personal annual review: 2022

2022 has been a little bit of a hogwash for me, personally and professionally. social media may tell you otherwise, but it has been. in the rut of ‘getting things done’ off my checklist and going from solving one problem to another, i didn’t even realize how tough it has been and everything that i could be doing differently. while i’m not a huge fan of ‘new year resolutions’ or creating sweeping goals without a plan of action, but one of the bigger lessons 2022 taught me is that you don’t even know the amount of lives you affect — directly and indirectly. so here i am, sharing things i learnt about myself and also, wish i did slightly differently in 2022, in no particular order:

• creating the winning team: this one’s a longish one, so bear with me. i always took pride in hiring and creating the ‘winning team’ — folks who get the work done (skillset wise), think/ act like founders irrespective of their experience, and generally people you’ll enjoy building with (culture wise). unfortunately, we got hiring quite wrong in 2022. we hired folks quickly so we could optimise for moving fast, scale. if we were 70–80% sure they’d get the job done, we started to be ok with taking punts assuming most of those punts would work out. tldr: they didn’t and this came with its consequences. work didn’t grow as we planned, i started spending time on things i shouldn’t have to spend time on, ended up not enjoying going into work on some days. lots of learnings but two big ones i’m taking with me to 2023: 1. never settle — if you’re not a 100% sure, trust your gut. it’s nothing but experience. 2. don’t assume you’re bigger than you actually are. the team makes or breaks your startup — doesn’t matter if it’s year 1 or 4.
• honing (and owning) your leadership style: in the beginning of the year i also fell into the slump of overanalysing and over-critiquing my leadership style. “will people respond to me more if i take it easy a little bit? will it be easier if i am ok with 70-80% done? maybe i should not ‘micromanage’ so much”. without getting into the details of the what, let’s just say i spent the second half of the year fixing everything that went wrong cause of me not being true to what works for me (and eventually what’ll grow the company). the hard truth of building a start up — 1. be clear about what is important to you (in my case — speed, work ethic, hard work, fire in the belly). if there’s a value mismatch/ you sense something off, call it out early. 2. it’s super important to work with people in a way they’d respond, but in that process, don’t forget your leadership style and what works for you/ makes you you.
• real downtime; being fully present: this came as a solid reality check tbh. work has been rather hectic this year, and even though i took some time off from work from time to time (maldives, goa, singapore, the hills — maybe more than all of the last 3 years put together) i spent majority of it ‘worrying/ thinking about/ checking in on work’. this bit me in the ass majorly — wrt my sanity, expectation setting with my colleagues, my personal life++ not taking this with me to next year.

• ‘the most frustrating and exciting part of being a founder is to be a perpetual learning machine. if compounding of the founder is slower than the rest of the org or industry as a whole, it reflects on the whole org and results in eventual regression for all.’ i did a shit job at reading/ absorbing/ learning this year since ‘i had no time for it’. all excuses, and i will fix this in 2023.
• drawing the line between ‘saying no’ and ‘saying yes to every opportunity’: ngl, still trying to figure this out and that will continue to over the next year. all through my twenties i’d say yes to almost everything. saying yes put me into new and uncomfortable situations that forced me to grow. as soon as my thirties kicked in, i started to realize that i need to be way more mindful of my time and should say no to almost everything. saying no will allow me to focus & build leverage (which will compound). in the last year of saying no to opportunities, meetings — i started to feel like i’m missing out on being in a few rooms that i should be in. learning — say yes to what matters, say no to what doesn’t. your time is an asset to be cherished but you gotta be true to what does matter to you truly (and learn to identify this better in my case).
• better time management: my calendar has been ridiculously packed last couple of months with things that keep me busy. this busyness became an excuse that i started using against doing the things beyond work, and things that make me truly happy. need to be more mindful about taking out time for: spending time with family (my dad had a knee replacement surgery this year, massive reality check); friends (neglected a few important friendships while in the heat of battle on several important professional struggles); pilates (god bless my galpal, kamala, who’s signed me up for the first class next week); getting out for great meals (fully stopped doing this ’cause ‘i’m so tired’); better sleep cycle++ .

• personal finance: for someone who runs a community filled with great advice from women on how we should spend/ save our money, i did a below average job at my own finances. for someone who hated online shopping, i did a lot of it to make myself ‘feel better about it on the hard days’. better check on myself wrt this going forward.
• action is the only way: read this somewhere on the internet and resonated with it deeply. can be applicable to any ‘block’ you’re in and is a decent reality check: ‘writer’s block is actually just a fear of bad writing. this holds true for many “blocks” in life. it’s not an actual block, but rather a fear of producing something that will be laughed at. when you allow yourself the freedom to produce something crappy, you start blasting through these blocks.’
• appreciating people more often: if you think something nice about someone, always tell them right then. it’s a shame that we often wait until a person’s not with us anymore to say all of the nice things we thought about them. the next time you have a positive thought about someone — no matter how small or insignificant it may be — tell them right then. it can turn their day/ life around. want to be more mindful of doing this going forward and am truly grateful for folks who give these reality checks from time to time.
• some smol wins :)

📍 started working with a bunch of female led businesses to help them with their 0–1 journey — i’m super kicked about this, ’cause this phase is my moat and gets me really pumped. want to be more disciplined about it than i was earlier for sure though.

📍 moved into a new space with my partner and dog (who would’ve thunk) i now get called out on my bs 24*7 and am pushed to think deeply. trash tv time still wins though.

📍 work wise — lots actually. while i’ll detail this out in our end of the year company blog – hit some solid milestones and got 3 projects really close to my heart up and running; got to be in / host a room with people i really admire (indra nooyi, faye d’souza); super happy with the team that’s building leap — i feel like they have it in them to take us to the next level; raised our new financing round ($ 2.2 mil till date, with 60% women on the cap table) and have big plans for 2023 that keep me up at night (in a great way).

they say a smooth sea never makes a skilled sailor. ready for 2023 and its own set of learnings 💪