The Archive
9 pieces on markets, business, and the long game.
Finance The cheapest thing isn't always the best deal
We love a discount. Businesses spend a lot of money making sure we forget that cheap and valuable are not the same thing.
Business Why India's malls keep getting bigger
You can buy almost anything online, yet the malls keep filling up. What a delivery box can't reproduce is the whole point.
Business Zomato isn't really selling food
The food is the least interesting part. The delivery network underneath it may end up worth more than the app that started it.
Investing Zerodha made investing feel like a normal thing
Technology can take the fear out of investing. It still can't take the human out of the investor.
Ideas Indian families are surprisingly good at running businesses
The most valuable thing a family business owns often never shows up on the balance sheet, and can't be copied.
Business Quick commerce is really a business about impatience
I could have waited twenty minutes. I opened an app instead. That instinct is the whole product.
Business IndiGo taught me a full plane isn't enough
A packed flight looks like a great business. Airline economics are considerably less comfortable than a full cabin makes them seem.
Business DMart doesn't look impressive, that's the point
There's almost no theatre to a DMart. The boring part isn't a flaw in the business; it is the business.
Finance UPI made money feel smaller
The most powerful technology isn't the kind people talk about. Sometimes it's the kind that becomes so boring you stop noticing it.