My Morning Journaling

I still remember this trail, one of my first after the treatment. It’s taken me almost a year since then to get my thoughts & actions together on what next, to give back since finishing chemo & beating cancer. It’s 4am, just woke up and all these unfiltered thoughts just came together, so let’s call this my public journaling😉.

Nothing prepared me for this, when I was hospitalized for that 1 week during my 2nd chemo cycle, my life came to a standstill, I took life for granted and it all lost value of past achievements. It hit me hard: Happiness is being healthy & wealthy, not led by the social, financial & personal achievements. Do what and who you love, cause it can all disappear within a second. The pain & suffering I saw last year, I doubt I will ever forget in this lifetime, it’s humbled me beyond anything I have ever experienced. So surrender to what your life has in store for you, ego no bueno. I graduated on September 29th’23, the day I stepped back into the world, this time a Lymphoma Survivor. LOVE, the most powerful drug there is ever, it’s more than just hype, it’s real.

Next up, Just like everything else, there will be a race to the top, a race for power struggle on who controls the future of planetary health & human health, who controls the power of what’s in our skull to address longevity, who decides what we eat, how we commute and who consumes how much energy to address planetary health.

These are fascinating never seen before times for Climate & Longevity, as we move further away from zero interest rates & cheap money culture in the last decade. Its going to take the opposite mindset to accelerate planetary & human health innovation in this decade when government debt is high and corporate savings are high, that’s more than just adapting tbh and ignorance is not bliss here. I doubt there is a Harry Potter wand to get thru these challenges, and yet we will prevail.

2 yrs ago Nasdaq was a great moment, no doubt. My first trip to was while passing thru Times Square and enjoying the crowds😆 it was a great moment cause my colleague, Vivek & me had zero expectations to get here, sure I dreamt about it every now & then. In Real life, initially when we approached investors, it was rejection galore. Our jar of NOs were over flowing with monopoly bucks, some laughed while others mocked, I remember one person said “you lack the intelligence, networks to succeed” he was right, I didn’t have the network and I’m not an Ivy League genius. What he & most didn’t know back then “I have the resilience cause of where I’m from” there was nothing beneath me to get to where I’m today with Vivek Soni , all those insults motivated me further, to get to where we’re today with zero expectations and entitlement. Where you’re from defines the foundation of your journey.

So many folks asked me to take a year or more off and recharge from work last decade, so there you go I heard you, took time off & got my reset fix by beating cancer 💪 these 18 months of reset gave me lotta reading time to understand the phrase “wake up and smell the coffee”

This is just fact & evidence: so many pre seed climate & longevity startups go thru long periods of dark times, from embarrassing to mocking days, the uncertainty is nerve wrecking. Stay at it long enough, persist and maybe, just maybe you will go from launch mode to growth mode. Honestly, that’s why most pass on launch capital investing & hiring.

My first 45 yrs were spent on building a foundation I can evolve from, the next 45 I’d:

•want to be happier

•Be a doer

•spend more time with a few than all the acquaintances

•work hardly hard in boring climate & longevity genres like maybe 8 hrs a week

•read when I’m tired of playing & vice versa

•geek out on psychology

•do reckless things confidently with folks who have similar ambitions without repeating the old ones

•ctrl alt delete clutter to stay away from distractions

•invest in myself and those who matter to me spontaneously cause time does fly by

•replace intent with actions

•meditate & starve the mind

•journal my dreams

•create a legacy that continues long after me to give society what it wants in climate & longevity

•never forget my grassroots who helped me get to where I am by giving back

•more time with my soulmate

•forgive and learn

•make new mistakes and avoid repeating old ones within 6 months.

For me the most exciting part of AI is there will come a time where domain experts from climate to longevity can tell the technology what to do, humans will talk to computational technology from energy to healthcare issues. We need to provide these domain experts access to technology, and for sure the early adopters of this process will be the breakout winners in this decade.

