Four things that caught my eye this month

Four different pieces of work that I've been reading/watching over the last month.

I like reading/listening to things that are outside my sphere of comprehension. And there are a couple of them here which have pointed huge holes in my worldview, and incomplete understanding of the fabric.

Let's dive right in.

Aswath Damodaran talks about the laws of valuation

Aswath is a professor finance at Stern. A simple, fabulous talk about companies and valuations and understanding where the company is in its lifecycle. And how that can help it from doing silly things.

• Companies don't like to get old. Just like humans. And they fight it.
• Do not fight it. Instead, act your age.
• Don't try to speed up or slow down the aging process.
• Funding is simple. Use your own money. Or borrow money.
• The day Amazon enters a business, watch out! They are a disruption platform.

Madhavan Ramanujam: Put price before product

• Have the willingness to pay conversation with your potential customer as early as possible.
• It is not product - market fit. But product - market - pricing fit.
• Understand your customer's needs. What are they willing to pay for?
  This is NOT about a price point. but what's the value you are gonna deliver.
• Put the price before product.
  What this means is you need to understand what the customer is willing to pay for, what value they put on it, and have price as part of the conversation.
  He uses an example of "Do you like those headphones?" versus "Do you like those headphones for $400?" - two very different questions, right!

He is on a bunch of podcasts, and his book is a great read too, if this is your kind of thing.

Imposter Syndrome/Phenomenon

I started reading about imposter syndrome to understand the differences between self-doubt and imposter syndrome. That led me to two fascinating articles.

The first harks back to the first time the phenomenon was coined and about the two original researchers and their thoughts about it.

Clance and Imes describe the cycle that imposter feelings often produce - a sense of impending failure that inspires frenzied hard work, and short-lived gratification when failure is staved off, quickly followed by the return of the old conviction that failure is imminent.

And from there, I went over here. There is obviously a lot I am unaware of and have to learn, and I found this article eye-opening.

The same systems that reward confidence in male leaders, even if they’re incompetent, punish white women for lacking confidence, women of color for showing too much of it, and all women for demonstrating it in a way that’s deemed unacceptable. These biases are insidious and complex and stem from narrow definitions of acceptable behavior drawn from white male models of leadership.

ALOK, non-binary, gender non-conforming

On to a topic I have even lesser understanding of and thus will add zero commentary to, except I have a lot to catch up on.

My wife pointed me towards this podcast and it has remained one of the handful of podcasts that I listen to. This conversation with ALOK - I need to listen to it a few more times.

I am sure you'll find at least one of the above fascinating. Do write in and tell me about it.