Ankur Warikoo

I have shut down my 100 crores course business. And converted it into a subscription! Between making more money and helping more people - the choice was super clear to me! WebVeda now gives access to ALL courses, for the price of one course. As a WebVeda member you will get: - ALL courses, present and future (we add a course every day, every week, every month) - An exclusive members-only community - Personalized jobs based on your skills
 100% refund policy, as always. Skills. Community. Jobs. Growth as a subscription.

All 5 lakh existing WebVeda students have been upgraded to the membership for FREE. I want every person in this country with a phone and an internet connection to have the same learning, networking and job opportunities in life as someone born into privilege. Where they were born, how much they earn, what language they speak - none of such things should ever matter.

Led by my experience launching Groupon in India, I came up with the TMT model to understand the Indian consumer. Before any purchase decision, the consumer goes through a mental checklist. How do I see this product - when it comes to my Time, Money and Trust. For this product segment, do I have Time or not? Do I have money or not? Do I have trust or not? If you take the quintessential Indian consumer, they have time on their hands, not a lot of money on their hands and they lack trust by default. Which then explains why they will happily trade their time to save money. They will visit multiple places before finalizing one. They will negotiate. They will wait for the sale. Compare that to the quintessential developed economy consumer. They do not have a lot of time on their hands. They have money. They trust (if not the person, then the system). Which then explains why they will happily trade their money for time. They will pay for surge pricing. They will pay for reservations. They will pay a premium for predictable outcomes. Whether one has time or not, money or not, trust or not - generates 8 buckets. And each consumer lies in either of the 8 buckets, for each product category. They will behave differently when it comes to buying a phone vs paying for their kid's education. It is not a complete model. But it is a great starting point.

My team @wariCrew's worst expensive purchases :))) What are yours?

In 2006, I watched Rang De Basanti. Felt my life was looking worthless. I had lived a selfish life so far. Nothing for the nation. Nothing for the larger good. A few years later, I watched The Social Network. The film made me feel miserable about my life. I had lived a failed life so far. Nothing to show. Nothing achieved. Two very different films. Two very different measures of what a life should amount to. One film left me feeling that I wasn't doing enough with my life. Another could leave me feeling exactly the same way, for a completely different reason. And that's the thing about movies. We are rarely watching their story. More often than not, we are watching our story, through theirs. Some people leave the cinema discussing the acting. Some people leave the cinema with a performance review.

Thursday: Between 9pm-1030pm. Friday: Before 10am. Saturday: Between 12pm-2pm. Sunday: unavailable. Long before smart scheduling, this is what my usual response would be to anyone seeking my time, in 2006/2007. It was my first job in consulting. Days were busy. And I was thrilled. I grew up believing that a choked calendar meant a successful life. Moving from one context to another was the mark of a man that will eventually make it, if not already. I lived with that belief for nearly 15 years. Until one day, when I didn't believe in it anymore. So recently when someone asked me what big belief of mine have I changed about myself or the world - I knew the answer. "For the longest time I felt being busy was the only mark of success. Today, I know that isn't true." And this isn't because I have purposefully designed a life that is not busy anymore. It is because my definition of success has changed. And that's the big lesson. What we think is success can change. Will change. Should change. Giving yourself this freedom is what the world calls experience.

Happy Diwali 🪔

My team @wariCrew most expensive purchases :))

Everyone is jealous of your destination. No one is jealous of your journey. The journey is only yours to enjoy. Yours to suffer. Yours to experience.

Finally 🔥🎉👏 Next up: Communication Critical thinking Entrepreneurial mindset (not entrepreneurship)

How we handle fights as a couple :))

Career advice that I wish someone gave me when I was in my 20s. The best time to change your job is when you're performing at your best - not when you're desperate to leave. Don't wait until your manager treats you badly, your appraisal goes wrong, or your workplace becomes toxic. When your work is valued, you're delivering results, and your skills are in demand, you have more leverage to explore better opportunities. Make your next career move from a position of strength, not weakness.

Should you tell your parents how much you earn? There’s a case for yes. They raised you, supported you, and may have every reason to know. But there’s another side. Once they know your salary, expectations can change - a bigger house, a car, a trip, the marriage, kids! So instead of telling them exactly how much you earn, you could tell them what your money can do for them. “I can contribute ₹X towards the house.” “we can afford this trip.” “I can cover this EMI.” Tell them what your money can do, not necessarily how much you make. A counterpoint of view - do you agree?

A startup with 100 feature requests is a good place to be. It means people care enough to want the product to be fixed/improved. Don't be bogged down.

This, right there, is the most wonderfully constructed piece of art, woven with words!

I was angry with a friend. I knew it was a stupid reason. I knew it wasn't her fault. I was still angry. These are three separate facts. Knowing the first two had done surprisingly little to change the third. It is a strange thing - our emotions, no? The anger can be ours. The impatience can be ours. The irritation can be ours. Yet Someone else has to experience it. It is the most baffling part about being a human where we feel offended when people don’t want to carry the burden of our emotions.