For any founder or investor to be a leader, you only succeed when you have combined

Strategy

Culture

Talent

into a winning combination. I get the first time founder & IP focus et all, a true visionary will focus on the micro details & find a way in the long run to combine these 3 into a winning formula.

There is nothing more thrilling than building something from scratch, being the first at something is exciting and equally nerve wrecking. I mean I have never run a fund in my past life, lotsa learnings in this journey that hopefully creates a lasting legacy. The secret honestly is believing in the future, and ignoring everything else. No shortcuts, continuously evolve naturally at speed.

By getting risk averse, I doubt anyone can stop the technology progress in climate, maybe delay it. I absolutely believe eventually there will be energy abundance, else let’s pack our bags and wait for doomsday. However with this tech progress, comes risks and for that we must be resilient. I really doubt there is a balance in ClimateTech innovation progress without resilience. There is absolutely a not so distant future where we can relax about energy access.

Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, time passes quite fast so do what you want the most with who you want to spend it with. I lived thru that everyday last year, beating cancer taught me a lot and the one that stands out is “make each day count & fulfilling, cut out the drama, clutter & negativity”

Those who subscribe to emails, live in calendars, follow right or wrong over truth & lies, need alcohol to socialize, fear authenticity, do not read books, do not write blogs/ journals, believe the concept of neuroscience/ psychedelics/ climate change/ blockchain is greek n latin: Have never tasted REAL Happiness, Freedom.

There’s a saying in football, it’s bloody important who is around you in that dressing room. The best dressing room always takes responsibility and accountability for their own, protects its own and never leaves its own high n dry. If the player isn’t happy in life, don’t play until it’s fixed. The dressing room is a reflection of the club, franchise.I have always believed the same to be true in venture too, founders should know their team & cap table inside out. If you aren’t happy, fix it first, it matters who you surround yourself with.

Somewhere in this world, there is a young person who is starting his or her cancer remission journey along with a career in climate or longevity. That eventually be the next big innovation we want to heal planetary & human health.

It’s easy to feel otherwise, never let go of hope & indefinite optimism that is very much needed in today’s times. I’m all for 2024 & beyond belong to the kids, their intelligence. They’re the future.

Every now & then, these last few weeks I have a moment where I still can’t quite believe i actually made it. The key for me is I accepted in my 2nd shot at life I will never give up and embrace the hits with the misses. For me, life as a mission focused VC is fulfilling, what’s even more fulfilling is geeking out on a hike or a trail about climate & longevity science, and the magnitude of its impact on our universe, far & wide. Stay calm in the eye of this brewing storm and don’t psych yourself out, there will be bad things and good things too. I prefer the boring ones.

Don’t let interest rates, markets defer your dreams. Execute them with conviction instead of getting intimidated by them, and hopefully that improves our odds to address challenges in climate & longevity, it ain’t gona fix itself for sure. From carbon capture to oncology to psychedelics to fision, be bold & brave.

I still remember this day like it was yesterday, my 1st chemo infusion day. What’s more weird is I remember my thoughts during this click “will I have darkest hour investors, founders, team members or will they all disappear in cancer” cause I went public with my diagnosis. The results are promising, I have double digit darkest hour folks.

2023 almost broke me, it could very well have gone either ways. Here I’m cause I chose Life, I chose who I Wana live it with on my terms. An average middle class fella stared at death and chose Life. I’m very well aware chemo consciously has destroyed all the grief & disappointments I carried since childhood in my lungs built up over time, lymphoma was no coincidence. It was a forced Reset, and I got lucky with the support I had last 12 months, lotsa happiness. This is my annual post, celebrating sept 29th to announce “I’m a Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor🙏” my 2nd shot at a happier, peaceful life built on the foundation of breathing with “Freedom”

Wana address climate change, join a bad ass founder or invest in one or buy their products. The best ones are the nerdy ones who love being surrounded by nature or the treehuggers.

Wana advance neuroscience, join a bold founder or invest in one who is obsessed with neurons. What lies in the skull is their jam.

