Why I Write, Tweet, Pocket Articles & Use Medium
A lot has been said about Pokemon Go. A lot has been said about why it works, what caused it’s success, how much it makes, and what it represents.
I did a little experiment over the weekend. I asked a bunch of young Pokemon Go addicts if they understand how the game works and what is AR. Turns out they don’t know. And, they don’t care.
It also turns out that other people went though this experience too. While I don’t think it’s wrong not to learn or care about why something works, I like to question what I do constantly.
Here are some of the things I do and why I think I do them —
Firstly, I like to write regularly. It can be about anything. It can be however long I want it to be. Yes, my recent writing tends to be focused on tech but that’s because I work in tech, I intend to build a career in tech, and I have lot of thoughts on products, behaviors and trends. Every once in a while, I break that momentum by indulging in other themes. Writing is not about page views or any kind of social validation for me.
For what it’s worth, I have not checked Medium’s stats on number of views and reads on my articles in at least about four or five months now. I think writing is not just about the words either. It’s about having a discipline of sitting down and reflecting on lots of ideas, discussions, conversations, readings, observations, and tweets (of course). Its not about the grammatical structure. I make lots of mistakes. It’s not that I don’t proof read. I do most of the times. I just suck at writing well and identifying my mistakes. I am not proud of that and I am constantly working on improving that but I don’t pay much attention to that aspect. Focusing on that would mean focusing on the wrong thing for me.
Writing to me is not about becoming a well-known writer, it’s merely about putting my ideas and learnings on paper ( well, a screen). I am have fortunate enough that people at Startup Grind, Huffington Post, Venture Beat, etc have seen me writing as a collection of ideas and not as a great piece of written work.
Secondly, I use Medium and Pocket daily. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. It’s amazing how these apps are as integral to my daily workflows as reading and doing emails. I don’t remember when I started using them. It’s incredible how I have developed this habit without any external triggers like push notifications. These apps have been on my homescreen for months now.
Some people clearly dislike Medium.
I approach both these apps the way I think about Twitter.
Investing time in them makes its all worth it long term. Following the right kind of people on Medium gives me a great, fresh flow of published and recommended content daily. Medium’s articles not only help me go deeper into my areas of interests but also help me explore new areas, products, and even people and jobs. I worked as an intern in Venture Capital because I came across a relatable story on Medium about a young, female VC. I read and write a lot. Medium fits into what I already do. In fact, Medium has significantly increased how much I read and write. I wish I could read everything on Medium.
Similarly, Pocket is an indispensable app to me. It is so ridiculously simple and yet so integral to my daily workflows. Throughout the day I come across lots of articles that I would like to read either the same day or upcoming weekend. I save them for later reading to Pocket. I never read in piece meal. I read in batches of 15–20 minutes. Besides saving articles, I use Pocket as my digital notebook, as a way of bypassing NYT’s paywall (😎) and following what certain people are reading and sharing.
The more I read and archive on Pocket, the more Pocket learns about my reading tastes, the more refined it’s recommended feed becomes.
On top of all this, Pocket's recommended feed is also one of my filters for deciding whether I will read an article or not.
Thirdly, I use Twitter daily. Quite a few people have asked me why I use Twitter. I think a large part of why I use it has to do with the facts that I would suck at interviews, I hate resumes, I hate how my school’s name is associated with my competence, and I don’t live in a location which is the hub of the industry I want to break into. I am not someone who will surely impress a stranger in 10 minutes. It’s not that I am incapable of doing that. It’s mainly because its is very difficult to get past all the unfair misconceptions people, who do not go to top schools, have to deal with in job markets. We are not smart capable enough, capable enough and networked enough for a lot of employers. Whether it’s investment banking or tech, this is a reality. If you think it isn’t, you are ignorant. If you think ambitious students of second tier schools have the same access to great people and opportunities, you are grossly mistaken.
I don’t live in SF, LA, NYC or Boston to be able to get in front of lots of people over coffee and at conferences. Proximity to action matters a lot more than what most like to admit. I personally do not believe in optimizing my resume for pleasing an algorithm that is looking for names of top schools in thousands of resume.
I would rather optimize for getting my ideas, opinions and competence in front of the right people. I would rather put in hours to associate my online identify with my work ethic, my helpful nature, and my perspective on things.
I would never work with or under someone who is more concerned about my school or GPA or academic major than my curiosity to learn and willingness to spend 15 hours at office and work over the weekends for adding value and contributing to a meaningful goal. Twitter helps me communicate with and learn from people who I otherwise wouldn't know about or have access to. I am good at building relationships over time. I am not good at impressing someone in five minutes. Twitter helps me do what I am good on a big scale. Twitter also helps me in discovering new ideas, insights, products, people, companies, jobs, etc.
I don’t want to count on just serendipitously coming across someone in a position to kick-start my career. I don’t want to settle for something if I know I deserve better. I don’t want to count on someone just taking a shot on me because I go to a school were incredible access to great people and opportunities is often taken for granted. I don’t believe an opportunity will just present itself. A lot of this happens to a lot of people at top schools. I am at odds with having such serendipitous moments. When you go to a top school, it is almost assumed that you are smart and capable. You are visible. I have had several conversations in which the other person looks at me differently after hearing about my background. It is clear in such moments how they grossly underestimate me. In such situations, I go “Fuck you, Ivy League brat” in my head, of course. I’m resourceful. I’m hard working. I’m curious. I’m as capable as just about any other ambitious young person. Twitter helps me amplify my traits at scale. Twitter is a tool. I use it the way I want to for meeting my goals. Twitter is my way of making myself visible.
Investment banks have a list of “target schools” for recruiting efforts. Most venture capital funds hire graduates of top schools like Stanford, Columbia, Harvard and Wharton as associates. While getting to work in VC and at betaworks might not be a big deal for them, it is for me. I go to a second tier school with no tech culture in a town thats not even remotely known for its tech community. I worked hard to get those jobs. I strategized to get those jobs. I had everything working against me. I struggled. And, therefore, I appreciate them. I am grateful to Matt Hartman and Elizabeth Galbut. If you think I am talking shit, go look at how hard Blake Robbins worked to get to where he is today. I worked hard to get some respect and time from some of the most successful venture capitalists in the US. No one in my network just happened to introduce me to them. I have nothing against people who go to top schools. I respect them as long as they respect others and as long as they get how success is a summation of work ethic, hustle, timing, and circumstances. Most people I work with daily went to top schools. I respect them. My brother went to a top school too.
The “why” for my third habit went longer than I expected. I am very passionate about the issue I am talking about. It is one of the “invisible bars” as Ellen Chisa explains on her blog.
Ultimately, at the end of the day, all these habits serve me well. They help me learn, connect, and share in different forms.
I request you to read the following story to see what I am talking about.
