Rakesh’s travel secrets for your holiday travels

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

Having flown more than two million miles, including more than 45,000 in the past month, Over the years, I’ve developed strategies for coping with the hassles of air travel.

I hope you don’t need any of them on your holiday travels, but just in case:

  • It’s not about you. Don’t take flight cancellations or being involuntarily bumped personally. No one is out to get you. Running an airline is an incredibly hard business even on a good day. Add in miserable weather and high loads and a lot of people are going to be unhappy. As much as their decisions might inconvenience you, there’s usually (though not always) logic behind the decisions. Decisions take into account numerous factors including number of passengers inconvenienced, crew availability, availability of alternate flights and aircraft positioning.
  • OK, it’s a little about you. Despite these priority rules, gate agents do have some discretion to change your priority. If you’ve got a solid reason, it can’t hurt to ask. Customers who were bumped from previous flights sometimes get this kind of treatment.
  • Life’s not fair. The airline business is a business. It’s usually not first come, first served. If there’s a standby list, the 100k mile traveler who walks up 5 minutes before they start clearing standbys will get the seat over someone who flies once a year on cheap tickets and has been waiting 3 hours. Although the rules vary by airline, priority lists typically take into account things like frequent flier status, class of service, previous inconvenience, whether you are in a connecting city, fare paid and time of check in.
  • Always call the airline when your flight is canceled. Usually the gate agent will tell you go to the customer service desk for help. Don’t do it. At least not before you call the airline. Get on your cell phone with reservations and ask them for help. Ideally, you’ll do this while you’re walking toward customer service or standing in line. It’s a good idea to have the phone number in your speed dial so you don’t have to fumble for it. With advances in technology, they might be able to rebook you over the phone and email you a new boarding pass that you can pull up on your cell phone. That sure beats waiting in a 90 minute line at the airport!
  • Look at the departure boards for other flights to your destination. If your flight is canceled, look to see which gate the next flight to your destination is going out from. If it’s in the next hour, high tail it to that gate and ask the agent to get on that flight. Again, be on your phone with reservations as you’re walking and standing in line. (A bluetooth headset is great for this.) If your flight is a few hours away, chances are no one is working that flight yet and you’re better off in the customer service line.
  • Look for an empty gate with an unoccupied agent. Gate agents can help you with other flights, but won’t do it if they’re busy running their own flight. Be polite, ask respectfully and you might save yourself a long wait in line.
    • Corollary: Look for an agent with gray hair. Many airlines have put GUIs on top of the more powerful reservations systems that underlie them. Experienced agents often know the tricks to get the system to do things that less experienced agents can’t do.
  • If you’re a lounge member, go to the lounge for changes. Agents in airline lounges tend to know how to work the system better and are more willing to bend the rules.
    • If you’re not a lounge member, buy a day pass. It can be a great way to get aways from all of the noise on the concourse on a normal day, but even more so when the airport is going to hell. Of course, you also benefit from the nicer agents. During exceptionally difficult days, some airlines will stop selling day passes so that the lounges don’t get too crowded.
  • Be flexible. If you’re traveling to an area with multiple airports or airports within reasonable driving distance, consider taking flights there. If the change was the airline’s fault, they’ll usually pay to get you where you should’ve been. If it was weather or air-traffic control related, you’re on your own.
  • Be nice. People want to help people who are nice to them. The fastest way to get an agent to not help you is to start making demands, threaten to sue or start swearing. I witnessed one passenger in Las Vegas call an agent a “bitch” under his breath as he walked away. She called the gate he was going to and told that agent about it.
  • Call your friends. If you’re stuck and have a well-traveled friend, give them a call. I have a couple of people I can call when I get stuck to look up flight availability, hotels and other alternatives. Because they’re not dealing with dozens of other people, they can look at a wider range of options. They can give you a good picture of what your choices are. With options in hand, you become a gate agent’s friend by making their job easier. If you’re in my phone’s contact list, feel free to call me when you’re stuck.
  • If you have a really sticky problem, try FlyerTalk. FlyerTalk is the ultimate travel resource. It’s populated by ultra-frequent travelers. Many of them know more about airline reservations and ticketing than the typical reservations agent. Do a search to see if your problem is already covered. If it isn’t, pick the appropriate forum for your airline and post your question. Be sure you provide all the pertinent information, but don’t post things like confirmation numbers.
  • Sign up for your airline’s text messaging service. Many airlines offer text message alerts. In normal travel, this will send you flight status information including gate assignments. As airlines automate their service recovery, they’re using text messages to communicate flight information. When United cancels a flight they can often rebook you automatically. Your new flight information gets sent to your cell phone.
  • Don’t put too much stock in the flight status boards. When there is extreme weather and a lot of cancellations, the flight status boards are usually fiction. The times shown are best guesses and can change frequently. It’s important to know that they can also become earlier. I’ve seen flights go from a scheduled 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. back to an on time departure. It actually left at 11:00 p.m., so the people who relied on the 12:30 a.m. time missed it. If you leave the gate area, use your cell phone or laptop and check on the flight every 15 minutes or so.
  • Keep your cell phone and laptop chargers in your carry on. If you suffer long delays, there’s a good chance you’ll run out of power. You might need these tools to help book your next flight. Because every gadget seemingly has its own style of connector, these are hard to come by in an airport. If you find that you are running out of power, look for a “power save” mode, which usually lets you eke out some more use by dimming the screen or throttling the processor.
  • Keep a pair of headphones in your laptop bag. With a laptop, headphones and Wifi, you can amuse yourself while you wait for your next flight. I spent one recent delay watching crappy television at fox.com. It won’t make your delay any shorter, but it will feel like it.
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Favorite things, day 2: credit cards

