# Kavir Kaycee — Full Content > Product builder, writer, and startup advisor. Building at the intersection of AI and human potential. This file contains the complete text of all articles on kavirkaycee.com for use by AI systems. ## Links - Homepage: https://kavirkaycee.com - RSS Feed: https://kavirkaycee.com/feed.xml - Sitemap: https://kavirkaycee.com/sitemap.xml - Summary: https://kavirkaycee.com/llms.txt --- ## AI Video Gen URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/ai-video-gen Published: 2024-11-01 Tags: ai # AI Video Gen AI video generation has come a long way. Having tried out several tools -- Hailio, Kling, Runway, and others -- I wanted to share what I have learned about the current state of text-to-video and image-to-video AI. ## The Current Landscape The AI video generation space is moving fast. The major players right now include: - **Runway** -- One of the earliest and most polished creative AI suites. Their Gen-4 model lets you generate video from text, images, or a mix of both. What sets Runway apart is the integrated editing experience with tools like Motion Brush and Director Mode. - **Kling** -- Built by Kuaishou (TikTok's parent company's competitor), Kling can generate 1080p videos up to two minutes long. It excels at animating static images with realistic, high-speed motion and maintaining character consistency. - **Hailio** -- Another strong contender in the space, particularly for stylized and creative video generation. - **Sora** -- OpenAI's video generation tool. It is definitely a polished product, but the models are not as good as some of the other platforms. Looking at Sora's featured videos, they use very minimalist prompts, which shows you cannot get a high level of customization from text alone. ## Key Insight: Start with an Image The biggest lesson I have learned: always start with an image first. Think of it as image-to-video rather than text-to-video. You can use AI image generation tools like Flux or even Grok to create your starting frame, then animate it with a video generation tool. This approach gives you far more control over the final output than trying to describe everything in a text prompt. Text prompts alone often lead to unpredictable results, especially with tools like Sora where overly detailed prompts can actually hurt quality. ## How I Think About These Tools Most professional creators are combining multiple tools in their workflow: 1. **Create a key frame** using an image generation tool like Midjourney or Flux 2. **Animate it** using Runway, Kling, or another video model 3. **Add finishing touches** like lip-sync, upscaling, or compositing ## What to Watch For The space is evolving rapidly. Google's Veo model is pushing the boundaries of photorealism, and open-source models are catching up fast. The tools that will win are the ones that give creators the most control while keeping the workflow simple. If you are just getting started with AI video generation, my advice is to pick one tool, learn its strengths and limitations, and build from there. Do not try to master everything at once -- the landscape changes too quickly for that to be a productive strategy. --- ## Founder Mode URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/founder-mode Published: 2024-09-15 Tags: startups, product-management # Founder Mode Paul Graham's essay on [Founder Mode](https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html) struck a nerve across the tech world. Based on a talk by Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, it challenges the conventional wisdom about how founders should run their companies. Here are my thoughts. ## The Core Idea Graham argues there are two ways to run a company: **Founder Mode** and **Manager Mode**. **Manager Mode** is the conventional approach. Hire good people, give them room to do their jobs, and treat each part of the org chart as a black box. Do not get involved in the details -- that would be micromanaging, which is bad. **Founder Mode** is the opposite. It involves the founder's direct engagement with various levels of the organization, breaking traditional managerial hierarchies. Think skip-level meetings, hands-on involvement with product decisions, and a refusal to fully delegate critical areas of the business. ![Paul Graham on Founder Mode](/images/founder-mode/founder-mode-paul-graham.webp) ## Why It Resonated The essay resonated because so many founders have experienced the pain of the "hire good people and get out of the way" advice. Chesky himself followed that playbook initially at Airbnb -- and found that it did not work. Managers sometimes did more harm than good. He switched to a more hands-on approach, and the company turned around. Steve Jobs ran Apple this way. He was famously involved in details that most CEOs would never touch -- the curvature of a corner radius, the exact shade of a color, the weight of a product in your hand. It worked for Apple, and Graham suggests this is not the exception but a pattern worth studying. ## The Danger Here is where I think the conversation gets more nuanced than the essay allows. Founders are at real risk of misinterpreting "Founder Mode" as a license to micromanage. There is a meaningful difference between: - **Caring deeply about product quality** and staying close to the work - **Micromanaging your team** because you do not trust them The former is Founder Mode at its best. The latter is seagull management -- swooping in, making a lot of noise, and leaving a mess behind. ## When to Use Each Mode I think the real insight is not that Founder Mode is always better. It is that you need to know when to switch between the two. **Founder Mode makes sense when:** - You are in the early stages and product-market fit is not yet established - A critical initiative needs to be rescued or redirected - The company is going through a fundamental strategic shift - Quality is slipping and standards need to be reset **Manager Mode makes sense when:** - You have proven leaders who have earned trust through results - The domain is outside your expertise and you have someone better - You are scaling and physically cannot be everywhere - Your team needs autonomy to grow and develop ## The Gender Dynamic One aspect of the discussion that deserves more attention: Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd noted she was "in founder mode for 10 years and got attacked for it every single day." The reality is that founder mode is celebrated when practiced by certain founders and criticized as controlling or difficult when practiced by others. That double standard is worth examining. ## My Take Founder Mode is not a permanent state -- it is a tool. The best founders know when to go deep on a problem and when to step back and let their team run. It is about having the judgment to know when the situation calls for each approach. The essay is most useful as permission. Permission for founders to stay close to the details when they know something is off, even when well-meaning advisors tell them to "let go and delegate." Sometimes the founder's instinct is right, and the org chart is wrong. --- ## Uses This URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/uses-this Published: 2023-09-01 Tags: personal, productivity # Uses This Here is a list of tools, apps, and hardware I use on a daily basis for product management, writing, building, and general productivity. I will keep this page updated as my stack evolves. --- ## Writing - **[Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/)** -- For Morning Pages and quick idea capture. Roam lets me get thoughts down on the daily page with super low friction. I am still exploring its power for connecting ideas across different notes. - **[Notion](https://www.notion.so/)** -- For organizing ideas, drafts, and the writing pipeline. I use a Kanban board view to visualize the workflow between Ideas, Drafts, Actively Writing, and Editing. - **[Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/)** -- For editing and collaboration. The collaborative editing workflow is far superior for polishing drafts. - **[Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com/)** -- For catching grammatical mistakes during the editing phase. - **[Substack](https://substack.com/)** -- For publishing [The Discourse](https://thediscourse.co/), my newsletter on product and AI. --- ## Productivity - **[Todoist](https://todoist.com/)** -- My go-to task manager. It integrates with Google Calendar for 2-way sync, which makes [timeboxing](/timeboxing) seamless. - **[Google Calendar](https://calendar.google.com/)** -- For timeboxing and scheduling. Every task gets a time slot. - **[TickTick](https://ticktick.com/)** -- An alternative I have used that offers 1-way sync with Google Calendar and has a built-in Pomodoro timer. --- ## Building - **[Bubble](https://bubble.io/)** -- For building complex web app MVPs with no code. - **[Glide](https://www.glideapps.com/)** -- For building mobile-first apps from spreadsheets. Used it to build the [India Covid Resources](/india-covid-resources) app and [Mind Health](/mind-health). - **[Softr](https://www.softr.io/)** -- For building portals and internal tools on top of Airtable. - **[Webflow](https://webflow.com/)** -- For design-heavy websites like [MakeMyResume](https://makemyresume.co.in/). - **[Framer](https://www.framer.com/)** -- For quick, polished landing pages. - **[Airtable](https://airtable.com/)** -- As a backend database for no-code apps. - **[Zapier](https://zapier.com/)** -- For automating workflows between apps. - **[Cursor](https://cursor.sh/)** -- For AI-assisted coding when building with code. --- ## Communication - **[Slack](https://slack.com/)** -- For team communication and community management. - **[Telegram](https://telegram.org/)** -- Built the [Eliza Mental Health Bot](/eliza-mental-health-telegram-bot) on this platform. - **[Twitter / X](https://twitter.com/kavirkaycee)** -- For sharing ideas and connecting with the product and tech community. --- ## AI Tools - **[ChatGPT](https://chat.openai.com/)** -- For brainstorming, drafting, and building custom GPTs like the [Product Manager GPT](/gpts) and UX Copywriting GPT. - **[Claude](https://claude.ai/)** -- For longer-form writing assistance and coding with Cursor. --- ## Other - **[Gumroad](https://kavir.gumroad.com/)** -- For selling Notion templates and digital products. - **[Mailerlite](https://www.mailerlite.com/)** -- For email marketing and automation. --- This page is inspired by [Uses This](https://usesthis.com/), a collection of interviews asking people what tools they use to get the job done. --- ## No-Code Products URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/no-code-products Published: 2023-07-15 Tags: no-code, product-management # No-Code Products I have spent close to 5 years building products with no-code tools. Here is a showcase of products I have built using tools like Webflow, Glide, Softr, Bubble, Framer, Airtable, Zapier, and Mailerlite. No-code is a superpower for product managers -- you can turn ideas into working products, automate procedures, and ship without consuming engineering resources. --- ## MakeMyResume.co.in **Stack:** Webflow [MakeMyResume](https://makemyresume.co.in/) is a premium career services business in India offering services like resume writing, LinkedIn profile optimization, and career coaching. Built entirely on Webflow for a polished, design-forward experience. ![MakeMyResume landing page](/images/no-code-products/no-code-1.png) --- ## India Covid Resources **Stack:** Glide [India Covid Resources](/india-covid-resources) was an app built during India's devastating second wave of COVID-19. It connected people in need with life-saving resources like oxygen, beds, and medicines. The app was powered by **200+ volunteers** from The Product Folks and Creators of Prod communities. Built rapidly on Glide to get it into people's hands as fast as possible, when every hour mattered. ![AI Resume Generator](/images/no-code-products/no-code-2.png) --- ## Mind Health **Stack:** Glide [Mind Health](/mind-health) is an app that helps you improve your mental wellbeing by practicing mindfulness and challenging negative thinking by identifying [cognitive distortions](/10-cognitive-distortions). Built on Glide for a mobile-first experience. ![ResumeCraftersAI](/images/no-code-products/no-code-3.png) --- ## YC Prep App **Stack:** Glide A resource app designed to help startup founders prepare for Y Combinator applications and interviews. Curated materials, practice questions, and tips consolidated into a single mobile-friendly app. --- ## Showw.Work **Stack:** Softr + Airtable A platform for creators and builders to showcase their work and portfolios. Built on Softr with Airtable as the backend, allowing easy content management without any code. --- ## AI Resume Generator **Stack:** Various An AI-powered tool that helps users generate professional resumes. Part of the evolution of the MakeMyResume ecosystem, incorporating AI to streamline the resume creation process. --- ## ResumeCraftersAI.com **Stack:** Various An AI-driven resume crafting platform that uses large language models to help job seekers create tailored, professional resumes optimized for applicant tracking systems. --- ## The No-Code Stack Here are the tools I regularly use and recommend for building no-code products: | Tool | Best For | |---|---| | **[Webflow](https://webflow.com/)** | Design-heavy websites and landing pages | | **[Glide](https://www.glideapps.com/)** | Mobile-first apps from spreadsheets | | **[Softr](https://www.softr.io/)** | Portals, directories, and internal tools on Airtable | | **[Bubble](https://bubble.io/)** | Complex web app MVPs | | **[Framer](https://www.framer.com/)** | Quick, polished landing pages | | **[Pory](https://pory.io/)** | Simple apps and directories from Airtable | | **[Airtable](https://airtable.com/)** | Backend database for no-code apps | | **[Zapier](https://zapier.com/)** | Automating workflows between apps | | **[Mailerlite](https://www.mailerlite.com/)** | Email marketing and automation | --- ## No-Code Cohort Program In association with The Product Folks, I started a [cohort program for no-code](/no-code-cohort-program). The goal is to get beginners who have no knowledge of no-code tools to build and ship their first no-code product. The program covers platforms including Glide, Softr, and Bubble. No-code is a very useful skill for anyone in a company. In only a few hours, you can turn ideas into working products, automate procedures, and ship products without consuming engineering resources. --- ## Why No-Code? 1. **Speed.** You can go from idea to MVP in days, not months. 2. **Cost.** No engineering resources needed for validation. 3. **Iteration.** Easy to change, test, and iterate without deployment cycles. 4. **Empowerment.** Product managers, designers, and marketers can build solutions themselves. The best product is the one that ships. No-code helps you ship faster. --- ## Root Cause Analysis Using OpenAI URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/root-cause-analysis-using-open-ais-code-interpreter Published: 2023-07-01 Tags: ai, product-management # Root Cause Analysis Using OpenAI's Code Interpreter Root cause analysis (RCA) is changed forever. For my newsletter, [The Discourse](https://thediscourse.co), I wanted to understand the correlation between various parameters -- subject length, emojis, numbers, dollar signs -- with open rates and click rates. Instead of doing it in Excel or asking a data analyst to crunch the numbers, I ran the table through OpenAI's Code Interpreter (Advanced Data Analysis) on ChatGPT. It gave a decent correlation matching some of my intuition and breaking some others. --- ## The Problem As a newsletter writer, you develop intuitions over time. You start to believe that shorter subject lines perform better, or that emojis boost open rates, or that including numbers drives clicks. But these are just hunches -- not validated hypotheses. I had accumulated enough data points from my newsletter issues to actually test these assumptions. The question was how to analyze it efficiently. ## Why Code Interpreter? Traditionally, this kind of analysis would require one of the following: 1. **Excel or Google Sheets** -- Manual pivot tables, formulas, and chart creation. Time-consuming and error-prone. 2. **A data analyst** -- Effective but requires coordination, context sharing, and waiting. 3. **Writing a Python script** -- Fast if you know pandas and matplotlib, but still requires setup and iteration. Code Interpreter collapses all three into a single conversational interface. You upload your data, describe what you want to understand, and it writes and executes the code for you in real time. ## The Process Here is what I did: 1. **Exported newsletter data** into a CSV with columns for subject line, send date, open rate, click rate, and subscriber count. 2. **Added derived columns** for subject length (character count), whether the subject contained emojis, numbers, or dollar signs. 3. **Uploaded the CSV** to ChatGPT with Code Interpreter enabled. 4. **Asked for correlation analysis** between the subject line parameters and performance metrics. ## What I Found Code Interpreter ran a correlation analysis and produced visualizations that showed: - **Subject length** had a mild negative correlation with open rates -- shorter subjects tended to perform slightly better, confirming my intuition. - **Emojis** had a slight positive correlation with open rates, but the effect was smaller than I expected. - **Numbers in subject lines** showed a more meaningful positive correlation with click rates, which surprised me. - **Dollar signs** did not show a statistically significant correlation with either metric. Some of these findings matched what I intuitively felt. Others challenged my assumptions. That is the value of actually looking at the data instead of relying on gut feeling. ## Why This Matters The significance is not just in the specific findings about my newsletter. It is in the workflow shift: - **Speed:** What would have taken hours took minutes. - **Accessibility:** You do not need to know pandas or matplotlib. You just describe what you want. - **Iteration:** If the first analysis is not quite right, you can refine your question conversationally. - **Visualization:** Code Interpreter generates charts and graphs automatically, making it easy to spot patterns. ## Implications for Product Teams This workflow extends well beyond newsletter analysis. Product managers, growth teams, and analysts can use Code Interpreter for: - **Funnel analysis** -- Upload event data and ask for drop-off rates between steps. - **A/B test evaluation** -- Provide experiment data and ask for statistical significance. - **User segmentation** -- Cluster users based on behavioral attributes. - **Bug pattern analysis** -- Identify correlations between system parameters and error rates. The barrier to performing data-driven root cause analysis has dropped dramatically. You no longer need to choose between rigor and speed. ## Takeaway If you have a dataset and a question, try running it through Code Interpreter before reaching for your usual tools. The speed of iteration and the quality of output might surprise you. Root cause analysis used to be a formal, slow process. Now it can be a conversation. --- ## The Case for an E-Ink Smartphone URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/the-case-for-an-e-ink-smartphone Published: 2023-06-15 Tags: product-management # The Case for an E-Ink Smartphone The allure of high-saturation, high-brightness OLED screens keeps pulling us in. Endless notifications, infinite scrolling, dopamine-driven design -- our smartphones are engineered to be addictive. But what if there was a phone designed to do the opposite? I think there is a gap in the market for a dedicated e-ink smartphone. ## The Problem We all know the feeling. You pick up your phone to check one thing and 45 minutes later you are deep in a thread about something completely unrelated. OLED screens are gorgeous, and that is exactly the problem. They are designed to captivate. Every app, every notification, every piece of content is fighting for your attention on a display optimized to win. This is not a willpower problem. It is a design problem. ![Daylight DC1 e-ink tablet](/images/the-case-for-an-e-ink-smartphone/daylight-dc1.webp) ## What Exists Today There are a few e-ink devices out there, but none quite nail the smartphone form factor: - **Onyx Boox Palma** -- The closest thing to what I am describing. A pocket-sized e-ink device running Android. But it lacks network connectivity, which limits its utility as a phone replacement for those times you need to be reachable. - **Daylight Tablet** -- A larger e-ink device focused on reading and writing. Excellent for focused work, but not pocket-sized. - **Hisense A5** -- A lesser-known e-ink phone from Hisense. It exists, but it is not widely available and the software experience is not great. There is definitely a gap between e-readers (Kindle) and smartphones (iPhone). Something needs to fill it. ## What I Would Want Here is what an ideal e-ink smartphone would look like: ### Network Connectivity This is the dealbreaker for most existing e-ink devices. You need to be reachable for emergencies, important emails, or quick messages. Not the endless barrage of notifications from every app -- just the essentials. ### Sleek, Bezel-Less Display E-ink does not have to look clunky. A modern, minimalist design with thin bezels and an adaptive refresh rate (as much as e-ink technology allows) would make this feel premium, not like a compromise. ### Dedicated Scroll Buttons Physical buttons for scrolling would be a game-changer. No more accidental swipes and pinches. Just clean, intentional navigation -- especially useful for reading long-form content. ### Smart, Minimalist Interface A custom Android launcher focused on what matters: - **Reading apps**: Kindle, Play Books, Pocket, Readwise, Matter - **Audio apps**: Podcasts, Audible, Spotify (audio only) - **Communication**: Phone, Messages, Email (stripped down) - **Navigation**: Maps for when you need directions No social media. No YouTube. No infinite scroll. The interface should make it easy to do focused tasks and hard to fall into distraction. ## Why This Matters ### Reduce Distractions Imagine being present with your partner, friends, or family without the constant temptation of that addictive screen pulling you away. An e-ink phone makes it physically harder to be distracted -- there is simply less to be distracted by, and the display is not designed to be captivating. ### Improve Sleep Blue light from screens suppresses melatonin and disrupts sleep. Browsing on an e-ink display before bed is fundamentally different from staring at an OLED panel. Research consistently shows that light-emitting screens disrupt sleep onset, reduce REM sleep, and delay circadian rhythms. E-ink solves this. ### Read More, Scroll Less When your phone is optimized for reading rather than scrolling, you naturally develop a habit of consuming long-form content -- books, articles, newsletters -- instead of mindlessly consuming short-form video content. Your phone becomes a tool for learning instead of a tool for distraction. ### Better for Your Eyes E-ink displays do not emit light directly into your eyes. They reflect ambient light, just like paper. For anyone who spends all day looking at screens for work, having a phone that gives your eyes a break is a real benefit. ## The Market Opportunity The wellness tech space is growing. People are actively looking for ways to reduce screen time, improve their relationship with technology, and be more present. An e-ink smartphone sits at the intersection of these trends. The Light Phone proved there is demand for minimalist phones. But the Light Phone is too minimal for most people -- they still need maps, email, and the ability to read. An e-ink smartphone is the middle ground: connected enough to be functional, calm enough to not be addictive. ## The Bottom Line We need a pocket-sized, network-connected, beautifully designed e-ink device that makes reading easy and distraction hard. The technology exists. The demand exists. Someone just needs to build it. --- ## API Docs Best Practices URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/api-docs-best-practices Published: 2023-06-01 Tags: product-management, writing # API Docs Best Practices API documentation is often the first experience a developer has with your product. If they cannot figure out how to authenticate, make a request, or understand your response format, they will move