Gokul ⚡️
@gokulns
Followers
11,652
Following
721
Media
662
Statuses
15,121
Head of Product @woltapp ( @doordash Int'l). Earlier lives: @gojekindonesia , 1x Founder. 💍 @soundyams . Proud dad. Opinions my own.
Berlin, Germany
Joined April 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Israel
• 1495769 Tweets
#Eurovision2024
• 1416652 Tweets
América
• 471050 Tweets
New Jersey
• 203960 Tweets
Switzerland
• 155380 Tweets
#母の日
• 133878 Tweets
Nemo
• 117923 Tweets
Suiza
• 62539 Tweets
ヴィクトリアマイル
• 56087 Tweets
#仮面ライダーガッチャード
• 51581 Tweets
Croatia
• 50824 Tweets
#UFCStLouis
• 43004 Tweets
Mavs
• 33841 Tweets
Barco
• 29474 Tweets
#ブンブンジャー
• 27629 Tweets
DAIGO
• 25956 Tweets
カーネーション
• 25313 Tweets
Igor
• 22916 Tweets
ストフェス
• 21395 Tweets
Pachuca
• 18818 Tweets
カグヤ様
• 17902 Tweets
Canes
• 16939 Tweets
Saint MSG Insan
• 13302 Tweets
Buckley
• 10299 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
Like I had tweeted earlier, 2023 was a bitch of a year. And I'm glad to be completing it in a good state! I wanted to share some of this stuff in the hope that it helps someone else. ~6 months ago, I got diagnosed with Severe Clinical Depression. "What!", you ask... I hear you...
79
82
1K
OK OK FINE. HERE'S A TEMPLATE!
30
215
4K
Folks also look like they could do with an Expense Tracker template on Sheets. Been using this for ~6 years now. Life-changing stuff.
13
90
2K
Met someone from my town I've known since childhood, in Tokyo.
He was someone who struggled so much with academics and with the stigma that comes with being poor academically.
Looked down upon by pretty much everybody, he was essentially 'written off'.
24
201
1K
And many are asking what Pawblo Health Insurance is... 🤣 It's this fellow. He's healthy. My spending for his health insurance on the other hand... 🤣
8
7
1K
Okay, looks like many struggle with this salary negotiation piece. There is a ton of good content but here's my playbook.
1. Kill it in the interviews. If you have 5 rounds, make sure you're a Strong Yes on all 5. Hard but not impossible.
26
130
997
People losing their mind about me subscribing to NYT for 4 eur a month and not losing their mind for spending 600 eur every year on my dogs health insurance. Says a lot about NYT 🤣😜
10
7
913
"People who've worked at Google/Microsoft for 15+ years laid off just like that."
A sad reminder that no matter who you are or where you are, we are all merely a cell in someone else's spreadsheet. Always dispensable.
13
99
828
✨ Career milestone: Product Lead → Head of Product at Wolt (DoorDash Int'l) 🎉😄
73
2
765
Over the past few weeks, I've been speaking to a number of friends - many of them beneficiaries of the tech boom in a phenomenal way. People who are now worth double or triple digit crores. And I see a hierarchy-of-wealth pattern.
13
84
642
Okay they weren't lying about how beautiful Berlin is, on sunny days! 🌞
15
8
586
@adityarao310
🤣 I learn from the Absolute Top Expert
@soundyams
- look at our weekly shopping inventory list! 😁
17
8
487
As someone working on this space, there are three things that I can tell you.
Hello twitter, good morning :)
I just want to tell you more about how 10-minute delivery works, and how it is as safe for our delivery partners as 30-minute delivery.
This time, please take 2 minutes to read through this (before the outrage) :D
(1/2)
511
362
2K
15
59
484
It also goes to show how much the people in our life can shape it for the better, even when the world has written us off.
After all, it's what they call love don't they? :)
Today, I saw it for real. ♥️
7
21
481
It's 2021, there's a crazy talent war, and startups (STARTUPS!) in Bangalore still fucking ask for payslips before extending an offer.