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

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There are many reasons I love credit cards. As a payments nerd, I marvel that I can be on the far side of the world, tap a card and walk away with things I want. As a marketing nerd, I love figuring out how credit card companies structure offers and guessing at CAC.

As a frequent traveler and a consumer, credit cards offer great benefits and conveniences. Rewards cards get me premium travel and beautiful hotels all over the world. They get me into lounges.

IMPORTANT: If you do not pay off your credit card every month, do not get a rewards card to charge on to. You will pay way more in interest every month than the benefits are worth. The reason American Express, Chase and Citi are willing to pay billions to the airlines is that many humans are economically irrational and way overpay for frequent flier miles that they then have to beg to use.

If that doesn’t describe you, or you have the discipline to separate credit card spend, then you can get a lot out of value from premium cards.

American Express green card

A surprise this year: AmEx’s re-introduction of the Green card, the one that started it all. This used to be a status symbol. Getting an AmEx Green card was a sign that you’ve arrived.

AmEx is bringing this card back with a vengeance. The new AmEx Green Card is a no-brainer for frequent travelers. Just go apply now. (referral link)

For a very reasonable $150 annual fee, there is a lot you get up front:

  • 35,000 Membership Rewards points. I value those at $612.50.
  • $100 per year toward Clear membership. This is the only card I know of that offers credit for Clear.
  • $150 in statement credits toward Away luggage. I’m not a fan of their luggage because I don’t like spinner wheels, but plenty of people do. I’ll probably get some accessories. If you use someone’s referral link, you get another $20. $170 towards some good – but not road warrior grade – luggage.

That’s more than $850 in value for $150, with a small $2,000 minimum spend.

The bonus categories are perfect for travelers: travel and restaurants. This is the vast majority of my spend.

You also get access to Lounge Buddy lounges. These are not the high end Centurion American Express lounges.

You also get most of AmEx’s travel benefits, which are well above average compared with the industry.

This is a card that you should just get.

 

 

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Favorite things, day 3: Hawaii

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

(All photos taken by me; message me for licensing.)

Sun, sand, beach, surf, ancient cultures, outdoors — there’s so much to love about Hawaii. An archipelago of 8 primary islands, it offers a great break far away from most things. For Americans, no passport required.

Hawaii is not a monolithic place. I recommend different parts of Hawaii depending on what you’re interested in. In order of my favorites.

