Mind of KV

Invert to Win

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 11:19:36 GMT

Most product managers chase success by asking, “How do we make this win?” But legendary thinkers like Charlie Munger advocate a different lens—inversion.

Instead of solving for success, solve for failure. Ask:

“How could this launch flop?”

“What will cause users to bounce?”

“What could make this AI model dangerous or misused?”

By focusing on what not to do, you often expose blind spots faster than chasing shiny wins. It’s a humility-first mental model—accept that you’re fallible, and work backwards from failure to design for resilience.

“All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there.” — Charlie Munger

Why it matters in product:

Usability: Users may not tell you what’s broken, but inversion helps you preempt it.
Retention: You don't just build delightful features; you avoid frustrating ones.
GTM: Instead of assuming customers will come, ask why they might ignore or reject you.

Launching our own payment gateway

During my time at Groww, we launched our own payment gateway specifically designed for financial institutions, featuring third-party validation and other specialised capabilities. Before launch, we conducted a detailed pre-mortem that identified potential issues to watch for. This proactive approach allowed us to fix problems in advance and establish a monitoring system for tracking systemic issues during the initial rollout. As a result, we entered production with confidence and successfully managed a large volume of transactions from day one.

Inversion in Practice

Here’s how to apply inversion as a PM:

In Product Reviews:
Ask, “What will make this fail in the real world?”
Don't just celebrate happy paths—hunt the edge cases, dark patterns, or friction points.
In AI Decisions:
Ask, “What’s the worst-case misuse of this model?”
Especially with generative AI, you want to preempt hallucinations, bias, and unintended output.
With Stakeholders:
Use inversion to align early:
“Let’s list 5 ways this can fail and design around them.”
For Roadmapping:
Apply a “kill-switch” lens:
“If this feature caused X, would we pull it from prod?”
On Yourself:
Ask, “What habits could make me an ineffective PM?”
Avoid hero syndrome, over-indexing on shipping over learning, or not listening to users.

The Inversion Checklist

Before launch, run this inverted gut check:

What frustrates our users most in the current flow?
What if no one finds this feature useful—what would they say?
What’s the easiest way for a bad actor to misuse this AI system?
What assumptions, if false, would tank this?

Inversion doesn’t mean being pessimistic. It means being product-realistic. Great PMs don’t just chase wins—they design failure out of the system.

OKR or no OKR

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 10:51:02 GMT

Based on my experience in a few places, I’ve seen small teams operate at a startup pace while being weighed down by OKRs. In theory, OKRs provide direction and measurable outcomes. In reality, they often introduce unnecessary complexity, sucking bandwidth from teams that should be focused on rapid execution. For small teams, spending cycles setting quarterly goals, aligning key results, and tracking progress can be counterproductive when agility is the primary advantage.

Instead of OKRs, a lightweight execution model can be far more effective: set weekly deliverables, plan on Monday, execute through the week, and review progress on Friday. This keeps teams accountable without the burden of rigid goal structures. I’ve seen teams that followed this simple rhythm move faster, adapt quicker, and deliver meaningful results without getting bogged down in process overhead. When the focus shifts from planning for the quarter to shipping every week, the momentum becomes unstoppable.

This doesn’t mean abandoning structure altogether. It means optimising for momentum over measurement. In a few places I’ve worked, whenever execution slowed down, it wasn’t because of a lack of OKRs but because the team was spending too much time defining key results rather than actually delivering. If a team is working towards a big milestone, breaking it into tangible deliverables and shipping incrementally works far better than tracking abstract metrics. The goal should be clarity in execution rather than chasing predefined success indicators.

What can you do?

Ditch quarterly OKRs for now – Set a clear direction, but don’t let formal tracking slow execution.
Adopt a weekly cadence – Plan on Monday morning, execute with focus, and review results on Friday.
Keep accountability lightweight – A simple check-in on Friday to discuss what got done, what didn’t, and what’s next is enough.
Prioritize momentum over tracking – Measure progress by output, not by adherence to predefined metrics.

Speed is a startup’s biggest advantage. Instead of over-engineering goals, keep teams lean, focused, and shipping. If you find OKRs helping, use them. If they slow you down, drop them—execution is what truly matters.

Own your Career Growth

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 11:14:30 GMT

Appraisal season often brings disappointment, especially for those who feel under-rewarded despite their hard work. Early in my career, I used to externalize the problem, blaming my manager or the organization.

That changed when I decided to proactively seek clarity. I asked my manager what it would take to move to the next level. I documented our discussion, shared the MoM, and regularly updated them on my progress. Over time, our conversations naturally focused on my growth, putting my career on the right trajectory.

When I transitioned into people management, I encouraged my team to adopt a similar approach—owning their development by seeking clarity, tracking progress, and driving meaningful discussions.

