Nov 8th, 2026 #85
Hello and welcome to Think, your newsletter on leadership, career and growth from the smartest entrepreneurs, leaders, and investors.
The One Percent Project
“You can’t build a great business if you want to just be in the known safe space.”
— AVNISH ANAND
Avnish Anand — co-founder and former CEO of CaratLane. He became CEO during COVID, when the business had no revenue, and that crisis became one of the most important turning points in the company's history. He explains why CaratLane rewarded inputs and not only outcomes: outcomes can come from luck, while the right inputs make results repeatable. And on careers: of the four Ikigai filters, purpose is the one you can afford to drop. Worth your 69 minutes.
Two for the week
+Cedric Chin — “The Amazon Weekly Business Review”
Avnish's approach to rewarding inputs closely parallels Amazon's. Its weekly business review separates the controllable input metrics a team can act on from the output metrics it reports. This essay explains how that works in practice.
+Christensen Institute — “Jobs to Be Done Theory”
CaratLane gave every new joiner a copy of Clayton Christensen's Competing Against Luck, which Avnish calls his favourite business book. This page explains its central idea: people do not simply buy products; they bring them into their lives to make progress.
Has a difficult period ever led you or your team to a better decision? Reply to this email and let me know. I read every response.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Best
Pritish
Connect with me: If you have feedback, topic ideas, or speaker recommendations, email me at pritish@onepercent.live. You can connect with me on LinkedIn.