Wana advance oncology, join a fearless founder or invest in one who is focused on patients instead of patents, or be a caregiver to someone.

Try one and experience the joy of a lifelong relationship. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m lucky to have experienced all three in this lifetime, and now with a second shot at life I want to experience this happiness to the power of infinity.

Consciousness is probably the most mysterious, fascinating, rare & curious adventure of humankind. Lighting up the brain just liberates the spirit. That starts with stopping our constant need of approvals from society, rather focus on achieving your values to be happy.

We VCs have forgotten the basic values what makes us human first. When someone new moves into the neighborhood, you welcome them with goodies, likewise when someone new joins the cap table, lets welcome the new investors with a meet n greet. Now that’s a long term relationship culture all founders & investors should adapt to, make venture fun & warm, instead of transactional.

Cash audit is imp sure, personal audit is a must have for me. Reviewing & improving where, how, who I spend my energy with has been a game changer for me. Time is priceless yes, polishing up what’s in my skull is far more refreshing. That’s one way of getting leverage, not chasing time. You fail my personal audit when you do not know the difference between climate change as science and climate change as an agenda, likewise my allergy levels are triggered when you call neuroscience a myth & science project.

Investing in climate starts with securing & improving my own future to start with, this is my home that I want to protect, only then can I contribute to this wonderful community. Likewise investing in neuroscience is to improve my own quality of life, from toxicity related side effects of chemo to mental health & more. That’s my WHY to my climate & longevity journey. When I keep improving my WHY, it helps me contribute to this community to help others in their journey.

I love seeing the transition of academia to venture cause we definitely need more talent, and I’m also seeing many folks joining or investing in climate & longevity firms as an overnight get rich scheme in venture, so I’ll say it again for their benefit “Come For The Impact Stay For The Returns”. First please spend sometime understanding the science, labs are a great place to start and nature could be your next stop. Commercializing science takes time, especially to the levels we’re trying to now, it’s never been attempted before at this scale. Mistakes will be made before founders achieve their milestones eventually, so for peace from mind I suggest Let Curiosity Not Fear be the foundation of your climate or longevity journey in venture.

It’s been a rough few months, this is probably the toughest journey I have been on so far. Cancer & chemo knock the shit outta you, and recovery at 45 is bloody tough. What am I to do, feel sorry for myself or bounce back? “When you see the lion in a fight, feel sorry for the prey cause the lion always wins, jungle rule for the king” Leo the Lion mentality has got this, that’s how I’m made. Ain’t no cancer or chemo taking away my freedom.

The concept of tracking is beyond me, hand on heart. Especially when it comes to planetary health & human health, good luck explaining tracking to someone who lost their home due to climate change or just got treated for cancer.

I went out with my wife, saira sethi (my girl friend years ago😁) and here we’re happily married for almost 2 decades, I didn’t track her. Likewise, I met so many founders & many more and invested. The rest we moved on. You meet a founder or fund mgr addressing a cause you align with effortlessly & uncompromisingly, you back them or move on, with conviction, not track them. Simplify life and venture.

I’d rather let things unfold naturally than forcing something through. It helps to refocus your energy on something else, either because you are not meant to be focusing on this particular problem, or because sometimes when we train our brain to focus on something else, our brain does some of the work behind our back. When we are able to finally go back to what we are doing, we have the actual solutions we need, rather than the ones we were trying to come up with out of desperation.

I see capital as a commodity, means to achieve a task or short term goal. Y do VCs make it sound like its creating this great innovation when all we do is simply create a fund, raise & invest? Portfolio construction isn’t like transiting from horseback to motor cars!!!! Our founders create, innovate, not VCs right?

I think cancer evolved my outlook to life completely, have outgrown status games that most folks play, zero interest in it. Thats why I say our Fund II isn’t a fit for most founders, operators, investors “partner effortlessly & uncompromisingly with founders, operators, investors who compliment our fund II thesis, model, personality, culture, goals & beliefs”