Welcome to the eightieth edition of '3-2-1 by Story Rules'.

A newsletter recommending good examples of storytelling across:

3 tweets
2 articles, and
1 long-form content piece

Let's dive in.

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

Useful framework. I added a bit of alliteration and one more level in my response to this tweet:

How about the 4Ts: Tie, Trim, Tonsure, Tattoo

- Tie: Try on a tie, if it’s not good then remove or change it

- Trim: your hair or beard. If it’s off, it’ll grow back in a few days or weeks

- Tonsure: your head. Will be clear and visible and would be remembered for long, but can be grown back in a few months

- Tattoo: Almost permanent, unless you take some drastic measures.

'No man is an island'

Simple yet powerful visual explanation of the power of framing.

📄 2 Articles of the week

a. 'How AI Disrupts Tech Investing' by Tomas Pueyo

In this thought-provoking piece Pueyo gives a quick history of investing in tech and how AI is set to upend a lot of industries (and the practice of investing). He starts with an interesting stat - that startup closures are increasing.

Here's his quick explanation - after the initial stimulus from Covid, as inflation rose, startups felt the pressure from investors:

...as supply chains broke and stimulus packages flooded people’s bank accounts, inflation rose. To quell it, interest rates went up. Suddenly, capital became very expensive. When that happens, you want companies that will make money tomorrow, not in a few years or decades.

The result is that companies that were growing fast but not making money yet could no longer be funded. This was especially true of the bigger ones, since they needed to burn billions to fuel their growth. But it was also true for smaller companies that didn’t find a very strong product-market fit.

This is why we’re seeing this huge increase in startups that are dying: They raised money in the good times, they have been living off of it all this time, but they were not able to turn a profit, so investors couldn’t pour more capital into them, and they’re sinking.

AI-startups are likely to disrupt both the customer/competitor segment and the investing segment:

Remember how we said that in the past, software startups’ low need for capital attracted VCs? The same is happening now with AI. New B2B SaaS tools have been reducing the cost of building new startups for two decades now: Most of the needs that startups have are shared by other startups. So it makes sense that they don’t all develop tools to solve their needs internally. Better that an external company (a B2B SaaS) solves their problems once and sells the solution to them. That way you only build it once, and can make it much better and maintain it properly, at an ever lowering cost.

AI has supercharged this process, especially because it has made coding so much faster. Depending on who you ask, you can save 30-50% of developer time thanks to AI.

This is resulting in a massive increase in the share of AI-focused startups:

For more thoughts and implications, read the entire long-form piece.

b. All founders are a**holes by Shashank Mehta

In this honest reflection of the life of a founder, Shashank Mehta (Founder of Whole Truth Foods) shares some real behind-the-scenes insights on how founders react when a startup faces difficult times.

Shashank does a great job of describing the transition to tough times:

Used to growing three-fold each year, you’re suddenly staring at a flat year. Same store sales are declining. Competition is catching up. Fed has increased rates. Funding has dried up. Covid has hit. Putin has decided to go to war. Input costs are soaring. You can’t make enough product. You’re can’t launch a new one either. Your org can’t manage the complexity. You need systems. That needs investment. But money is thin. Should you spend it on generating demand? Or ensuring supply? Or setting up systems? Or hiring someone who knows how to do these bloody things?!!

Ask any entrepreneur who’s had a good run. All of them hit this point. Different stages, different intensities. But all companies go through this. The messy middle.

When things go bad and the founder cannot exit and decides to continue to fight, their behaviour inevitably goes south, according to Shashank:

This is the point where heroes tend to become assholes. So, before we proceed, let’s define asshole. In my conversations, I’ve found three traits that people identify as assholish behaviour.

The three behaviours are - deviations from integrity, deviations from personal traits and deviations from the organisations purpose or mission.

A common tactic suggested by others during this time is to over-communicate - just tell people why you're doing what you're doing. But, Shashank argues, that's just not possible in wartime:

Of course, you may argue that over-communication is the answer. Tell your team everything that’s going on. Explain every action. Why you are doing what you’re doing. They’ll understand. If this is your argument, I bet you’ve never seen wartime.

When you’re being shelled from all ends, there’s no time or energy for explanations. A good general takes the reins and leads. And changes tact and strategy to whatever keeps the dream, in some shape or form, alive (remember, Mr. General is winging it too). Some people, some culture, some promises get sacrificed in the bargain. We’ll heal those wounds once the shelling stops. But first, we live.

I like how Shashank concludes it, especially the last line:

For now, I’m putting all my energy into today. Into ensuring we don’t become complacent. Into ensuring this peacetime never ends. I know it will. But I am going to do all I can to prolong it. The team is in on this plan (peace times allow for getting buy-in). And we’re giving it all we’ve got. Because now we understand, that the more we sweat in peacetime, the less we bleed in wartime.

🎧 1 long-form listen of the week

a. 'Mohammed Zubair and Pratik Sinha Are Fighting for Us' on The Seen and the Unseen podcast with Amit Varma

It takes great courage to stand up to powerful people and fight the good fight. Things can seem especially demoralising and bleak when you are hounded by the state, popular media and internet trolls for your work.

But that is exactly what Pratik Sinha and Mohammed Zubair of Alt News (a fact-checking website) go through. Zubair, in fact, was arrested on frivolous grounds and had to spend time in jail - doubtless intended as a message to him and the organisation. But both of them have continued to fight on.

In this fascinating conversation with Amit Varma, both of them open up about their origin stories, what made them found Alt News, their fact-checking process and how they find the motivation to do what they are doing despite the unending pushback.

As with previous Seen and Unseen episodes, there are no transcripts - and at 5+ hours, it'll be quite a task to listen and take detailed notes. So, here are some key themes that struck me during the conversation.

On how Social media has skewed and impacted a lot of fake news:

Though social media was intended as a way to connect with others, it has been more about the need to broadcast vs. having conversations
The importance of the camera in creating fake news. Most fake news consists of doctored images or videos. Text is rare.
Social media popularity is driven significantly by frequency. The platforms reward high-frequency posts - every 15 mins
Pratik makes a point that we (the users) need to have some say on the policy of the platform - especially the US-based ones, since decisions made by people who are removed from the context.

I loved this question from Amit (paraphrased): 'What is core to you? Irrespective of the chance encounters and decisions that have gotten you to where you are, what part of you would have still been there, irrespective of where you would be?'

What gives Pratik and Zubair strength:

Pratik talks about how his mother is a pillar of strength for the organisation. There's an incident he states where because of some pressure he was thinking of taking down a piece. His mother's reaction was: "I’m ashamed you thought of taking it down"
When Zubair was arrested and taken to jail, a lot of people in jail (including cops) sympathised with him. When he had to post surety for a case in UP, a random stranger was willing to offer his land as surety.

They also share tips on good sources for checking facts, especially from historical claims:

The Indian Express archive is very good
You can use Google Advanced search for PIB.nic.in
Google Books also offers rich sources

That's all from this week's edition.

Ravi

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Ravishankar Iyer

India's best-known fact-checkers (3-2-1 by Story Rules 80)

𝕏 3 Tweets of the week

📄 2 Articles of the week

🎧 1 long-form listen of the week

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A Data Story on India's New Elites (3-2-1 by Story Rules #87)

Improve your Public Speaking Skills (3-2-1 by Story Rules #86)