Vidya Narayanan’s Post

Power and leadership can be very confusing. Even SCOTUS seems confused. The key question is - 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿? A leader brings vision, rallies the team, listens, empathizes with the team, anticipates and solves problems, leads by example, and rewards top contributors proactively. A boss manages up more than down, views the team as subordinates, exercises control and authority, and weighs relationships based on direct impact on themselves. It's the difference between:  • Control and Collaboration • Authority and Responsibility  • Blame and Accountability  • Supervision and Inspiration • Management and Motivation  • Delegation and Coaching • I and We Bosses tell you the what while leaders show you the how. Bosses focus on the role while leaders focus on the people. Bosses check boxes while leaders bring a growth mindset. Bosses take credit for the wins of the team while leaders give away the credit for their wins to the team. Bosses find people to blame for failures while leaders take responsibility for the failures. Becoming a good leader takes patience, practice, and dedication. But to be an inspiration, one must be a leader, not a boss. 𝑝𝑠: 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝐶𝑂𝑇𝑈𝑆, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑑𝐼𝑛. 𝑝𝑝𝑠: 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛-𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑠 - 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦. Happy Fourth of July! #entrepreneurship #leadership #innovation

It was a great VidCon experience for me and for Rizzle 🔥 On Wednesday, as we were setting up the booth, I couldn't help feeling lame seeing the massive and shiny setups all around us, especially with all that candy and plush toys. But we had excellent resonance with creators and I can't wait for more to come! Thanks to everyone who stopped by my talk. As a very last minute thing, I turned the first part of my talk into a panel discussion with three amazing people Tabitha Kane, Peter Hollens 🟣, and Brent Musgrove. That was incredible fun - I'll share clips from that discussion soon. Met some great people, some new. Brendan Gahan, Benjamin Grubbs, Andy Stack, Justin Flom, Sam Kamel, Sun Jen Yung, Vinay Mysoor, Rob Iaboni ➪ VidCon, Ben Baldwin, Eden Liu, Joshua Cohen, Drew Baldwin, Nihar B. great seeing you all!

Peter Hollens 🟣 and Tabitha Kane will join me for my talk at VidCon this morning for a light hearted Q&A about AI to kick off the talk. When I realized that my talk was for 45m, I said to myself that no one person should ever be talking to an audience for that long. And definitely not on a Saturday morning at 10 am which is also the last day of a huge conference! Thanks to Benjamin Grubbs for the intro to Peter and thanks to Peter and Tabitha for accepting to do this at the very last minute. But this is going to be exciting! It is a very impromptu format and I'm looking forward to it! If you are around, please stop by Room 207AB at 10 am. #vidcon2024

How many badges are too many? Day 1 at VidCon was amazing! If you're around, stop by booth #211 to say hello. Also, stop by my talk: What: "How to use AI to supercharge your YouTube growth" When: Saturday, June 29th at 10 am Where: Room 207AB Or DM me and we'll find a time to meet up! #vidcon2024 #youtube #AIVideo

I'm heading to VidCon tomorrow - send me a DM if you want to meet! Find Rizzle at the Creator Track exhibit. Also, stop by my talk on Saturday, June 29th at 10 am on "How to use AI to supercharge your YouTube growth?". #vidcon2024 #YouTube #ArtificialIntelligence #videos

Brands are testing 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀; for now, human creators are faring better. But the competition has just begun. BMW, Nike, Fortnite, Patagonia, and Coach are among the brands trying out AI influencers like Aitana Lopez, Lil Miquela, Imma Gram, and others. Right now, their engagement rates are 1-3% lower than the human creator posts for the same brands. There are a few things that AI influencers are going to win: 1. 𝟮𝟰×𝟳 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 - they don’t sleep, and they don’t need breaks; it’s hard to beat that. 2. 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 - brands can put the personalities they want into the shape and skin tones they want, building inclusivity and diversity with the precise image they want to create for the brand. 3. 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮/𝗯 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 - the AI influencers can be given script changes dynamically with near-instant delivery on a/b test videos. When the media and entertainment world were controlled by a small group of people, we had major ramifications on society in terms of conventional beauty and accepted standards. We’ve barely broken out of that shell with millions of creators having their content amplified by platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Yet again, we face a situation where AI influencers will be designed by a small group of people to be distributed to the masses. The look and feel of these AI influencers will be engineered based on click through rates and actions. This will inevitably skew towards what the majority of the audience wants to see. Worse, they will be personalized to each audience segment - so, the echo chambers will be in full effect. It’s like we can’t catch a break here! I started a weekly newsletter for Rizzle where I cover stories like this and other topics of relevance to creators. If you are interested, please subscribe and forward to a friend 💛 https://lnkd.in/gxjvwtAg #creator #ArtificialIntelligence #AIInfluencer #newsletter

