Jawwad Farid Profile picture
Sep 25, 2020 14 tweets 5 min read Read on X
1/ How hard is it to write a new chapter for a book?

Where do you start? What do you do for inspiration?

Anything which is worth doing well takes time.

During the launch for Founder Puzzles in July, I thought, I should document this as a #casestudy for #founders & #startups
2/ I already had a short lecture on road map to launch in my #bootcamp for founders. We had run two exercises on how to sell a million copies of your book. We had just executed on a #launch.

One would think that would be enough to put together a short chapter? It wasn't
3/ For me the most common starting point is paper. I jot down a few points in my journal. If I am lucky the words start to flow.

In this case I wasn't.

Backup plan is a morning walk where I dictate a short lecture to myself. This tends to work well but in this case, did not.
4/ We are now down to the last option. A mind map of the chapter, also on paper helps identify the central theme, the key takeaway.

Which in this case was extending exposure and understanding twitter reach.

Finally, progress
5/ If you are writing a data driven chapter, you must start with data. This was the starting point.

How the hell do I turn these four slices of a pie graph into a chapter which is worth reading and worth sharing? Image
6/ Time to go back to the last 4 lectures on this topic given over 4 years. To see if I could find direction on how to re-organize the chapter based on my own words.

The chapter and the data set both evolve. I now have a few graphs but the words are still missing. Image
7/ Back to the drawing board in search of a structure that works. I have five themes that I need to stitch together

a) A history of launches
b) Lessons from those launches
c) A framework for launch
d) Founder Puzzle casestudy
e) Takeaways

Make it so.
8/ I finally start writing. Some days its just bullet points. On others I get a paragraph out. Three weeks go by.

There is only one way to describe the jumbled collection of thoughts on my laptop.

It's a mess.

Ditch it and start all over again.
9/ Come to twitter and post a thread.

Sometimes threads serve as great writing leads. Sometimes it commentary on the threads that generates new connections.

You would be surprised at all the places I have found my muse.

10/ Something is in there but it has to marinate for a few days. Time, space and distance.

I switch off. Focus on my half marathon training. Come back later.

Spend two days filling in the gaps and the holes. I still hate what I read but its better.
11/ Ten weeks after the original inspiration, today, finally pull it together in a fabric that holds.

13 pages, 6193 words on everything we get wrong as founders when it comes to launch.

A road map to launch. But not yet Someone else has to read it and confirm that it works.
12/ Call in the usual suspects. Ask them for help and commentary before the chapter goes to editor for a first pass.

@Huk06 says he is too busy digging out ads for unmentionables and sends over a GIF.

It's still not done.
13/ Normally not this hard. And a lot more fun.

But I am off coffee and chocolates, in training and winter isn't here.

Can't wait for November to arrive and the words to start flowing again.

Off to the next chapter. Rinse and repeat.

How does your creative cycle work?
14/ Also feedback is a gift

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More from @rebootdude

Jan 31
Had two insightful chats with two fellow academics and educationists yesterday.

The topic? What is it that we need to change to improve state of higher education in universities we teach in.

Here is a quick summary / the cliff notes edition of the conversation.
The purpose of undergraduate education?

Help our students discover, explore, develop and acquire interests.

A more ambitious goal? To get comfortable with personal performance windows and envelopes.

What are you really capable of? What is it that you want to do? Who are you?
The "who are you" question has been a key question in my life.

Self awareness is a powerful personal attribute that simplifies decision making and goal setting.

Because once you have answered this, you can also answer where do you want to go and what do you want to do?
Read 22 tweets
Sep 19, 2023
SWIFT MT 103. Foreign Currency Wire Transfers.

A single customer credit transfer made on the SWIFT network.

The bane of remittance/ free lancer / tech founder challenge across banking sector in Pakistan. More so for small businesses / founders that receive sub $ 1,000 wires.
Once upon a time in a different life we wrote, ran and supported treasury systems that generated MT 103 messages for local banks.

Given how treasuries front / back offices are structured and how all $ payments are consolidated and cleared via NYC, workflow was simple.
Collect all outgoing payments, bundle them together into one balance for one market / relationship / target account.

Send a shorter message to primary US$ Nostro account targeted for out going transfers for one amount.

If there is a shortfall, move money around.
Read 21 tweets
Feb 28, 2023
If you work with risk, insurance, trading or pricing, loss distributions are a key concept.

Traditional or introductory statistics courses don't have time to do justice to them.

We took a deep dive with automobile claims data (80,000 rows) in the ADA course.
With insurance models we are interested in two key parameters.

a) Frequency - the likelihood or probability of a claim.
b) Severity - the size of a claim, when a claim occurs.

Loss distributions focus on b).

If a claim occurs how big or bad is it likely to be?
Actuarial teams use data analysis to identify common attributes across high severity claims.

A large majority of motor insurance claims are within pricing limits.

A small percentage are 25 - 50x larger.

If we could identify the profile, we could price/underwrite better risks.
Read 10 tweets
Nov 12, 2022
How do you encourage or foster creativity?

Cross pollination and collaboration of ideas from different worlds and backgrounds?

We learn more when we

a) Work with individuals and teams with different perspectives.

b) Remove crutches that we use without thinking about them.
How would you design a high fidelity prototype for a game without using technology or standard art?

You level the playing field in one stroke. No developer, artist or designer would have an edge.

Only creativity would rule.

Welcome to @ibakarachi @Mindstormstudio @RaptrGames
Open to all undergraduate and graduate programs in Karachi.

If you are:

a) Avid game player
b) Aspiring game designer
c) Care about creative expression
d) Curios about what make games playable, addictive, instant hits, or
e) Love real time community feedback
Read 5 tweets
Nov 11, 2022
Fun talk today by Dr. Alnoor Bhimani @ibakarachi on data as a product, monetizing data, qualitative insights, and decision making processes.

And what all of the above implies for business school education.
My favorite takeaway?

If the data is the new oil for the knowledge economy, and we produce a lot of it, how do we productize and monetize it as an economy.

If we don't, someone else will. No one had put it down or explained it this clearly.

Data is our new edge.
Dr. Bhimani also made me a convert to the NFT cause.

I don't think he realized what he did but he said something so profound and powerful that it finally connected the dots for me.

"We may not be willing to pay for art produced by an AI today, but one day we will."
Read 4 tweets
Nov 9, 2022
The most fun engagements in my senile years are ones where I pick a new skill, crack a difficult problem or learn stuff I didn't know before.

Easier to do this type of work when you run a small specialized shop without distractions of a large team.

Small shop. Large footprint.
2018-19.
IFRS 17.
Teaching Portfolio Optimization Models + Algorithms + Financial Modeling.

2019-20.
First and second half marathon.
Remote work + Zoom Cohort based live training.
Founder Puzzles. Product launch.

2020-21.
Surviving Covid + recovering.
Close call.
3rd half.
2021-22.
Context switching. Fixing my knee.
Growth and Economic Complexity.
Raising 6 at 18 post.
Scale multiples and idea selection framework.
The Pakistan dataset.
Ed-Tech and crypto deep dive.
Teaching Venture Capital + Fintech and Financial Innovation.
Shipping FP, 2nd Ed.
Read 4 tweets

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