance meeting propelled me on a journey that I had never traveled before — especially, as I was already on a journey of growing my first startup baby, DeskAway. Initially, it felt like running 2 startups — overwhelming, demanding and a massive challenge. Today, as an author, I look back and have identified some of the things I might have done that helped me manage running a startup and writing a book better — these are lessons that will work for anyone juggling multiple projects…</p>
<p><strong>Block time</strong><br />
I guess we all agree with this cliche — You can achieve anything if you can manage your time well. Though this is easier said than done, good and honest time management was key while I shifted from business stuff to book research and writing. I set aside a couple of hours each day and about 6–8 hours on weekends initially so I could gather my thoughts, pen down ideas and the plan for the book.</p>
<p><strong>Office is not a place to work</strong><br />
Other people have echoed this comment too. Office, by no means will give you a quite place to work. There are just too many distractions and interruptions. I worked in the office when I had to work on DeskAway and rushed off to either a coffee shop (you need to find a quiet one though in Mumbai city e.g. <a href="http://www.kgcafe.in/about.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kala Ghoda Cafe</a>), Willingdon Sports Club or home when I worked on the book.</p>
<p><strong>Set expectations</strong><br />
Convey to your team why you need to leave the office early and why you won’t be coming 1 day a week. You will be suprised with the increase in productivity a conversation can generate.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t try to do everything — get people to help you</strong><br />
Getting stuff researched for the book requires a lot of parellel activities — planning the chapter content, getting facts, examples and casestudies. Instead of me doing everything, a couple of members from DeskAway worked in parellel — I involved them to get me statistics, interesting examples from other companies (a few hours a week).</p>
<p><strong>Delegate</strong><br />
Knowing my time was limited I was forced to delegate more stuff to my team. I would make a list of things I was doing and then check if it made sense to have someone else replace me. It is tough letting go of something that you are used to doing but after a few days you wonder why you hadn’t let go of it in the first place. A few things that I let go were answering simple support requests, getting our monthly newsletter out, blogging about where we were getting reviewed and helping out with account management (upgrades, downgrades, cancels). Today, thanks to my letting go, we have built processes that are running smoothly — for some, we have built software that has completely automated the task.</p>
<p><strong>Log-off from email</strong><br />
Email is a huge distraction when you want to get actual work. It is better to log-off completely from email and other notification based programs. Bottomline, you can’t multi-task when you need to think.</p>
<p><strong>Break it down</strong><br />
A large task or a project seems overwhelming and even daunting at first. Take baby steps and gain some traction. Break the project down into sections and sub-sections and work on a small part to which you can tag realistic and achievable goals. Knowing that you have progressed even a little is a huge confidence booster.</p>
<p><strong>Make a simple plan</strong><br />
I know its hard to stick to a plan when you have other things going but you need to put something down on paper to know when you are going to work on the stuff that you have broken down into sub-sections. I had a weekly plan for a few months in order to complete the first draft of the book. Some people have daily plans or to-do items. It help when things are organized and you have a bigger picture to work towards.</p>
<p><strong>Use technology</strong><br />
I used a combination of Google Apps, Google Docs/ Spreadsheets, Dropbox, Delicious and DeskAway. Looking back, it would have been good to use Evernote too to clip interesting snippets on sites that I came across. Anything that can help automate is a time saver and should be leveraged!</p>
<p><strong>Q&A onTwitter & Facebook</strong><br />
Social networks are a beautiful way to get your questions answered or even ask for opinions or suggestions. There a lot of smart people out there who you can get in touch with now. I would often post on <a href="http://twitter.com/sahilparikh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a> and get a few replies within minutes. I am getting more inclined towards Twitter to answer some of my questions and getting fresh results that doing a Google Search and getting presented with stuff dated a few years old — in technology, a few years is a decade!</p>
<p><strong>Say no to unnessary meetings</strong><br />
Luckily, my business doesn’t need me to go out, cajole and suck up to clients. Hence, I saved a ton of travel and wait time. I probably would have been too pooped to write if I was traveling around the country. If email wasn’t good enough I would get on <a href="http://www.skype.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Skype</a> and talk to people. One meeting traversing through the crazy Mumbai city traffic can cost you half a day!</p>
<p><strong>Listen to music</strong><br />
Music makes me zoned-in. I prefer using headphones and like listening to electronica/ house (anything upbeat without vocals) while I am writing. People tend not to distract someone who is wearing headphones and working on a laptop :-)</p>
<p><strong>Stress buster & sports</strong><br />
You can’t be workingor being in front of the computer all day. I then start to feel like a zombie. Play a sport, take a short vacation or even do an outdoor activity to rejuvenate yourself. I played tennis about 3–4 times a week and took a short vacation every 4–5 months. They say that taking a break from something helps you concentrate better when you get to it again (this does not include interruptions). It’s so true.</p>
<p>After about 1.5 years, ‘The SaaS Edge’ is finally published. It will be hitting the bookstores (<a href="http://www.crossword.in/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crosswords</a>, Landmark etc.) anytime soon. I have created a Facebook page that will include announcements, reviews, my thoughts (like this one), and some web stuff related to the book — <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thesaasedge" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.facebook.com/thesaasedge</a>. Feel free to ask me any questions related to the book, SaaS, Cloud Computing, online tools and how it can help your business etc. Hope to interact with you and good luck with what you are working on!</p>
Knowledge Vapor2010-12-05T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2010/one-way-to-shield-your-business-from-knowledge-vapor/<p>While casually chatting yesterday at <a href="http://blog.seedcamp.com/2010/11/seedcamp-mumbai-finalists-announced.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seedcamp</a> Mumbai, Ankit of Instablogs made a valid point — today, companies need automation and knowledge management software even more. I asked him why and he said because the churn rate for employees is pretty high compared to what it was back in the days. Loyalty is very low. People come and go.</p>
<p>I agreed after pondering on this statement for a while.</p>
<p>When people come and go they take with them knowledge which technically should be a part of the company. Knowledge is in the form of business communications, discovered strategies, tricks, common business process know-how etc. When these things are a part of a system (a web-based app that is rolled out) it makes learning and re-learning much easier when new people join your enterprise. It helps makes your business more “intelligent”!</p>
<p>Use this argument to sell your app the next time you are faced with a stuck-up manager.</p>
90 Days2010-11-10T08:00:00Zhttps://www.sahilparikh.com/posts/2010/you-have-only-90-days-to-live/<p>Caught your attention, right? Well, I often think about (especially after reading <a href="http://www.thelastlecture.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Last Lecture</a>) what would be different if I really had 3 months to live. How would I think differently? What would I do differently? And above all, how would I spend my last 90 days? It is amazing how we take life for granted and assume we have all the time in the world to do the things. But, in reality the end could be anytime. No one really knows and once you start thinking about it it really makes you introspect and think. I use it as a sort of an exercise to get my priorities right.</p>
<p>Spending time with family and friends is most important. More than even work. When you have limited time work will be secondary.</p>
<p>Work on something that is meaningful. Let that run on its own and not be dependent on you. Let your work make a difference to other people whether or not you are around. What you are doing is more important than who is doing it.</p>
<p>Start fulfilling your dreams rather than putting it off for a future date. If you love to travel then go for it. Doing whatever that will make you happy is living. All work and no play is just not worth it — not even for start-up entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>The clock is ticking...</p>