on. Over 80% of developers say clear docs heavily influence their choice to adopt an API, and nearly 60% will simply walk away from APIs that do not meet their documentation needs. Here are the best practices I have found for writing API docs that developers actually want to use. ## 1. Know Your Audience Before writing a single line of documentation, define who is going to read it. Are they experienced backend engineers? Frontend developers integrating for the first time? Non-technical product managers? The level of detail, terminology, and examples should match your audience. ## 2. Start with Authentication Authentication is the very first gate developers need to pass through. If they cannot get in, the rest of your documentation is useless. Walk them through it step-by-step. Do not just mention the authentication method -- show them exactly how to get an API key, where to include it, and what a successful authenticated request looks like. ## 3. Use a Standard Format Use a standard format and style. A consistent structure -- clear headings, a predictable layout for each endpoint, a common terminology -- makes it easy for developers to find what they need. Tools like Swagger/OpenAPI, Slate, or API Blueprint can help you generate and organize documentation from your API specification. ![Well-structured API documentation page](/images/api-docs-best-practices/image-1.png) ## 4. Provide Multi-Language Code Snippets Do not just stop at a generic cURL command. Offer ready-to-use code snippets for every endpoint in popular languages -- Python, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Java. Developers want to copy, paste, and modify. Make that easy. ```bash # Example: cURL curl -X GET "https://api.example.com/v1/users" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" ``` ## 5. Include Interactive Testing Providing a mechanism for developers to test out your APIs with live examples is incredibly valuable. Tools like Swagger UI, Postman collections, or embedded API explorers let developers experiment without writing any code first. ## 6. Show Real-World Examples Go beyond bare-minimum endpoint descriptions. Include real-world use cases. Show a complete request and response for common scenarios. Explain what each field means, what values are valid, and what errors look like. ## 7. Document Error Handling Every API returns errors. Document them thoroughly. For each endpoint, list possible error codes, what they mean, and how to resolve them. A developer stuck on a cryptic 422 error with no explanation is a developer who is about to file a support ticket. ## 8. Keep Docs in Sync Stale documentation is worse than no documentation. Keep your API specification in a central repository. Ideally, generate your docs from the spec so they stay in sync automatically. Establish an API governance framework so that all teams are aligned on standards and best practices. ## 9. Think About the AI Era More and more developers are using AI code generation tools like Cursor and Copilot. These tools read your API docs to generate integration code. If your docs are not machine-readable or well-structured, AI tools cannot help developers adopt your API -- making inaccessible docs an even bigger obstacle to adoption. ![AI search query for API documentation](/images/api-docs-best-practices/image-7.png) ![AI search response](/images/api-docs-best-practices/image-8.png) ## The Bottom Line API documentation is not a chore to check off. It is a product in itself. Treat it with the same care you would give to your UI, and developers will reward you with adoption, fewer support requests, and genuine enthusiasm for building on your platform. --- ## SEO, Simplified URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/seo-simplified Published: 2023-05-01 Tags: product-management, writing # SEO, Simplified SEO does not have to be complicated. There is an entire industry built around making it seem complex so you will pay for courses and tools, but the fundamentals are straightforward. Here is what actually matters. ## What SEO Really Is Search Engine Optimization is the practice of making your content easy for search engines to find, understand, and recommend. That is it. Everything else is implementation detail. Google's job is to connect searchers with the most relevant, helpful content. Your job is to create that content and make sure Google can find it. ## The Things That Matter Most ### 1. Titles Titles matter more than almost anything else. They are heavily weighted by search engines and they are the first (and sometimes only) thing a searcher sees. A good title is: - Clear and descriptive - Contains the primary keyword naturally - Compelling enough to click on - Under 60 characters so it does not get truncated The URL, meta description, and actual content matter too, but the title is your biggest lever. ### 2. Content Quality Google has gotten remarkably good at understanding content quality. The old tricks -- keyword stuffing, exact-match domains, link farms -- do not work anymore. What works is writing genuinely helpful content that answers the searcher's question better than anyone else. Ask yourself: if someone searches for this topic, would my page be the best result? If not, improve it until it is. ### 3. Page Speed A slow website is a dead website for SEO. Google explicitly uses page speed as a ranking factor. Optimize your images, minimize JavaScript, and use a fast hosting provider. If you are using a site builder, choose one that generates fast, static pages. ![SEO overview](/images/seo-simplified/seo-1.png) ![Schema markup example](/images/seo-simplified/seo-2.png) ![Schema markup example continued](/images/seo-simplified/seo-3.png) ![FAQ schema example](/images/seo-simplified/seo-4.png) ![Footer links example](/images/seo-simplified/seo-5.png) ![Footer links example continued](/images/seo-simplified/seo-6.png) ![Souled Store SEO example](/images/seo-simplified/seo-7.png) ![PageSpeed Insights score](/images/seo-simplified/seo-8.png) ### 4. Technical Basics Get the basics right: - **Clean URLs**: `/seo-simplified` is better than `/post?id=123` - **Meta descriptions**: Write them for every page. They do not directly affect ranking but they affect click-through rate. - **Headings**: Use H1 for your title, H2 for sections, H3 for subsections. Search engines use these to understand page structure. - **Internal linking**: Link between your own pages. This helps Google discover content and understand how your pages relate to each other. - **Mobile-friendly**: Your site must work well on mobile. Period. - **SSL/HTTPS**: Not optional anymore. ## Programmatic SEO One approach I have found effective is Programmatic SEO -- creating many pages targeting long-tail keywords using a templated approach. A content library can consist of blog articles, landing pages, marketing comparison pages, social media posts, and pages focused on long-tail keywords. Earlier, you would use different APIs to get the information for these pages. Now you can use OpenAI and set the entire process on autopilot using AI and no-code tools. ## Choosing the Right Platform Your platform matters for SEO. When I needed the best SEO performance for a site with 20+ similar pages, I chose Webflow. For my personal site, I use a hosting provider that takes my content and generates static pages -- the key benefits being speed, better SEO, more customizability, and a custom domain. ## AI and SEO Titles An interesting experiment: I rewrote 58 newsletter titles with AI (GPT-3) and found that the AI-generated titles would do much better for SEO blog posts than for newsletters. They looked more "SEO'd" -- optimized with keywords and structured for search intent. This is not surprising given GPT-3's training data, but it is a useful insight: AI can be a great tool for generating SEO-optimized titles and meta descriptions. ![Off-page SEO example](/images/seo-simplified/seo-9.png) ## Common Mistakes - **Ignoring search intent**: Writing about what you want instead of what people are searching for - **Over-optimizing**: Making content feel robotic and keyword-stuffed - **Neglecting existing content**: Sometimes updating an old page is more effective than creating a new one - **Chasing trends**: Focus on evergreen content that will rank for years - **Not measuring**: Use Google Search Console. It is free. Look at what is working and do more of it. ## The Simple Framework 1. Research what people are searching for in your niche 2. Create the best content on the internet for those searches 3. Make sure Google can find and understand your content 4. Build links naturally by creating things worth linking to 5. Measure, learn, and improve That is SEO, simplified. --- ## Sales in the Age of LLMs URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/sales-in-the-age-of-llms Published: 2023-04-01 Tags: ai, product-management # Sales in the Age of LLMs *Part of the "In the Age of LLMs" series, exploring how AI is reshaping different industries. Previously: [Customer Support in the Age of LLMs](/customer-support-in-the-age-of-llms).* The advent of Large Language Models is reshaping the landscape of sales, offering unprecedented tools for efficiency and personalization. But AI's true power in sales lies in augmenting rather than replacing human salespeople. Here is how AI can be applied at each stage of the B2B sales funnel. ## Start with Your ICP Before diving into the funnel, you need to define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) according to your product vision and features. The ICP is the foundation for all subsequent sales activities. Creating an ICP involves identifying specific attributes: - **Demographics**: Industry, company size, location - **Technographics**: Technologies the company uses - **Behavioral characteristics**: Buying patterns, brand loyalty - **Psychographics**: Values, culture, priorities ## Prospecting Once the ICP is defined, the sales team enters prospecting. Depending on the GTM motion, this can be: - **Outbound**: Identifying key stakeholders through platforms like LinkedIn, proprietary systems, or existing networks - **Inbound**: Through webinars, demos, contact forms, freemium, or trials ### How AI Helps with Prospecting **Company matching**: Use a mix of LLMs and company services APIs like Crunchbase to get a list of companies that match your ICP. Prompt-engineer the model to rate companies on a scale of 1 to 10 based on your ICP definition. **Research and outreach**: Use web scrapers, LLMs, and tools like Hunter to research prospects and generate outreach messages. Cold outreach should be specific and relevant without being overly personal -- discuss their company and latest posts, but avoid coming across as creepy. These rules can be implemented through good prompt engineering. ![AI-assisted prospecting workflow](/images/sales-in-the-age-of-llms/sales-1.png) ## Discovery and Qualifying This is where AI starts to get really interesting. You can qualify leads using the BANT framework (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) with AI assist. While some of this can be done with formulas and rules, AI handles the subjective parts to ensure qualification is not just about numbers. ### How AI Helps with Qualifying **Live call assistance**: Use live transcription of recorded calls to prompt salespeople with relevant questions, responses, or information about features, integrations, unique selling points, or similar customers. AI can also assist with objection handling tailored to a specific company or industry. **Email analysis**: Move email responses into a CRM to make them searchable and easier to analyze. AI can categorize responses into reasons for accepting or rejecting the product. **Normalizing quality**: This approach helps normalize the quality of sales calls, making average performers significantly better. The best salespeople might not need it, but AI raises the floor for the entire team. ## Proposals Once you reach the proposal stage, it is important to create the proposal keeping in mind the exact points mentioned in the sales discussions. AI can help here by: - Summarizing call transcripts and email threads to extract key requirements - Drafting proposals that address the prospect's specific pain points - Customizing case studies and references based on the prospect's industry and size - Ensuring consistency across proposals while maintaining personalization ![Sales funnel diagram](/images/sales-in-the-age-of-llms/sales-2.png) ## Closing The closing stage is where human judgment remains most critical. Negotiation, empathy, trust-building, and reading the room are skills that AI cannot replicate. But AI can support the process by: - Analyzing deal signals to predict close probability - Flagging at-risk deals based on patterns in communication - Suggesting optimal timing for follow-ups - Preparing counter-arguments for known objections ## Quality and Feedback After the deal, AI helps with collecting and analyzing feedback: - Collect objective and subjective feedback through CSAT, NPS, or other metrics and surveys - Summarize, tag, and organize the text component into a system that makes sense - Draw correlations between sales quality and end business metrics like revenue, profitability, and retention ## The Bottom Line AI is not going to replace salespeople. The best sales organizations will use AI to handle the repetitive, data-heavy parts of the funnel so that humans can focus on what they do best: building relationships, understanding nuance, and closing deals. The winners will be the teams that blend AI efficiency with human expertise. --- ## AI Products Built with No-Code URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/ai-products-built-with-no-code Published: 2023-03-01 Tags: ai, no-code # AI Products Built with No-Code You do not need to be a developer to build AI-powered products. With the right combination of no-code tools and AI APIs, you can go from idea to working product in days, not months. Here is what I have learned from building several AI products without writing traditional code. ## The Stack The no-code AI stack typically looks like this: - **Frontend/App Builder**: Glide, Softr, Bubble, or Webflow - **Backend/Database**: Airtable or Notion - **Automation**: Zapier or Make - **AI Layer**: OpenAI API (GPT), or similar LLM providers - **Communications**: Mailerlite, Twilio, or Telegram bots ## Products I Have Built ### AI Resume Generator An AI-assisted resume writing and career services platform that leverages large language models to enhance the job search process. Features include resume creation, cover letter writing, LinkedIn profile optimization, and interview preparation. The platform combines AI output with human writers and reviewers for quality assurance. **Stack**: Webflow + OpenAI + Airtable + Zapier ### Mind Health App An app that helps users improve their mental wellbeing by practicing mindfulness and challenging negative thinking. Originally built in Glide to help users identify the [10 cognitive distortions](/10-cognitive-distortions), I updated it in 2023 to use AI to identify distortions automatically and provide more specificity to gratitude and visualization exercises. **Stack**: Glide + OpenAI ### ChatGPT Customer Support Tool A simple ChatGPT-powered app that converts Hinglish (Hindi-English mix) to proper English text for customer support email responses. A gamechanger for teams with weaker English writing skills. **Stack**: OpenAI API + Telegram ### Content Library Generator Using AI and no-code tools, I built a system for generating content libraries on autopilot. It creates various content types -- blog articles, landing pages, marketing comparison pages, social media posts, and long-tail keyword pages -- what is known as Programmatic SEO. Earlier you would need different APIs to get this information, but now you can use just OpenAI. **Stack**: OpenAI + Airtable + Zapier + Webflow ## The AI + No-Code Opportunity With ChatGPT, we have entered an era where creation has become dramatically easier. The bottleneck is no longer building -- it is editing, curating, and knowing what to build. As I have written before, with ChatGPT we will become "editors" and not "creators." When the creation process becomes easy, editing still requires skill, experience, and specific knowledge. This makes no-code + AI an incredibly powerful combination: 1. **Speed**: Go from idea to MVP in days 2. **Cost**: No engineering salaries or infrastructure costs upfront 3. **Iteration**: Change things instantly based on user feedback 4. **Experimentation**: Treat each build as an experiment, not a business, until it proves itself ## Tips for Building AI Products with No-Code - **Start with the workflow, not the tool.** Map out exactly what the AI needs to do before picking your stack. - **Use AI for one specific task.** Do not try to make the AI do everything. Identify the single highest-leverage task and nail that. - **Keep humans in the loop.** AI output is a starting point. Build in review steps, especially for customer-facing content. - **Think about edge cases.** What happens when the AI gives a bad response? Have fallbacks. - **Do not over-engineer.** The beauty of no-code is speed. Ship something simple, get feedback, improve. ## The Bigger Picture No-code tools have made it possible for product managers, designers, and domain experts to build functional products without a development team. Adding AI to the mix takes this even further. You can now build intelligent, personalized products that would have required a full engineering team just a few years ago. The key mindset shift: do not think of your no-code builds as businesses until they are. Think of them as experiments and learning opportunities. The ones that stick will tell you when it is time to invest more. --- ## Customer Support in the Age of LLMs URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/customer-support-in-the-age-of-llms Published: 2023-02-01 Tags: ai, product-management # Customer Support in the Age of LLMs *This is the first post in my "In the Age of LLMs" series, where I look at how AI is reshaping different industries. I am starting with customer support because I have firsthand experience in this space.* ## My Background in Customer Support In 2019, I worked at a startup focused on customer support quality. We used machine learning to analyze text customer support tickets -- including those from a $1B fitness startup -- and evaluate them on quality criteria such as empathy, friendliness, and helpfulness. Before our solution, the entire process was carried out manually, if at all. Reviewers could only review about 1% of tickets, leading to sampling error and bias. The gap between what was being measured and what was actually happening was enormous. That experience gave me a front-row seat to the problems in customer support -- and why LLMs are such a big deal for this space. ## What LLMs Change The adoption of Large Language Models in customer support represents a significant leap toward more efficient and empathetic customer interactions. Here is what is changing: ### Automated Resolution LLMs can now handle a substantial portion of routine inquiries autonomously, allowing human agents to focus on complex and nuanced issues. Intercom, which has positioned itself as AI-first, launched their AI chatbot Fin, which solves up to 50% of support questions instantly. That is a massive reduction in ticket volume and response time. ![Chart showing the percentage of support tickets resolved by AI vs those requiring human agents](/images/customer-support-in-the-age-of-llms/customer-support-ai-1.jpeg) ### Quality Analysis at Scale Remember the 1% review problem? LLMs solve this entirely. You can now analyze 100% of support interactions for quality criteria -- empathy, accuracy, helpfulness, tone -- in real time. No more sampling error. No more bias from reviewing a tiny fraction of tickets. ### Language and Localization One simple but powerful application: I built a ChatGPT app that converts Hinglish (Hindi-English mix) to proper English text for customer support email responses. This is a gamechanger for teams where English is not the first language. The quality of written communication goes up dramatically with almost no effort. ## The Platforms ### Intercom Intercom has gone all-in on AI. Their Fin chatbot is powered by GPT-4 and can answer customer questions using your knowledge base. Within hours of GPT-3.5's release, they began experimenting, and just four months later launched Fin. They committed $100M to replatforming the business around AI. Fin resolutions are billed at $0.99 each -- if your chatbot handles 1,000 queries monthly, that is an extra $990. ### Zendesk The legacy platform has also shipped AI features -- AI-powered agents, Agent Assist for summarizing tickets, drafting responses, and detecting intent for better routing. Zendesk's AI is more focused on agent productivity and workflow optimization rather than direct customer-facing automation. ### Others New entrants are popping up constantly, offering specialized AI support solutions for different verticals and use cases. ## Build vs. Buy This is the critical question. A large company with sizeable customer support volume -- think DoorDash or Swiggy -- will likely decide to build in-house. They have the volume to justify the investment, and customer support quality is directly tied to their core business. But startups? Opt for off-the-shelf products. Customer support is important, but it is not core to your offering. Use Intercom, Zendesk, or one of the newer AI-native platforms and focus your engineering resources on your actual product. ![Decision tree diagram for build vs buy in AI customer support](/images/customer-support-in-the-age-of-llms/customer-support-ai-2.jpeg) ## Measuring Quality AI does not just answer tickets -- it helps you understand the quality of your entire support operation: - Collect objective and subjective feedback through CSAT, NPS, or other metrics and surveys - Summarize, tag, and organize the text responses into a system that makes sense - Draw correlations between customer support quality and end business metrics like revenue, profitability, and retention This feedback loop is where the real value lies. It is not just about deflecting tickets -- it is about understanding what your customers are struggling with and feeding that back into product development. ## Challenges The transition is not without challenges: - **Accuracy and reliability**: AI can hallucinate or give wrong answers. You need guardrails. - **Brand voice**: Making AI sound like your company, not like a generic chatbot - **Escalation handling**: Knowing when to hand off to a human seamlessly - **Customer trust**: Some customers do not want to talk to a bot, period ## The Bottom Line LLMs in customer support are not a future prediction -- they are happening now. The benefits in cost savings and improved customer satisfaction are compelling. The companies that figure out the right balance of AI automation and human empathy will have a significant competitive advantage. The key insight: AI should augment your support team, not replace it. Use AI to handle the routine, measure quality at scale, and free up your human agents to do what they do best -- handle the complex, emotional, high-stakes interactions that require genuine human connection. --- ## How Kavir Can Be Useful URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/how-kavir-can-be-useful Published: 2023-01-01 Tags: personal # How Kavir Can Be Useful I am an experienced product manager, writer, and builder based in Bombay, India. I have led product management for Tier 1 VC (Accel, Sequoia) funded startups including [CarDekho](https://www.cardekho.com/) and [Hashnode](https://hashnode.com/). I have worked across B2B and B2C in auto, fintech, AI, collaboration tools, and media. I am also an ex-founder of an HR-tech startup and an ISB and On Deck alum. ## Track Record - Built the car loans platform for CarDekho from scratch, leading to $12M in annual disbursals. The platform now operates at $1B disbursals annually. - At Hashnode, led the product roadmap to achieve an 80% increase in new sign-up growth rate and a 52% increase in retention of monthly active registered users. Currently, I am a product builder creating apps with AI, I advise and consult with startups, and I write a newsletter on product and AI -- [The Discourse](https://thediscourse.co) -- with 5K+ subscribers. --- ## Areas Where I Can Help ### No-Code I can connect you with no-code experts and builders to build MVPs in Bubble, Softr, Glide, Webflow, and Framer. I can help select the right tools and platforms depending on your use case. Whether you need to build a quick prototype to validate an idea or a more polished MVP to show investors, no-code is often the fastest and most cost-effective path. ### Product Management I can help with: - **Product specs review** -- reviewing your PRDs, user stories, and feature specifications. - **Prioritization support** -- helping you decide what to build next using frameworks that work. - **Metrics tracking** -- setting up the right metrics and dashboards to track what matters. - **Planning** -- sprint planning, roadmapping, and setting up minimum viable processes. - **Guides** -- helping you set up the minimum viable processes your team needs. ### AI I created a compilation of ChatGPT prompts for PMs that has been downloaded by 4,000+ people. I have also created many live and functioning web apps using AI coding. I can help with: - **Overall AI strategy** -- figuring out where and how AI fits into your product. - **Prompt engineering** -- crafting effective prompts for your specific use cases. - **AI-enabled prototypes** -- creating live, functioning prototypes that demonstrate AI capabilities. ### Networking and Distribution I can help share your product or content through my network: - **Email channels** -- reaching my newsletter subscribers. - **Community posting** -- sharing in relevant groups and communities. - **Introductions** -- making intros to key decision makers in my network. --- If any of this sounds useful, reach out at [kavir@hey.com](mailto:kavir@hey.com). --- ## Framework for Prioritizing Technical Debt URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/framework-for-prioritizing-technical-debt Published: 2022-09-01 Tags: product-management # Framework for Prioritizing Technical Debt Technical debt is inevitable in any growing product. The challenge is not eliminating it entirely but deciding which debt to pay down first. Not all technical debt is created equal -- some directly degrades the user experience, some indirectly slows down your ability to ship, and some has no perceptible user impact at all. This framework helps product managers and engineering teams make informed decisions about where to focus their efforts by categorizing technical debt based on its impact on users. --- ## What Is Technical Debt? Technical debt refers to the implied cost of future rework caused by choosing an expedient solution now instead of a better approach that would take longer. It accumulates over time as codebases grow, requirements shift, and shortcuts are taken to meet deadlines. The term, coined by Ward Cunningham, uses a financial metaphor -- just like monetary debt, technical debt accrues interest. The longer you leave it unaddressed, the more costly it becomes. ## Why Prioritization Matters Engineering teams often maintain a long backlog of technical debt items. Without a clear framework, prioritization becomes subjective -- driven by which engineer feels most strongly about a particular issue rather than by actual impact. Product managers need a way to evaluate technical debt alongside feature work. The key question is: **how does this debt affect the user?