A file called final_v7 has the most honest relationship with uncertainty :)))

During my time in the US, my roommate and I bought a hair-cutting machine. Because a hair cut at a salon costed $11. The hair-cutting machine was for $8. He gave me a Sadhana cut. That is one of the things I remember about those two years. Along with the fact that he made me a birthday cake only two weeks after we had become roommates. Cake-making became something we did. So did shopping at the supermart, making lists and working out our monthly budgets. Thursday nights were pizza and FRIENDS. Followed by Cheaters (yeah, there was a reality show called cheaters. Don't ask!). My first year in the US had been forgettable. Living with him changed the second year. We shared our lives. Had dinner. Watched television. Talked about life. Understood each other. When I left the US, leaving his company was one of the hardest parts. There is so much I can say about that period. The degree. The decisions. Leaving. Coming back. All the things that make it sound like a chapter with a proper title. But the things I want to put inside that chapter are so ordinary. A shopping list. A monthly budget. A cake made by someone who had known me for two weeks. A Thursday evening with no achievement attached to it. And an extremely unfortunate haircut. This is life. The big things define the chapter title. The small things write the chapter.

56 out of 80 in economics. That was enough for me to want to leave ISB in June 2005. I thought I had made a terrible start. Here I was at ISB, wanting to change my life, after dropping out of a PhD. And here was my academic performance telling me that I was not going to make it! I missed home. I wanted to give up. The thought of going through all this and ending up a loser again was too much. In the same month, I was also sharing my advice with a prospective applicant on how to get into ISB. At considerable length. I had opinions on essays. Interviews. How to present yourself. Why someone with less work experience could still get in. The advice was quite confident. Meanwhile, economics had given me 56. Both these people were me. In the same month. At the same college. One hoping the rest of the class had also done badly. The other explaining self-belief to people who wanted to join the class. I would love to arrange a meeting between these 2 versions of me!

If I ask you to visualize a disciplined person - you will most likely visualize someone waking up at 430/5 every morning, even if she doesn't want to - going to the gym, even if her body is sore - reading a book, even if the book is uninteresting - eating a protein-rich diet, even if the diet is boring af. The brand image of discipline is this person who conquers their mind, body and soul - to do the right thing everyday. My experience tells me exactly the opposite. Disciplined people are simply having fun. They do things they love doing. And because they love doing it - they do it every day, without fail. While the world wonders how they do it every day. Discipline is simply figuring out what works for you. It is an output, not an input.

When I launched Groupon in India in 2011, everyone in the US team believed it would be a crazy success. India and Indians love discounts. They are going to love Groupon. Even I thought so. We got the best deals from hotels, restaurants, spas, salons. Incredible 30-50% off on the MRP. Ready to launch the website. We launched. People came. In numbers. They saw. And left. Nothing moved! I remember being confused. Perplexed at what was happening. Because this wasn't part of the plan. I thought the discount would people go crazy. And that's when I learnt my big lesson about the Indian consumer. We are a trust-deficient culture. We are told from our first days - daal mein kuch kaala hai (something is fishy!) We are told that if someone is being extra nice to you, be on your guard. Consumers felt the same way when they came to Groupon. Instead of feeling "oh wow - my favorite restaurant at a 30% off", they felt "hmmm - why is this restaurant that doesn't need to give any discount ever suddenly giving a 30% discount. What's the catch?" And that catch was what stopped them. And that was the big lesson in consumer psychology - especially in India If the purchase experience is uncertain, it doesn't matter how economical you are!

The attention economy is wild! Last week, waiting to board my flight to delhi, I see commotion around a gentleman. The kind of commotion you see around government officials - laced with servitude and respect that comes from tenure and not necessarily impact. My curiosity gets the better of me. I want to know who he has. As he boards the flight, I happen to catch his name on the boarding pass. As I board, the flight attendant recognizes me. His KPI includes a namaste to everyone. But the enthusiastic smile and child like excitement is reserved specially for me. The gentleman is already seated. No one knows him on this craft. His crowd has already left him. He is a commoner now. I take a seat. The first thing I do is google the gentlemen’s name. Almost convinced of his role, I add IAS to the search. His name and picture pops. IIT Kanpur computer science Masters in public policy from Princeton PhD in economics from Princeton 1991 batch of IAS Currently a secretary FML! The article heralded him as “The Intellectual Powerhouse and Fiscal Architect of Modern India” And here was I - a complete non-entity - bring drooled at by passerbys. “Big fan sir” “Love your content” No bro. We all got to love HIS content. Applaud him. Celebrate such individuals. Recognize then. I would love to start a series on such personalities, that remain behind the scenes, quietly changing the way we live and experience our lives. The attention economy feels so twisted.