#65 - Notes on Tennis, Shark Tank and Food
Education Coffee is 2xWeekly Newsletter on People, Ideas and Culture.
In each edition of this newsletter, I will share five web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts.
1. Learning from People
Emma Raducanu is a British tennis player. In 2012 she won the US Open as an 18 year old in the year she was ranked 150 in the world. The odds of this happening were really low with so many experienced grand slam winners in the draw. This feature video from the US Open YouTube page shows you how it happened. I am a big tennis fan and follow this tournament closely and really enjoyed the matches from the tournament in 2024. You can review scores and watch match highlights from the tournament here. I think she is a star in the making even though she has had a few difficult years since then. You can follow her journey on Instagram for updates from the court and her travels around the world.
2. Learning from Ideas and Questions
Shark Tank is a television show that allows entrepreneurs to make business presentations to a panel of five venture capitalists (investors in start-ups) called sharks on the program. This is my favourite business show and I recently started binge watching several episodes of the show. The investors often find weaknesses and strengths in an entrepreneur's product, business model or valuation of their company. As viewers you get a business education in an entertaining way. You also pick up skills of understanding finance, branding, innovation, sales, communication and entrepreneurship. I realized that many of the entrepreneurs often went about solving a problem in their own life. I spent some time reviewing through this amazing list of the 100 top Shark Tank products.
Here are five products that stand out for me and that I would like to buy as a consumer:
Phonesoap UV Sanitizer and Charger - Phones carry a lot of germs and this product allows you to charge and sanitize your phones.
LARQ Self Cleaning Water Bottle - Water bottles get dirty and are hard to clean, so just buy a self cleaning water bottle that cleans itself.
Bedjet Heating and Cooling for Beds - Adjust the temperature and speed of the air flow of your mattress to keep yourself cool or warm through the night while you sleep.
Themagic5 Custom Swim Goggles - Swimming Goggles that lets in maximum light and provides superb clarity in murkier waters.
Loliware Edible Cups - Why not drink from a cup that you can also eat!
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blogs
Men with the Pot by Kris Szymanski and Slawek Kalkraut is my favourite cooking channel. They have 400+ videos on their channel where they cook their recipes out in the forest (often next to a stream). It is a very satisfying experience watching their high quality videos and knife skills. They often clean utensils in the stream, cut vegetables in the air and have extended natural sounds in the background. Sometimes I just play their videos in the background before a meal to build an appetite.
They published a book with their recipes and cooking techniques which you can purchase at this link. Here is a short synopsis of the book from the publisher’s website
People often ask the Men with the Pot “what’s behind the name?” The answer is simple: when they started out, they were just two men with one pot who wanted to do something big! Their aim was to light a fire and inspire others to follow the same path—cooking whatever brings them joy. Kris and Slawek’s eye-catching videos have done just that, propelling that humble idea into a concept reaching tens of millions of fans every month. Men with the Pot Cookbook brings that same spirit to the page, with their first collection of recipes in print.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
Marcel is the cutest and most lovable character I have seen on film for a long time. He is a character in the animated film, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. I love this movie and the concept is adorable. A cash-strapped documentary maker decides to make his newest documentary about a mollusk shell he finds living in his Airbnb with his friends. It is a beautiful film about loss, family and hoping for the best!
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
Codie Sanchez is the founder and CEO of Contrarian Thinking, a financial advice enterprise with over 2.5+ million subscribers. She is the co-founder of Unconventional Acquisitions, focused on small business acquisitions for the everyman. She writes about finance on Linkedin and Twitter and creates videos about the same on Youtube. Here are some great points I picked up from her two hour podcast linked below on personal finance and productivity:
The 10X rule - Give people 10 times of what you want to ask them for. Do things without expectations and add value before you ask for anything.
The Money Feeling Rule - How do you feel when you close your eyes and think about money? Reflect on think about the postive and negative associations you have with money and see if it is aligned with what you really want from money.
The Ownership Rule - You can become rich with a salary too. If you have worked at a company long enough then try to find ways to own a small part of the company by showing that you are an invaluable asset to the growth in the long run.
The First Customer Marketing Rule - In business referral and retentions are a key parameter of success. Act like your first customer will be your only customer. Then give them a great experience with your product or service so that they recommend you to the next customer. This is the best form of marketing!
Thank you for reading this edition of #EducationCoffee. I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (64 past newsletters). You can subscribe to this newsletter for more such recommendations on people, ideas and culture.
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com, Linkedin or on twitter @AbhishekShetty_. You can find my work online at https://abhishekshetty.carrd.co/. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below. I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty