Author: Murali
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Learning from others in meetings
In the past few years, I had spoken with 100s of founders, engineers, product leaders, marketers, and investors. I am excited about the variety of people I speak with. Each one brings unique perspective and depth from their area. There is a lot to learn from them. There are two distinct groups that I have…
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Quartile – build words from tiles
Quartile is the new word game from Apple News+. It started life in June 2024. It is simple, beautiful, and challenging. The game asks one to build as many words from the tiles, represented as tiles in a 5 x 4 grid (5 rows and 4 columns). The idea is to form words with 1…
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Book: New Product Development – A FMCG Perspective
As a consumer, every week, we discover new products. At Microsoft and RapL, I had worked with companies specializing in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). At Starbucks, I observed closely the efforts from across the company to create and release new products. There is intense art and science involved in creating, launching, succeeding, and learning…
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Grand Canyon R2R Hike (Oct 2023)
Last November I completed my first marathon. It was a great experience. Some friends asked me about what is next. There are people who continue to do more marathons and naturally that is a good thing to continue. Coincidentally I heard from my wife about the possibility of doing a hike across the Grand Canyon.…
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Pitching to Guindy Alumni Angels
In the past four years, I have been participating, volunteering, and leading investment efforts with Guindy Alumni Angels (GAA). GAA is a collection of alumni members from the College of Engineering, Guindy, a 225+ year old institution in Chennai, India. We are engineers, managers, startup enthusiasts, founders, and investors. Guindy Alumni Angels (GAA) has seen…
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Prepare for Half Marathon in Summer 2023
Having run my first marathon in Seattle last Nov 2022, I am interested in doing a summer run. Yes, we are still seeing the spring showers and flowers. That means summer is just around the corner. It is time to get our plans and running gear on! Half marathon is a 13.1 mile (or 21.6…
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Book: The War of Art
Recently, I heard about this book The War of Art from a friend of mine. Steven Pressfield, the author describes the major challenges many people face when creating new artifacts. All people including authors, artists, architects, composers, entrepreneurs, et al face the challenge. Some of them face a stable employment or income issue. However most…
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Book: Leadership Lessons with The Beatles
Before my birth, The Beatles rocked the world to new music that blended classic music and traditional pop in innovative ways. They grew into a worldwide phenomenon, alongside the growth of vinyl records, live tours, color televisions, and the young population. Besides the music style, the lyrics held deep meaning that inspired millions of people…
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My first marathon run
For nearly a decade, I had dreamt of running a full marathon. For many years, running a 3-4 miles seemed to be the psychological limit. Brain rapidly sent instructions to stop the body; the body complied dutifully. A few times, the body won over the brain, and I still completed half marathon runs. Still, the…
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Why we remember teachers and the lessons I learned
Each country has its own traditional day for celebrating teachers and teaching (see here). In India, Sep 5th is celebrated as Teacher’s Day. Happy Teachers Day! On this day, the usual activities and classes are replaced by activities of celebration, thanks and remembrance. Sometimes the senior students may teach to show appreciation for the teachers.…