Kauai

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Hiking for all skill levels, gorgeous waterfalls. Kauai has one of the most famous hikes in the world – the Kalalau Trail. It’s sandwiched between the cliffs of the Na Pali Coast and the Pacific Ocean. It is always crowded, often muddy. Still, you have to do it. For the more adventurous, there is a spur trail that will take you to a narrow ribbon of water falling off the cliffs. The spur trail is four miles round trip, strenuous and poorly marked.

I prefer the Pihea-Alakai Swamp trail in Kokee State Park.

Hotel recommendation: Princeville Resort (formerly St. Regis Princeville).

Maui

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Beaches, beaches, beaches – by far the best beaches in the island. The road to Hana provides a windy path through lush forests and waterfalls.

Hotel recommendations: Fairmont Kea Lani, Andaz Maui.

Hotel recommendation if you’re trying to convince your significant other not to have kids: Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort.

Big Island

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The Big Island is more low-key than its neighbor islands. The big highlight here is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The Kilauea Iki Crater hike has you hike from the rim of the crater down into the crater floor and up the other side. One of the best hikes I’ve done.

It is a long way to the volcano from Kailua-Kona area, where most people stay. You should plan to spend one night near the volcano. Unfortunately, like near most national parks, the quality of the lodging leaves a lot to be desired.

Hotel recommendation: Fairmont Orchid.

Hotel non-recommendation: Hilton Waikoloa.

Lanai

View from room Angelfish 3, Manele Bay Hotel

It’s not Maldives isolated, but it’s pretty isolated. There are basically two things to do on this island: golf and go to the beach.

This is where Bill Gates got married. He rented out every hotel room on the island and chartered all of the helicopters on nearby islands.

Ironically, Larry Ellison now owns more than 95% of the island.

I also saw Al and Tipper having breakfast here once.

There are two hotels, one on the beach and the other inland known for its golf courses. I don’t golf and I like the beach so I haven’t stayed there.

Hotel recommendation: Four Seasons Resort Lanai (formerly Manele Bay Hotel).

Oahu

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This is where most people go, partly because it’s the easiest to get to by air from most of the world. (From the West Coast, all of the above except Lanai, are accessibly nonstop.)

If you don’t vacation a lot, just need to get the hell out of a Midwestern ice scape and have kids in tow, this is probably a good place. You have city, sights (Pearl Harbor, most notably), beach, surf… a little bit of everything.

Waikiki Beach is one of the best known beaches in the world. It’s way too crowded for me. I try to avoid walking around Waikiki. Lots of kids and many, many planeloads and busloads of tourists from Japan.

I prefer to go the North Shore or Kailua areas. The Bellows Air Force Base beach is one of the most stunning beaches I’ve been to. Much of Lost was filmed on the North Shore.

Hotel recommendations: Royal Hawaiian, Westin Moana Surfrider. (I prefer the Royal Hawaiian, but it usually comes down to price.)

Hotel non-recommendation: Hilton Hawaiian Village.

I haven’t been to:

Molokai – I’ll get there some day.
Kahoolawe – It’s uninhabited and off limits.
Niihau – The Forbidden Island. It’s privately owned and you need an invite.

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TiVo remains king of TV

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal
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Twenty years into the existence of the DVR, there is still no substitute for the company that (almost) started it all: TiVo.

The company, whose name is synonymous with the digital video recorder, continues to create the best of them — even if vast majority of people don’t use theirs.

TiVo has the most polished interface of the combo DVR/streaming devices.

It also has four features that put it well ahead of everyone else:

  • Universal search. I can do one search for content across the vast majority of the recorded and streaming universe.
  • Extensive metadata. The search is powered by metadata that you can browse to your heart’s delight.
  • Automatic commercial skip. For heavily watched programming, like primetime network shows, you don’t even have to press a button. When the TiVo detects it’s at a commercial break, it skips past it.

The most important, for me, is offline download. I can store recorded shows on my iPad for watching on planes or in hotel rooms.

I can also stream shows from my home wherever I am in the world. There are no error messages that I’m outside of the license area for the content; no messages that my show has disappeared because it is no longer in the viewing window.

