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Santosh Navlani
Fintech Entrepreneur & COO, ET Money
Santosh Navlani is an accomplished entrepreneur and start-up specialist with a strong focus on Consumer Internet. He possesses a diverse skill set that encompasses various aspects of business development, product strategy, customer development, marketing, CRM, fund-raising, and team building. Currently, Santosh is utilizing his expertise as an intrapreneur at DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund, overseeing digital initiatives within an established and successful business landscape. His previous experience includes co-founding moneysights.com, a fintech start-up that was later acquired by Times Internet, as well as holding key roles at prominent companies like InMobi and burrp.com. Santosh's specialties lie in converting concepts into marketable products, expanding product reach via strategic maneuvers, implementing business automation solutions, and excelling in loyalty marketing and CRM.
Highlights
𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.
It's a tough reality, but what amuses me is when investors adopt the language and terms of investment sellers to discuss returns, losing sight of the proper lens for evaluating investments. 🔎
But here's the thing: By not using the proper evaluation lens, we increase the likelihood of achieving sub-optimal returns. 👎
Wouldn't it be more sensible to compare returns using a standardized metric? Something like compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) or XIRR?🎯
𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧:
Mutual Funds always communicate their returns as CAGR. Never absolute gains. If done at all, it's accompanied by a CAGR so as to not misguide.
When real estate brokers sell you the idea of investing in an apartment - they communicate selectively about the most appreciated properties, rarely with reference to the time period in which the money was gained. 🏡
It will not be wrong to say that a gold jeweler sells the same way!
Insurance agents pitch scenarios like "Invest X amount and receive 1.5/1.8/2X after Y years for Z years, always focussing on income guarantees.
Whereas, a stock brokerage app never presents the actual returns that real customers have consistently achieved. Instead, they focus on selling past successful ideas, highlighting long-term gains in NIFTY/SENSEX, and attempting to convert you into a habitual trader. 💹
Banks on the other hand communicate the interest rate on fixed deposits (FD) as an annual return, regardless of the investment duration. However, depositors actually receive a compounded annual return. 🏧
𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤, 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲?
Simply put, the gain is an appreciation in price over one's purchase price. Returns, on the other hand, are a more intricate concept that involves various complexities. Even finance wizards need a calculator for finding the CAGR.
When you start looking at every investment with the same method for return evaluation, you won't fall into the traps of an investment product seller.
Next time someone pitches you an investment product, make sure to have the CAGR calculator from ET Money. It's a handy tool that can be accessed whenever you need it. 💯 💰
In 2013, a major portion of my savings started dwindling. And that portion of my savings wasn't something I could afford to lose. The worst part - it was entirely my fault. ✋
Just three years before this happened, everything went as planned. In fact, it turned out to be better than I had expected.
I started investing in equities soon after the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, hoping to make a killing. In the next two years, made decent returns. 💰
By the end of 2010, I cashed out of equities and parked the money in my bank account.
I also stayed clear of equities as markets were not expected to do well in 2011. Even this turned out to be a good decision, as that year was terrible for equities.
My confidence was sky-high. 🚀
Some time in 2012, as a family we were inclined to buy a house. I had planned to use these savings as a down payment. 🏘
As the money was sitting idle in the bank account, I had parked it in Liquid Funds, where I could make better returns than a savings bank account interest rate.
But then I got a little adventurous. This is where I was wrong. I was overconfident and naïve.
👉 My Overconfidence
All of 2011, the RBI kept hiking policy rates. Inflation was high, and the central bank had no choice. Towards the end of that year, inflation showed some signs of easing.
There was chatter that the RBI would cut rates. Even the government asked RBI to lower policy rates to help in economic growth. If interest rates fall, debt funds that play interest rate cycles are expected to give better returns. It was a no-brainer.
👉 My Naive Side
I believed there are only three kinds of debt funds—safe, safer and safest. I wasn't financially literate enough to think debt funds could give negative returns for an extended period of time or can erode some portion of my principal investment too.
I went ahead and invested in a Dynamic Bond Fund.
In 2012, there was only one rate cut and this worked in favour of Dynamic Bond Funds. I made more returns than fixed deposits.
But then came 2013. Instead of reducing rates, RBI started increasing them. Most of my alpha (returns) evaporated. This went on for four straight months.
As an investor, it's tough to not assume one's notional gains as real ones. And I was no different.
I agonized over the decision for both reasons - losing alpha and as well as doing so much leg work to ultimately feel so let down by the moves I made.
I didn't know what to do.
Finally, I decided to give it one more month. If it didn't improve, I would cut my greed and exit.
Luckily, it did improve.
I exited the fund as soon as I recovered some part of the lost alpha.
Those few months were hard, but I learnt my lesson.
Since then, I have never invested in debt funds chasing returns. ❌
That year, I realized debt fund investments are for 'return of principal' – not 'return on the principal'. ✔
And post that I made a decision to not play interest rate cycle on my short-term money ever again.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
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Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
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