Business Strategy

The latest reporting from the Financial Times highlights a point that energy analysts have been making for years: geopolitical shocks consistently strengthen the case for renewables, electrification and storage. Microsoft’s global vice-president for energy notes that oil and gas price spikes linked to the Middle East conflict reinforce the value of wind, solar and batteries in providing price stability. Once installed, renewables offer predictable cost profiles and reduce exposure to volatile global fuel markets. We saw this dynamic after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe accelerated solar deployment, heat pump uptake increased in several countries, and governments revisited questions of energy security through the lens of diversification and electrification. The underlying issue remains unchanged. Fossil fuels must continuously flow through complex global supply chains. When those flows are disrupted, prices spike and economies are exposed. Renewables, by contrast, are capital intensive upfront but deliver long term domestic supply and insulation from commodity shocks. There are short term risks. Inflation, higher interest rates and supply chain constraints can slow clean energy investment. Some governments may also respond by doubling down on gas infrastructure. The policy challenge is to avoid locking in further structural vulnerability. Energy security and climate policy are not competing objectives. In a world of recurrent geopolitical instability, they are increasingly aligned.

This is the most underrated way to use Claude: (and it has nothing to do with writing or coding) It's competitive intelligence. Using data that's free, public, and updated every single week. Here's my extract step by step guide: Step 1. Go to claude .ai. Step 2. Select the new Claude "Opus 4.6." Step 3. Turn on "Extended Thinking." Step 4. Pick a competitor. Go to their careers page. Step 5. Copy every open job listing into one doc. (Title. Team name. Location. Full description) Step 6. Save it as one .txt or .docx file. Step 7. Search the company at EDGAR (sec .gov) Step 8. Download its recent 10-K or 10-Q filing. (Official strategy, risks, and financials - all public.) Step 9. Upload both files to Claude Opus 4.6. Step 10. Paste this exact prompt: "You are a competitive intelligence analyst at a rival company. I've uploaded [Company]'s complete current job listings and their most recent SEC filing. Perform a strategic intelligence analysis: → Cluster these roles by what they suggest is being built. Don't use the team names they've listed. Infer the actual product initiatives from the skills, tools, and responsibilities described. → Identify capabilities or teams that appear entirely new — not mentioned anywhere in the SEC filing. These are unreleased bets. → Find roles where seniority is disproportionately high for a new team. This signals executive-level priority. → Cross-reference the SEC filing's Risk Factors and Strategy sections with hiring patterns. Where are they investing against a stated risk? Where did they flag a risk but have zero hiring to address it? → Predict 3 product launches or strategic moves this company will make in the next 6-12 months. State your confidence level and cite specific job titles and filing sections as evidence. Format this as a 1-page competitive intelligence briefing for a CMO." What you'll find: → Products that don't exist yet but will in 6 months. → Priorities that contradict what the CEO said. → Risks they told the SEC but aren't addressing. This is what consulting firms charge $200K for. It took me 10 minutes. I used the new Claude 'Opus 4.6' for a reason: ✦ It read 60 job listing & a 200-page filing together.  ✦ And connects dots across both. ✦ It is superior in thinking and context retrieval. That's why I didn't use ChatGPT for this.

Building a startup is harder than I ever imagined. 14 lessons in the order I learned them: 1. Find your obsession. If it doesn't feel like your life's work, don't do it. Tinker till you find a problem that consumes you. And don't raise capital until you do. 2. Jevons paradox (efficiency increases demand) applies to nascent markets. When technology increases efficiency, demand surges. Gamma aims at people who need to communicate visually but lack tools. By making it much easier, we unlock more usage. New use cases = untapped TAM. 3. Your conviction is everything. Market opportunity means nothing without belief. "The world will ask who you are, and if you do not know, the world will tell you." 4. Word of mouth is the only thing that matters at first. Conviction drives products people brag about. Do their faces light up? That's what amplifies distribution. 5. Your luck surface area has 2 dimensions: Time and people. Surround yourself with people who share your values and level of ambition, and give yourself enough time to execute. 6. Compounding is the 8th wonder. Hard work compounds exponentially. 1% better daily means 37x after a year. If you just focus on winning today, you’re missing out on winning big later. Play the long game. 7. Parkinson's law (work expands to fill available resources) applies to time and money. Give people $1M budget, they'll spend $1M. Give one week, it takes one week. Constraints beget creativity. Learn when and how to apply them. 8. Power laws dictate outcomes. Allocation reveals what works. 2-3 features drive usage. 2-3 channels get users. Start broad, identify what works, double down. Experimentation is the key to understanding. 9. Know where you're at and when to evolve. v1 is for enthusiasts. v2 is for early believers. v3 is for masses. Seize the market and become the standard. 10. Strong brands have clear values. Nike is speed. Apple is aesthetics. Berkshire is integrity. “Don't be the best, be the only.” 11. Being ignorant is fine. Staying ignorant is not. Most hate sales thinking it's manipulation. Good sales is listening and solving. 12. Your story is your ticket. “People remember 2-3 things about you. Don't let them be random. Reality bends to whoever tells the better story.” 13. Become extremely literate. "Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order." 14. All moats are temporary. Xerox is dead. Polaroid is gone. Kodak is history. Leverage anything you can to make your company antifragile. Skip obsession and your conviction crumbles. Skip word of mouth and distribution fails. Skip power laws and you reach local maximum. Master them all and they compound.

