If you’re in India, chances are you would’ve experienced the following at least once An autorickshaw driver asking “where do you want to go? Pay me the same amount as the app” A hotel manager requesting “Please cancel the booking on the app, ma’am. We’ll give you a discount instead” …

Amazon’s entire checkout process is designed to mimic a bargaining experience — For the last few days, I was so tempted to buy the Sony WF-1000XM3 earphones on Amazon even though I own an Airpods Pro and 6 other pairs of earphones. I clearly knew I don’t need the earphones, but the offer was irresistible. After a lot of self-questioning and analysis…

Butter biscuits are a classic example of good product design. — In India, a tea shop isn’t one if it doesn’t have a glass jar full of ‘butter’ biscuits. Even though it doesn’t have butter in it, the name ‘Butter biscuit’ is synonymous with small brown sweet-and-salty cookies that taste wonderful when dipped in a hot glass of Chai tea. If…

I’ve started building my new side project NextStop — an online learning platform to help people from diverse backgrounds build a career in SaaS. — Did you know about your role when you accepted the offer letter for your first job? Do you know answers to questions like “What your typical day at work would look like? How does your job help you grow?” …

With COVID-19 and working from home, we lost the small moments of ‘me’ time we used to get when we go out. It could be the short walk around the office building after lunch or the bike ride to and from the office. — It was almost six when I parked my car near the road that faced the iconic French building painted in yellow and white. The one that you see in most Tamil movies. The one that screams Pondicherry.

How do OTT platforms make money if they release new movies directly on their platforms? And that too without ads! — People of Tamilnadu can’t imagine a Deepavali (we don’t say ‘Diwali’) without movies. A typical Deepavali in Tamilnadu comprises bursting crackers, wearing a new dress, eating sweets, watching pattimandram, and the release of big-budget movies in theatres. People start flocking the theatres for 4 AM shows and will hop between…

Whenever Sheldon Cooper said “I’m not crazy, my mother got me tested” in ‘The Big Bang Theory’, I was able to relate to it. Because, I was tricked into meeting a Psychologist when I was thirteen. It was a Friday evening and my dad said we’re going to going to…

A couple of months back, I spent an awful lot of time looking for the perfect productivity app to organize my notes, tasks, goals, etc. Everything I read on Twitter and came across on podcasts and blogs strongly suggested that I need a productivity app to organize my life. I…

Bargaining is an art. It involves smart moves, confident bluffs, and crowd-sourced knowledge about products/prices from friends, family, and extended circles. — Bargaining is like playing chess. You’ll have to predict the next few moves of the shopkeeper before asking for a price. You’ll have to assume the final price of the product you’re interested in and ask for a price that is 20–30% lower to what the shopkeeper’s final price would…