** ## The Framework: Categorize by User Impact ### 1. Direct User Impact This is technical debt that users can see and feel. Examples include: - **Slow page load times** caused by unoptimized queries or bloated frontend bundles - **Bugs and crashes** stemming from fragile code or missing error handling - **Broken features** that partially work due to accumulated workarounds - **Poor accessibility** resulting from shortcuts taken during initial development Direct user impact debt should be the highest priority. It is actively degrading the product experience and likely affecting metrics like retention, conversion, and satisfaction. **Action:** Treat these as high-priority items. They deserve dedicated sprint capacity and should not be perpetually deprioritized in favor of new features. ### 2. Indirect User Impact This is technical debt that users do not directly experience but that slows down the team's ability to deliver value. Examples include: - **Tightly coupled architecture** that makes it risky to change one component without breaking another - **Lack of automated tests** that forces manual QA cycles and delays releases - **Outdated dependencies** that create security vulnerabilities or block adoption of newer tools - **Poor documentation** that increases onboarding time and leads to mistakes Indirect impact debt is insidious. It does not show up in user-facing metrics immediately, but it compounds over time. Teams shipping slower, more bugs slipping through, and longer incident response times are all symptoms. **Action:** Allocate a consistent percentage of engineering capacity (commonly 15-20%) to address indirect impact debt. Track velocity and cycle time as leading indicators. ### 3. No User Impact Some technical debt is purely internal and has negligible impact on either users or team productivity. Examples include: - **Code style inconsistencies** across modules written by different teams at different times - **Unused feature flags** that have been fully rolled out but never cleaned up - **Minor naming convention mismatches** in internal APIs This category is tempting to clean up -- engineers have a natural desire for clean code -- but it should be the lowest priority. **Action:** Address opportunistically, such as when you are already working in the affected area of the codebase. Do not create dedicated tickets for these unless they are trivial. ## Applying the Framework When evaluating a technical debt item, ask these questions: 1. **Can the user see or feel this problem?** If yes, it has direct user impact. 2. **Does this slow down our ability to ship or increase risk?** If yes, it has indirect user impact. 3. **Is this purely a code cleanliness concern?** If yes, it likely has no user impact. Then use this categorization to stack-rank debt items alongside your feature backlog. Direct user impact items should compete with features for priority. Indirect impact items should have a protected allocation. No impact items should be handled opportunistically. ## Common Pitfalls - **Treating all debt as equal.** A code style inconsistency is not the same as a performance bottleneck. - **Never paying down debt.** Perpetually deferring technical debt leads to a slow, buggy product and an exhausted team. - **Over-indexing on debt.** Spending too much time on internal cleanup at the expense of delivering user value is also a mistake. - **Not involving engineers in prioritization.** Engineers understand the codebase best. Their input on severity and effort is essential. ## Final Thoughts The goal is not to have zero technical debt. The goal is to have the right amount of debt -- consciously chosen, well-understood, and systematically addressed based on its impact on users and the team's ability to deliver. Use this framework to move from subjective debates to structured conversations about what to fix and when. --- ## Dual N-Back: Improve Working Memory and White Matter Density URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/dual-n-back-improve-working-memory-and-white-matter-density Published: 2022-01-01 Tags: wellness, productivity # Dual N-Back: Improve Working Memory and White Matter Density In 2013, I came across the dual n-back brain training game. It has been claimed to improve working memory and, additionally, fluid intelligence. While the fluid intelligence claims did not replicate in subsequent studies, the benefits to working memory and white matter density have been consistently shown. This game changed how I prepare for cognitively demanding tasks -- and it has had surprising benefits for my mental health. --- ## What Is Dual N-Back? In the dual n-back game, you are presented with two simultaneous streams of information -- typically a visual stream (a square appearing in different positions on a grid) and an auditory stream (spoken letters). You have to indicate when the current stimulus matches the one from N steps back. For example, in 2-back, you need to remember what happened 2 steps ago for both visual and auditory streams simultaneously. As you improve, N increases -- 3-back, 4-back, and so on. The challenge adapts to your performance. The game provides an adaptive challenge to your visual and auditory working memory by having you recall what items were presented previously while processing new ones in real time. ## The Science ### Working Memory Working memory is your brain's ability to hold and manipulate information in real time. It is different from long-term memory -- it is the mental workspace where you process information on the fly. Dual n-back training has been consistently shown to improve working memory capacity. This matters because working memory is a bottleneck for many cognitive tasks -- reading comprehension, problem-solving, mental arithmetic, and complex decision-making all rely on it. ### White Matter Density The brain is full of gray matter and white matter. Gray matter is the neurons where processing happens. White matter is the space between the gray matter where connections are made -- it is the highway between the processing centers. Research published in NeuroImage showed that dual n-back training produces increased integrity of white matter pathways connecting different brain regions. The training group showed increased fractional anisotropy (FA) -- a measure of white matter integrity -- with effects mostly left-lateralized. In other words, the game does not just improve your performance on the game itself -- it strengthens the physical connections between brain regions. ### Fluid Intelligence Fluid intelligence is defined as reasoning ability and the ability to generate, transform, and manipulate different types of novel information in real time. Early studies (notably Jaeggi et al., 2008) showed dual n-back improving fluid intelligence, but subsequent replication attempts yielded mixed results. The working memory and white matter benefits, however, have been more consistently supported. --- ## My Experience ### GMAT Preparation My interest in dual n-back was not in gains to "intelligence." When I first evaluated the game in 2013, it was in the context of preparing for the GMAT as a second attempt. My first attempt in 2012 went badly. I lost focus during the test due to intrusive thoughts, leading to going blank during a reading comprehension section. The root cause was depression, which has cognitive costs like loss of concentration and memory problems. In standardized tests like the GMAT, working memory is a critical component. Not much long-term memory is tested, but the ability to hold information in your brain while answering questions -- reading a passage, keeping track of the argument structure, evaluating answer choices -- is everything. I practiced the dual n-back game every night for 20-30 days, 20 minutes each session. I practiced at night when already exhausted, so as not to take up valuable mental resources during the day. The result: **I scored 750 (98th percentile) on my second attempt**, up from 640 on the first. I cannot attribute the improvement solely to dual n-back -- I also studied extensively. But the improvement in sustained attention and working memory during the test itself was noticeable. ### The Mental Health Connection Low white matter integrity is correlated with depression. Taking anti-depressants results in improvements to white matter integrity, and so does aerobic exercise -- and so does dual n-back. In 2022, I finally started the practice again after years away from it. I noticed several benefits: - **My brain seemed to work better together.** Thoughts flowed more coherently. - **Very lucid dreams.** An unexpected side effect that many n-back practitioners report. - **Reduced frequency and intensity of depressive episodes.** - **Improved concentration** during long work sessions. The game is the ultimate challenge to a depressed or anxious brain. Your brain wants to either ruminate about the past or worry about the future. Dual n-back forces you to be fully present -- there is simply no cognitive capacity left for rumination when you are tracking two streams of information at the 3-back level. --- ## What It Feels Like I want to be honest: the game is uncomfortable. It is not fun. It really challenges your brain and makes you feel dumber than you are, especially when you first start. You will fail frequently. You will confuse what happened 2 steps ago with what happened 3 steps ago. You will feel frustrated. This is the point. The discomfort is the training signal. Just like muscle soreness after a workout, the cognitive strain is what produces adaptation. --- ## How to Practice Here are my recommendations: - **Duration:** 20 minutes per session, 4-5 days per week. - **Timing:** I prefer night time when already mentally tired, but find what works for you. - **Duration of practice:** Commit to at least 20-30 days to see meaningful results. - **Apps:** There are free dual n-back apps available on iOS and Android. Brain Workshop is a popular free desktop option. - **Consistency over intensity:** Regular shorter sessions beat occasional marathon sessions. --- ## Who Should Try This - **Students preparing for standardized tests** (GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT) where working memory matters. - **Knowledge workers** who need sustained focus and attention. - **Anyone dealing with depression or anxiety** who wants a complementary cognitive tool (not a replacement for treatment). - **Anyone curious about neuroplasticity** and what the brain is capable of with training. --- ## Final Thought Dual n-back is not a magic pill. It is a challenging, uncomfortable practice that requires consistency. But the evidence for its effects on working memory and white matter integrity is compelling, and my personal experience has reinforced those findings. If you are willing to sit with 20 minutes of cognitive discomfort a day, you might be surprised by what your brain can do. --- ## Book Recommendations URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/book-recommendations Published: 2021-11-01 Tags: books, personal # Book Recommendations Here are books I have read and would recommend. I have organized them by category to make it easier to find something that matches what you are looking for. I also write detailed [book summaries](/book-summaries) for some of these. --- ## Stoicism and Philosophy - **[Meditations](/meditations-by-marcus-aurelius--book-summary)** by Marcus Aurelius -- A personal journal of the Roman Emperor, never meant to be published. It is fascinating to read the private thoughts of an emperor from two millennia ago and realize he faced the same struggles we face today. Aligned with the Stoic school of thought. - **[Manual for Living](/manual-for-living-by-epictetus--book-summary)** by Epictetus -- An important text in Stoicism that emphasizes having a strong internal locus of control -- understanding what is in our control and what is not. A recurring theme across both this and Meditations. - **The Courage to Be Disliked** by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga -- A dialogue-based book on Adlerian psychology that challenges you to rethink how you approach relationships, self-worth, and happiness. --- ## Productivity and Habits - **Deep Work** by Cal Newport -- The case for focused, uninterrupted work in an increasingly distracted world. This book introduced me to the [Eudaimonia Machine](/eudaimonia-machine) concept. - **Atomic Habits** by James Clear -- The most practical book on building good habits and breaking bad ones. Small changes, remarkable results. - **Make Your Bed** by William H. McRaven -- A really short book that packs a punch. Written by a retired Navy Commander, it distills life lessons into simple, actionable advice. --- ## Product and Startups - **Inspired** by Marty Cagan -- The bible for product managers. Covers how great tech companies build products that customers love. - **The Lean Startup** by Eric Ries -- The fundamentals of building products iteratively with validated learning. - **Zero to One** by Peter Thiel -- On building something truly new rather than copying what already exists. --- ## Writing and Creating - **[Show Your Work](/show-your-work-book-summary)** by Austin Kleon -- Timeless principles for building your online presence. The key takeaway: you do not need to be a genius -- you just need to share your process. - **On Writing** by Stephen King -- Part memoir, part masterclass on the craft of writing. - **Bird by Bird** by Anne Lamott -- A warm, honest guide to writing and life. The title comes from the advice to take things one step at a time. --- ## Personal Development - **Man's Search for Meaning** by Viktor Frankl -- A Holocaust survivor's account of finding purpose in the most unimaginable circumstances. A book that shifts your perspective on suffering and meaning. - **The Almanack of Naval Ravikant** by Eric Jorgenson -- A collection of Naval's wisdom on wealth, happiness, and living a good life. - **Sapiens** by Yuval Noah Harari -- A sweeping history of humankind that makes you rethink everything you thought you knew about civilization. --- ## How I Read I try to read consistently rather than in bursts. I keep a running list of books I want to read, and I usually have one physical book and one audiobook going at the same time. You can find my full reading list on [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/57378511-kavir-kaycee). The best book is the one you actually finish. Do not force yourself through a book you are not enjoying -- life is too short for that. --- ## My Writing Workflow URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/my-writing-workflow Published: 2021-10-01 Tags: writing, productivity # My Writing Workflow ![Roam Research Morning Pages for idea capture](/images/my-writing-workflow/writing-workflow-1.png) Writing is a craft, and like any craft, having a good workflow makes all the difference. Over time, I have developed a process that gives me enough structure to be productive while leaving room for creative exploration. Here is how it works. --- ## Step 1: Idea Capture in Roam Ideas start in [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/). I capture them under "Morning Pages" -- a practice I usually do in the morning but can use any time during the day. Roam lets me quickly get thoughts down on the daily page with **super low friction**. There is no pressure to organize or structure anything. Just raw thoughts, observations, and connections. I am still figuring out Roam's prowess to connect different ideas with each other through bidirectional linking, but even as a simple daily journal, it is excellent for idea capture. Once I know I want to write about a topic in greater detail, it goes into Notion. ![Julian Shapiro's writing handbook template](/images/my-writing-workflow/writing-workflow-2.png) --- ## Step 2: Organizing in Notion In [Notion](https://www.notion.so/), ideas go under an **Ideas list** with a few initial thoughts put down. The Ideas and Drafts list is very long -- I prefer writing on multiple things at the same time. If something feels worth expanding, I move it from Ideas to Drafts. The **Kanban board view** in Notion helps visualize the workflow between stages: - **Ideas** -- Raw concepts worth exploring - **Drafts** -- Started writing, fleshing out the idea - **Actively Writing** -- Focused effort, building the piece - **Editing** -- Polishing language, flow, and structure - **Published** -- Live and shared There is a satisfying feeling when items move from Editing to Published. --- ## Step 3: Writing the First Draft I do not start with an outline. I usually put out whatever comes to mind first. My goal at the time of writing the first draft is to just **put forth the ideas in front of me**. Write X number of words, and once you have enough raw material to work with, you can always cut down to the essentials. The first draft is messy. That is the point. ### Speech-to-Text If I am too lazy to write, I use **speech to text** and just talk aloud to get something written. This has a nice side effect -- it also helps the article read like someone is talking to the reader, which makes the writing more conversational and approachable. --- ## Step 4: Creating the Outline I have come to realize the importance of having an **outline for a flow perspective**. It does not matter how good the insights are -- if the flow is abrupt, it will not be readable. So after the first draft is written, I create an outline that fits a narrative structure. The outline defines the **ordering and grouping** of different ideas together. Some sections get merged. Others get moved. A few get cut entirely. The second version of the draft is where the article truly comes to life. --- ## Step 5: Editing in Google Docs Since Grammarly is not integrated into Notion, I usually end up making a lot of grammatical mistakes at the drafting stage. That is fine -- you should first focus on the content and then correct grammar in the editing process. When editing, I move to [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/), which has a far superior collaborative editing workflow. Grammarly works here, and I can share the document with others for feedback if needed. ![Rewriting and editing template](/images/my-writing-workflow/writing-workflow-3.png) ### Editing Philosophy Editing is tougher than writing the first or second drafts. The key principles: - **Remove unnecessary words, phrases, or sentences.** If a sentence does not add value, cut it. - **Rephrase and simplify the language.