I can also watch recorded shows in other rooms with a dedicated device or a TiVo app. From the TiVo app, I can send it via AirPlay.

TiVo also includes apps for the most common streaming services: Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. It easily earns one of my TV’s HDMI port

When I talk to PMs (both senior and aspiring), TiVo is always my cautionary story of how you can have the best product and still lose.

Distribution is incredibly important, as the cable companies have shown. The first 10 revs of cable company DVRs were horrible, horrible products. Comcast has finally come close to catching up with X1.

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Favorite things, day 5: Alaska Airlines

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

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What’s not to like about an airline that more or less runs like the good old days of air travel? Courteous staff, clean planes, great terminal facilities at San Francisco and Seattle, where I travel the most. Their social media support is great as well.

Unlike any other carrier I’ve flown, they proactively try to make things better when things go wrong.

A few of the highlights:

  • $25/2,500 mile baggage guarantee. If your bags don’t show up within 20 minutes of reaching the jetway, you get your choice of $25 credit or 2,500 frequent flier miles. (Pro tip: always take the miles. They’re worth more than the $25.)
  • Once when I had an extended mechanical delay, I received an apology email and a voucher before the plane touched down. I didn’t even have to ask.
  • In weather delays, gate agents have organized games in the gate area to keep passengers occupied.

The frequent flier program is the best in the industry. It used to be that frequent flier programs existed to reward loyalty of members. Most airlines now view them as short-term profit centers. Every opportunity to make money off the loyalty program. they jump at.

Alaska still has a traditional program that is based on miles flown. The underlying economics that Alaska has chosen build loyalty for the long term versus extracting as much revenue as possible in the short term. (A very quaint philosophy in today’s business world.)

I just finished up a round-the-world mileage run just to get top tier elite status on Alaska. I flew Mumbai-Hong Kong-San Francisco-London-Johannesburg-Victoria Falls and then the reverse to San Francisco.

I wouldn’t have done that on any other carrier.

There are elite benefits that are unheard of. MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75k can change paid tickets without any fees. That flexibility has a lot of value for me. (Southwest allows anyone to do this, but that is an extreme outlier; Southwest doesn’t have a route network that works for me.)

The Achilles’ Heel in Alaska for me is that their transcontinental flights do not have lie-flat beds, unlike American, Delta, jetBlue and United. But I’ve gotten to the point in my travels that flying 6 hours coast-to-coast is old hat.

Especially if you’re on the West Coast, Alaska should be your pick.

 

 

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Favorite things, day 6: First Republic

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

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I had somehow left my card in Hong Kong and was on my way to Zimbabwe. ATMs are common, but few businesses take credit cards. So I needed cash. I emailed by banker and she offered a couple of options.

She said, “If you need cash now, we can work through the Visa network and get you a bank that can give you cash today … or we can get new ATM cards printed and sent to you at your hotel in Zimbabwe. Pick which is best for you.”

“I can wait for the card. Please send it. Can you also send some water bottles? I keep losing those things.”

“Let me check.”

“They’re worried that the water bottles will slow things down because they’d have to go through customs. We printed the cards, here’s the tracking number. We’ll get you those water bottles when you’re back home.”

This has been a typical experience for me at First Republic. It’s one of the few large institutions I work with where I feel like a person, not a number. I never have to provide an account number. My banker knows me. Not having to deal with annoying phone menus is reason enough. In 2019, who calls to get their bank balance? But many banks make you say representative four times.

You never have to deal with an automated system here. Stop by the bank and chat with your banker, or email or call your banker. If you stop by, you can get fresh-baked cookies. Not sure if you have to be a customer to get free cookies, but I don’t think they’ve carded me for cookies. (I opened my account in Oregon, so I do most of my transactions by email.)

First Republic has treated me better when I had $5,000 on deposit than Chase or Wells with more than $500,000.

The star account here is their ATM Rebate Checking. A $3,500 minimum average balance gets you a solid checking out with unlimited worldwide ATM rebates. Some months, when I’ve been traveling extensively, I’ve received more than $30 in rebates.

