The end of beginning
On scraps of paper, dropping the blog, and other cool updates!
After a few months of sitting with it, I have a few things to share. Also announcing what’s been cooking with this newsletter and where we’re headed with it.
The only way I want you to remember me is that I love technology. I love how it brings a change to people’s lives and makes the impossible not only feasible, but routine.
One of these impossibilities was my extremely hyped-up idea that I sketched out on scraps of paper in my fourth year of college. In some distant future, I wanted to work on some kind of technology that helps people get out their heads and be a fun-but-important presence in the lives of their loved ones. The COVID-19 pandemic left me with hard-earned insight into existential questions, some of which I may share with you down the line. Well, maybe…
During the lockdown period, I was trying out oddball indie products made by unknown developers and made 100s of anon accounts if I found a cool Product Hunt listing. While also trying to digest all I could between human psychology, blockchain tech, computer vision (now subsumed by AITM), media theory and whatnot.
To add to it, I wished to write about the nuances of technology that people often saw but overlooked; in the hopes of inviting them into discussions of privacy, impacts on mental health and safety. Because even then (circa 2021), my parents, my cousins, and even some friends knew little about what’s happening with social media algorithms and politics, for example, and how it impacts their perception of their loved ones.
Learning and writing about these things attempted to indirectly address my own struggles as an engineering student trying to find his ground in a sea of opportunities.
As with almost everything in life, I was late to the party. There’s already content, books and workshops on these topics and I didn’t feel like drumming up the obvious. I wanted to add something unique to the world.
This uniqueness has been both a friend and a foe. Wanting to do something unique with my life led me to discover the sea of wonderful products, obscure YouTube playlists and product management during my time in college. It also led me to discard 100s of semi-cooked ideas because these were things someone already did before.
When AI came into the scene, a lot of us came to a realization that making things has been commoditized. If you can make something, several others as well can. The effort shifts upward - orchestration, decision-making and connecting unforeseen dots and, most importantly, building trust and getting people to use your products. Also, even if you’re an inventor, you cannot guarantee adoption or outcomes with your inventions. You need a package for your knowledge to scale and meaningfully change the world.
The problem of our times is not that no technology exists for our unique problems; it’s that most people are just not aware that it could do so much for them. Uplift them out their misery, their poverty and the hopelessness that they need to leave the country to be able to do something meaningful out of their life.
I’ve decided to do something about it. I want you to keep me accountable for the same.
Crawl. Walk. Run.
After having spent a busy few years working at my dream job as a Product Manager at Atlassian, I wanted to cool myself down off the busywork that occupied 15 hours of my day, and warm myself up back again to the new dawn of technology as we’ll see it 10 years from now.
Something really clicked. I found myself on a tab with ChatGPT on during breaks and work hours in 2024, seeing how far it goes with my bad jokes and when it breaks sweat. For the first time in several years, I saw a spark that I couldn’t find after years of playing with products. I couldn’t put a finger on it, but AI was something new, and had a very different texture to it. I could see this tech getting far more useful than something that helps you write emails without grammatical errors.
Since the GPT-3 days, I tried to stay on top of the new models drops and advancements but just couldn’t. After realizing that I wasn’t too late for making a career jump, and not so early that I’d be dismissed as a fluke, on the fine morning of 7 January, 7:07 AM this year (yes, that was intentional) I hit that email that was sitting in my inbox for more than a month. I finally parted ways with my dream job.
I took some nice 4-ish months to teach myself how to code (yet again) in an age where you really don’t code much, and shipping cool shiny personal projects. I started seeing more of my family and friends and started attending gatherings I missed out for a few years. Most importantly, I started working on my fitness after getting completely out of shape and out of breath on an old trek - now slowly getting back to shape.
This was me, crawling.
Crawl. Walk. Run.
And now, I’m ready to walk. And ready to fail.
Look, I know this sounds stupid but it’s true. Each failure strikes off a possibility in your bucket of to-dos, and you can only know it if you’ve tried. I wish I had a magic ball that helped me know what I’m best at doing, without feeling FOMO over what I didn’t do.
With that, soft-launching two projects that have been eating up my time lately:
Masala Dew (yes, you’re here!)
Let’s talk about Masala Dew for a sec. It starts off as a newsletter but has a life force of its own (yes, we dropped the blog. from the domain). It’s an initiative that tells stories about technology. Its perspective is centered to India, thanks to its founding team and its unique cultural positioning, but certainly not limited to it. It attempts to be funny, forward-looking and provocative, but most importantly, authentic. It is youthful but doesn’t discriminate on age. And it’s made for a post-AGI world, with an ever-improving understanding of where machines fail and what makes human work valuable.
Through this Substack, you may see me build a company (actually, two) in real time, hear about commentaries about the things that we come and gloss over on socials and also some tidbits that can make your lives better. I plan to invite my cool friends building cool things so that they can share how can you navigate this changing landscape, work yourselves out of your current job and elevate yourself into a new, powerful one.
This initiative intends to be many things, but not a personal brand per se. I see a community built out of a shared interest about tech and its side effects, and for people who just want to be more mindful about the things they use in their everyday lives. And also people who may wanna improve their career, relationships and useful mental models from work and play.
I used a BITS-pilled moniker for this newsletter as I originally wanted to involve high-agency people in this project from my alma mater as they were all around me. But the last few months have made me realize that there are many of us high-agency people looking to make a small dent in their universe - and especially in places where you least expect them.
The name remains unchanged though. After all, what’s in a name, anyway?
Crawl. Walk. Run.
We’re not running, no not yet. We don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver.
Masala Dew has a direction but not a fixed roadmap. In a world where so much changes so soon, roadmaps are becoming no more than vain showpieces. Piece-by-piece, this publication will start taking shape and will describe itself, shaped by everyone who’s contributing to it. By everyone who chooses to stay.
If any of that resonates with you, and you wish to contribute meaningfully to the project / just have some ideas, do reach out at contact@karwaanlabs.com without any hesitation. No matter how shoddy your ask is, I guarantee to respond to your email, without AI (for the first few weeks at least!).
The scraps of paper from college had no name. Now they have a stupid one: Masala Dew. They’re still getting completed - not by me alone, but anyone who wants to build thoughtful products and a meaningful relationship with technology. If that sounds like you, you’re already a part of it.
See you on Monday!
Cheers,
Samyak
PS: I might do some personal writing that I share on occassion over my actual blog at samyaksahu.com/blog but not here. I don’t have a mailing list out there but I’ll let you know when I drop something there through a note on Substack/X.
lessgo!!
Count me in :)