** Shorter sentences are almost always better. - **Read it aloud** to make sure it flows well. If you stumble while reading, your readers will too. --- ## Step 6: Publishing I previously sent articles to friends for review before publishing, but that added lag time. Now I **publish first and then try to get feedback** on the live article. Perfect is the enemy of shipped. Once the article is ready, I publish it on the platform of choice -- currently [Substack](https://thediscourse.co/) for the newsletter and my personal website for evergreen posts. --- ## On Checklists This workflow gives enough structure to focus creative energies on the actual content. There is a lot of good advice on writing out there, but if it is not persistent and actionable, then it is not that useful. A **checklist** makes the advice "in your face." Instead of remembering 20 writing tips, I have a checklist I run through before publishing: - Does the headline grab attention? - Is the opening hook strong enough? - Does the piece flow logically from one section to the next? - Have I removed unnecessary words? - Have I read it aloud? - Is the call to action clear? --- ## Summary | Stage | Tool | Purpose | |---|---|---| | Idea Capture | Roam Research | Low-friction daily journaling and thought capture | | Organizing | Notion | Kanban board for managing the writing pipeline | | Drafting | Notion | Writing the messy first draft | | Outlining | Notion | Structuring the narrative flow | | Editing | Google Docs | Grammar, clarity, and collaborative feedback | | Publishing | Substack / Website | Shipping the final piece | The best writing system is the one you actually use. Start simple, iterate, and find what works for you. --- ## Learnings From Running a Cohort Program URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/learnings-from-running-a-cohort-program Published: 2021-09-01 Tags: startups, product-management # Learnings From Running a Cohort Program I have been on both sides of cohort-based programs -- as a participant in the [On Deck](https://www.beondeck.com/) No-Code Fellowship and as Program Director of [The Product Folks'](https://www.theproductfolks.com/) No-Code Cohort Program. Here is what I have learned about running one well. --- ## Why Cohort Programs Work Online courses have hilariously low engagement rates -- just 3-6% completion rates. That means a lot of people are paying for education but are not utilizing it. A cohort-based course or program (CBC) combines elements of education, community, and accountability to create a blend that improves learning and leads to tangible outcomes. The key difference from self-paced courses is that you are learning alongside others in real time, which creates social pressure to show up and do the work. ## About Our Program The No-Code for Product Managers program, run in partnership with The Product Folks, was designed to take beginners with no knowledge of no-code tools and help them build and ship their first no-code product in 4 weeks. We brought in the best platforms -- [Glide](https://www.glideapps.com/), [Softr](https://www.softr.io/), and [Bubble](https://bubble.io/) -- to teach the basics and get people started. In addition to the platforms, we brought in mentors who had built real-world products with no-code and had them explain their journey. The insights the mentors brought to the table were unparalleled and served as motivation for the newbie no-coders. The program attracted diverse learners from 5 continents and varied backgrounds and companies like Polygon, UNICEF, AngelList, Bumble, Cornell University, and Duke University. --- ## Key Learnings ### 1. Community Drives Completion Learning no-code by yourself is possible, but the completion ratio is low. That is where the community aspect fits in. The community ends up spurring people on to raise their bar and get building. When you see others in your cohort shipping products, asking questions, and sharing progress, it creates a positive feedback loop. You do not want to be the only person who did not build anything. ### 2. Be Intentional About Your Goals My key recommendation to anyone joining a cohort program is to be intentional about what you want to take out of it. List down your goals before the program starts. Plan out your activities and divide them into: - **Interacting with the community** -- Slack conversations, peer feedback, networking - **Attending sessions / watching recordings** -- Structured learning content - **Building** -- The actual hands-on work It is very easy to overthink, over-research, and not build until too late. The benefit of no-code is that you can build something really quick and test it with users. ### 3. Give More Than You Take The more you help, the more you receive. If you are known as a giver -- someone who answers questions, provides feedback, and shares resources -- when you ask for help, there will be a lot of people willing to help you. This is true in any community, but it is especially pronounced in cohort programs where relationships are compressed into a short time window. ### 4. Start Building Early The biggest mistake participants make is waiting too long to start building. They want to learn everything first and build later. But the best learning happens through building. Ship something small in the first week. It does not have to be perfect. Get feedback. Iterate. The iterative cycle is where the real learning happens. ### 5. The Value Is Skill + Community Think of the value of cohort programs as a combination of skill learning and being part of a community. The skills you learn during the program are valuable, but the network you build lasts much longer. Non-technical founders can learn how to build an MVP with no-code in less than 4 weeks to validate their idea. But they also get access to a community of like-minded builders who can help them long after the program ends. ### 6. Mentors Make the Difference Bringing in practitioners who have built real products with the tools being taught adds a layer of credibility and inspiration that tutorials alone cannot provide. Participants want to hear from people who have done the thing, not just people who teach the thing. ### 7. Kickoffs Matter The kickoff session sets the energy for the entire program. We experimented with [Gather Town](/gather-town-virtual-events) instead of standard Zoom breakout rooms for our kickoff, and the organic, game-like interactions helped people connect in a way that a Zoom grid never could. --- ## What Participants Said Participants thanked "the entire The Product Folks team and Kavir Kaycee for curating such a well thought through programme." One participant noted: "This opened a whole new way of thinking for me, which is something one carries with themselves forever. Hoping to be a lifelong student, because the joy of learning sometimes feels unparalleled." --- ## Advice for Running Your Own Cohort 1. **Keep the cohort small enough for accountability** -- 30-50 people is a sweet spot. 2. **Have a dedicated community space** -- Slack or Discord, with structured channels. 3. **Build in public milestones** -- Weekly demos or check-ins where participants share progress. 4. **Pair mentors with small groups** -- Personalized guidance scales better than lectures. 5. **Create urgency** -- A fixed timeline with a demo day at the end drives completion. 6. **Celebrate wins loudly** -- Every shipped product, no matter how small, deserves recognition. The completion rates for cohort programs far exceed self-paced courses. The combination of community, accountability, and structured curriculum is powerful. If you are thinking about running one, the effort is worth it. --- ## Make the Most of a CBC URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/make-the-most-of-a-cbc Published: 2021-08-01 Tags: product-management, startups # Make the Most of a CBC Cohort-based courses and programs (CBCs) have been all the rage in the ed-tech space in the last few years. And for good reason -- while online courses have hilariously low engagement rates with just 3-6% completion rates, meaning a lot of people are paying for education but are not utilizing it, a cohort-based course or program combines elements of education, community, and accountability to create the perfect blend that improves learning and tangible outcomes. I have been on both sides -- as a participant in the On Deck No-Code fellowship program and as the Program Director leading TPF's No-code cohort program. After running two successful cohorts, I distilled my insights on how to make the most of a CBC. ## 1. Be Intentional Be intentional about what you want to take out of such a program. List down your goals before the program starts. What do you want to learn? Who do you want to meet? What do you want to build? Without clear goals, you will end up drifting through the program and not extracting maximum value. ## 2. Plan Your Activities You should plan out your activities and divide them into three buckets: - **Interacting with the community** -- engaging in discussions, reaching out to fellow members, participating in social events. - **Attending sessions / watching recordings** -- making sure you are absorbing the educational content being delivered. - **Building** -- actually applying what you are learning to build something tangible. Balance is key. If you only attend sessions but never interact with the community, you are missing out on half the value. ## 3. Build Early It is very easy to overthink, over-research, and not build until too late. The benefit of no-code is that you can build something really quick and test it with users. Do not wait until you have the "perfect" idea or plan. Start building early and iterate based on feedback. ## 4. Be a Giver The more you help, the more you receive. If you are known as a giver, when you ask for help, there will be a lot of people willing to help you. Answer questions, share resources, make introductions, and support others in the cohort. This is not just a strategy -- it is the foundation of how great communities work. ## 5. Be Known for Something Specific It helps to be known for something specific -- that way all requests and opportunities related to that thing come to you first. Whether it is a particular tool, industry, skill, or perspective, having a clear identity within the cohort makes you memorable and increases the chances of meaningful connections. ## 6. Be Active and Visible The more active you are on Discord and Twitter, the more you will attract opportunities. Combine that with being known for something specific, and you have got a winning combination. Share your progress, your learnings, and even your struggles publicly. Building in public is a powerful way to attract support and opportunities. ## 7. Think of the Full Value You should think of the value of cohort programs as a combination of skill learning as well as being part of a community. The community does not end when the program ends -- the relationships you build will continue to provide value for years to come. --- The bottom line is this: a CBC is what you make of it. The programs provide the structure, the content, and the community. But it is up to you to show up, engage, and extract the value. Be intentional, be active, and be a giver -- and you will get far more out of it than you put in. --- ## Timeboxing URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/timeboxing Published: 2021-07-01 Tags: productivity # Timeboxing ![Google Calendar view with timeboxed blocks](/images/timeboxing/timeboxing-1.png) I have tried a bunch of productivity techniques -- Pomodoro, GTD, Eat the Frog -- but nothing works as well as Timeboxing (also known as Timeblocking). --- ## Why Timeboxing Works Timeboxing helps you **realistically plan your day**, as opposed to having 100 things in one day's to-do list. When you assign a specific time slot to each task, you are forced to confront the reality of how many hours you actually have. Many tasks would just take 5 minutes, but we end up procrastinating on them for hours or even days. When you timebox that task into a specific 30-minute slot on your calendar, it gets done. --- ## Parkinson's Law > "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." This is Parkinson's Law, and it is the principle that makes timeboxing so effective. If you give yourself 3 hours to write an email, it will take 3 hours. If you give yourself 15 minutes, you will find a way to get it done in 15 minutes. The advice is simple: **do not allocate a long time slot for one task.** Elon Musk plans his day in 5-minute increments, but you do not have to be that extreme. 30 minutes should work as a good default interval. --- ## Separating Planning from Doing The best part about timeboxing is that it **separates the doing from the planning**. This is similar to Paul Graham's concept of [Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule](http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html). When you plan your day in the morning (or the night before), you make all your decisions about what to work on upfront. Then, when it is time to execute, you do not waste energy deciding what to do next -- you just look at your calendar and start. --- ## Learning by Doing The best part about timeboxing is that **you will learn while doing it.** For example, if you timebox 2 hours when you should have done 3, you will realize it and adapt next time. Over time, you get better at estimating how long tasks actually take. This feedback loop is invaluable. Most people are terrible at estimating time, and timeboxing gives you data to get better at it. --- ## How to Get Started 1. **Pick a to-do app.** Use any app like [Todoist](https://todoist.com/) or [TickTick](https://ticktick.com/). 2. **Set up Google Calendar sync.** Todoist allows for 2-way sync and TickTick offers 1-way sync. This means your tasks show up as blocks on your calendar. 3. **Configure 30 minutes as the default interval.** Add the start time as the due time of your tasks. 4. **Plan your day in the morning** (or the night before). Assign every task a time slot. 5. **Execute.** When the time comes, do the task. When the timebox is over, move on. --- ## Tips - **Start with your most important task** in the morning when your energy is highest. - **Leave buffer time** between blocks for unexpected interruptions and context switching. - **Review at the end of the day.** Did you finish everything? Did tasks take longer than expected? Use this data to plan better tomorrow. - **Do not be rigid.** Timeboxing is a guide, not a prison. If something urgent comes up, rearrange your blocks. - **Batch similar tasks** together to reduce context switching. --- ## The Bottom Line Timeboxing is not about being perfectly productive every minute of the day. It is about being intentional with your time and learning how you actually spend it. Once you start, you will wonder why you ever relied on a plain to-do list. --- ## Resume Tips URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/resume-tips Published: 2021-06-15 Tags: career, writing # Resume Tips I have reviewed hundreds of resumes -- as a hiring manager at VC-funded startups, as a mentor at The Product Folks, and in sessions I have run for aspiring product managers. Here are the tips that come up most often. --- ## Format ### Keep It to One Page Unless you have 15+ years of experience, your resume should be one page. Hiring managers spend an average of 6-7 seconds on an initial resume scan. Every line needs to earn its place. If you are struggling to fit everything on one page, that is a signal that you are including too much, not that you need more pages. ### Use a Clean, Simple Layout Your resume does not need to be a work of art. Use a standard font like Arial, Helvetica, or Inter. Keep formatting consistent -- same font sizes for headings, same bullet style throughout. Avoid: - Fancy graphics and icons that confuse applicant tracking systems (ATS) - Multiple colors - Complex multi-column layouts - Photos (in most markets) ### Save as PDF Always submit your resume as a PDF. Word documents can render differently on different machines and operating systems. PDFs preserve your formatting exactly. --- ## Content ### Lead with Impact, Not Responsibilities The most common mistake on resumes is listing job duties instead of achievements. "Responsible for managing the product roadmap" tells me nothing about how well you did it. Instead, use the formula: > **Action Verb + What You Did + Quantified Result** **Bad:** Responsible for managing the product roadmap. **Good:** Defined and executed the product roadmap, shipping 12 features in 6 months that increased user engagement by 35%. ### Quantify Everything Numbers make your resume concrete and credible. Wherever possible, include: - **Revenue impact** -- "Facilitated 3,000+ used car loans valued at $12M" - **Efficiency gains** -- "Reduced loan application processing time by 60%" - **Growth metrics** -- "Increased website conversions by 107%" - **Scale** -- "Led a team of 17 remote contributors" - **Rankings** -- "Achieved top 3 Google rankings for core product pages" If you cannot quantify with exact numbers, use ranges or approximations. "Improved load time by approximately 40%" is still better than "Improved load time." ### Use Strong Action Verbs Start every bullet point with a powerful action verb. Avoid weak, passive phrases like "responsible for," "helped with," "assisted in," or "tasked with." Strong verbs include: **Led, Built, Shipped, Launched, Increased, Reduced, Designed, Negotiated, Implemented, Transformed, Spearheaded, Orchestrated, Pioneered, Optimized, Delivered.** ### Tailor for Each Application Read the job description carefully. Mirror the language and skills they mention. If they say "cross-functional collaboration," use that phrase in your resume. If they emphasize "data-driven decision making," make sure your bullets reflect that. This is not about being dishonest -- it is about making it easy for the reviewer (human or ATS) to see the match. --- ## Structure ### Recommended Sections 1. **Header** -- Name, email, phone, LinkedIn, portfolio/website (no full address needed -- city is enough) 2. **Summary** (optional) -- 1-2 sentences if you are making a career transition. Skip if your experience speaks for itself. 3. **Experience** -- Reverse chronological order. 3-5 bullet points per role. 4. **Education** -- Degree, school, year. If you graduated more than 5 years ago, this should be brief. 5. **Skills** -- Tools, technologies, and methodologies relevant to the role. ### Sections to Skip - **References** -- "Available upon request" wastes space. They will ask if they need them. - **Hobbies** -- Unless directly relevant to the role. - **Objective statements** -- These are outdated. A summary is more useful if needed. - **High school** -- If you have a college degree, remove high school. --- ## Common Mistakes - **Typos and grammatical errors.** Proofread multiple times. Have someone else review it. Mistakes suggest carelessness. - **Listing every job you have ever had.** Only include relevant roles. If you have more than 3-4 roles, choose the most impactful ones. - **Using the same resume for every application.** Tailoring takes effort but dramatically improves response rates. - **Dense walls of text.** Use white space. Short bullet points. If a reviewer's eyes glaze over, they will move on. - **Including personal information** like age, marital status, or date of birth (varies by market, but generally unnecessary). --- ## Templates I have created resume templates that follow these principles. You can find them on my [Gumroad store](https://kavir.gumroad.com/) and on the [Templates](/templates) page. --- ## Final Tip Your resume is a marketing document, not a biography. Its job is to get you the interview, not to tell your entire life story. Be ruthless about what earns space on that single page. If you found these tips helpful, feel free to share them with someone who is job hunting. And tag me on [Twitter/X](https://twitter.com/kavirkaycee) or [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kavirkaycee/) if they help you land an interview. --- ## Virtual Sessions Best Practices URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/virtual-sessions-best-practices Published: 2021-06-01 Tags: product-management # Virtual Sessions Best Practices Running virtual sessions -- whether workshops, webinars, cohort kickoffs, or team meetings -- is a skill that has become essential. After running numerous virtual sessions for programs like The Product Folks' no-code cohort and other community events, here are the best practices I have learned. --- ## Before the Session ### Set Clear Objectives Before you open Zoom or Google Meet, define what success looks like. What should attendees walk away with? A clear objective shapes everything -- the content, the format, the activities, and how you measure whether the session worked. ### Prepare More Than You Think You Need Preparation is the single biggest lever for session quality. This means: - **Script your transitions** between sections so you do not lose momentum. - **Prepare backup activities** in case something finishes early or a planned activity falls flat. - **Test your tech setup** -- screen sharing, audio, slides, and any interactive tools. - **Do a dry run** with a co-host or friend. Practicing elevates quality significantly. ### Send Pre-work The nature of effective virtual sessions is that they tend to be short -- ideally up to 90 minutes. Pre-work is an essential tool to limit actual session time and ensure that the real-time interaction is focused and productive. Send reading material, a brief exercise, or a question to think about before the session. ### Keep It Short Zoom fatigue is real. Aim for 60-90 minutes maximum. If the content requires more time, break it into multiple sessions rather than one marathon. Spread the work over a period of time rather than cramming it all in. --- ## During the Session ### Start with Energy The first five minutes set the tone. Do not start with housekeeping slides. Start with something that gets people engaged: - A quick icebreaker question in the chat - A poll related to the topic - Music playing as people join (I learned this from the On Deck kickoff -- attendees were greeted with music playing in the background, creating a party-like atmosphere) ### Break Up the Monotony You should break up the event into smaller parts to avoid making it monotonous. Alternate between: - **Presentation segments** (keep these under 15 minutes) - **Interactive activities** (polls, Q&A, breakout rooms) - **Discussion segments** (open mic, chat responses) Use visual and audio media like embedded videos or infographics to give your speaking voice a rest and change the stimulus for attendees. ### Engage Every 10 Minutes Aim to get participants actively doing something at least every 10 minutes. This can be as simple as: - Typing a response in chat - Reacting with an emoji - Answering a poll - Turning to a breakout room for a 3-minute discussion The engagements do not have to be formal. Casual interactions work best. ### Use Breakout Rooms Wisely Breakout rooms are powerful but can feel awkward if not set up well: - **Give clear instructions** before sending people into rooms. - **Assign a specific task** -- not just "discuss the topic." - **Set a time limit** and give a 1-minute warning before closing rooms. - **Debrief** after the breakout so the whole group benefits from smaller discussions. ### Be Minimalist with Slides Use as few words as possible on your slides. Include striking images to capture attention. The audience does not read big paragraphs during live sessions -- cut down your content for maximum impact. ### Camera and Audio Etiquette - Encourage cameras on for smaller groups (under 20 people). For larger groups, it is fine to have most cameras off. - Have attendees mute by default and unmute when speaking. - As a presenter, use a headset or quality microphone. Default laptop microphones often do not suffice. --- ## After the Session ### Share a Recording and Summary Not everyone will retain everything from the session. Send a follow-up with: - A recording link - Key takeaways in bullet point format - Any resources or links mentioned - Action items or next steps ### Collect Feedback Use a short survey (3-5 questions) to understand what worked and what did not. Ask participants what they found most valuable and what they would change. ### Iterate Every session is a chance to improve. Review the feedback, note what landed well, and adjust for next time. The best virtual facilitators are the ones who treat each session as an experiment. --- ## Tools That Help - **Zoom / Google Meet** -- The basics. Learn the features deeply -- polls, breakout rooms, screen sharing, spotlight. - **[Gather Town](/gather-town-virtual-events)** -- For more immersive, game-like networking sessions with spatial audio. - **Miro / FigJam** -- For collaborative whiteboarding. - **Slido / Mentimeter** -- For live polls and Q&A. - **Notion** -- For session notes, agendas, and follow-up documentation. --- ## Key Takeaway The best virtual sessions feel like conversations, not presentations. Prepare thoroughly, engage frequently, keep it short, and always follow up. The bar for virtual sessions has gone up -- attendees have sat through enough bad Zoom calls to know the difference. --- ## Excited Accountability URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/excited-accountability Published: 2021-05-15 Tags: startups, product-management # Excited Accountability ![Excited Accountability illustration](/images/excited-accountability/screenshot-1.jpg) Johnny Harris (from Vox fame) talks about this concept called "Excited Accountability." The core idea is simple: **Apply for things before you are ready.** You will get a Super Mario boost when the request is accepted. --- ## The Concept Excited Accountability works because of one fundamental truth -- when you commit to something real, with real stakes and real people counting on you, you find a way to make it happen. The external pressure transforms into internal motivation. You are no longer just "thinking about learning something" -- you are learning it because you have to. This is different from generic accountability. The "excited" part matters. You are not grudgingly dragging yourself through a commitment. You are genuinely thrilled about the opportunity, and that excitement fuels the work required to deliver. --- ## A Personal Example Back in 2012, [@totalBarca](https://twitter.com/totalBarca) wanted to hire a Twitter Community specialist. I did not have any social media or writing experience at the time. Zero. But I applied without hesitation. For the application, I had to learn how to live-tweet a football match. I figured it out on the fly, managed to do well on the assignment, and got the role. That one decision -- applying before I was ready -- led to me becoming the Head of Social Media and taking the account to 50K followers in 2 years. None of that would have happened if I had waited until I felt "ready." I would probably still be waiting. ![Screenshot of the @totalBarca Twitter account](/images/excited-accountability/screenshot-2.jpg) --- ## Why It Works The external push has to be credible enough. It cannot be too passive. It has to be a real connection with a person who brings about that accountability. A vague New Year's resolution does not cut it. Telling yourself "I should learn to code" does not cut it. But signing up for a freelance project that requires you to code? That cuts it. Applying for a role that stretches your current abilities? That cuts it. The magic formula is: 1. **Find an opportunity** that excites you but feels slightly out of reach. 