Kate has always wanted a German Shepherd, but I thought we should have a baby first, so she joked that she'd tell me she was pregnant by bringing home a German Shepherd puppy.
In the second week of 2024 I walked into the kitchen to find a paper bag with a small stuffed German Shepherd in it, and around its neck a positive pregnancy test. That kicked off preparation for the biggest event of the year, the birth of our son, Theo. More on that later. A lot more happened this year.
The power of a 'project'
Of all the things I learned this year, my favorite was discovering the focusing, driving, and purpose-giving power of turning a practice into a project.
I've been taking photos for 20 years, but with little intention. I wanted something more, a story to tell, something cohesive to work on and show, so I started a daily practice, to take a picture of a different person every day - a portrait a day.
A lot grew out of that seed. I got to know the baristas in my neighborhood, I met people while traveling, I got very comfortable with my camera, and I built a photo gallery for my website which I kept improving and use for other things like my photo diary.
By far the biggest thing I got out of the project was an ability to talk to anyone. The daily experience of approaching a stranger, telling a quick story, asking for a picture, being prepared for a no but almost always being met with openness - this built up a confidence that the world is more approachable than I had understood. The doors are mostly open, we just need to pick the ones we want to walk through.
I did the project for two full months, published 64 portraits, and it was fun enough that I plan to do it again in 2025.
Timeship 2040
Immediately after the portraits project ended, I got called back to Toronto to clean out 5 boxes I had left behind when I moved to work on Venmo in 2010. What I found brought me to tears: good bye letters from high school friends, prints from my first film camera, birthday cards from my childhood, my 'Post Bali spring break 2001' mixtape.
Reliving those memories with the people involved was delightful so I figured that now, on the cusp of a big life change and big changes in the world, it might be fun to pull together another time capsule with contributions from friends and to plan a moment in the far future to get together and reminisce.
Friends, family, Kate, and I added drawings, letters, and many sealed packages into a chest of goodies that is sealed and locked and sitting in the basement, to be opened in 15 years, in the summer of 2040.
However you would normally do things, consider the opposite
I went to Costa Rica for the third year in a row, and continued to approach surfing, an objectively difficult thing to learn, the same way I had approached it the last two times: poorly. I rented a board, went out in the morning, and...mostly hung out, intimidated by the better surfers, unsure of my timing, unsure which waves to catch.
On the very last day of the trip, my friend Jack insisted that I paddle out with him and his instructor. I almost didn't and what a loss that would have been. The instructor told me I wasn't far off from the next leap and showed me just enough to help me catch a beautiful wave and ride it and turn, a clearly different experience than in all the days before it.
Learning hard things is hard, and sometimes it requires guidance, and for whatever reason (I have a couple of guesses) I was hesitant to take that obvious step. That was the first nudge pushing me to out of well-worn grooves.
Fort Greene mornings
Almost every morning this summer, the first thing I did was bike over to Fort Greene park, get a coffee, and sit and chat for an hour with my dear friend Vinny. Like living in a village in Italy, or being 70 years old in your home town. Predictable, comforting, wonderful.
There's so much magic to unlock by living close to your friends and family, and importantly, being open to connecting in this small, casual, regular way.
23 years later, finally home 🇺🇸
I went up to the top of the World Trade Center in my first week in America. Two weeks later, right after my parents dropped me off at college and flew home, 9/11 happened. The freewheeling American spirit I grew up watching on TV briefly dimmed, but despite the manias and panics of the 23 years since then, America remains the greatest country I've lived in, and this year I could finally call it my own.
One year ago our son was barely an idea
Exactly one year ago, our child was just a dream in our minds, and about the size of a poppy seed inside Kate. Today he stretches and smiles when we wake him up, has babbling convos with mama, and is getting the hang of using his hands.
I can't give Kate enough gratitude and credit for all the things she did over the year to prepare herself and our home for him. She prepared logistically (systems developed, tools acquired), philosophically (values discussed, mindset practiced), and physically (miles and miles walked, over 15 miles the weekend before he came).
On my end I did a great job making the call to go to the hospital when we did and driving extra smooth amidst her soul-piercing screams (I have a recording), making it there just in time for him to pop out (she was 8 cm dilated when we checked in). I also played the photojournalist and captured every step of the birthing process (while Simone, our doula, spoke into her ear) and have a vivid reminder available of how shocking and raw childbirth is.
Parenthood feels right
Fatherhood was easily the biggest experience of the year, and I wrote a piece about it that I think captures some of the significance and beauty for me: The surreal magnificence of fatherhood.