There’s a detail buried in that sentence that illustrates the philosophy. Most banks use the minimum balance, not the minimum average balance when calculating fees. That means that if at any point in the month, you had a balance of $3,499.99 or less, you’d get hit with the monthly fee. Because FR uses the average, dipping below for a day won’t trigger the fees.

Instead of the gotcha, they play fair.

I’ve also never had to pay for things like cashier’s check or notary services.

Whenever I get service this good, I’m always suspicious. I know some companies have me flagged in their CRM systems as an influencer. (I had amazing service from Comcast!) But the feedback I get from friends who are also First Republic customers is that they also get similar service.

First Republic’s slogan is, “It’s a privilege to serve you.” That sounds like one of those made up slogans which falls apart when given any scrutiny.

This is a rare case when it isn’t.

Deadweight loss quotient: This should only be a gift to yourself, or spouse/significant other with their consent. Though I’m sure that if you want to give a CD full of money, the deadweight loss there would be zero.

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Favorite hotels from around the world

Posted on December 6, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

Here’s a list of my favorites.

St Regis Vommuli Resort

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This is in a class by itself.

St Regis New York

St Regis Princeville, Kauai (now the Princeville Resort)

St Regis Dubai (now the LXR Habtoor Palace)

St Regis Deer Valley

St Regis Florence

Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur

Andaz London

Gritti Palace, Venice (Sadly, seriously damaged by recent flooding in Venice.)

The Gwen, Chicago

The Nines, Portland

Fairmont Orchid, Big Island, HI

Ritz Carlton San Francisco

Fairmont San Francisco

Manele Bay hotel (Now Four Seasons Resort Lanai)

Andaz Maui

Fairmont Maui

Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu 

Moana Surfrider, Honolulu

Park Hyatt Sydney

Kimpton Canary Hotel, Santa Barbara

Hotel Bristol, Vienna

Convento do Espinheiro, Portugal

Tambo del Inka, Peru

Loi Suites, Iguazu Falls, Argentina

And here are some, that despite the brand name, are just blah.

Four Seasons Austin

Andaz Wall Street

Waldorf Astoria NY

Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea Maui

And, sadly, I stayed here, but fuck em. It’s a terrible property, far from the strip and no casino. There are so many better options, like The Cosmopolitan, my favorite in Vegas.

Trump Vegas

 

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Let’s not call Goldman Sachs evil (yet, and for this potential infraction)

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

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Goldman Sachs is the company everyone loves to hate. I’m among them. They perpetuated the financial crisis by creating financial instruments no one understood; they bet against their own customers; they benefited enormously from a government bailout; they will continue to push every line. Watch The Big Short for more on this.

Closer to home, they (along with other investment bankers) extract large amounts of money for little value add when it comes to IPOs. Money that should rightly go to the founders, employees or the company gets skimmed off and put into the hands of their preferred clients. VC extraordinaire Bill Gurley has written extensively on this.

The point of the last two paragraphs is to let you know that I’m by no means a shill for Goldman. I consider them the ExxonMobil, Monsanto, Koch Industries of the financial world.

BUT, we need to have some intellectual honesty here. We have one data point from one blogger and the Internet blew up. This was followed by another data point from Steve Wozniak. Then we have baseless speculation around it.

I have consulted for the largest players in credit cards and payments. I can’t tell you why it happened. (Yet.)

I can tell you what didn’t happen. Goldman doesn’t have an algorithm that says “IF male, SET credit to 4X female.”

If anyone at a large company made a decision based on a few data points, they’d be (rightly) fired.

Credit decisions are made by complex algorithms. Unless you’re applying for a mortgage, no one is looking at your application individually. (There are some edge cases, but not relevant to this discussion.) A bunch of data about you is crunched based on historical risk models. Out of that comes whether you are approved, what your credit line is and what your interest rate is. Then there’s the bank’s own risk profile.

We don’t know what algorithms are going to spit out. Because they’re based on historical models and trained with existing data, it’s likely that they will reflect gender and racial bias. Amazon designed an AI algorithm to make hiring less biased against females. It turned out it did the opposite, based on the assumptions that went into it.

