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I studied in Gujarat

I was sitting next to a young, sharply dressed guy on an early flight to Mumbai.
Calmly opened his laptop as the seat belt sign went off, working on what looked like a complicated Excel sheet.

Worked through the flight.
After 1.5 hours, as the hostess walked the aisle requesting to place your seats upright, he shut down the laptop and gave me a “I think I am ready” look.
Good thing the middle seat was empty.
We got talking.

I presumed he was preparing for an important presentation.
He confirmed.
He was nervous, he mentioned.
But felt good nervous.
That’s what the best athletes tell themselves, I found myself thinking.
Good nervous.

I asked him if he was from Mumbai.
Yes. Had come to Delhi for work. Was going back.
"And what do you do?"
"I work for an FMCG company."

He didn’t mention the name.
Maybe he was embarrassed about it?
Perhaps the company is still small in size?

"How long have you been there?"
"5 years, straight out of college."
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"Oh lovely.
And where was college?"
"Gujarat."
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Gujarat?
For the love of me, I couldn’t remember even a single college in Gujarat.

Maybe he is SOBO with connections.
That was frankly as far as my mind went.
That was the only thing that could explain a guy looking so well done, working in a nameless FMCG company, graduated from some college in Gujarat.
Judgemental af, I know.

"Well, it was lovely to meet you.
I am Ankur, by the way."
"Lovely to meet you too.
I am xx."

And then, he very cutely handed me his business card.
So 2000s for a Gen-Z guy, I thought.

HUL!
That was his FMCG company.
HUL!!

Before I could react, he was already busy gathering his luggage.
Passengers behind him were ready to crucify him for the extra 9 seconds he had taken to do so.

Why would he call HUL an FMCG company?
And why not just say I am working with HUL?
Super weird.

I got off.
He was well on his way.
Maybe he was getting late.
Or maybe he figured that I figured.

And as I almost always do - I opened LinkedIn.
Search tab.
His name.
Search result with his clean-shaven, gelled hair, business suit DP.
Yup, that’s him.

IIT Bombay.
Then IIM Ahmedabad.
Then HUL.

THAT was the college in Gujarat!

I sent him a message.
I had to :))

True story…

Book I am reading this week

Did not pick up any new book last week as we were on an offsite.

But while we are on books, why don't you help me with one thing?
Help me decide on the cover of my next book (releasing Jan 2025)

Option 1:

Option 2:

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My 3rd book, Make Epic Money, has sold 1,26,000+ copies in India with a 4.4+ rating. You can buy it in Hindi, English, Marathi, Audio, and Kindle here.
The book has also been converted into a video course (in Hindi and English) - that you can check out here.
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​Here is an alphabetical list of all books I have shared in this newsletter so far.

Question of the week

Which of these titles do you prefer, for a book on career, written for those in their 20s and 30s?

• Build an epic career
• Build epic career
• Build epic careers

(and see the results of others, too)

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Results of last week's question

Most folks would want to settle in UK+Western Europe (except 40+ junta, which prefers USA). Quite interesting. I would have imagined USA to be the number 1 country, especially for younger folks.

​My response?​
Australia. Loved the country and vibe when we visited it recently.
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3-2-1
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3 pics from last week

We had our quarterly team offsite last week. Visited Tadoba Tiger Reserve (near Nagpur). Stayed at a lovely resort (Trees & Tigers) - awesome food and hospitality. While we did not see any tigers, the forest was gorgeous. Plus, it is always amazing to spend time with the team. Here are some pictures.

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2 quotes I wish to share

You can’t gain confidence if you operate with fear.

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Those who use AI to create, will suffer.
Those who use AI to elevate, will prosper.

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1 new thing I learnt this week

The BSE holds the distinction of being the stock exchange with the highest number of listed companies globally, with over 5,000 companies listed. No other stock exchange has these many companies listed.
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🎙️ My top content from last week
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📹 YouTube:​ The secret of identifying winning stocks​

📱 Instagram: Aage kya?​

🐥 Twitter: What would your response be here?​

🎧 Podcast: Difficult relationships​
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You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.​
​(Bharat mein hi jeene aur marne ki kasam)

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