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Thoughts and predictions for the Coronavirus era

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Jobs & SMBs Many people are going to lose their jobs. Sectors directly affected will see this happening sooner, for example travel, hotels and restaurants, malls and multiplexes, shared economy etc. However, employment impact will trickle down to even other verticals - ITeS, Medical Services etc. Revenue roles (sales) are going to become much more stressful. Cost roles (IT, Admin, HR) are going to see redundancies.  MSMEs will probably be heavily distressed and many will be wiped out. Looking at glass half empty, the best placed SMB entrepreneurs right now are the ones who have no costs and no (or little) revenues.  Status quo is a bad thing right now Whether it's about any decisions in your personal life, in your professional life or as an entrepreneur. Don't "wait this out until it gets over". Any alternative will be high risk + high reward, but status quo will almost certainly be low risk + diminished returns.  Life from home Work from home,

Should you switch jobs? - A quantitative decisioning framework

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A friend recently reached out to me and sought my advice about a new job offer he had received. Good, reputable firm, decent hike in compensation, same role but elevated title. The role required him to move from Bangalore to Mumbai, but the company was ready to pay for the relocation expenses. The only caveat was that they wanted a confirmation from my friend by the end of the day. No stress, should have been quite a no-brainer to take this job. Or was it? While making decisions, especially when we are restricted by time and with too many unknowns thrown in front of us, we instinctively turn to bounded rationality for aid. Bounded Rationality is the idea that our decision making is limited by the information we have, the cognitive limitations of our minds, and the finite amount of time we have. We also let our cognitive biases influence our decisioning. The new employer can try to anchor our decision by offering a higher title or by offering a higher compensation 'as per ind

Kirana in the time of lockdown - a community ordering system for neighbourhood brick & mortar stores

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Earlier last week, I signed up to volunteer for our community RWA's Covid-19 assistance efforts. The community where I reside is one of the largest in Hyderabad, India with 14 towers, each having 14 floors and anywhere between 8-10 apartments on each floor.  A rough back of the envelope calculation shows -  * Around 1500 - 2000 apartments  * 4500 - 7000 residents We have one grocery store, one store for vegetables and one medical store. All are brick and mortar set-ups with counter based point of sale systems. No Apps.  Expectedly, all three stores started seeing a massive surge in footfall as soon as the national lockdown was announced earlier this week. None of them were equipped to manage the surge of customers, who were anxious to stock up on essential items.  A crowd of people during a lockdown, especially one with the mantra of social distancing, is a terribly bad outcome. The uncertainty around the movement of essential items was leading many residents to hoard -