Recruiters who do this - what brand of morons are you?
Candidates - if recruiters ask this, ask what the budget for the role is. You're ...
15
37
448
The rabies story was super scary. When we moved Pawblo to Germany, I was surprised by the level of scrutiny he (as a dog from India - a High-Risk country).
We had to spend ₹21,000 on a blood test where his blood sample had to be sent to London for a rabies-free certificate.
8
28
409
So, there's Bangalore, then the Bangalore airport which is not in Bangalore, and then there's the Bangalore airport runway, which is not in the airport?🤣
Today I learned: the new runway at the Bengaluru airport from the old terminal requires the plane to cover over 15km on ground! That’s 30 mins of travel.
24
16
206
8
33
417
Took my *fifth* COVID vaccine shot (2 in India and 3 in Germany). I'm done. Now COVID should take vaccine against me.
12
4
396
I've lived in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore. Of the three, Chennai was actually the most livable for me (barring the weather) - low CoL, great eateries, and really good infra.
I moved out of Bangalore because the city is anything but livable.
30
14
338
I'll get hate for saying this but always trust Indians to break any trust based system and be proud of it. 🙌
(Reminded of why companies in Europe now apparently have Indian specific contracts 🤷🏼♂️)
16
33
316
1. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, says no to faster, cheaper, more convenient stuff. The right question is not "who wants this?" but "who's gonna say no?" There's a definite correlation between speed of deliveries and customer retention in any on demand service.
7
22
312
A lot of my career advice lately: "Don't become a PM unless you really, really, really care about the craft. The world REALLY doesn't need more middling PMs."
7
19
310
3. All consumer behavior is manufactured. Nobody 'needs' food delivery at the touch of a button, nobody 'needs' a cab. It's idiotic to think getting food delivered in 30 mins via an app is 'less' of an entitlement than getting it in 10 mins.
7
34
307
This is the first time I've seen the girl (except their wedding day) but I'm a fan.
I'm blown away by her grit, the nature of her love, and his readiness to follow her lead.
Their relationship got a new admirer and their dreams got a new cheerleader today.
1
7
307
This week, last year, seeing the second wave ravage the country, I decided to leave India for good.
Grateful to have been privileged enough to have done it within 4 months of the decision, hard as the decision was.
Hope this pays off in the long term.
28
7
307
As promised, dropping my thoughts on the math around buying a house (versus renting it). Debates are welcome. :)
33
58
298
No Indian startup gets touchpoints like
@urbancompany_UC
does. If I'm bringing someone home right now, my
#1
question would be are they vaccinated? More so if it's a stranger. Very well done! 👏 (Not sure if Swiggy/Zomato do this yet)
14
23
285
Weekend well spent. 3 new countries in 3 days, starting with King's Landing ... err, Dubrovnik in Croatia. 🇭🇷
13
10
284
If you're panicking over the financial weather, remember:
- All bull runs end.
- In a 5-7 year horizon, it'll be fine.
- Focus on job/fin stability.
- Build a 12-18 mo emergency corpus.
- Upskill or reskill.
- Breathe and chill.
Nobody remembers dotcom, 9/11, 2008. Same.
7
12
281
Man - people with powerful passports really are blessed. 🙏
The amount of insane documentation/shit you have to go through to get a visa on a crappy passport like India. 😰
13
8
280
Hiring for my team at Wolt (DoorDash Int'l) 🎉
- Sr PMs or higher for a Product Lead role. 🔥
- Amazing charter / Incredible learning + growth / Great brand! 🚀
- Stockholm/Helsinki/Berlin (relocation assist 🌍)
Please reach out if this is interesting / RT for karma! 🙏
17
71
276
It's a testament to how hard people who don't have the academic survival skills, have it. And how long term the effects can be. How many such flowers are we burying even before they can bloom? How many don't find any saviors?
