Contract-killing-as-a-service

"Enable the middlemen"

A recurring theme for us has been investing in companies that enable intermediaries – Meesho, simsim, Wealthy, etc.

Given last-mile challenges (i.e. customer acquisition, trust-building, conversion and delivery, etc.), we found this approach pretty suitable for the Indian consumer across sectors.

Turns out, there's one sector I hadn't thought of: murder.

Yes.

Here is a fascinating story of how hitmen outsourced a contract killing across a chain of intermediaries:

Elaborate attempt to outsource murder ends in prison time

Reminds me of another story. German general Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord once said:

I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent – their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy – they make up 90 percent of every army […] Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties.

Heh. Guess those hitmen would make fantastic startup founders…

They definitely had a fundable thesis.

Yes, I know your startup is a scam

I recently finished 2 fast-paced thrillers - one about Uber (Super Pumped) and the other Theranos (Bad Blood).

These were written as tell-all exposés showing what happens behind-the-scenes in overstretched high-growth tech startups.

And while lines were crossed at different stages, my reaction for most of those books was "Meh, really?"

(to be clear: well before the sexual harassment and lethal medical fraud)

The truth is most high-growth startups are pretty dysfunctional on the inside. They hit breaking point consistently and everything gets re-organised every few months.

It's funny – as an investor – whenever I go visit a company where we have invested, the employees cast sideways glances and grin at one another.

I know what they're thinking in their conspiratory manner: "should we tell them the real story?"

While I sometimes feel like I've seen it all, sometimes that real story can be really interesting…

Here's the inside the story of Away.

And I'm just going to leave this here:

• Longread: Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi’s India
• Podcast: WSJ - India Rewrites the Rules for Big Tech
• Why India shuts down the internet more than any other democracy

One more thing

This Twitter thread is a goldmine: Reply with something you can say during both cricket and sex.

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