I expected this would be the case: parenthood feels right and good to me. I love that we've gone from being a couple to being a family. I love seeing Kate as a mother; I sometimes stop to take in how beautiful she is as she sweetly talks to Theo while they're playing, or how capable she is while learning and explaining a new idea she's going to try with him. She's all she ever was and more.
I've also loved seeing our parents and our friends interacting with Theo and imagining Theo growing up around them. He will learn from and live with this extended family for a lot of his life and I sometimes imagine the weight and magic of that potential in their meeting.
The Masters delivered
Kate and I have been watching tennis together for a few years and live tennis shows you the power, finesse, and stamina required in a way that TV cannot, so we wanted to see a great tournament live. Indian Wells near Joshua Tree was the first plan, but it turned out to be cheaper and way more exciting to fly over to the fanciest country club we've ever seen to watch the Monte Carlo Masters on the edge of the Mediterrean Sea.
We caught all four quarterfinals, saw our favs win their matches, and drove around Provence the days before and spent two weeks in Paris afterwards.
It was in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, near the Verdon Gorge, that we met a friendly shopkeeper and an idea clicked in both our minds when he told us his name: Theodore.
The Maven marketplace took off
On the work front, I hit 4 years at Maven (my company) a lot of the team has been together for 3 years, our marketplace is just over 2 years old, and things are clearly working. We might have been in the doldrums a year and half ago, but this year we decisively were not.
Legit people are quitting their jobs to teach full time on Maven, multiple instructors have made millions, many make hundreds of thousands a year, the marketplace is vibrant, and I even took my first course.
I spend a lot of time thinking about how small teams can be great, self-organizing, creative, and hold themselves to high standards, and we keep getting better at this.
All the small things
Ideas cemented
- I broke a 20 year old habit, one I've tried to break many times. Didn't do it once in all of 2024.
- "If there's something I will eventually do, can I try it now?" I ask myself this all the time.
- Sometimes the better option is right there for the taking, it just takes a little thought and action.
- I feel closer to my parents than ever thanks to Theo and the two months they spent helping us with him. Any chance I get to spend time with them, I will take it.
Done and made
- Helped Kortina shoot a 6 minute documentary on SaveArtSpace for the One Day Doc competition. He writes about it here.
- Updated my website's homepage from v1 to a photo forward v2.
- Designed a stylized hindi "Shrey" and got a stamp made at this little old shop in the East Village.
- Designed but didn't print these stickers that say in big letters: "Entrepreneurial capitalism works". And optionally in small letters: "ya lazy fuck". It's a message you just don't see enough out on the streets.
- Sprouted and grew an avocado from a seed to a little plant. Thanks to Dante for the vase.
Media enjoyed
- Anna Karenina: Tolstoy understands and conveys the inner workings of humans so crisply and vividly that 19th century Russian aristocrats feel perfectly relatable.
- Red Mars: A deep and multi-century long look at the terraforming of Mars. The first in a trilogy.
- The Prize: The history of any important thing is a history of the world. This is a history of oil and all the fascinating people, technologies, and politics involved from 1870 to 1990.
- Understanding Michael Porter: A deep and simple (but not simplistic) look at competition and strategy. Good reading for any founder.
- I like to read 5 books at a time with one book in every room. I recommend buying way more books than you'll ever read, just so one is available for any mood and moment. I don't recommend finishing all books.
- Mad Men is also a history show, and a fashion show, and a dozen great character studies, and so damn good, but also the last show I'll watch for a while (all of 2025?) - shows take up so much time.
- Honorable mention to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which I was obsessed with for about 45 days and played it every single night, then dropped cold turkey and haven't turned my XBox on since.
Photos galleried
- My photo diary is a great way to keep up with Theo
- I've been collecting pictures of work trucks, an art form of their own, and a testament to "quantity has a quality of its own"
- The latest in the series of doors: Doors of Merida, taken during Maven's winter offsite in the Yucatan
- I also put up the first in the series, from my hometown in 2017: Doors of Jodhpur
- And Doors of Marrakech, taken on Socratic's last offsite also in 2017
2025
Looking ahead, the one big idea I hope to look back and say was true for 2025 was that I found it "easier to do more than less".
A lot has to go into this: managing time and energy, knowing when to rev-up and rev-down, reducing the time between thought and action, leaning on others, and always, accepting the cards that are dealt and playing them as best as I can.
Beyond that, I prefer to report on things once they've happened, so now is the time for doing.
Much love,
Shreyans
Brooklyn, January 8, 2025
