I met Gukesh, Anirudh & Kaber

Hey Reader!

Hey Beyonder! 👋

You know how some weeks feel like months? This was the opposite.

Seven days that moved so fast I'm still trying to catch my breath.

I met three people who completely shifted how I see the world. And somehow, one of those conversations happened with the World Chess Champion.

Yeah, I'm still processing that too.

It Started Over Coffee

Monday morning. Bask Café. I'm sitting across from Vignesh, a guy who not only invests in startups but also founded his own company to solve bigger problems.

What I thought would be a quick chat turned into two hours of my brain getting completely rewired.

He drops this line that's been haunting me ever since:

We're talking about thinking bigger. Not just helping people who want jobs, but people who desperately need them. How every small decision creates ripples across an entire economy.

I walked out of that café feeling like someone had just handed me a new pair of glasses.

Fun fact: We actually had him on our roundtable podcast recently.

Then the Domino Effect Kicked In

That Monday conversation set something in motion. Like the first domino falling, everything that followed felt connected.

Wednesday: Amazon Prime wants to collaborate again (Still wild that brands I actually use want to work with me.) After Monday's talk about serving others, I approached it differently - This time, we're focusing even more on what we can give to the audience.

 Friday Night: Kaber Vasuki's concert. Watching him command that room through storytelling, I kept thinking about Vignesh's words. This is what serving looks like - creating something people genuinely need.

Saturday: I meet Anirudh. Yes, that Anirudh. The guy whose songs have been the background music to half my life. Standing there, I realized how his music has served millions of emotional moments.

Sunday: I'm sitting across from Gukesh, asking questions to someone who just became the youngest World Chess Champion in history. That's when it hit me - every meaningful moment this week happened because I started thinking differently after that Monday coffee.

The Interview That Changed Everything

Let me be honest - I was terrified.

I spent the entire weekend crafting questions, knowing how precious his time was. Every word had to matter. Every question had to count.

But here's what nobody tells you about big moments: they don't feel exciting when they're happening. They feel overwhelming.

Twenty minutes in, something shifted. Gukesh wasn't just answering questions - he was genuinely engaged. He treated our conversation with the same care I was putting into it.

That's when I realized: all that preparation mattered, but what mattered more was showing up as myself.

The Thread That Connects Everything

Looking back, there's a pattern I couldn't see while living it.

Every meaningful moment this week happened because I said yes to something that felt slightly too big for me.

Coffee with Vignesh? I almost canceled because I felt under-qualified.

The Gukesh interview? I spent days wondering if my questions were even good enough.

But Vignesh's words kept echoing: when you focus on serving others instead of protecting yourself, everything shifts.

When I stopped worrying about looking smart and started focusing on asking questions that would genuinely help people understand Gukesh's journey, the conversation flowed.

Speaking of conversations that flow - we just dropped a new roundtable podcast episode that I'm really excited about.

What This Actually Means

I started creating content with zero plan. Just curiosity about what would happen if I shared my thoughts online.

That tiny decision somehow led me to interview one of the most brilliant minds in the world.

Your small starts matter more than you think.

That idea you're sitting on? That project you keep pushing to "someday"? It might be the thread that leads somewhere you can't even imagine right now.

The key isn't being ready. It's showing up anyway.

Your Turn

This week's challenge: Take one action you've been avoiding because it feels overwhelming. Start smaller than you think you need to. Just start.

Hit reply and tell me - I genuinely love hearing these stories.

Keep showing up,
Epaphra

P.S. August is going to be insane on YouTube. We're putting everything into this next phase. And yes, that Gukesh interview is coming soon - still can't believe it actually happened!