If it is your first time here, some context – this year, I’m writing a public review of what we did at DD each week. If you’ve got some time, start here – Week 1 & Week 2.

Order in Chaos

As of today, there are 348858 open things at DD. We don’t wake up to one product / problem statement. We wake up to a lot of BAU tasks + thinking about larger initiatives. 

And that means, each week, you make lots of decisions.

• Focus area for the week 
• What needs immediate attention?
• What should be delegated but hasn’t yet
• Are the right things being tracked?

I wasn’t confident about week 3’s review because it didn’t go according to my plan. 

I had more doubts than answers. I spent more time thinking than doing. 

The most productive weeks are when I’ve got some confidence in what a project needs, and I do it. It also helps to have some control over my schedule (undisturbed focus hours + the ability to say no). I never have clarity, but I know the steps I need to take to find it. 

Week 3 wasn’t that. 

However, in hindsight, I realise that most of that thinking during week 3 acted as a base for the next few days. 

Maybe the joy is in the process. And the way to keep myself in line is to not get stuck in MAFA (mistaking action for achievement). 

Updates from last week

1/ We pitched for a grand women-only festival for March 8

Last week, Anshika and I got the opportunity to work with 2 female entrepreneurs to bring back a grand women-only event IP they created 6 years ago. 

If you’ve been following us for some time now, you know we want to host FeMela – a carnival for women in India. It was set to happen in November 2023, but took us longer to plan.

During that time, we sent out a LOT of cold emails to founders & experts in India. It was an open invitation to chat about FeMela.  

We knew it was a long shot; we didn’t have a venue or a line-up. But we did it anyway.

Each of these emails had a disclaimer – this is the grandest thing we’ve envisioned so far, and we’re a small team taking a shot at it. And thus, it may not happen in Nov 2023.  

One of these emails was to an entrepreneur and celebrity who has hosted India’s first women-only event. She responded and was interested in finding out more. 

I have been in touch with her since December (chatting about FeMela, her event, and a possible collaboration). And just last week, things got more concrete. We met her partner. And pitched to them to bring their event back (bigger and better). 

IN SHORT – 

When Anshika and I started working on FeMela, we were at level 0. We were building EVERYTHING from scratch. When we go ahead with this interaction and collaboration, it will help us gain the momentum we needed on day 0. 

This was a result of multiple things – years of loose connections compounding, constantly going out in the world with new ideas, and consistently building in public. 

2/ Hosted DD’s first offline meet-up

We hosted our first women-only meetup in Mumbai yesterday. This is the beginning of The Create Table – bringing women together to create assets that give us an edge at work. All of it over coffee and fries. 

Doolally, Andheri

3/ Scaling our WhatsApp Communities

We’ve recently got Aishwarya Ramasamy to help us curate content for both our WhatsApp communities (freelance opportunities & women-centric news). 

Why did we do this?

It is part of a larger shift I am making. With DD, I often feel that I can do EVERYthing without realising that I need to preserve my time. It is my biggest leverage (I’m young, and can take a LOT of risks). 

Instead, I want to acknowledge that I’ve got an opportunity and the resources (support, investment of time and money from some of the greatest people, and an impactful idea), and I cannot do it alone. One of the ways to do that is to outsource, find collaborators, and identify BAU tasks that are SUPER essential but don’t need my time every day.

With Aishwarya, we plan on –

1/ Sharing significant women-centric news pieces every day – these are not daily reports, but impactful conversations that shape our journey. We’re covering – business, health, sports, career, and more. 

2/ Scaling our Female Freelancers’ WhatsApp community – this year, we’re not just sharing opportunities, but resources that make us better professionals. And of course, more meetups! 

Links to join both – For Female Freelancers & DD Curates News.

4/ Our focus this week – 

• Initiate cold outreach for our new vertical – a personal branding agency that works with women leaders across the world.
• Find and invite more women to Draupadi on the Dais – an easy-to-access database of women leaders available for speaking opportunities. In the past year, we’ve seen the power that representation and conversations hold – both to drive change and inspire fellow women. And we want to actively create space for that.
• Plan more offline meetups and townhalls
• Revamp our marketing agency deck. DD is incubated by C4E, a communications collective (work straddles across brand design & management, content services, and social media marketing). In our conversations with brands and marketers, we’ve seen them make an active effort to understand their female consumers. Thus, one of the things we do at DD is work with brands to help them market to women better.
• Plan for merchandise and a quarterly stakeholder newsletter

That was all! The next one will be live on Jan 5.