2. **Commit to it** before you feel fully prepared. 3. **Let the deadline and the stakes** drive you to close the gap between where you are and where you need to be. --- ## What Motivates You? Think about the times you have grown the most. Chances are, they were not the times you carefully prepared and then executed. They were the times you jumped in, felt a little over your head, and figured it out because you had no other choice. That is Excited Accountability in action. The question is -- what are you going to apply for next? --- ## Gather Town Virtual Events URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/gather-town-virtual-events Published: 2021-05-01 Tags: product-management, startups # Gather Town Virtual Events We had to run a kick-off meeting for a cohort program and had to decide the best way to get people to know each other. Zoom or Google Meet is the most boring way to do it. Instead of using the same old Zoom breakout room activities which can get boring, we decided to try out [Gather Town](https://www.gather.town/) to make the experience more immersive. --- ## What Is Gather Town? Gather Town gives a game-like experience where you are a game character navigating through a map. It allows you to interact with other people when you get closer to them with spatial audio and video -- as you walk your avatar toward someone, their audio and video fade in. Walk away, and they fade out. Just like real life. You can interact with objects using the X key, and -- importantly -- no sign-in is required to participate. You just share a link, and people can join with a name and avatar. This reduces friction significantly compared to platforms that require account creation. ## Our Setup We used Gather Town for the kick-off meeting of [The Product Folks'](/learnings-from-running-a-cohort-program) no-code cohort program. Here is how we set it up: ### Room Layout We had two main rooms -- one landing room where people first appeared, and the main room where conversations happened. However, in retrospect, **it is better to have one large space if there are fewer than 40 people.** Two rooms can fragment the group and make it harder for people to find each other. ### Spotlight Markers We put Spotlight markers in two areas across the rooms. The Spotlight allows any person standing in that zone to speak to everyone in the room, regardless of distance. This was essential for major announcements -- when we needed everyone's attention, a host could step into the Spotlight zone and address the full group. ### Wayfinding Hints To help users who were not familiar with the controls, we added wayfinding hints directly to the floor of the map: - **Help instructions** explaining how to navigate (arrow keys or WASD) - **Arrows on the floor** showing where to go - **Labels** explaining how to interact with objects (press X) This was critical because the platform was a surprise for participants, which was both good (they got to experience it live and fresh) and bad (they took some time to get used to the controls). ### Interactive Elements We explored elements that included: - **A fireplace** with great ambient sound, creating a cozy gathering spot - **A fountain** that also had ambient sound effects - **Seating areas** that encouraged small group conversations I wished there were speakers that could play background music throughout the space, though Gather's ambient sound objects partially solved this. --- ## What Worked ### Organic Interactions On the whole, the interaction felt organic. It was **way better than breakout rooms that kick you out after X minutes.** In Gather Town, you choose who to talk to. You can drift between conversations naturally. If a conversation is not interesting, you walk away -- just like at a real event. This organic quality is what makes Gather Town fundamentally different from Zoom breakout rooms, where you are randomly assigned to a group and stuck there until the timer runs out. ### Low Entry Friction No sign-in required meant that every participant could join within seconds. This is a huge advantage over platforms that require downloads or account creation, especially when you have participants with varying levels of technical comfort. ### The Surprise Factor Not telling participants in advance that we would be using Gather Town created a sense of novelty and excitement. People were delighted by the game-like interface and spent time exploring the map, which naturally led to conversations. --- ## What Could Be Better ### Onboarding Time Participants who had never used Gather Town before took some time to figure out the controls. Despite our wayfinding hints, some people were confused initially. If I did it again, I would send a 30-second tutorial video before the event. ### Audio Feedback We experienced some audio feedback issues when multiple people were in close proximity with overlapping spatial audio circles. Recommending headphones in advance would help mitigate this. ### Room Fragmentation As mentioned, having two rooms split the group. For events under 40 people, one well-designed room is better. You want the density of people to be high enough that walking around naturally leads to encounters. --- ## Tips for Running Your Own Gather Town Event 1. **Start with a single room** unless your group exceeds 40 people. 2. **Add Spotlight zones** for announcements and structured activities. 3. **Include wayfinding hints** on the floor for first-time users. 4. **Use ambient sound objects** (fireplaces, fountains) to make the space feel alive. 5. **Send a brief tutorial** before the event so participants are not figuring out controls during the session. 6. **Recommend headphones** to avoid audio feedback. 7. **Design gathering spots** -- seating areas, tables, and landmarks that naturally attract clusters of people. 8. **Have a host walk around** checking in on people who seem lost or stuck. --- ## When to Use Gather Town Gather Town is not a replacement for every virtual meeting. It is best suited for: - **Networking events** where organic interaction matters - **Cohort kickoffs** where you want people to bond - **Social hours and casual hangouts** - **Conferences and poster sessions** where people browse at their own pace For structured presentations, workshops, or meetings with a tight agenda, a standard video conferencing tool is still the better choice. --- ## Final Thought Virtual events do not have to feel like another Zoom call. Tools like Gather Town bring back some of the serendipity and organic interaction that in-person events provide. If you are running a community event, cohort program, or any gathering where human connection matters, give it a try. The result is significantly more engaging than breakout rooms that shuffle you around on a timer. --- ## India Covid Resources URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/india-covid-resources Published: 2021-04-25 Tags: personal # India Covid Resources In April 2021, India was hit by a devastating second wave of Covid-19. Hospitals were overflowing, oxygen was running out, and people were desperate for verified information about available resources -- beds, oxygen, medicines, and more. Two online communities -- [The Product Folks](https://www.theproductfolks.com/) and Creators of Products -- came together with 200+ volunteers to build [indiacovidresources.in](https://indiacovidresources.in/), a platform that helped over 150,000 people access life-saving resources. --- ## How It Started It started with a tweet. I put out an open offer to create no-code apps using [Glide](https://www.glideapps.com/) for anyone who needed help during the crisis. The response was overwhelming, and it quickly became clear that the need was not for individual apps but for a centralized, verified resource directory. Working with The Product Folks and Creators of Products, we mobilized a volunteer army to build and maintain a comprehensive database of Covid resources across India. ## What We Built ### The Resource Directory The core product was a no-code app built on Glide in just 2 days. It provided verified, crowd-sourced information on: - **Hospital beds** -- Availability across cities and districts - **Oxygen supply** -- Verified sources for oxygen cylinders and concentrators - **Medicines** -- Where to find Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, and other critical drugs - **Ambulance services** -- Emergency transport contacts - **Plasma donors** -- Connecting recovered patients with those in need - **Food and tiffin services** -- For patients in isolation - **Mental health support** -- Counselors and helplines for those struggling ![India Covid Resources app showing resource categories](/images/india-covid-resources/covid-resources-1.png) ### The Donation Platform We also built a donation website that was visited by 3 million users and helped raise over $500,000 over a period of 2 months. These funds went directly toward procuring oxygen concentrators, medicines, and other essential supplies. ## The Scale The numbers tell the story: - **200+ volunteers** working around the clock to verify and update resources - **150,000+ users** accessed life-saving information through the platform - **500+ cities** across India covered - **$500,000+** raised through the donation platform - **3 million** visits to the donation website - Available in **10 Indian languages** Since its launch on April 25, 2021, the site saw more than one lakh (100,000) users from over five hundred cities in India. ## How It Worked The verification process was the backbone of the operation: 1. **Volunteers sourced leads** from social media, WhatsApp groups, and direct calls. 2. **Verification teams** called each lead to confirm availability -- a resource listed as available had to be confirmed within the last few hours. 3. **Data entry teams** updated the Glide app with verified information. 4. **Moderation teams** removed outdated resources to prevent people from wasting precious time on dead leads. This was a 24/7 operation. Volunteers worked in shifts, coordinating through Slack and WhatsApp groups. ![Press coverage in The Hard Copy](/images/india-covid-resources/covid-resources-2.png) ![Vaccination rate chart](/images/india-covid-resources/covid-resources-3.png) ## Learnings ### No-Code Enabled Speed Building the app in Glide meant we could go from idea to live product in 2 days. In a crisis, speed matters more than polish. No-code tools let non-technical volunteers contribute directly to the product. ### Community Is the Moat The technology was relatively simple. What made this work was the community -- 200+ people who dropped everything to volunteer their time and energy. The Product Folks community, already 14,000+ members strong, provided the foundation. ### Verification Is Everything An unverified resource directory is worse than no directory at all. Outdated leads waste time that people do not have. The most labor-intensive part of the operation was not building the app -- it was continuously verifying and updating the data. ### Grief and Burnout Are Real Many volunteers were processing their own grief while helping others. We lost people we knew. The emotional toll of this work was significant, and we learned the importance of supporting the volunteers themselves, not just the end users. ## Looking Back India Covid Resources was the most meaningful thing I have worked on. It was a stark reminder that technology is most powerful when it serves people in their moments of greatest need -- and that communities, when mobilized with urgency and purpose, can achieve extraordinary things. If you were one of the 200+ volunteers who made this possible, thank you. You helped save lives. For anyone interested in building impactful no-code products, this experience reinforced a core belief: you do not need to be a developer to build something that matters. --- ## Inputs vs Outputs vs Outcomes URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/inputs-vs-outputs-vs-outcomes Published: 2021-04-01 Tags: product-management # Inputs vs Outputs vs Outcomes One of the most important mental models in product management is understanding the difference between inputs, outputs, and outcomes. Getting this wrong leads to teams that ship features nobody uses and celebrate launches instead of impact. --- ## Definitions ### Inputs Inputs are the **resources you put into your work**. They are the things under your direct control. Examples: - Time spent on research - Number of engineers on a project - Budget allocated to a feature - Customer interviews conducted - Design iterations completed Inputs are effort. They are necessary but not sufficient. ### Outputs Outputs are the **direct products of your work**. They are what you ship. Examples: - Features launched - Lines of code written - Blog posts published - Emails sent - Meetings held Outputs are tangible and easy to measure. This is what most teams focus on -- and that is the problem. ### Outcomes Outcomes are the **meaningful changes that result from your outputs**. They are the impact on the user or the business. Examples: - Increase in user retention - Reduction in customer support tickets - Growth in revenue - Improvement in NPS score - Users completing a key action more frequently Outcomes are what actually matter. They are the reason you build things in the first place. --- ## The Problem with Focusing on Outputs When teams focus on outputs, they fall into the **feature factory trap**. They measure success by how many things they shipped, not by whether those things made a difference. Here is what this looks like: - "We launched 12 features this quarter!" -- But did any of them move a metric that matters? - "We wrote 50,000 lines of code!" -- But is the product better for users? - "We had 40 meetings this week!" -- But did you make any decisions? **By itself, output is a vanity metric.** You will know this is the case when teams celebrate launches instead of the outcomes of a launch. --- ## Why Outcomes Matter When you manage toward outcomes, you gain insight into the **efficacy** of what you are building. If a feature is not performing well, you can make an objective decision about whether it should be kept, changed, or replaced. Outcomes force you to ask the right questions: - Did this feature actually solve the user's problem? - Is the user's behavior changing in the way we expected? - Are we moving closer to our business goals? This is harder than counting features, but it is the only way to build products that matter. --- ## The Relationship Between All Three The three are connected in a chain: **Quality inputs --> Quality outputs --> Meaningful outcomes** - **Great inputs** (thorough research, skilled team, clear strategy) lead to **better outputs** (well-designed features, solid code). - **Better outputs** lead to **meaningful outcomes** (users are happier, business grows) -- but only if the outputs were built to address a real problem. The chain can break at any point. You can have great inputs but poor outputs (bad execution). You can have great outputs but no outcomes (you solved the wrong problem). --- ## How to Apply This ### As a Product Manager 1. **Define the outcome first.** Before building anything, articulate what success looks like in terms of user behavior or business metrics. 2. **Work backwards.** From the desired outcome, figure out what outputs would drive it, and what inputs you need to produce those outputs. 3. **Measure outcomes, not just outputs.** After shipping, track whether the outcome is materializing. If it is not, iterate or pivot. ### As a Team 1. **Align on outcomes in sprint planning.** Do not just list features to build. State the outcome each feature is meant to drive. 2. **Review outcomes in retrospectives.** Did the features you shipped last quarter actually move the needle? 3. **Kill features that are not driving outcomes.** This is hard, but it is necessary. Shipping more features does not mean more impact. ### Using OKRs OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a natural framework for this: - **Objective** = the outcome you want (qualitative) - **Key Results** = measurable indicators that the outcome is happening - **Initiatives** = the outputs you will ship to drive the key results The best Key Results are outcome-based, not output-based. "Launch feature X" is an output. "Increase activation rate by 15%" is an outcome. --- ## The Bottom Line Great product teams master the art of harmonizing all three -- inputs, outputs, and outcomes. But if you have to prioritize, **always prioritize outcomes**. Inputs and outputs are means to an end. Outcomes are the end. --- ## Should I Join an On Deck Program? URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/should-i-join-an-on-deck-program Published: 2021-03-15 Tags: startups, career # Should I Join an On Deck Program? I participated in the first On Deck No-Code Fellowship (ODNC1) and chronicled the 10 weeks with key takeaways, noteworthy quotes, and my perspective while building in public. Here is my honest assessment of whether an On Deck program is worth joining. ## The Hype is Real The kickoff event lived up to its billing as the "Best Zoom meeting you've ever been part of." There was music playing in the background, a party-like atmosphere, and genuine excitement from everyone involved. Once I was accepted, the first thing that hit me was the Slack community. It was absolutely buzzing with excitement. Having a Slack community of 140+ people with a give-first mentality is far better than a Slack community of 60,000+ unengaged folks who only use Slack to dump links. ## What Makes On Deck Special On Deck's version of bringing Silicon Valley to the cloud is the best iteration yet. They had people from all walks of life from 6 continents, with 50% outside of the US. The diversity of backgrounds and perspectives was incredible. Here is what stood out: - **The community.** The give-first mentality means people are genuinely eager to help each other. When you ask for help, there are a lot of people willing to pitch in. - **The network.** Access to founders, builders, and operators from around the world. The connections you make during the program last well beyond the fellowship itself. - **The accountability.** Being part of a cohort keeps you accountable. You are building alongside others, sharing progress, and getting feedback in real time. - **The resources.** Fellows get partner credits and discounts for popular SaaS tools, including AWS credits and Stripe credits, which can be incredibly helpful for bootstrapped projects. ## The Cost On Deck programs are not free. The No-Code Fellowship had a cost associated with it, as do their other programs like ODF (On Deck Founders). At the time, ODF cost $2,990. While it is not a trivial cost, the value you get -- introductions, specific answers to engineering or business questions, partner credits, and the community -- makes it worthwhile. You avoid mistakes that other fellows have already made, which alone can save you far more than the program fee. ## Who Should Join An On Deck program is right for you if: - You are building something and want accountability and community around it. - You value networking with high-quality, motivated people from diverse backgrounds. - You are willing to be active and engaged -- the more you put in, the more you get out. - You want access to tactical knowledge from practitioners, not just theory. It might not be right for you if: - You are not ready to commit time to being active in the community. - You are looking for a passive learning experience (take a course instead). - You are not in a position to invest the program fee. ## My Verdict Joining On Deck was one of the best decisions I made. On Twitter, it was touted as "the next YCombinator" -- a highly successful startup accelerator that did not take equity yet provided a ton of value in return. The program gave me the community, accountability, and connections I needed to accelerate my building journey. If you are on the fence, I would say go for it -- but be intentional about what you want to get out of it, and show up actively. --- ## How to Break Into Product Management URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/how-to-break-into-product-management Published: 2021-03-01 Tags: product-management, career # How to Break Into Product Management This is the question I get asked most frequently. Here is my approach and how I did it. --- ## How I Got Into PM I got into product management the extremely traditional way -- by doing an MBA. Even then, it was not a cakewalk. This is a much longer approach that can take 1 or 2 years and a lot of money, and I do not always recommend this approach now. The MBA helped because it provided structured exposure to business strategy, user research, and analytical thinking. But the degree alone did not get me the job -- it was the combination of the degree, proof-of-work, and networking that opened doors. There are faster and cheaper ways to break in today. --- ## The Framework ### 1. Build Proof-of-Work If you do not have any full-time product management experience, you need to showcase that you have the required skills and interests to make you suitable for the role. **Certificate courses on their own will not get you anything.** There is no entry barrier to getting a PM certificate, and there is no way to separate one person from another. Everyone has the same certificate. What works is tangible proof that you can think like a product manager: - **Take part in product case competitions.** Do well. Showcase the results. - **Write longer deep dives into a product or a space.** Cover more aspects than just a UX teardown. Analyze the business model, the competitive landscape, the growth levers, and the technical constraints. - **Build a portfolio of product thinking** -- not just screenshots and annotations, but thoughtful analysis of why products work or fail. ### 2. Build Something "What to build" is an important PM question. "How to build" can be more pertinent for a designer or developer. But a PM who can build has a significant advantage. Use no-code tools to go from idea to product: 1. **Identify a problem or idea** -- something you personally experience or observe in a niche you understand. 2. **Build a solution** using tools like [Glide](https://www.glideapps.com/), [Softr](https://www.softr.io/), [Bubble](https://bubble.io/), or even [Notion](https://www.notion.so/). 3. **Get feedback from real users** -- not just friends and family. 4. **Iterate** on the product based on what you learn. This demonstrates the full PM cycle: identifying a problem, building a solution, measuring impact, and iterating. It is more impressive than any certificate. ### 3. Create an Online Presence Read the best PM content. Then contribute to the conversation: - **Write about product topics** on [Medium](https://medium.com/), [Substack](https://substack.com/), or your own blog. - **Share your thinking on Twitter/X and LinkedIn.** Engage with PM communities. - **Build in public** -- share your process, not just your polished output. An active online presence signals genuine interest and makes it easier for hiring managers to evaluate your thinking before an interview. ### 4. Get Hands-On Experience If you cannot land a full-time PM role directly, get adjacent experience: - **Offer to do an internship** at a startup. Even unpaid, the experience and proof-of-work are valuable. - **Help startups or solo creators with side projects** and learn while doing. A lot of people get stuck at this step, but the key is to just start. - **Take up product management duties in your current role.** Shadow the product manager. Make their life easier by helping them out with research, documentation, or user interviews. ### 5. Network Intentionally - **Join PM communities** like [The Product Folks](https://www.theproductfolks.com/), Mind the Product, or Lenny's Community. - **Attend events and cohort programs** -- they compress relationship-building into a short time window. - **Network in your friend and alumni groups.** Many PM roles are filled through referrals, not job boards. - **Reach out to PMs you admire** for informational interviews. Most people are willing to help if you ask thoughtfully. ![Breaking into product management](/images/how-to-break-into-product-management/cover.webp) --- ## Common Mistakes - **Over-relying on certificates.** They help you learn, but they do not differentiate you. - **Only doing UX teardowns.** Everyone does them. Go deeper. - **Waiting for permission.** You do not need a PM title to do PM work. Start doing it. - **Applying to hundreds of jobs without tailoring.** Quantity without quality leads to rejections. - **Not building anything.