Climate change is a systemic problem Systemic problems create interconnected risks 🌍 Climate impacts do not unfold in isolation. They influence environmental, social and economic systems in ways that reinforce each other over time. Environmental pressures escalate as temperatures rise. Soil degradation, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, air pollution and marine impacts reduce ecosystem resilience and increase exposure to climate risks. Social risks intensify as conditions shift. Public health challenges expand due to heat stress and changes in disease patterns. Climate driven disruption increases forced migration. Inequality grows because communities with fewer resources face higher vulnerability and fewer adaptation pathways. Economic pressures emerge across value chains. Food insecurity rises as agricultural systems face climate stress. Energy poverty increases when infrastructure cannot keep pace with extreme weather. Housing and labor markets experience volatility as climate impacts disrupt local conditions. Resource related tensions become more common when availability shifts across regions. These dynamics show why climate action requires a systems perspective. Environmental, social and economic changes are interconnected. Each reinforces the next and shapes long term exposure. For companies, this positions sustainability as a strategic requirement. Effective decisions depend on understanding cascading risks, sector specific vulnerabilities and the relationships between climate drivers and business outcomes. This is central to governance, resilience and long term value creation. As expectations on disclosure, risk management and strategic alignment continue to grow, organizations that adopt a systems approach will be better prepared to anticipate change and respond with clarity. Which of these systemic pressures is most relevant for your sector today? I posted this diagram a while back and recent conversations have highlighted how important it is to understand climate change and its interconnected risks. #sustainability #sustainable #esg

🇷🇺 Deep dive into the components of hybrid threats: the criminality +fear mix at the heart of the hybrid warfare waged against Europe 🇪🇺 By GLOBSEC & International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (2025). The report identifies a crime–terror–information nexus, where illicit networks, coercive tactics, and influence ops are deliberately intertwined. It highlights how important info ops are to bring in the “denial” element. Take aways : 🔹Russia’s hybrid operations increasingly rely on criminal structures to project power, generate instability & maintain deniability. 🔹 Integrated hybrid architecture The nexus is reflects a deliberate state design combining: – Organised crime (smuggling, money laundering, trafficking, contract killings); – Terrorist or paramilitary methods (sabotage, targeted violence, coercion); – Information operations (disinformation, intimidation, perception management). These vectors operate in parallel to overwhelm institutional defences and blur the boundary between internal security, intelligence, and defence domains. 🔹 Use of criminal intermediaries Criminal groups and illicit facilitators serve as proxies for covert action. They provide logistics, financing, or access, while enabling plausible deniability for the Russian state. This networked approach decentralises risk while preserving strategic control through Russian intelligence services. 🔹 Information and cognitive effects The information dimension functions as an amplifier for physical or financial disruption. Each operation is supported by a narrative layer — false attribution, manipulated leaks, coordinated online amplification — intended to create confusion and distrust in European publics and institutions. These techniques belong to the domain of cognitive warfare, seeking to degrade perception, cohesion, and decision-making rather than infrastructure. 🔹 Institutional stress and legal asymmetry European states face cross-domain operations that sit at the intersection of criminal law, counter-terrorism, and national security. Legal and institutional silos hinder coherent responses. Existing mechanisms for attribution, evidence collection, and prosecution are poorly adapted to state-directed hybrid criminality. ➡️ Soviet active measures tactics multiplied by 1️⃣ Tech acceleration – cybercrime, digital finance, social platforms amplifying reach and speed. 2️⃣ Systemic integration – criminal, informational& coercive tools coordinated under a single strategic logic. 3️⃣ Expanded targeting – Europe is engaged across multiple vectors simultaneously: financial, informational, and cognitive. Russia’s crime–terror nexus is not a parallel phenomenon but a core component of state strategy, designed to exploit Europe’s openness, legal fragmentation, and trust-based institutions. ➡️persistent, low-visibility confrontation below the threshold of war.

