31 May 2020:
I was on the road, staring at failure at the start of my 40s.
1 June 2020:
6 years back, on this day I started my journey of building Raise (@RaiseTheBarHQ) from zero.
The day before, I held a fancy title of Founder, Managing Director and CEO of a financial services company, was an industry pioneer and a leader, built and scaled a product that redefined how India invested online, that made mutual funds popular, and introduced direct mutual funds to the masses. Built a venture that managed few billions dollars and was possibly valued as much as.
Next day, I had nothing. No titles, No power. No team. No salary, No stocks. Practically made no money from the venture I gave everything to for 3 years to make it a grand success. Founders like me are emotional fools & immature beings who trust easily and take a word as a word, only to realise one day - the world doesn't work the way one thinks it works.
Tried to raise money from venture capital, which I thought would be a easy thing to do but it was not. Almost every VC out there rejected me. Few influential people made raising capital a bit difficult. Many VC & partners who promised term-sheets, stopped responding to emails / chats or just backed out.
All of this happened during peak COVID times. I was staring at failure at the start of my 40s. I had no idea what the future would hold for me. Job was never an option, I am too practical and also much of a straight-talker to survive in a corporate life. I had started up 3 times earlier, and was more or less a failure. Somehow gathered courage to start-up again just because giving up again was never an option.
Times have changed since then!
Today we are a team of ~650+ builders and believers at Raise.
Only thing we care about is building the best consumer experiences across all the products we are building - @DhanHQ@ask_fuzz@Upsurge_club@Stratzy_HQ@FilterCoffeeHQ and few more ventures in insurance, wealth and investing that we are building.
5 years back value of everything was Zero. Today for whatever it means, Raise is a unicorn valued at USD 1.2 Bn. At some point, I was offered good money as some sort of settlement which of course I never took. This is why I say that as founders, some of us are emotional fools who keep taking chances even after losing it all!
Looking back, even after this crazy journey and tons of luck by my side, I am still more of an emotional & introvert founder fool. We are still in our early days of building and are far from where we want to be.
Once again, there's no inspiration or gyan here for anyone. Tu tera dekh le bhai, yahaan mein khud bhagwan ke bharose pe hoon..
I post this just as a reminder to myself - never forget where & how we started from.
More importantly to express my gratitude to all those who stood by me and supported us in my tough times - as co-founders, team members, colleagues, believers, supporters, cheerleaders, well wishers, investors, friends and most importantly as our customers.
Thank you, I wouldn't have made it till here without you 🙏
अगर आप भी Bajaj फाइनेंस से फोन लेते हैं तो थोड़ा सावधान हो जाए ,
ये लड़का जनवरी में बजाज फाइनेंस से 40 हजार डाउन पेमेंट करके आईफोन 17 प्रो मैक्स लिया , साथ ही 13000 में Bajaj का इंश्योरेंस भी लिया था !
उसके कुछ दिन बाद फोन चोरी हो गया , कस्टमर केयर के कॉल किया तो बताया गया कि आपका तो इंश्योरेंस ही नहीं हैं ,
जब वो उनके ब्रांच पर पहुंचा तो पता चला कि उससे पैसा तो लिया गया लेकिन कोई इंश्योरेंस किया ही नहीं गया ,
अब कंपनी ने हाथ खड़ा कर दिया हैं कि हम कुछ नहीं जानते , जबकि उसके पास पूरा पेमेंट डिटेल्स हैं !
अगर उसका फोन नहीं चोरी होता तो शायद उसे पता ही नहीं चलता कि उसके फोन का बीमा नहीं है , ऐसे करके ये हजारों कस्टमर का लाखों का चूना लगा रहे होंगे !
Most people are very careful with money.
If someone burns ₹500 notes in front of you, you will immediately think he has gone mad.
But the same people will casually burn three hours scrolling, gossiping, or doing things that don't matter. And nobody calls that madness. They call it being busy.
The strange part is this.
Money can come back.Time never does.
Yet we guard money like a treasure and treat time like it is free.