** The fastest way to prove you can do the job is to do the job. --- ## Resources Here are some resources that helped me and that I recommend: - **[Lenny's Newsletter](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/)** -- One of the best PM newsletters - **[The Discourse](https://thediscourse.co)** -- My newsletter on product, startups, and AI - **[Inspired by Marty Cagan](https://www.svpg.com/inspired-how-to-create-tech-products-customers-love/)** -- Essential reading for aspiring PMs - **[The Product Folks](https://www.theproductfolks.com/)** -- A community for product enthusiasts --- ## Final Thought Breaking into product management is not easy, but it is straightforward. Build proof-of-work, demonstrate your thinking publicly, get hands-on experience however you can, and network with intention. The people who break in are not necessarily the smartest -- they are the ones who do the work consistently. --- ## What I Learned from Building a Kudos Product URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/what-i-learned-from-building-a-kudos-product Published: 2021-02-01 Tags: product-management, startups # What I Learned from Building a Kudos Product ![Kudos message](/images/what-i-learned-from-building-a-kudos-product/kudos-message.png) I built a feedback and recognition product that was used by **400+ employees** to share **700+ kudos** and **500+ feedback**. Here is what I learned from the experience. --- ## The Problem Most companies talk about building a culture of recognition, but few actually make it easy. Recognition tends to happen in annual reviews or gets lost in Slack channels. Feedback -- especially constructive feedback -- is even harder to give and receive consistently. The goal was simple: build a product that makes it frictionless for employees to recognize each other's work and give meaningful feedback. --- ## What We Built The product allowed employees to: - **Send kudos** to colleagues for great work, tied to company values - **Give feedback** in a structured, private format - **See a feed** of recognition across the organization, creating visibility and positive reinforcement ![Kudos product interface](/images/what-i-learned-from-building-a-kudos-product/kudos-product.png) --- ## Lesson 1: Distribution Matters More Than the Product You can build the most beautifully designed kudos product in the world, but if people do not use it, it does not matter. **Distribution was the hardest problem to solve.** What worked: - **Integrating where people already are.** Slack integration was a game changer. People could send kudos without leaving their primary communication tool. - **Email digests.** Weekly summaries of kudos sent across the organization created FOMO and encouraged participation. - **Manager buy-in.** When managers actively used the product, their teams followed. What did not work: - Expecting people to visit a standalone dashboard regularly. They did not. - Relying on onboarding emails alone. People forgot about the product within a week. --- ## Lesson 2: Make It Easy, Then Make It Meaningful The first version of the product asked too many questions when sending a kudos. People had to select a value, write a message, choose a category, and tag a project. The completion rate was low. We stripped it down to the essentials: **who are you recognizing, and why?** Two fields. That is it. Once we made it easy, participation increased. Then we gradually layered in optional fields like company values alignment -- but only after the habit was established. **Reduce friction first. Add depth later.** --- ## Lesson 3: Public Recognition Changes Behavior When kudos were visible to the entire organization, two things happened: 1. **People felt genuinely appreciated.** Public recognition carries more weight than a private message. It signals to the entire company that this person's work matters. 2. **It created a positive feedback loop.** When people saw their colleagues getting recognized, they were motivated to both do better work and recognize others. A recognition feed is essentially a **highlights reel of your company culture**. It shows what the organization values through real examples, not just posters on the wall. --- ## Lesson 4: Feedback Is Harder Than Kudos Kudos are fun. Feedback is uncomfortable. We learned that **people are far more willing to praise than to give constructive feedback**, even when the product makes it easy and private. What helped: - **Separating kudos from feedback** in the product. They are different actions with different emotional weights and should not be lumped together. - **Making feedback private by default.** Only the sender and receiver could see it. - **Providing prompts and frameworks.** Instead of a blank text box, we offered structured prompts like "What went well?" and "What could be improved?" Even with all of this, feedback adoption was significantly lower than kudos. This is a cultural problem, not a product problem -- and it takes more than a tool to solve it. --- ## Lesson 5: Metrics That Matter The vanity metric was the total number of kudos sent. The real metrics were: - **Percentage of employees who sent at least one kudos per month** -- This told us about breadth of adoption. - **Percentage of employees who received kudos** -- Were the same people getting recognized, or was it distributed? - **Feedback-to-kudos ratio** -- Were people using the harder but more valuable feature? - **Retention of usage over time** -- Were people coming back month after month, or was there a spike and drop-off? Always measure [outcomes over outputs](/inputs-vs-outputs-vs-outcomes). --- ## Lesson 6: Culture Eats Product for Breakfast The product worked best in teams that already had a nascent culture of appreciation. In those teams, the product amplified what was already there. In teams where recognition was not part of the culture, the product struggled -- no matter how good the UX was. **A product can accelerate culture, but it cannot create it from scratch.** This was a humbling realization. As product builders, we like to think that the right product can change behavior. Sometimes it can. But often, the product is only as good as the environment it operates in. --- ## Key Takeaways 1. **Go where the users are** -- integrate into existing workflows (Slack, email) instead of building a standalone destination. 2. **Reduce friction ruthlessly** -- the fewer steps to complete an action, the more people will do it. 3. **Public recognition is powerful** -- visibility changes behavior and reinforces culture. 4. **Feedback is a different beast** -- do not treat it the same as recognition. 5. **Measure outcomes, not vanity metrics** -- breadth, depth, and retention matter more than total count. 6. **Culture comes first** -- a product amplifies culture; it does not replace it. Building a kudos product taught me as much about organizational psychology as it did about product management. The best product lessons come from building for real humans with real emotions -- and recognition is about as emotional as it gets. --- ## Eudaimonia Machine URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/eudaimonia-machine Published: 2021-01-01 Tags: productivity # Eudaimonia Machine The Eudaimonia Machine, mentioned in Cal Newport's book [Deep Work](/book-recommendations), is an ideal workplace designed by architecture professor David Dewane. It features five distinct spaces arranged in a linear progression, each serving a specific purpose -- from showcasing work to enabling uninterrupted deep work flow. In Aristotelian ethics, **Eudaimonia** is the condition of peak human flourishing, or living well. The Eudaimonia Machine is designed to guide people through spaces that trigger different emotions, ultimately ending in a space where they can do their most meaningful work. --- ## The Five Spaces Dewane envisioned a long rectangle with five rooms in a linear progression. You walk through each room to get to the next. The design moves from open and social environments to progressively quieter and more focused spaces. ### 1. The Gallery The first room you enter. The Gallery contains examples of deep work produced by the organization. Its purpose is to **inspire**. When you see the best work your team has created, it creates a culture of healthy motivation and peer pressure. Think of it as a museum of your company's greatest hits -- the products shipped, the breakthroughs achieved, the work that mattered. ### 2. The Salon The Salon is something between a coffee shop and a collaborative hub. It is a **comfy place to hang out, talk, and debate**. Couches, coffee, whiteboards -- everything you need for organic conversation and brainstorming. This is where ideas collide. You bump into colleagues, have spontaneous discussions, and let serendipity do its work. Unlike the sterile meeting rooms of most offices, the Salon encourages informal, creative exchange. ### 3. The Library The Library serves as the **"hard drive of the machine."** It houses books, resources, and an archive of work previously shown in the Gallery. This is where you go to learn, research, and absorb knowledge before creating something new. It is a quiet space, but not a silent one. You might flip through references, read papers, or review past projects. The Library bridges the gap between inspiration (Gallery) and collaboration (Salon) on one side, and focused work on the other. ### 4. The Office The Office is the **light work area**. It most closely resembles a traditional open-plan office, including workstations and a conference room. This is where you spend time on tasks that Cal Newport would call "shallow work" -- answering emails, attending meetings, handling administrative tasks. The key difference from a typical office is its placement in the sequence. By the time you reach the Office, you have already been inspired, socialized, and researched. You handle the necessary but less demanding work here before moving to the final room. ### 5. The Deep Work Chamber The final and most important room. Each chamber is intended to be **six by ten feet and protected by soundproof walls**. This is the "do not disturb" zone -- a space designed for total focus and uninterrupted work flow. This is where the magic happens. Coding, designing, writing, creating -- whatever deep work means for you, this is where you do it. No notifications, no interruptions, no distractions. Just you and the work. --- ## Why This Design Matters The standard open-plan office is broken. It hinders and disrupts the kind of focused work that produces the most value. People put on headphones and try to create isolation in an environment designed for the opposite. The Eudaimonia Machine solves this by **separating different types of work into different physical spaces**: - **Need to be inspired?** Go to the Gallery. - **Need to brainstorm?** Go to the Salon. - **Need to research?** Go to the Library. - **Need to handle emails and meetings?** Go to the Office. - **Need to do deep, focused work?** Go to the Chamber. The linear progression also matters. You cannot shortcut your way to the Chamber. The design forces you to transition through each state, gradually shifting your mindset from social and open to focused and closed. --- ## Applying It to Your Life Most of us do not have the luxury of building a five-room office. But we can apply the principles: 1. **Create distinct zones** for different types of work, even if they are just different apps, tabs, or corners of your room. 2. **Have a ritual for entering deep work.** It does not have to be walking through rooms -- it could be putting on specific headphones, closing all tabs, or setting your phone to Do Not Disturb. 3. **Protect your deep work time.** Block it on your calendar. Let people know you are unavailable. Treat it as sacred. 4. **Separate shallow work from deep work.** Do not mix email-checking with creative work. Batch your shallow tasks into specific time blocks. The Eudaimonia Machine is an ideal, but the philosophy behind it is practical. Design your environment to support the kind of work you want to do. --- ## Writing an Annual Review URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/writing-an-annual-review Published: 2020-12-01 Tags: personal, productivity # Writing an Annual Review Every year, I sit down and write an annual review. It is one of the most valuable exercises I do for personal growth. It forces me to reflect on what happened, what I learned, and where I want to go next. Most people set New Year's resolutions without ever reviewing how the previous year went. That is like setting a new destination on your GPS without checking where you currently are. An annual review fixes that. --- ## Why Write an Annual Review? - **Clarity.** You get an honest picture of how you actually spent your year versus how you think you spent it. - **Gratitude.** When you list out everything that happened, you realize the year was fuller than it felt in the moment. - **Pattern Recognition.** Over multiple years, you start to see patterns -- what consistently makes you happy, what drains you, what you keep putting off. - **Better Goal Setting.** Goals grounded in reflection are more realistic and meaningful than goals pulled out of thin air. --- ## How I Structure Mine I break the review into categories to make sure I cover all the important areas of life. Here are the categories I use: ### 1. Work and Career - What were my biggest professional accomplishments? - What projects am I most proud of? - What skills did I develop? - What would I do differently? ### 2. Health and Fitness - Did I maintain consistent habits around exercise, sleep, and nutrition? - What worked? What did I drop? - How is my mental health compared to the start of the year? ### 3. Relationships - Who were the most important people in my life this year? - Did I invest enough time in the relationships that matter? - Did I make new meaningful connections? ### 4. Learning and Growth - What books did I read? - What new skills did I pick up? - What changed in how I think about the world? ### 5. Finances - Did I hit my financial goals? - Where did I spend more than I should have? - What investments (financial or otherwise) paid off? ### 6. Fun and Experiences - What were the highlights of the year? - What trips, events, or experiences stood out? - What brought me the most joy? --- ## 40 Questions to Ask Yourself Inspired by [kepano's "40 Questions to Ask Yourself Every Year"](https://kepano.com/40-questions), I use a set of thought-provoking questions to guide deeper reflection. Each question is designed to surface insights that you might miss with a simple "what went well" approach. Some of my favorites: - What was the best thing that happened to you this year? - What was the biggest lesson you learned? - What are you most grateful for? - What would you do differently if you could redo this year? - What are you most looking forward to next year? - Who had the biggest positive impact on your life this year? - What habit are you most proud of building (or breaking)? - What did you spend too much time on? - What did you not spend enough time on? The full list lives in my [Annual Review Notion template](https://kavir.gumroad.com/), which you can grab for free. --- ## Tips for Writing Your Own 1. **Set aside dedicated time.** Block 2-3 hours in the last week of December. Do not rush it. 2. **Go through your calendar.** Your calendar is the most accurate record of what you actually did. Scroll through each month and note the highlights. 3. **Check your photos.** Photos are great memory triggers for experiences you might have forgotten. 4. **Be honest.** This is for you, not for anyone else. Do not sugarcoat or skip the hard parts. 5. **Write it down.** Thinking about it is not enough. The act of writing forces clarity. 6. **Keep it.** Save your annual reviews somewhere you can revisit them. Reading past reviews is one of the most rewarding parts of this practice. --- ## When to Do It I usually do mine in the last week of December, before setting any goals for the new year. Review first, then plan. The review informs the plan, not the other way around. You do not need a fancy template or system. A blank document works just fine. What matters is that you do it consistently, year after year. --- ## Antler MVP Workshop URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/antler-mvp-workshop Published: 2020-09-01 Tags: startups, product-management # Antler MVP Workshop [Antler](https://www.antler.co) is a global startup generator and early-stage VC that helps founders go from zero to funded startup. I had the opportunity to participate in their MVP workshop, and here are the key takeaways. ## The Antler Model Antler's residency program is intense. Founders have roughly 10 weeks in Phase One to find a co-founder and validate their idea through a mix of networking, team challenges, workshops, and mentoring sessions. Teams that receive investment continue for another 4 months in Phase Two, focused on building the MVP, acquiring customers, and generating revenue. The MVP workshop sits at the heart of this process -- it is about moving fast through quick iterations and validating assumptions continuously. ## What Is an MVP, Really? An MVP is not a stripped-down version of your product with half the features missing. It is the smallest thing you can build to test your riskiest assumption. The key distinction: an MVP is an experiment, not a product. Think of it as the MVP Experiment Canvas -- a take on the Business Model Canvas made more suited for tech startups. It forces you to articulate: - **What is your hypothesis?** What do you believe to be true about your customer and their problem? - **Who is your target audience?** Be specific. Not "everyone" -- a narrow segment. - **What metric will prove or disprove your hypothesis?** Define success before you build. - **What is the simplest experiment to test this?** This could be a landing page, a manual process, a prototype, or a concierge MVP. ## Key Learnings ### 1. Do Not Think of Your Build as a Business Until It Is One This was the most liberating idea from the workshop. When you treat your MVP as an experiment rather than a business, you remove the emotional weight of failure. Experiments are supposed to fail sometimes -- that is how you learn. ### 2. Speed Over Polish In the early stages, speed of learning matters more than quality of execution. A scrappy prototype that teaches you something is more valuable than a polished product that teaches you nothing. Use no-code tools if they get you there faster. ### 3. Talk to Customers Before You Build The biggest trap is building something nobody wants. The workshop emphasized customer discovery -- talking to real people in your target segment, understanding their pain, and validating that the problem is worth solving before writing a single line of code. ### 4. Define Your ICP Narrowly Your Ideal Customer Profile should be narrow enough that you can find these people and talk to them. "Small business owners" is too broad. "Solo freelance designers in Southeast Asia using Figma and earning $3-5K/month" is actionable. ### 5. Validate Before You Scale The biggest mistake founders make is scaling a product that has not been validated. The workshop framework pushes you to run small experiments, measure results against pre-defined success criteria, and only invest more resources when the data supports it. ## Tools for Building MVPs Quickly The workshop covered several approaches for rapid MVP development: - **No-code platforms** like Bubble, Glide, and Softr for building functional prototypes - **Landing page builders** for testing demand before building anything - **Manual/concierge MVPs** where you deliver the service by hand to validate the concept - **Wizard of Oz MVPs** where the product looks automated but you are doing the work behind the scenes ## The Bottom Line The Antler MVP workshop reinforced something I have always believed: the best founders are not the ones who build the most -- they are the ones who learn the fastest. Keep your experiments small, your feedback loops tight, and your ego out of the equation. --- ## Medium vs Substack: Which Platform to Write On URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/medium-vs-substack-which-platform-to-write-on Published: 2020-08-01 Tags: writing # Medium vs Substack: Which Platform to Write On I was looking to write more consistently and wanted to put in the reps and publish writing more frequently. Before restarting my writing journey in mid-2020, I wrote frequently in 2013-14 and then stopped completely until sometime in 2019. Even then, I was not able to establish a publishing cadence, always second-guessing myself and my writing. So when I decided to get serious about writing again, I had to make a choice: Medium or Substack? ## The Case for Consistency Substack's newsletter concept makes consistency really important. If you are constantly putting out high-value content on a regular basis, people will read and subscribe. This cadence can be daily, weekly, every 2 weeks, or monthly. Substack allows for writing to evolve over time and does not require perfection. When you are an amateur, you should focus on putting in the reps, ship your writing to the world, get feedback, and improve. This mindset of progress over perfection resonated with me. ## Discovery on Medium One of Medium's biggest pros is their discovery push. But when I looked at my numbers, Medium was only providing me 11% of views by way of discovery -- I was drawing the rest of the audience independently. There is one benefit to Medium though: their SEO is still really good. There are high chances that a Medium article might appear on the first page of a Google search for relevant keywords. So if search traffic matters to you, that is a point in Medium's favor. ## The Subscriber Dynamic Substack was different from Medium in a crucial way: if a reader was on your newsletter, they would not get links to other publications. Your subscribers were yours. Medium, on the other hand, was actively linking to other publications and pulling readers away from your content. Medium has since reversed course and tried to become more creator friendly. There was a strong call to action to subscribe to emails on Substack, and Medium was against this earlier but once again corrected course. Still, Substack's model of directly owning your subscriber relationship felt more sustainable as a writer. ## The Momentum Shift Another reason that came into play when making this decision was that Substack was in the ascendance and Medium was going down. High-value content was moving away from Medium to Substack. Writers I admired were making the switch, and the overall energy in the Substack ecosystem was palpable. ## My Decision I chose Substack. So far, the decision has paid off, with 960+ subscribers. It is only the beginning of the journey. ## Summary | Factor | Medium | Substack | |---|---|---| | Discovery | Built-in discovery, but limited (11% for me) | Less built-in discovery, but you own your audience | | SEO | Strong SEO, articles rank well on Google | Decent but not as strong as Medium | | Consistency | No inherent push for consistency | Newsletter model encourages regular cadence | | Subscriber ownership | Platform links to other publications | Subscribers are yours | | Momentum | Declining | Growing | | Monetization | Medium Partner Program | Paid subscriptions | The right choice depends on your goals. If you want built-in discovery and SEO, Medium still has its strengths. If you want to build a direct relationship with your readers and are committed to writing consistently, Substack is the better bet. For me, the choice was clear -- and I have not looked back. --- ## Product Hunt Launch Tips URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/product-hunt-launch-tips Published: 2020-06-01 Tags: startups, product-management # Product Hunt Launch Tips Launching on Product Hunt is usually a big deal -- you can get a load of new customers, get good feedback, and make a splash. I have launched a product that was #1 Product of the Day, and here are the key things to keep in mind when launching. ## It is a Full-Day Event Firstly, it is an entire day event. Do not schedule it on a day that you are going to be busy with something else. You will need the time to constantly promote the launch post on social media, in communities, and DMs. Clear your calendar. This is not something you can do on the side. ## Preparation -- Compile Resources The preparation phase involves compiling and creating the resources before the launch. Get everything ready ahead of time: - **Product images and GIFs** -- create high-quality