2
13
269
Genuinely curious: People who have tried 10-min grocery delivery startups, what specific use case did you try them for? [Except to see if they actually deliver in 10 min] 😛
56
9
270
Friendly reminder to all brands/startups: You don't *have* to do an April Fools campaign. Really.
6
20
264
It is told that therapists are suddenly fully booked out because designers have to cope with using Adobe again.
2
6
265
Hugs today to all friends running subscription businesses in India.
7
4
264
Been observing this:
- No coffee after 12
~30 mins of (even mild) workout
Lead to better sleep. And I wake up fresh and sharp.
Am I imagining this or are these things actually linked?
35
4
257
Do you see Zelensky’s speeches pretty much *every night* talking facts and updates about the crisis, directly to the people?
This is what many (myself included) expected of Modi during the second wave - an expectation at which he spectacularly failed.
6
16
257
Some designer/PM at Google saw that if you have a table spilling over to the next page on Google Docs, the 'header' must be present on both pages.
And ... I am just thankful.
#itsthelittlethings
Seriously, immense respect to the Google Docs team. Killer work. 🙏
4
6
255
Everything in Bangalore seems 30-50% more expensive than Sep 2021 prices. 🤔
13
10
240
Facebook Audio Rooms are here - that’s cool. But the real explosive growth on audio spaces is gonna happen when they launch it on WhatsApp. Gonna be insane.
- Serendipitous family calls.
- Group bhajan sessions.
- Addas amongst friends.
15
12
237
And you know what? I really hope they succeed and show the morons who looked down on him back home how it's done. Teachers, friends, other acquaintances - all the morons.
1
5
236
He showed a remarkable degree of curiosity about my life in Germany and was super conversant overall (not him at all!)
I was stunned at the transformation. Turns out the girl has been chiseling him bit by bit and helping him find his direction in life over the course of 2 years.
1
4
225
Why is it called Single Sign On when I have to do it multiple times a day?
7
8
227
A week in India. How long should I wait before I write a thread about UPI?
20
1
223
Some professional news. ✨
Tuesday will be my last day at
@gojekindonesia
, my home for the past 1.5 years. It's been a wild, wild, wild ride.
21
0
221
The engagement farmers on Twitter are REALLY getting on my nerves.
“Chrome is used by 1.2 billion people. But not everyone is using it right. Here are 11 tips to help you use Chrome to save food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Fucking annoying.
14
12
214
My hot take(s):
Purely from a user preference perspective, I fail to see how it’s any different from ‘Halal’ or ‘Kosher’. My mom, for eg, would not go to a restaurant that serves meat (and practically starved once in Kerala) - I imagine folks like her using this.
19
10
205
Dude discovers that banks' business model is tantamount to fraud.
13
6
203
At least one message per day from folks in mid/senior levels at startups in India complaining about extreme work levels and The Hustle.
IMO - the insane levels of work expected make sense only if there's enough equity upside. For most late stage startups...
4
13
199
2. The people designing these systems do think of human costs. I work on delivery partner products and I can tell you that zomato's thoughtfulness in regards to delivery partner experience actually is off the charts great. :)
6
6
194
It's live! 🚀
23
22
190
Life update that’s a bit overdue:
@soundyams
and I have moved to Berlin with Baby A. 😇
(Pawblo is joining us here in about 10 days, too! 🐶)
21
0
189
Don’t understand the fuss. Some of the most helpful product insights came during my shifts as a Courier! :)
(Doing a delivery shift is a part of onboarding at Wolt!)
DoorDash is making employees including the CEO to do one dash a month and employees are upset
274
565
7K
6
5
186
Some personal news: Super pleased to share with the world that
@soundyams
and I are now brand new parents of Gokul 2.0. 😉
The mom and the Junior are both doing fine. 🙌
36
0
182
He's delivering food on UberEATS and she works as an English teacher. But they're saving up to open a restaurant next year and a string of other businesses.