If you want to build exceptional products, these three things are NOT a waste of your time. 1. 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 Innovation does not happen on a schedule. It takes time and patience. What most people would consider “idle chat” and a “waste of time” is actually essential for fundamental innovation. Most real innovations come from 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴, a process that is by definition unknown and not bound by time. If you are lucky, you have co-founders and team members with whom you can go on this wandering journey. This requires allowing ourselves to wander off quite far away from our area, without restricting the flow of thought. Many people will feel restless about this style of operation and feel that they are wasting time. In fact, most people cannot handle this style of brainstorming and may even be exhausted. But those who can wander are the ones that build game-changing products. This should not be confused with execution, which is very much a focused time-bound activity. Innovation without execution is not worth anything - so, innovation must always be followed or coupled with a highly focused execution phase. 2. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 As leaders, one of the most important things we could be doing is communicating our vision clearly and often. It is extremely important that the team members understand the vision fully and see how the individual components will realize that vision. Lack of clarity on the vision can result in poor execution of product features, marketing, and just about anything. So, if you are not talking with your team often about what your goals are and how you think you’re going to get there, then you are not doing it right. At times, it is not uncommon to feel that it is more productive to knock more things off your list than to spend time communicating. But, the most valuable investment you can make is communicating with the team with clarity of thought. 3. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 Failing fast and adopting change is hard, but it builds character. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲, 𝗖𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 (𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛) - is a process to repeat until you find the right path. While you are still finding the right path - this could be product-market fit, pricing, messaging, etc. - the changes will feel painful. The team will feel that you are changing your mind often. But it is critical to be open to change when new information is available and it indicates a need to change. Sometimes, changes are disruptive - especially when they involve engineering. So, it is important to be deliberate in making changes when there is a higher cost to pay. But being unafraid of change in almost all other cases will make you invincible. 

Recently, Daniel Ek (Spotify) was met with the X rage for suggesting that 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗼.  https://lnkd.in/gnvYjrwJ It takes me 30-60 minutes to write this relatively low-effort post, depending on the level of writer’s block and imposter syndrome I’m fighting on any given day or topic. To suggest that the cost of content creation is close to zero is definitely tone-deaf. Nevertheless, the point that became secondary to the debate in that tweet is worth talking about - i.e., 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆. Most algorithms decay content visibility over time to make room for fresh and more recent content. This depends on many factors, including the level of engagement something continues to get over time. However, there is usually a time decay component. 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. YouTube recommendations do a pretty good job of evergreen content - but this is 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻, where the user initiates the watching by choosing a specific video shown on the home screen or with an explicit search. 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 - such as vertical short video feeds or the LinkedIn feed on which you are reading this post - are much less meaningful for evergreen content and they all suffer from time decay problems. Intent also plays a significant role in creator monetization - but, that’s for another day. Daniel’s observation about content quickly becoming obsolete today is valid but it is mainly because of how our algorithms have evolved and how 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. Content meant for intent-based consumption will have a longer shelf-life. Content meant for a feed will be short-lived in its lifespan. But the two together maximize visibility. 𝘖𝘧𝘧-𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 (𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰). 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰-𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 “𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥” 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰-𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩.  #content #spotify #contentcreation

If you’re not spending most of your time building your product or figuring out growth, you’re 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 as an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, many new entrepreneurs waste time on things that feel productive. Knowing what is a waste of time is a very nuanced thing and may often go against common intuition. Here are three things that I consider a waste of time. 𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 Most startup advice is written by entrepreneurs trying to gain visibility for themselves or people with little to no entrepreneurial experience. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦.  Many, if not most VCs doling out startup advice have never run a startup before. With an MBA and years of watching other entrepreneurs, they think they know how to run companies. In most cases, they don’t. Stories told by successful entrepreneurs after they succeed often don’t apply to struggling early entrepreneurs. Not enough of the attempts and failures get talked about. That leaves stories told by not-so-successful entrepreneurs. Sometimes, there’s gold here, but you have to dig deep to find it. Instead, develop core principles and operating theories to execute. Be open-minded to change strategy often based on observations and new information. 𝟮. 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 I did a few of these when I was getting started. I quickly realized that everyone who is at these events is looking for something. The things or people you are looking for are rarely there. Say you are hoping to meet some great engineers and inspire them to join you. Great engineers are not hanging out at these events looking for someone like you. There may very well be great engineers at the event, but they’re also often founders looking for something or someone else. They’re just not looking for you. And then there are investors. Say you are at one of these events hoping to find an investor. Any investor at the event is trying to gather data on all the companies that are present there. In the odd case where you happen to leave a lasting impression that they can remember long after the event, they may take your call. But, you’d have better luck with cold emails. 𝟯. 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 This one will be controversial. But it’s an absolute waste of time to make 3 or 5 year plans and projections for a company that is yet to figure out the first few million dollars of revenue. Many VCs will have these as part of their process. The really good ones know not to ask you for it. Knowing what you are building and the market you are going after are key - but the precise business plan and revenue projections - and that too, anything beyond 6 months - make no sense for a situation that must change rapidly and often until you find stability in growth. #entrepreneur #LessonsInEntrepreneurship #startups