These algorithms are regularly updated based on new assumptions. FICO 9, which is being rolled out, is much better than the widely used FICO 8. Banks and credit card customers get data from various credit agencies. (You actually have 3 credit scores!) Although FICO algorithms are widely used, credit card issuers and banks often use additional data from other sources.

For many years, Google thought that you needed a computer science degree from a top-tier university to be a successful product manager. Google analyzed the data and found that neither were useful signals and have theoretically abandoned them.

There’s a way we can predict algorithms: use test data and see how they respond. It doesn’t happen often enough, but I don’t know if Goldman did this.

Google Photos had a massive fail a few years ago, when it tagged some African Americans as gorillas. Clearly they didn’t do enough testing.

But I do know that the Internet loves a data-free pile on. Something that fits the narrative will drive clicks. This reinforces the common view people have of Goldman (the same view I have). The only potentially worse co-brand partner for Apple in this would have been Wells Fargo.

I’ve been on the other side of an Internet pile on. A company I worked for put out highly misleading information about me on Twitter. Because what they said fit a common and sensationalist narrative, it took off. No one waited to see what actually happened.

We don’t even know if there is a problem. It’s possible that the Goldman algorithm gives higher credit limits to women than to men. We don’t know. It’s possible that it gives roughly the same credit limits. We don’t know. It’s possible that it gives men higher credit limits than women, which is what is alleged. We don’t know.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the claims so far: American Express, Chase and Citi don’t even ask for gender on their applications. (I already have an Apple Card, so I can’t verify whether this is true for the Goldman card.)

So I’m going to wait until the facts are in to say whether Goldman is evil. For this one thing.

 

 

 

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5 things Andrew Yang must do for the next debate

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Rakesh Agrawal

As a lifetime product guy, I pay attention to substance, style and marketing. Yang has the first one nailed. He’s talking about two issues that will make or break the country and the world in the next decade: income inequality and climate change.

Yes, we need health care reform. That is a big problem for the country. But these two are more important.

So here’s a game plan:

  1. Name check other candidates.
  2. Pick a message.
  3. Tell a story.
  4. Practice what you preach.
  5. Think different.

Game the game – Name check other single digit candidates

The design of the debates is to give the top candidates the most airtime. The rich get richer. Moderators will always go the highest polling candidates; that’s the nature of media. They have a hard time thinking beyond two. In one of the earlier debates, CNN’s Don Lemon asked a question about income inequality – but didn’t direct it to Yang.

The rules of the debate are that if someone is mentioned, they get time to respond. Right now, what happens is that Biden, Bernie and Warren talk about each other, so they get more airtime.

Turn those your rules to your advantage. Yang, Booker and Harris should name check each other, thus getting more time.

YANG: Sen Harris represents California, a state where you have people with tens and hundreds of millions of dollars living a mile from people shooting up in the streets. What have you done on income inequality.

HARRIS: You’re a techie who made a lot of money. Your UBI is a bad idea.

Don’t talk about Biden, Bernie or Warren. This gives them more air time, which is what provides oxygen for enthusiasm and dollars.

Think of it as a game of debate keep away. That may sound cynical, but them’s the rules. You’re already playing it, you just don’t know it. Biden, Bernie or Warren are holding the ball.

Obviously, this would require working with your fellow candidates to pass the ball back and forth.

Pick a message and stick to it

There should be one key message. Warren and Bernie focus on Medicare for all. Biden focuses on the fact that he’s an old white guy who is friends with Obama.

You’ve got too many messages. Pick one: UBI. Legalizing pot is great and should be done. But it distracts. You could put that messaging out in other channels. Facebook probably has an ad targeting group of “potheads.” Use those tools for the sub message.

But keep it easy to remember. The last guy had one message: white power. brown people are bad and they’re responsible for everything that’s wrong in your life.

Your message is better: it’s the robots, not the immigrants. This would also be a way of getting at Trump’s core message.

Tell stories, not stats

As tech guys, we focus on numbers and stats. Booooooooring. Tell stories of real people, people you’ve met on the trail. Here’s a good one.