1
3
181
I’d posted a tweet few months back around ₹1cr+ salaries not being that uncommon in India in tech today, and many didn’t think that was possible, but it is. This TC article nails it.
5
12
181
Lot of desi tech folks in Berlin looking to hangout and jam - maybe it makes sense to host a full fledged meetup!
If you're in Berlin or know someone in Berlin who might be interested in a tech/product meetup, tag them.
Will see if I can set something up. 😀
68
9
181
Read the Gaurav Munjal profile. And have heard a lot about Unacademy's aggressive culture ...
But I honestly don't think there's a founder/team in India that executes better.
13
4
174
Finally wrote that "Should you move to Europe?" blog post I've been putting off for long. Will share later today. 😀
13
3
173
Unpopular opinion 1: Most companies have way more PMs than are needed. Most product teams are more bloat than value.
Unpopular opinion 2: 1 is caused by career ladders that define growth based on number of reports, so weird useless scopes get created.
7
13
173
Accidentally wrote "Let me know if you need help undressing" instead of "... addressing" to someone on Slack. 🤦♂️ How is your Thursday going?
12
4
162
Learned that the German word for sugar is zucker and now I can't think of Zuckerberg without an image of a giant iceberg made of sugar also popping up in my head.
2
11
163
Installed a couple of apps yesterday and signed up but didn't end up subscribing because I wanted to wait before committing.
Got a notification today from *both* apps today offering a 50% discount on the annual subscriptions.
God bless 'Growth' folks playing with VC money.
6
4
162
Been speaking to multiple people about pay in the past few days and one thing is very clear — way, way more people get salaries of ₹1cr+ in India (tech industry) than most realize.
20
7
162
At his wedding I attended in Dec 2019, I remember seeing the same old guy. But who I saw today was someone else completely!
He spent 30 minutes talking to me non stop about the different businesses he's planning to start and how he's working on the milestones for those.
1
4
161
She fell in love with a Product Manager but he couldn't prioritize her.
9
6
160
- Became a dad and strengthened my relationship with
@soundyams
. ♥️
- Family safe through the devastating pandemic. 🏡
- Moved to a new country. 🇩🇪
- Entered product leadership phase of career. 🎉
Not without its lows but all in all, a huge year. Grateful! 🙏
Here's to 2022. 😊
6
1
156
I hated college. I started a startup. Overall worked out VERY well for me.
But … friends who did MBA from top tier colleges have their own good career paths as well.
I did me. They did them. You do you.
Twitter should automatically add YMMV to all these generic advices or sth
7
7
155
I’m happy to say that I’ve updated my LinkedIn profile picture based on popular demand. 😛
8
0
155
I recently learned that some companies in Germany have started adding "breach of contract" penalties - mostly for Indians - because many sign the contract and don't show up to work.
Good job da deis.
18
6
154
I'm genuinely touched by the number of messages of support that have come through (🫂 is my emoji of the week!).
And really pained to see how many others are struggling in private. 😔 Some common questions/concerns that came my way that I wanted to address. :)
5
3
155
I know this sounds very arrogant, but I *really* don't have time to jump on 30-min calls to discuss career moves especially if we don't know each other well!
I'm more than happy to help but please consider writing out your Qs and trying to do this async.
3
0
154
The weirdest question in my DMs after my thread yesterday was around if I regretted not getting an MBA and doing a startup instead.
LOL NO.
I do genuinely believe that I learned more than I would have, had I done an MBA or equivalent. My MBA friends are super smart…
4
6
152
Looking forward to the day Google can launch a feature on Docs that collects inputs from stakeholders, crunches data from BigQuery, and looks at market macros → generates OKRs for the team and puts roadmap on Google Sheets.
Also looking forward to getting laid off the next day.
5
8
152
Discussion with a friend today: The scariest part about this downturn is probably that there's no technology frontier *on the cusp of large scale adoption* right now.
2001 had Internet.
2008 had the iPhone.
So, all eyes on Papa Zuck to deliver on Metaverse. 🤷♂️
22
5
150