People sometimes see Acumen raising large amounts of commercial capital and assume we no longer need philanthropy. No sooner had we announced $250M for our Hardest-to-Reach fund — to bring off-grid light and electricity to 70 million people across 17 of Africa’s most challenging markets — than some concluded Acumen must be set. In fact, the opposite is true. First, let me acknowledge how tough this fundraising environment is. I couldn’t be prouder of the team and partners who made our Hardest-to-Reach announcement possible after 2.5 years of relentless effort. And yet it’s worth underscoring: none of this would have been possible without philanthropy. Philanthropy is the first mover. It allows us to place early bets in fragile markets like Malawi and Benin, cover the development costs needed to structure and raise investment across the capital spectrum and provide the technical assistance that builds capacity. To put a finer point on it: of the nearly $250M raised for Hardest-to-Reach, more than $80M is philanthropic. That risk-taking anchor made it possible to prove new models — and ultimately unlock institutional investment. During Climate Week last month, I met philanthropists who see this as the time to pivot from grantmaking toward impact investing. While I understand the instinct, I want to offer a reframing: it’s not either/or. If you want your capital to have lasting impact, there may be no better use than catalytic philanthropy — especially when deployed through blended finance models like Hardest-to-Reach. Philanthropy cannot see itself at the margins. It is catalytic capital — risk-taking, patient, and unabashedly impact-first — creating the conditions for commercial capital to follow. And it's more important now than ever as traditional aid shrinks and many governments shift from grants to investment approaches. At Acumen, philanthropy from donors at all levels remains our bedrock. It enables us to reach the hardest-to-reach, build inclusive markets where none exist, and keep social impact at the center of everything we do. And because solving problems of poverty is Acumen’s mission, raising philanthropic capital will remain essential to our work.

I've coached 400+ CEOs. The best ones don't communicate better. They communicate differently. While average leaders wing it, great ones use proven methods that turn conversations into opportunities. After 20+ years studying top performers, I've identified 7 communication systems that separate good from great. (Save this. You'll need it for your next big meeting.) 1. The 3 Levels of Listening Stop listening to reply. Start listening to understand. Level 1: You're thinking about your response Level 2: You're focused on their words Level 3: You're reading the room—energy, tone, silence One CEO used this to uncover why his top performer was really leaving. Saved a $10M account. 2. What? So What? Now What? Transform rambling updates into decisive action. What = The facts (30 seconds max) So What = Why it matters to the business Now What = The specific decision needed Cut meeting time by 40%. 3. PREP Method Never fumble another investor question. Point: Your answer in one sentence Reason: Why you believe it Example: Proof from your business Point: Reinforce your answer Practice this for 5 minutes daily. Sound prepared always. 4. RACI Matrix Kill confusion before it starts. Responsible: Who does the work Accountable: Who owns success/failure (only ONE person) Consulted: Who gives input Informed: Who needs updates Projects with clear RACI are 3x more likely to succeed. 5. Story of Self/Us/Now Move hearts, not just minds. Story of Self: Why YOU care (personal conviction) Story of Us: Our shared challenge Story of Now: The urgent choice we face This framework has helped politicians win. It'll help you raise capital or inspire your team to meet a big goal. 6. The Pyramid Principle Get board approval in half the time. Start with your recommendation Give 3 supporting arguments (max) Order by impact (strongest first) Data goes last, not first McKinsey consultants swear by this. So should you. 7. COIN Feedback Model Make tough conversations productive. Context: When and where it happened Observation: What you saw (facts only) Impact: The business consequence Next: Agreed action steps No more avoided conversations. No more resentment. Your next funding round, key hire, or major deal doesn't depend on working harder. It depends on communicating better. Because in the end, leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about asking better questions, listening deeper, and communicating with precision. Your team is waiting for you to lead like this. P.S. Want a PDF of my Leadership Communication Cheat Sheet? Get it free: https://lnkd.in/dbaSN9fJ ♻️ Repost to help a founder level up their communication. Follow Eric Partaker for more leadership tools.