#LIfe #time #money
I appeal to @AshwiniVaishnaw to ban this unbelievably obscene song by Nora Fatehi & song writer Raqueeb Alam & appeal to HM @AmitShah ji & all the CMs starting with @myogiadityanath ji to prosecute the duo without delay for waging a war against the culture & character of Bharat.
Structure v/s Hype
1) Trade deal was good news. But, don't fall for the hype.
2) Breadth of the market was weak till yesterday. Even after today, breadth remains weak.
3) Ask yourself - What is the structure of Nifty 500, Nifty Small cap, Nifty Microcap, Nifty Mid-small cap 400 ?
4) Structure is lower high and lower low with majority of Indices at or below 200 DMA.
5) Over 65-68% of Liquid stocks still remain below 200 DMA. It is important for you to not forget this. Most stocks have bounced back today within LH LL Structure.
6) Desperation or FOMO leads to mistakes. You need to be objective in how you look at what is happening.
7) Even as a long term trader, you make money in the 'Meat' of the Trend. Not at the bottom, not at the Top.
8) So if you did not have a lot of open positions today, don't be scared of missing out.
9) Let market firmly put in a structure of HH HL at broader market level. Let it start trending above 50 & 200 DMA. Let the breadth improve.
10) A sustained bull market will give you lot of time to build positions.
11) This is a market where you can certainly make gradual investments. Be it stocks or ETF, keep looking for opportunities.
12) But as a long term trader, don't forget that volatile markets lead to random movements.
13) When the breadth is weak, you will even see strength pockets correcting in a random manner.
14) Brace for more 'V' shape and inverted 'V' shape movements in the market.
15) Today, everything seems rosy. What if U.S. - Iran get into a conflict tomorrow ? Everything that went up today will start reversing tomorrow.
16) Therefore, prefer structures over hype.
Yes, the budget was fine. It'd be great had Govt done something for Investors on taxation front.
Yes, the Trade deal is great. But, don't get desperate.
Let breadth improve, let market print HH HL and let 50 & 200 DMA be your guide.
If this indeed is the beginning of a new sustained bull leg, you will get plenty of opportunities in between.
Be patient. Be consistent.
WHY IS SLEEPING AT 9 PM IMPORTANT?
9 PM - Melatonin rises, body prepares for sleep
10 PM - Growth hormone active, tissue repair starts
11 PM - Liver detox and energy restoration
12 AM - Brain clears toxins, and memory processes begin
1-2 AM - Deep REM sleep, emotional regulation, and hormone balance.
3 AM - Cellular repair peaks, inflammation control improves
6-7 AM - Cortisol rises naturally, promoting alertness and stable morning energy.
1) Cement - Margins are expanding as large pan-India cement players pass on price hikes while benefitting from softer power & fuel costs, higher share of premium/blended cement and supply-chain efficiencies; a good chunk of this is structural given ongoing green-power, logistics and cost-out programs, though profitability will still remain cyclical with cement prices and coal/petcoke trends. Also margins improvement looks much better this qtr in cement companies because of very benign base last year because of elections and reduced infra spending.
2) Cables – Power - Margins are moving up as wire & cable makers ride operating leverage from strong volume growth, premiumisation into branded retail and FMEG where FMEG is getting to breakeven or improving profitability, and the benefit of relatively benign copper/aluminium prices, but these levels are only sustainable where there is shift in product mix and there is more sustainability from the commodity price volatility.
3) New-age Platforms - Platform margins are improving because contribution margins per order/user are rising (better take-rates, higher-margin private labels, ad/merchant revenues) while marketing and cashback spends are being tightly pruned, and as long as customer cohorts remain sticky and regulatory pressure (especially in payments/fintech) doesn’t force another round of heavy reinvestment, this march toward profitability looks broadly sustainable.
4) Ship Docks / Defence Shipyards - Margins are expanding as defence-focused yards execute a richer mix of complex warship, export and refit orders that carry higher percentage-of-completion profitability, and with multi-year order books the medium-term visibility is strong, though quarterly margins will remain dependent on project-mix but structurally have product mix where margins can improve
5) Education / Training - Education players are seeing margin lift from consolidation of earlier acquisitions, rationalisation of sales & marketing spends and better utilisation of classrooms/online platforms, and while this operating leverage should hold if enrolments grow steadily, the sector’s profitability is still sensitive to regulatory changes and the need to periodically reinvest in content and distribution.