Here's a possible path to build your own growth:

Build Self-Awareness: Understand what is required for your next level, where the gaps are. Identify gaps using your organisation’s competency map. If there is none, discuss with your manager proactively. Build your own honest gap analysis. Discuss these gaps with your manager to validate your self-assessment and get feedback.
Define Personal OKRs or Aspirations: Set clear objectives for the year or quarter. What are your aspirations - Do you want to deepen your expertise, explore a new domain, or move into people management? Write it down and align it with your growth vision. (I consciously chose aspiration over ambition, that is for another post)
Focus on Impact: Seek challenges and identify how your work can address key problems for your team or organisation. Clearly articulate the impact you aim to deliver in your OKRs.
Practice Patience: Growth takes time. Set realistic timelines with your manager and stay committed to the process. Avoid letting impatience derail your progress.
Own your 1:1s: Use one-on-one meetings to discuss your aspirations, track progress, and address blockers. Share your OKRs / aspirations with your manager and keep refining them through regular feedback.

Why This Works:

Shows you’ve done your homework.
Demonstrates a willingness to work towards growth, not demand it.
Builds trust with your manager and positions you for high-impact initiatives.
Cultivates discipline and consistency in career development.

This is also a great opportunity to enhance your circle of influence by getting feedback from other leaders. By following this process, you’ll not only steer your own growth but also learn to guide others, becoming a better leader and mentor in the process.

Building Trust

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 06:23:01 GMT

In fast-growing companies, I often hear complaints about functional teams not being aligned or failing to make the right organisational impact. It’s a common challenge in high-speed environments. Early in my career, I worked in many such teams. While the symptoms often looked like poor productivity, the underlying issue was almost always a trust deficit.

Over time, I’ve learned that when trust is lacking, it leads to anxiety, backstabbing, and low productivity—ultimately resulting in a net negative impact. Here’s how I approach building trust at different levels:

1. Stakeholder Trust

When leading an organisation or team, building trust with stakeholders from day one is crucial. My approach is to start with default high trust. I consistently engage with stakeholders through regular discussions, ensuring alignment and fostering a shared trust code and understanding across teams.

This consistent effort establishes a common theme of trust—a bedrock for stakeholder management. While it might feel like an uphill climb at first, as both sides adjust to a shared working style, this foundation is essential for driving new ideas and developments effectively.

2. Multi-Functional Team Trust

When I’ve taken over teams with significant trust deficits, a recurring issue has been the lack of a shared objective and direction. Teams often work in silos, optimising for their individual goals, which undermines the overall organisation.

The best way to address this is:

Set a Common Goal and structure: Align the entire team around a clear, unified objective. E.g. POD structures
Define Shared KPIs: Establish measurable, team-wide goals that everyone works toward.
Encourage Joint Working Style: Have teams present their plans together to promote mutual clarity and accountability.

Over time, these efforts lead to teams naturally collaborating and covering for each other when needed. As a leader, my role is to guide, mentor, and establish direction—but I’ve often been pleasantly surprised by how teams execute with greater impact once trust is rebuilt.

3. Building Trust with Individuals

Teams are ultimately made up of individuals, and their trust in the direction is critical. To gauge this, I regularly conduct impromptu catch-ups across all levels. These informal conversations help me understand their confidence in the leadership, uncover blockers, and check for alignment. The key here is to listen genuinely and act swiftly on issues raised. This not only boosts the team’s confidence but also reinforces their trust that leadership is actively supporting them.

4. Trust, But Verify

While building a trust-driven team and organisation is vital, it’s equally important to continuously monitor it. Alongside evaluating product and business impact, I regularly assess the team’s trust performance. Trust isn’t a one-time effort—it’s an ongoing process of nurturing, aligning, and verifying that it’s delivering the desired results.

Trust is the invisible force that drives alignment, collaboration, and impact. Whether it’s with stakeholders, across teams, or with individual members, investing in trust ensures stronger execution, better outcomes, and a more cohesive organization. A high-trust team not only delivers results but often exceeds expectations.

What do you do to elevate trust?

Circle of Influence

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:26:57 GMT

Many capable professionals sometimes face the harsh reality that despite their hard work and impact, their career growth is slower than anticipated. A major obstacle I've observed in my career is their limited Circle of Influence. While one's immediate supervisor is a key decision-maker, it's crucial for individuals to expand their circle of influence within the organisation to enhance their organisational capital. It has three stages:

Information: Leaders in other functions or business units (BUs) know your name and team affiliation.

Insight: These leaders are aware of your current projects and recent accomplishments.

While these two stages are beneficial, they alone won't drive growth because key decision-makers aren't sufficiently invested in your development. Therefore, it's essential to progress to the next stage.

Interact: Leaders across functions and BUs feel comfortable engaging with you to exchange ideas and seek your input. This stage helps increase your organizational capital and paves the way for growth. Here are some strategies to achieve this:

Request a 30-minute meeting to seek input on a specific problem. Provide proper context to avoid appearing random. This may be your only free 30 minutes, so use it wisely. Share a document for review and advice. Don't hesitate to ask for a quarterly 30-minute slot.
Demonstrate curiosity and offer assistance with their priorities, such as conducting interviews. This will build overall trust.
Discuss organization-wide initiatives they could sponsor and you could lead or execute.

The biggest mistake people make is initiating conversations with leaders solely for visibility. This approach won't work unless the intent is genuine and mutually beneficial.

Approaching this with the right intent, method, and leaders will significantly improve your visibility across the organization. This can help you advance in your current role or position you for new opportunities under these leaders.