Amazon kept getting complaints – but the executive team didn’t know why, so Jeff Bezos called customer services on speaker in front of everyone… In the late 1990’s, Amazon was growing fast. Every week, Jeff Bezos gathered his leadership team for their most important ritual: the Weekly Business Review. One day, the head of customer service proudly presented a slide: “Average phone wait times: 59 seconds.” Tick - move on to the next item. Jeff paused. A number of Amazon’s customers were not happy. He knew this because he maintained and read a public email account. Customers would email him directly, Jeff would forward on to the appropriate executive with a simple “?” for follow up. But his customer service leader was saying everything was rosy. Something didn’t add up… So right there, in the middle of the meeting, Jeff did something radical: Placing the call on speaker, with the entire executive team watching, he picked up the phone and called Amazon’s customer support line… The room went silent. 60 seconds passed. Then 2 minutes. Then 5 minutes. Still no answer. After 10 minutes of hold music - still nothing. “It was a really long time,” Jeff recalled. “More than 10 minutes.” In a flash, the metric they’d been using to reassure investors and guide operations collapsed. The problem? The data wasn’t wrong – but it was measuring the wrong thing. The metric measured average wait time for answered calls, ignoring the calls that never got picked up. That one moment rewired Amazon’s entire approach to measurement, feedback, and truth. Jeff didn’t just want favorable data, he wanted reality. The result? Amazon rebuilt its customer service from the ground up - and made customer service a core part of its moat. Reflecting on that meeting, Jeff said: “When the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right.” 👉 Enjoyed this story? Subscribe for one great real life finance story a week: BizStory.co

Climate Risks Are Financial Risks An alarming USD 1.14 trillion in corporate value, linked to the world's largest stock markets is exposed to severe socio-economic impacts from #climatechange by 2050. Data from the Climate Hazard and Vulnerability Index (CHVI) highlights a critical blind spot for many businesses: 📌 48 countries will be highly vulnerable to socio-economic climate impacts by mid-century, double today’s figure. 📌 Major emerging markets are expected to face significant climate-related disruptions. 📌 India alone accounts for over USD 1 trillion of the at-risk corporate assets, dramatically impacting global markets and supply chains. 🚨Companies must place dedicated climate leadership at the highest level to proactively identify risks, anticipate market disruptions, and strategically invest in long-term resilience. 🚨 Businesses should move beyond physical hazards to systematically report and manage socio-economic climate vulnerabilities. Transparent, detailed disclosures help stakeholders understand risks and encourage informed investments. 🚨 Corporates must prioritize investment in resilient infrastructure, diversified supply chains, and sustainable practices, particularly in vulnerable regions. This strategic foresight protects operational continuity and market valuation. The globalized nature of corporate operations means that climate vulnerability anywhere becomes a financial risk everywhere. 🌱 Is your company equipped with climate leadership at board level? Read more here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eFnsnjyY #ClimateRisk #ClimateLeadership #SustainableGovernance #ESG #BoardGovernance #InvestmentStrategy #Resilience #ClimateAction

A very easy way to improve your Amazon ads efficiency by at least 10% Let’s say you’re spending ₹4–5 lakhs/month on Amazon ads. Your ACoS looks okay. Conversion rate seems fine. But your gut tells you—you’re still wasting some money on irrelevant traffic You’re not wrong At Atomberg, we had found that some of our Amazon spend was going toward search terms that had no business seeing our ads: - “cheap fan” -“rechargeable fan” - “usb fan under 1000” None of these users were in-market for a ₹3,000+ BLDC ceiling fan. But we were still showing up. And paying for those clicks. And it’s not just us. I’ve seen 6–7 brands' Amazon ad accounts across categories over the last few years—same problem, every single time The fix? N-gram analysis Takes less than an hour. You don’t need to be a performance marketing expert. But the results compound What’s N-gram analysis? It’s breaking down every search term into its word components—1-grams, 2-grams, 3-grams—and then identifying patterns that consistently drive waste… or conversion. Example: “cheap rechargeable fan for hostel room” turns into: 1-grams: cheap, rechargeable, fan, hostel, room 2-grams: rechargeable fan, hostel room 3-grams: fan for hostel, etc. When you do this across all your search terms, you start seeing the real picture. Why this matters more than just checking your search term report: Search terms ≠ keywords a) One keyword can trigger 100s of different queries. Some convert. Most don’t. You need to find the patterns. b) Waste is diluted across low-volume terms. Maybe “rechargeable fan for hostel” spent ₹300. You ignore it. But what if 12 other queries with “rechargeable” spent ₹6,000 in total with zero conversions? c) Long-tail is infinite. N-grams are finite. You can’t negate every bad search. But you can block the core terms—“cheap”, “usb”, “mini”—once and be done with it. d) It helps you scale campaigns too. You can find goldmine phrases like “white ceiling fan”, “silent BLDC fan”, “fan for living room”—with 5x+ ROAS. Those became exact match campaigns What you should do: a) Pull last 3 months of search term data b) Break them into unigrams, bigrams, trigrams c) Create a pivot with spend, orders, ROAS by N-gram d) Negate high-spend, low-conversion N-grams (e.g., “cheap”, “rechargeable”) e) Boost high-ROAS ones (e.g., “bldc”, “ceiling fan white”) f) Add exact match campaigns g) Rinse and repeat monthly Try it. Guaranteed to improve efficiency at whatever scale you are operating If you want to read an expanded version of the post, link is in the first comment