 

Here’s another:

They’re good stories because it’s a real person talking about what they’ve been though, but also what they’re thinking about. They also happen to be 100% true.

You could easily turn those into 30s or 60s. (Just don’t piss away ad dollars on TV — that’s a whole other conversation.) The story can shrink or expand to fit the time slot. Have a 6 minute block on CNBC and the anchor wants you to talk more, you can.

Practice what you preach, avoid the gimmicks

The one family thing last debate was a gimmick that fell flat, as I’d expect. It’s almost the kind of thing a huckster like Trump would do. (Except that he wouldn’t because he does give out money unless you’re a porn star.)

You could give your staff their own freedom dividend. Every full time staffer gets $1,000 a month. That will generate a lot more stories. When staffers are talking to media, they can then relate what they’ve done with their $1,000 dollars. Real people talking resonates; abstracts do not.

Think different

Too many people in politics hire experienced consultants who’ve been roaming the halls of DC forever. (Don’t know if this is the case with your campaign.) Like with the core issues of income inequality we talk about, technology can make politics more efficient and winning elections easier.

This is an email I sent to a high-profile VC in 2016 about an idea I had:

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Three months before the 2016 election, I suggested that Facebook could be used effectively to win the election. This would have been a perfectly legitimate way to do this. I couldn’t get anyone’s backing. But we all know what happened…

Politics isn’t really that different from designing products. You have to understand human psychology, address a distracted audience and get the right product in front of them.

So, think different. You’ve got a tech community that wants to see you win.

 

 

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My personal environmental footprint

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Rakesh Agrawal

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It’s a trend in corporations (at least those outside the extraction industries) to do a self analysis on your environmental effects. I wanted to think deeply about mine.

I recently mailed a mercury thermometer to a friend where she has a safe disposal facility; I don’t and I didn’t want to throw it in the trash given all of the toxic effects of mercury.

Good

  • Don’t eat much meat.
  • Use public transit primarily. Easy to do in Manhattan.
  • Walk a lot. Pretty much a requirement in Manhattan.
  • Live in a densely populated area.
  • Recycle a lot.
  • Try to use a reusable water bottle as much as possible.
  • Combine shopping trips (in rare cases I’m buying in store and have to drive).
  • Use Alexa to turn off lights and control temperatures in other rooms.
  • Limit printing. When possible, I use mobile boarding passes for flights or mobile tickets for events. When not possible, I print on the backside of something else.
  • Use a duplex printer.
  • Reuse backside of paper.
  • Don’t read newspapers in print. That’s a lot of paper that is 1) cut down from trees 2) heavily processed with chemicals 3) big rolls are transported cross country 4) completed product is printed and then transported across town 5) read (or unread) papers that are then transported for disposal.
  • Use Nespresso capsules.

Bad

  • Use the AC (mitigated by using Nest to reduce energy consumption).
  • Fly a lot. A lot of it is work related, but there are still plenty of personal trips.
  • Buy too many electronics. I’ve really cut back here for two reasons: there is so much electronics waste (much of it with heavy metals) and so much of what is made today is utter garbage.
  • Prefer triple ply.
  • Still get paper statements for everything. The banks and credit card companies all use different logins and have different processes and restrictions. It’s just a lot easier to go to the mailbox. If there were a way to get the statements sent to my Gmail and made it just as easy as going to my mailbox, I’d do it in a heartbeat. The security concerns that used to exist for this don’t exist anymore, but no one seems to be working on it.
  • Use a lot of napkins (Indian food is messy).
  • Drink too much canned soda.
  • Drink Mexican Coke. Real sugar in a glass bottle versus high-fructose corn syrup is SO much better.
  • Don’t unplug chargers, printers and other low power devices. These things consumer energy, but the amount is so tiny that it’s not worth it for me.

Of course not all of these things are equal. The heaviest consumers of energy are transportation, lighting and climate control. But the primary cause of climate change is cattle raised for beef.

What am I missing?

Posted in environment, personal, Uncategorized | Comments Off on My personal environmental footprint