visuals that showcase your product. - **Launch copy** -- write a compelling tagline and description. - **Social media posts** -- prepare posts for Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other channels. - **Community posts** -- draft messages for Slack groups, Discord servers, and relevant communities. - **Email to your list** -- write the newsletter or email blast ahead of time. The more you prepare in advance, the smoother launch day will be. ## Finding a Hunter Finding a top hunter is less important now than it was before. So do not go to only the top hunters -- reach out to people on Twitter in your niche who have good engagement. Product Hunt still sends emails to the followers of hunters, so that helps get more upvotes. But if you do not get a top hunter, no worries -- you can always launch by yourself. ## Launch Day Timing Make sure that you launch at 12am PST. This is to ensure you have the maximum time for the post to get traction. You can also schedule the launches now, so you do not need to be awake at 12am PST for it to be visible on Product Hunt. ## Promote Across All Channels On the day of the launch, you should post on all channels: - **Twitter** -- post the launch and use a launch thread to keep the momentum going. - **LinkedIn** -- share with your professional network. - **Instagram** -- post stories and a feed post. - **Slack groups** -- share in relevant communities. - **Discord servers** -- post in channels where your audience hangs out. - **Newsletter** -- send an email to your subscribers. Now is the time to ask for help from your friends and followers. Do not be shy about it -- people are generally happy to support, but they need to know about your launch first. ## Use a Launch Thread Use your launch thread on Twitter to update everyone on: - The position of the day (e.g., "#3 Product of the Day") - Number of upvotes - Number of comments - Milestones and wins This keeps the excitement going and encourages more people to check out your product and upvote. ## After the Launch The work does not end when the day is over. After the launch: - **Share your learnings** -- write a post about what worked and what did not. People love reading launch retrospectives. - **Stay top of mind** -- continue to engage with the people who discovered you through Product Hunt. - **Follow up with leads** -- reach out to people who commented or showed interest. --- Product Hunt can be a powerful launchpad for your product, but it requires preparation, dedication, and a full day of hustle. Plan ahead, show up on launch day, and make the most of the opportunity. --- ## Set Up Jamstack with No-Code (Publii) URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii Published: 2020-03-01 Tags: no-code # Set Up Jamstack with No-Code (Publii) ![Publii desktop application interface](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-1.png) I moved a 4-year-old company blog from WordPress to Jamstack and I want to share how you can do it without any code or scripts. Jamstack sites are blazingly fast. If you have been frustrated with WordPress's bloat, slow load times, and constant plugin updates, Jamstack is a breath of fresh air. ## What is Publii? [Publii](https://getpublii.com/) is a static site generator with a twist -- unlike most static-site generators that are code-heavy and unwieldy, Publii provides an easy-to-understand UI much like server-based CMSs such as WordPress or Joomla. Users can create posts and other site content, and style their site using a variety of built-in themes and options. What makes Publii unique is that the app runs locally on your desktop rather than on the site's server. Available for both Windows and Mac, once the app has been installed you can create a site in minutes, even without internet access. You get a block or markdown editor to create and edit posts -- no code required. ## Step 1: Download and Install Publii First, download and install Publii. It is cross-platform and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The installation is straightforward. Once installed, you have a full CMS running locally on your machine. ![Publii installation](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-2.png) ## Step 2: Export Your WordPress Backup Export the backup of your WordPress (or Ghost) site. WordPress has a built-in export tool that generates an XML file of all your posts, pages, and metadata. ![WordPress export](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-3.png) ## Step 3: Import into Publii Import your WordPress posts into Publii. The importer handles most of the heavy lifting, converting your posts into Publii's format. ### A Note on Tags The only issue I faced was that tags were not ported properly and had to be done manually. If you have a lot of posts with many tags, set aside some time for this step. It is tedious but necessary. ## Step 4: Choose a Hosting Platform Your hosting options are: - **GitHub Pages** -- free hosting, great integration with Git. - **GitLab Pages** -- the simplest option in my experience. - **Netlify** -- excellent developer experience with continuous deployment. - **Google Cloud** -- if you need more control and scalability. I found GitLab to be the simplest option for getting started quickly. ![GitLab hosting option](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-4.png) ![GitHub setup](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-5.png) ## Step 5: Set Up a Custom Domain Once you have done all that, you can use Jamstack with a custom domain or subdomain. If you are using GitHub Pages, the setup involves configuring your DNS records to point to GitHub's servers and adding a CNAME file to your repository. ![Custom domain setup](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-6.png) ![Final result](/images/set-up-jamstack-with-no-code-publii/publii-7.png) ## Why Make the Switch? - **Speed** -- Jamstack sites load significantly faster than WordPress. - **Security** -- No server-side processing means a much smaller attack surface. - **Cost** -- Hosting static files is dirt cheap (often free). - **Simplicity** -- No plugins to update, no databases to manage, no server maintenance. - **Developer experience** -- Once set up, publishing is as simple as writing and clicking deploy. --- If you are running a WordPress blog and have been curious about Jamstack, Publii is the easiest way to make the switch without writing a single line of code. The migration took me a few hours, and the performance improvement was immediate and noticeable. --- ## How to Make Meditation a Sticky Habit URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/how-to-make-meditation-a-sticky-habit Published: 2020-02-01 Tags: wellness, productivity # How to Make Meditation a Sticky Habit Everyone knows meditation is good for them. The research is overwhelming -- reduced anxiety, improved focus, better emotional regulation, increased resilience. Yet most people who try meditation quit within the first few weeks. The problem is not motivation. It is habit design. Here is how to make meditation stick, drawing from habit science and my own experience with building a daily practice. --- ## Why Meditation Habits Fail Before getting into solutions, it helps to understand why meditation habits fail in the first place: - **Unrealistic expectations.** People expect to clear their mind completely on day one. When they cannot, they feel like they are failing and quit. - **Too ambitious too soon.** Starting with 30-minute sessions is a recipe for burnout. The activation energy is too high. - **No cue or trigger.** Without a specific time and place, meditation gets crowded out by everything else. - **No immediate reward.** The benefits of meditation compound over time, but the experience itself -- especially early on -- can feel frustrating. The solution is to design the habit, not rely on willpower. --- ## The Framework ### 1. Start Absurdly Small Commit to just 2 minutes a day. That is it. You can do more if you feel like it, but all you are committing to is 2 minutes. This is based on the principle that consistency matters more than duration. A 2-minute daily practice is infinitely more valuable than a 30-minute practice you do once a week. The goal in the early stages is not to meditate deeply -- it is to build the identity of someone who meditates daily. ### 2. Use Habit Stacking Attach meditation to an existing routine. James Clear calls this "Habit Stacking" in [Atomic Habits](https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299): > After/Before [CURRENT HABIT], I will meditate for [X] minutes. Examples: - **After I pour my morning coffee,** I will meditate for 2 minutes. - **Before I open my laptop for work,** I will meditate for 5 minutes. - **After I brush my teeth at night,** I will meditate for 2 minutes. The existing habit becomes the trigger. You do not have to remember to meditate -- your routine reminds you. ### 3. Same Time, Same Place Thinking "same time, same place" will help turn meditation into a fully established habit. Have a specific spot -- a cushion, a chair, a corner of the room -- that becomes your meditation spot. Over time, just sitting in that spot will cue your brain to shift into a meditative state. ### 4. Let Go of Expectations One of the biggest misunderstandings about meditation is that you must "clear" or "empty" the mind. If you cannot do that, you have failed. This is not true. The mind will always think. Meditation is not about stopping thoughts -- it is about noticing them without getting carried away. Every time you notice your mind has wandered and bring your attention back, that is the practice working. That is a rep. A "bad" meditation session where your mind wanders constantly is still a successful session if you showed up and sat. ### 5. Make It Easy Reduce friction wherever possible: - **Use a guided meditation app** like [Headspace](https://www.headspace.com/) or [Calm](https://www.calm.com/) so you do not have to figure out what to do. - **Keep your meditation cushion visible** -- do not store it in a closet. - **Wear your regular clothes.** You do not need special meditation attire. - **Do not wait for the perfect moment.** Perfect conditions never arrive. ### 6. Track Your Streak There is power in not wanting to break a streak. Use a habit tracker -- an app, a calendar with Xs, a notebook -- to mark each day you meditate. The visual evidence of consistency becomes its own motivation. After a few weeks, the streak itself becomes a reason to sit. You do not want to lose those 14 consecutive days. ### 7. Make It Fun Meditation has the most chance of becoming a habit when you approach it with curiosity rather than obligation. Experiment with different types: - **Breath-focused meditation** -- The classic. Follow the breath. - **Body scan** -- Systematically notice sensations from head to toe. - **Loving-kindness (metta)** -- Send goodwill to yourself and others. - **Walking meditation** -- Meditate while walking slowly and deliberately. - **Open awareness** -- Sit and observe whatever arises without directing attention. Find what you enjoy. If you dread your meditation practice, you will not sustain it. ![Meditation apps](/images/how-to-make-meditation-a-sticky-habit/meditation-1.png) ![Google Assistant meditation routine](/images/how-to-make-meditation-a-sticky-habit/meditation-2.png) --- ## The Compound Effect The benefits of meditation are not linear -- they compound. After a few weeks of consistent practice, you start to notice: - **More space between stimulus and response.** You react less impulsively. - **Better sleep quality.** The mind quiets down more easily at night. - **Improved focus.** You can sustain attention for longer periods. - **Emotional awareness.** You notice feelings arising before they take over. These benefits are subtle at first, but they build on each other. The person who meditates for 2 minutes a day for a year has a fundamentally different relationship with their mind than they did at the start. --- ## Final Thought You do not need to become a monk. You do not need to sit for an hour. You do not need to clear your mind. You just need to show up for 2 minutes, every day, in the same place, at the same time. If you build trust in the practice by seeing the positive effects for yourself, meditation will stop being something you have to force and start being something you look forward to. Start today. Two minutes. That is all. --- ## Being Authentic URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/being-authentic Published: 2020-01-01 Tags: personal # Being Authentic Authenticity is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean to be authentic? At its core, being authentic means staying true to your own personality, values, and spirit, regardless of the pressure you face to act otherwise. It means living your life according to your own values and goals, rather than those of other people. ## Why Authenticity Matters In a world of curated social media feeds and personal branding, it is easy to lose sight of who you really are. We end up performing versions of ourselves that we think others want to see. But this comes at a cost -- it is exhausting, unsustainable, and ultimately unfulfilling. When you are authentic: - **Your relationships are deeper.** People connect with the real you, not a facade. Genuine connections are built on honesty and vulnerability, not on a polished exterior. - **Your confidence grows.** When you stop trying to be someone you are not, you free up energy to invest in things that actually matter to you. - **Your work improves.** Authenticity in your professional life means bringing your unique perspective to the table, which is far more valuable than trying to fit a mold. ## The Challenge Being authentic requires courage. Revealing your true self could garner disfavor from others -- expressing opposing beliefs, sharing honest feedback, or simply being different from the crowd. It makes you vulnerable to rejection or betrayal. But the alternative -- constantly wearing a mask -- is worse. It leads to burnout, anxiety, and a nagging sense that something is off. ## How to Practice Authenticity 1. **Know your values.** Spend time reflecting on what matters most to you. What are the non-negotiables in your life? 2. **Pay attention to when you feel "off."** Notice the moments when you are saying things you do not believe or acting in ways that do not feel right. These are signals that you are drifting from your authentic self. 3. **Start small.** You do not have to overhaul your life overnight. Start by being a little more honest in low-stakes situations and build from there. 4. **Surround yourself with people who value the real you.** The right people will appreciate your honesty and authenticity, even when it is uncomfortable. 5. **Accept imperfection.** Being authentic does not mean being perfect. It means being real -- and that includes your flaws and mistakes. ## The Payoff When you commit to being authentic, life gets simpler. Not easier, necessarily, but simpler. You stop spending energy on maintaining appearances and start investing it in things that genuinely matter. You attract people and opportunities that are aligned with who you really are. Authenticity is not a destination -- it is a practice. And it is one of the most worthwhile practices you can cultivate. --- ## Recall Specific Positive Memories URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/recall-specific-positive-memories Published: 2019-12-01 Tags: wellness # Recall Specific Positive Memories Here is a simple exercise that can meaningfully boost your mood and well-being. ## The Exercise Think of a positive day in your life and try to recollect every specific detail from that day: - **Who were you with?** Picture the people around you. What were they wearing? What did they look like? How were they behaving? - **What did you do?** Walk through the day step by step. What happened in the morning? The afternoon? The evening? - **How did you feel?** Try to reconnect with the emotions you experienced. Joy, gratitude, excitement, contentment, love -- whatever it was, let yourself feel it again. - **What smells and tastes did you observe?** Was there a meal you remember? A scent in the air? The taste of a drink? Sensory details are powerful anchors for memory. ## Why This Works Our brains are wired to pay more attention to negative experiences than positive ones -- it is a survival mechanism. But this negativity bias means we often forget or undervalue the good moments in our lives. By deliberately recalling positive memories in specific, vivid detail, you counteract this bias. You are essentially training your brain to spend more time in the positive. Research has shown that people who regularly recall specific positive memories report higher levels of well-being, greater resilience to stress, and improved mood. The key word is "specific" -- vague memories like "I had a good time" are far less effective than detailed recollections. ## How to Practice 1. **Set aside a few minutes.** This does not need to take long. Even 5 minutes is enough. 2. **Pick a memory.** Choose a specific day or moment when you felt genuinely happy, grateful, or at peace. 3. **Go deep into the details.** Do not just skim the surface. Recall the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures. Who was there? What was said? How did you feel in your body? 4. **Let yourself feel it.** The goal is not just to remember but to re-experience the positive emotions. 5. **Do it regularly.** Like any practice, it gets more effective with repetition. Try making it a daily or weekly habit. ## When to Use It This exercise is especially useful: - When you are feeling down or stressed - As part of a morning or evening routine - Before a difficult conversation or meeting - When you need a quick mood boost - As a gratitude practice --- It is a remarkably simple technique, but do not underestimate its power. The ability to relive your best moments is a skill, and like any skill, it improves with practice. --- ## 10 Cognitive Distortions URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/10-cognitive-distortions Published: 2019-08-01 Tags: wellness # 10 Cognitive Distortions The negative thoughts that cause depression and anxiety nearly always contain gross distortions. Learning to recognize these distortions is the first step to overcoming them. These 10 cognitive distortions come from David Burns' book [Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy](https://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336), one of the most influential books on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Burns built on the pioneering work of Aaron Beck, who first identified cognitive distortions in his research with depressed patients in the 1960s. I have found awareness of these distortions to be one of the most useful mental health tools. Once you learn to spot them, you start catching yourself in real time. --- ## 1. All-or-Nothing Thinking You see things in black-and-white terms with no middle ground. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure. **Example:** You make one mistake in a presentation and think, "That was a complete disaster." In reality, 95% of the presentation went well. This is one of the most common distortions among high achievers. The antidote is to look for the gray area -- where between 0% and 100% does the truth actually lie? ## 2. Overgeneralization You draw broad conclusions from a single negative event. You see a single event as a never-ending pattern of defeat by using words like "always" or "never." **Example:** You get rejected from one job application and think, "I never get hired. I will always be stuck." One data point is not a trend. Look at the full picture. ## 3. Mental Filter You focus exclusively on the negative aspects of a situation while ignoring the positive. You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it, so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened. **Example:** You receive ten positive comments on a piece of writing and one critical one. You fixate on the criticism and forget the rest. This distortion is like wearing sunglasses that only filter for negativity. ## 4. Disqualifying the Positive You transform neutral or even positive experiences into negative ones. Burns calls this "reverse alchemy" -- turning gold into lead. **Example:** When someone compliments your work, you think, "They are just being nice. They do not really mean it." This goes beyond mental filtering. You actively reject positive evidence, which maintains a negative belief even in the face of contradictory experience. ## 5. Jumping to Conclusions You arbitrarily jump to a negative conclusion that is not justified by the facts. This takes two forms: **Mind Reading:** You assume others are looking down on you or thinking negatively about you, without any evidence. **Fortune Telling:** You imagine something bad is about to happen and treat that prediction as established fact. **Example:** Your boss does not respond to your email for a few hours and you think, "She is unhappy with my work. I am probably getting fired." The reality is usually much more mundane than the story you tell yourself. ## 6. Magnification and Minimization You magnify your errors, fears, and imperfections while minimizing your strengths and accomplishments. Burns also calls this the "binocular trick." **Example:** You magnify a small mistake at work into a career-defining failure, while dismissing a major accomplishment as "anyone could have done that." ## 7. Emotional Reasoning You reason from how you feel. You assume that your negative emotions reflect the way things really are: "I feel it, therefore it must be true." **Example:** "I feel like an idiot, so I must be one." Or, "I feel hopeless, so my situation must actually be hopeless." Feelings are not facts. This is one of the most important things to internalize. ## 8. "Should" Statements You criticize yourself or other people with "shoulds," "shouldn'ts," "musts," "oughts," and "have-tos." When directed at yourself, should statements produce guilt. When directed at others, they produce frustration and resentment. **Example:** "I should have known better." "She should be more considerate." "I must not make mistakes." Albert Ellis called this "musterbation." Replace "should" with "it would be preferable if" and notice how the emotional charge dissipates. ## 9. Labeling Instead of describing a specific behavior, you attach a global label to yourself or others. This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. **Example:** Instead of saying, "I made a mistake," you tell yourself, "I am a loser." Instead of saying, "He was late," you think, "He is irresponsible." Labels are reductive. People and situations are complex. A single action does not define a person. ## 10. Blame You hold yourself entirely responsible for something that was not completely your fault (self-blame), or you blame other people entirely and overlook ways you contributed to a problem (other-blame). **Example:** "It is all my fault the project failed" (ignoring external factors) or "It is entirely their fault" (ignoring your own role). The healthy middle ground is acknowledging shared responsibility without absorbing all of it or deflecting all of it. --- ## How to Use This Awareness is the first step. Here is a simple practice: 1. **Notice when your mood shifts negatively.** What thought triggered it? 2. **Write down the thought.** Get it out of your head and onto paper. 3. **Identify the distortion.** Which of the 10 patterns does it match? 4. **Write a more balanced thought.