6) Capital Goods – Solar - Solar equipment margins have improved as integrated players ramp up utilisation of new cell/module capacity, benefit from lower polysilicon and freight costs and tap higher-value export/rooftop demand, but given how volatile global module prices and Chinese competition are, today’s margins look above mid-cycle and may normalise once the supply-demand balance shifts again.
7) IT Consulting & Small Software - Smaller IT and ER&D firms are enjoying margin expansion from double-digit revenue growth in higher-value digital/automation work, tight control on SG&A and rising offshore leverage that has pushed EBITDA margins into the high-teens/around 20%, and as long as global tech spending on digital transformation holds up these margins look largely sustainable, with wage inflation and a macro slowdown as the key downside risks.
8) Diamonds, Gems & Jewellery - Jewellery margins are expanding on the back of strong festive/wedding demand, new store additions, a shift toward studded and design-led/lab-grown products and better operating leverage in omni-channel models, and while this structural premiumisation plus scale should keep profitability healthier than past cycles, margins will still ebb and flow with gold price volatility, inventory discipline and competitive discounting.
9) Steel – Tubes & Pipes - Pipe and tube makers are reporting better margins as utilisation improves on the back of strong infrastructure, water, gas and structural steel demand, while product mix is tilting towards higher-value API/structural pipes and spreads over HR coil have stayed supportive, but because this is fundamentally a steel-cycle business, margins are vulnerable to raw-material price spikes and any slowdown in government/infrastructure ordering. Margin sustainability also depends on how well new capacities get utilised and also for the product mix improving.
10) Mining & Minerals - Mining and mineral companies are printing fatter margins thanks to higher realisations in iron ore, manganese, bauxite and ferro-chrome and strong volume growth, amplified by operating leverage and better cost control after years of balance-sheet clean-up
11) Pharma – API & CRAMS - API and CRAMS players are seeing sharp margin expansion from a mix shift into high-value CDMO/custom synthesis and complex APIs, supported by backward integration and better plant utilisation that has driven EBITDA margins up into the 20–30% band in recent quarters, and given multi-year contracts and sticky customer relationships these elevated margins look relatively sustainable. Although given the nature of business margins it is difficult to be judged on a quarterly basis.
Why India is not a preferred tourist destination:
1. Stray animals (cows, dogs)
2. Extremely unsafe to drive and to walk. There are potholes, speed breakers, open manholes, open electric wires
3. No pavements to walk
4. Pollution
5. Dirty & unhygienic airport cabs
6. Roads filled with dust, shit, garbage, spit
7. Traffic chaos & Vehicles parked everywhere
8. Public parks and public places have become garbage and parking dumps
9. Missing civic sense and next to zero ethics visible everywhere on road
10. Fear of tackling with corruption
@narendramodi@narendramodi_in
Dear @nitin_gadkari
We need a public website that shows:
> Which contractor built road
> Which babu approved it
> Total cost & ministers involved
> Firm responsible for maintenance
Contractors are becoming billionaires while people die on roads
Bring real accountability now!
Yearly calling plans with unlimited Internet Access costs under ₹4000 per year.
But our MPs can claim:
~₹12500 per month for calls
~₹2200 per month for Wifi
This needs to be updated @narendramodi ji.
#FI
PRIVACY IS THE SUPER POWER
Wake Up Early - Tell No One.
Go to Run - Tell No One.
Work A Lot - Tell No One.
Eat Healthy - Tell No One.
Go to Gym - Tell No One.
People can't destroy what they don't know about your
Repost if you agree to this
Dear @RBI Governor
Since cheque clearing is now same day It is high time that the cooling off period on adding netbanking beneficiary be reduced from 24 hours to 1-2 hours.
it is a major bottleneck in the digital India move where time is of essence in every transaction.!
@nsitharaman
@nsitharamanoffcz
Folks pls RT this so it reaches the ears of the appropriate people