** Not a blindly positive thought -- a realistic one. This is the core of cognitive behavioral therapy, and it works. Burns' research showed that the negative thoughts which cause depression nearly always contain cognitive distortions. By learning to identify and correct these distortions, you can meaningfully improve how you feel. The book [Feeling Good](https://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-New-Mood-Therapy/dp/0380810336) remains one of the most impactful self-help books I have read. If this list resonated with you, I strongly recommend reading the full book. --- ## Sleep Tips URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/sleep-tips Published: 2019-03-01 Tags: wellness # Sleep Tips Sleep is the foundation of everything -- productivity, mood, health, creativity. Yet it is one of the first things we sacrifice when life gets busy. Here are the tips that have worked for me. ## Maintain a Consistent Schedule Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, including weekends. Being consistent reinforces your body's sleep-wake cycle (circadian rhythm). Your brain starts releasing melatonin around the same time each night when both your bedtime and your routine stay consistent, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. This is the single most impactful change you can make. ## Watch Your Caffeine The effects of caffeine can last for up to eight hours, and the substance can take 10 or more hours to completely leave your system. One study found that consuming caffeine 6 hours before bedtime can reduce your sleep by 1 hour. **Rule of thumb:** Stop caffeine intake by early afternoon (before 2 PM) to give your body enough time to metabolize it before bed. ## Reduce Blue Light Exposure Devices like your smartphone, laptop, and TV emit blue light, which suppresses melatonin release -- the hormone that signals to your brain that it is time to sleep. About 60 to 90 minutes before bed, lower the lights in your home and step away from screens if possible. If you must use your phone or computer in the evening: - Switch to night mode or use a blue-light filter. - Consider blue-light-blocking glasses. - Reduce screen brightness. ## Optimize Your Bedroom Your bedroom environment matters more than you think: - **Temperature** -- keep it cool, ideally around 65-68 degrees Fahrenheit (18-20 degrees Celsius). Your body temperature needs to drop for you to fall asleep. - **Darkness** -- use blackout curtains or a sleep mask. Even small amounts of light can disrupt melatonin production. - **Quiet** -- use earplugs or a white noise machine if you are in a noisy environment. - **No screens** -- keep your phone and laptop out of the bedroom if possible. ## Get Morning Sunlight Getting outside after you wake up, even if it is just for a few minutes, helps reset your sleep-wake cycle. Sunlight in your eyes early in the day signals to your brain that it is daytime and suppresses leftover melatonin. If you cannot get out in the morning, getting some afternoon sun works well too. ## Be Careful with Alcohol Even though alcohol might make you feel sleepy at first, it disrupts sleep later in the night. It reduces REM sleep, which is the most restorative phase. If you drink, try to stop at least 3 hours before bedtime. ## Manage Naps Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep. If you need to nap, limit it to 15-20 minutes in the early afternoon. Anything longer or later can make it harder to fall asleep at night. ## The 20-Minute Rule If you do not fall asleep within about 20 minutes of going to bed, get up and leave your bedroom. Do something relaxing -- read a book, listen to calm music, or do a breathing exercise. Return to bed when you feel sleepy. Lying in bed frustrated only trains your brain to associate bed with wakefulness. ## Wind Down Instead of scrolling through social media or watching your favorite show right before bed, consider activities that promote relaxation: - Reading a physical book - Practicing gentle yoga or stretching - Meditating or doing breathing exercises - Journaling - Taking a warm bath or shower --- Sleep is not a luxury -- it is a necessity. Small changes to your sleep habits can have an outsized impact on every other area of your life. Start with one or two of these tips and build from there. --- ## Checklists URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/checklists Published: 2019-02-01 Tags: productivity # Checklists Checklists are the unsung heroes of productivity. They prevent errors in repeated tasks. Plain and simple. When used in hospitals, checklists resulted in **36% fewer major complications** and **47% fewer deaths**. That is not a marginal improvement -- that is a transformative one. ## Why Checklists Work We like to think we can rely on our memory and expertise to get things right every time. But the reality is that even experts make errors, especially when tasks are complex and repetitive. Checklists work because they: - **Reduce cognitive load** -- you do not need to remember every step because the checklist remembers for you. - **Catch the easy-to-miss steps** -- it is usually the simple, "obvious" steps that get skipped, and those are often the ones that cause the biggest problems. - **Create consistency** -- every time the task is performed, it is done the same way, regardless of who is doing it. - **Enable accountability** -- when there is a checklist, it is easy to verify whether each step was completed. ## DO then CONFIRM One effective approach is the **DO-CONFIRM** method: everything is done from memory, but after completing the task, the checklist is used to confirm that nothing was missed. This approach works well for experienced practitioners who know the process but want a safety net. You are not slowing yourself down by referencing the checklist at every step -- you are using it as a verification tool at the end. But it only works if there is a checker process with a second person who checks whether those points are actually covered. ## Checklists in Practice ### Freelance Writing Quality We had a checklist for all our freelance resume writers to ensure that rework was reduced and mistakes were avoided. This led to improved quality across the board. The checklist also served as a constant guide to the writer to cross-verify against the guides and training documents. ### Software Releases Before releasing a version to production, we use a production release checklist to make sure all points are covered and nothing is missed. The impact of any small step being missed can be huge -- a missed database migration, an unupdated environment variable, a forgotten feature flag. That is why it warrants the checklist. ### Writing and Publishing When writing a newsletter, I send a test email to myself and check for any missed errors before publishing. Once the article is ready, the checklist ensures the publish process is complete -- from formatting to metadata to distribution. ## Building Good Checklists Not all checklists are created equal. A good checklist: - **Is short and focused.** Include items that are often skipped or missed, not every single step. - **Uses simple language.** Each item should be clear and unambiguous. - **Is easy to read.** Formatting matters -- if your checklist is a wall of text, nobody will use it. - **Evolves over time.** Update your checklists as processes change and new failure modes are discovered. ## Templates as an Extension Even tasks that require higher-order thinking can benefit from templates, which are really just checklists for complex work. If you are a product manager, you will regularly do competitor analysis, user research, sprint planning, and more. You can create templates that take some of the thinking out of the work and save you time. In Notion, you can create reusable template blocks, and these checklists can be collapsed when not required, reducing the space they occupy. A checklist "changes things and makes the advice in your face." --- Checklists are not glamorous. They are not sexy. But they work. And in a world where the cost of errors can be enormous -- whether in healthcare, software, or everyday work -- the humble checklist is one of the most powerful tools you can use. --- ## Play Store Appeal Learnings URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/play-store-appeal-learnings Published: 2018-06-01 Tags: startups, product-management # Play Store Appeal Learnings Here are my learnings from a Google Play Store submission in 2018. Once the app was submitted, it was automatically flagged and removed. This was most likely an automatic process where the algorithm checks if the name is too similar to another developer or app, and automatically flags it. No human reviewed the app before it was taken down. ## The Appeal Process I prepared a reinstatement appeal and the app was reinstated soon after. Here is what I learned and what I included in the appeal. ### 1. File a Trademark Application Demonstrating legal permission to use the name was critical. I filed a trademark application to show that we had the legal right to use the app name. This was one of the strongest pieces of evidence in the appeal. ### 2. Change the Developer Name I changed the developer name to the company name to avoid confusion with other app publishers. If your developer account name is a personal name that happens to be similar to another developer's, this can trigger automated flags. Using your registered company name removes that ambiguity. ### 3. Verify Icon Licenses Ensure all icons used have free licenses with proper attribution. Even if you are using free icons, make sure you have the appropriate license documentation and that attribution is properly handled. This is an easy thing to overlook but can cause problems. ### 4. Attach Supporting Documents I attached several supporting documents to strengthen the appeal: - **Certificate of Incorporation** -- proving the company is a legitimate, registered entity. - **Startup India Registration** -- additional government-backed verification. - **Trademark Registration** -- proving the legal right to use the name. ### 5. Be Proactive with Details Proactively provide the details referenced on [Google's support page](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6320428). Do not wait for them to ask -- include everything upfront. The more complete your appeal, the faster the resolution. ### 6. Strike the Right Tone The appeal included forward-looking language expressing a desire for "a long and fruitful relationship with Google Play" and an offer to resolve any other unresolved issues. Be professional, cooperative, and solution-oriented. ## Key Takeaways - **Automated systems can be wrong.** Just because your app was flagged does not mean you did anything wrong. Algorithms are imperfect. - **Documentation is everything.** The more legal and official documentation you can provide, the stronger your case. - **Act quickly.** The sooner you file your appeal, the sooner you get reinstated. - **Be thorough.** A half-hearted appeal will likely be rejected. Put in the effort to make it comprehensive. - **Stay calm and professional.** Getting angry or confrontational will not help your case. Frame your appeal as a partnership, not a fight. --- Getting flagged and removed from the Play Store is stressful, but it is not the end of the world. With the right documentation and a well-crafted appeal, you can get reinstated. The key is to be prepared -- ideally before you even submit your app. --- ## Lift Heavy Stone Make Sad Head Voice Quiet URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/lift-heavy-stone-make-sad-head-voice-quiet Published: 2018-01-15 Tags: wellness # Lift Heavy Stone Make Sad Head Voice Quiet There is a meme that has been floating around the internet: "lift heavy stone make sad head voice quiet." I love it because it simplifies the relationship between exercise and mental health in a way that is both funny and deeply true. When you boil it down to that, there is nothing else that wins out. ## The Connection Since around 2014-15, I have known that exercise is key for me. A few days without it and I am as good as useless. The mood drops, the motivation disappears, the mental chatter gets louder. It is not subtle -- it is a clear, reliable pattern. I suspect most people who exercise regularly have noticed the same thing. The days you work out, you feel better. The days you do not, you feel worse. The relationship is almost embarrassingly simple, and yet so many of us struggle to maintain consistency. ## My Setup I will be honest -- my gym attendance has been in spurts rather than consistently for a year or more. There have been periods of going every day and periods of barely going at all. Since the pandemic, I have had weights at home: a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a barbell. They are not enough to build serious muscle -- for that, you would need more weight and a proper rack setup -- but they are enough to maintain the habit. Having weights at home removes the biggest barrier: getting to the gym. The key insight for me was that the goal is not to become a bodybuilder. The goal is to keep the sad head voice quiet. And for that, you do not need a perfect setup. You need consistency and some heavy things to pick up and put down. ## What the Research Says The science backs up what the meme suggests: - **Depression and anxiety**: Multiple studies show that resistance training significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. The effect is comparable to some medications and therapy approaches. - **Self-efficacy**: Lifting progressively heavier weights builds a sense of competence and control that transfers to other areas of life. You prove to yourself, repeatedly, that you can do hard things. - **Sleep**: Strength training improves sleep quality, which has cascading effects on mood, cognition, and emotional regulation. - **Stress response**: Regular exercise modulates the body's stress response. You become more resilient to daily stressors. - **Neurochemistry**: Exercise triggers the release of endorphins, serotonin, and BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which supports brain health and mood regulation. ## Why Strength Training Specifically Cardio is great too, but there is something uniquely satisfying about moving heavy weight. It demands your full attention in a way that a treadmill run does not. When you are under a barbell, you cannot think about your problems. Your entire focus narrows to the movement. It is a form of forced mindfulness. There is also the progressive overload aspect. Every week, you try to lift a little more than last week. That creates a tangible sense of progress that is hard to find elsewhere in life. Most things in life are ambiguous -- strength training is not. Either you lifted it or you did not. ## Making It Stick Here is what has worked for me: - **Lower the barrier**: Home weights, a pull-up bar, resistance bands. Anything that reduces the distance between "I should work out" and "I am working out." - **Do not aim for perfection**: Three 20-minute sessions a week is infinitely better than zero 90-minute sessions. The best workout is the one you actually do. - **Track the mental benefits, not just the physical**: Pay attention to how you feel after a workout, not just how you look. The mental benefits are more immediate and more motivating. - **Forgive gaps**: You will miss days, weeks, maybe months. That is fine. The habit is not broken -- it is just paused. Start again without guilt. ## The Simple Truth The meme is not wrong. Lift heavy stone, make sad head voice quiet. It is not the only thing that helps with mental health, but for me, it is the most reliable. When everything else is uncertain, you can always pick up something heavy and put it back down. And somehow, that helps. If you are struggling and you do not currently exercise, this is the simplest advice I can give: start picking up heavy things. It does not matter what they are. It does not matter where you do it. Just start. The sad head voice gets quieter, one rep at a time. --- ## GMAT 750 Study Plan URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/gmat-750-study-plan Published: 2017-02-01 Tags: personal, career # GMAT 750 Study Plan I went from a **640 (Q50 V26)** in my first attempt to a **750 (Q49 V44)** in my second attempt, which landed me an ISB admit. Instead of telling you directly what you should do to get a high score, I want to break down the factors that will **prevent** you from scoring well and what you can do to avoid them. I made my fair share of mistakes along the way, and having gone through both experiences, here is what I learned. --- ## The GMAT Is a Decision-Making Test The GMAT is more about **correct decision making** than about getting everything right. It tests your ability to make the right decisions in a pressurized environment -- which is exactly what prepares you for the life of a manager. The three key obstacles to a high score, in order of importance: 1. **Decision Paralysis** -- Spending too much time deciding how to approach a question. 2. **Not Having Enough Time** -- Running out of time because you got stuck on earlier questions. 3. **Not Being Able to Answer** -- Simply not knowing the concept being tested. Most people focus on #3, but #1 and #2 are what actually determine your score. Every small decision depletes your finite store of willpower. The GMAT requires about 100 of these small decisions. Rest and glucose help restore this level. --- ## Study Plan Overview This prep is designed to last for **2 months with 4-5 hours of daily effort**. ### Start with a Diagnostic Take the diagnostic test from the latest Official Guide to see where you stand. This gives you a baseline and helps you make a plan targeting your weaknesses, as that would give you the biggest boost to your score. --- ## Quant Prep ### Reference Material To grasp the foundations of GMAT quant, the **Manhattan Quant Series (5 books)** is a good place to start. However, the 5 books are quite comprehensive and require a good amount of time. ### Practice While studying from Manhattan, begin solving questions from the Official Guides (OG), preferably in **batches of 20 PS and 20 DS** to get used to solving 37+ questions at a stretch. **Only solve questions from the Official Guides.** Questions from other publishers do not come close to matching the pattern and standard of the questions you will face in the final exam. Use the latest OGs (19, 18, 17, 16, 15) and the Verbal Review. ### Error Log The key is to solve a decent quantity of official questions and review the ones you got wrong **and** the ones you got correct but took too much time on. Read the explanation of each incorrect question, keeping a note of the reason for the mistake in your **Error Log** along with the topic. Solve enough DS questions -- the Data Sufficiency questions are more likely to trip you up than Problem Solving. --- ## Verbal Prep Verbal was my biggest area of improvement (V26 to V44). Here is what worked: ### Reference Material - **Sentence Correction** -- Manhattan SC. Complete the first read-through of all chapters before attempting OG questions. - **Critical Reasoning** -- PowerScore CR Bible. Learn the concepts and strategies first. - **Reading Comprehension** -- Manhattan RC for a few important strategies. RC is key to your verbal section performance. ### Practice Strategy Start with Manhattan SC rules and PowerScore CR concepts and strategies. Once you have a solid foundation, move to solving OG questions exclusively. --- ## Integrated Reasoning IR is scored separately and does not affect your 200-800 score. Do not spend too much prep time on it. Familiarize yourself with the question types through a few practice sets and move on. --- ## AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment) I got **5.5** the first time and **6.0** the second time. You should ideally spend the least amount of mental cycles on this section. Learn the basic template, practice 2-3 essays, and do this section last in your prep. --- ## Practice Tests Take full-length practice tests to build stamina and get used to the adaptive format: - **Official GMAT Practice Exams** -- These are the most representative. Use them wisely. - **Manhattan Practice Tests** -- Good for additional practice, though slightly harder than the real thing. --- ## Final Days Strategy ### 7-14 Days Before the Exam - Take tests daily including all four sections in the same order as the final exam. - Make sure you have listed the schools for the free score send. - Review your Error Log daily. ### 2 Days Before the Exam - Stop taking tests and stop worrying. - Continue revising concepts from your Error Log if needed. ### 1 Day Before the Exam - Relax. Spend time with family. - Pick out comfortable clothing, accounting for the AC at the test center. - Get a good night's sleep. --- ## Exam Day Tips - **Meditate** in the morning if time permits. It helps calm your nerves. - **Eat a balanced breakfast.** The GMAT is a stamina test. - **Consume glucose during breaks** to stave off Decision Fatigue. - **Do not rush.** Pace yourself. If you are stuck on a question for more than 2 minutes, make your best guess and move on. - **Remember:** It is better to answer all questions and guess on a few than to run out of time and leave questions unanswered. --- ## Resources Summary | Category | Resource | |---|---| | Quant Reference | Manhattan Quant Series (5 books) | | SC Reference | Manhattan Sentence Correction | | CR Reference | PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible | | RC Reference | Manhattan Reading Comprehension | | Practice Questions | Official Guides (OG 19, 18, 17, 16, 15) + Verbal Review | | Practice Tests | Official GMAT Practice Exams + Manhattan Practice Tests | --- ## Final Thought The GMAT is conquerable. A 100+ point improvement is absolutely possible if you identify your weaknesses, study with the right materials, and treat the exam as a decision-making marathon rather than a knowledge test. Good luck. --- ## Intermittent Fasting URL: https://kavirkaycee.com/intermittent-fasting Published: 2017-01-15 Tags: wellness # Intermittent Fasting Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of those things that sounds harder than it actually is. Once you get past the first week or two, it becomes second nature. Here is what I have learned from practicing it. ## What Is Intermittent Fasting? Intermittent fasting is not a diet -- it is an eating pattern. It does not tell you what to eat, but when to eat. You cycle between periods of eating and fasting, and the magic is in giving your body extended time without food to trigger certain metabolic processes. ## The Most Common Methods - **16:8** -- Fast for 16 hours, eat within an 8-hour window. This is the most popular method and the one I would recommend for beginners. For example, eat between 12pm and 8pm, skip breakfast. - **14:10** -- A gentler version. Fast for 14 hours, eat within 10 hours. Good for easing in. - **5:2** -- Eat normally five days a week, restrict to 500-600 calories on the other two days. - **OMAD (One Meal a Day)** -- Exactly what it sounds like. Advanced, and not for everyone. ## How to Get Started Start small and build up. If you have never fasted before, start with a 12-hour fast (most of which you will be asleep for) and gradually extend the window. A 14:10 pattern three days a week is a great starting point. As it becomes easier, increase the fasting window and the number of fasting days. ![Weight tracking results](/images/intermittent-fasting/fasting-1.png) ![Heart rate tracking results](/images/intermittent-fasting/fasting-2.png) ## The Benefits Research has shown several benefits of intermittent fasting: - **Weight management** -- Restricting your eating window naturally reduces calorie intake. Studies show significant weight loss in the majority of IF participants. - **Improved blood sugar and insulin sensitivity** -- IF can reduce fasting insulin and blood sugar levels, potentially lowering diabetes risk. - **Heart health** -- Studies show IF can lower blood pressure as effectively as some medications. - **Brain health** -- Research from the NIH suggests fasting may reduce the development of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. - **Better sleep** -- IF may enhance your circadian rhythm since overeating can disrupt sleep. - **Reduced inflammation** -- Fasting reduces cortisol and inflammatory markers. ## The Adjustment Period The first two to four weeks are the hardest. You will feel hungry. You might feel cranky. This is normal. Your body needs time to switch from burning readily available sugar to burning stored fat -- what researchers call metabolic switching. But here is the thing: people who make it through the adjustment period tend to stick with the plan because they genuinely feel better. More energy, more mental clarity, less bloating. ## What to Eat During Your Window You do not need a special diet, but you will get better results if you eat well during your window. The Mediterranean diet is a solid blueprint -- leafy greens, healthy fats, lean protein, and complex carbohydrates. Avoid the temptation to overeat during your window to "make up" for the fasting hours. ## Who Should Be Careful Intermittent fasting is not for everyone. Talk to a doctor before starting if you: - Have diabetes (especially if on medication) - Are pregnant or nursing - Have a history of eating disorders - Have low blood pressure - Are under 18 ## My Take The simplicity of IF is what makes it work. You do not need to count calories, buy special food, or follow complicated meal plans. You just need a clock and some discipline for the first few weeks. After that, it becomes automatic.