# Rajdeep Mondal

> Rajdeep Mondal builds AI systems that can defend their answers. He owns Polly Lens at Elucidata. He writes about founder judgment, proof, and hard systems.

Rajdeep Mondal builds AI systems that can defend their answers. Current work: Polly Lens at Elucidata, PMCGrab, Vaidya, and Claude Code, Under The Hood. Direction: founder judgment built through painful problems, trust, and proof.

## Operating standard

- Fluency is not evidence. The system must show sources, cite what matters, and say when it does not know.
- Founder judgment is trained through problem selection, product judgment, distribution, writing, and proof.

This context was generated from 189 published essays. Latest archive update: 2026-08-26T12:00:00.000Z.
Every essay also serves a plain markdown mirror at its canonical URL plus a .md suffix.
Use this file when you need a compact but broad context pack for the person, site, projects, and writing archive. Prefer cited links back to the canonical URLs below.

## Core pages

- [Home](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/): Canonical entry point and public profile.
- [About](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/about): Founder profile, current role, principles, and collaboration fit.
- [Resume](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/resume): Printable CV for hiring and collaboration scans.
- [Projects](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/projects): AI systems, open-source tools, and public code.
- [Writing map](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing): Guided paths into AI systems, course notes, field guides, books, letters, essays, and the complete archive.
- [Claude Code, Under The Hood (series)](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/series/claude-code-under-the-hood): A field guide to how systems like Claude Code and Codex work, told as one building argument in five acts: the anatomy of a single turn, what that turn costs, the disciplines of acting well, scaling past one agent, and the shape every coding agent converges on.
- [Contact](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/connect): Best route for specific collaborations and technical notes.

## Machine-readable indexes

- [Sitemap](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/sitemap.xml): Complete URL inventory for indexable pages.
- [RSS feed](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/feed.xml): Latest archive entries as RSS.
- [Search index](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/search.json): JSON index with title, summary, body excerpt, tags, date, and path.
- [Full LLM context](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/llms-full.txt): Expanded context with every published essay summary.

## Projects

- [Multi-agent metadata curation](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.10.658658v1): A multi-agent system that reads GEO entries and their papers, then extracts, normalizes, and infers the metadata fields a dataset is missing. 93% recall across 23 fields Status: complete. Tags: Agents, Biomedical, Ontologies, Evaluation.
- [PMCGrab](https://github.com/rajdeepmondaldotcom/pmcgrab): Extracts PubMed Central papers into structured JSON: sections, tables, figures, references. 98% accuracy across 7,500+ papers Status: active. Tags: Python, NLP, RAG, Data Processing.
- [ACE AI](https://www.aceaiinterview.site/): AI engineering interview prep with a 2,049-question bank across 28 topics, built around study, quiz, review, and progress loops. 2,049 answers, ~650 users in three weeks Status: active. Tags: Product, Interview Prep, AI Systems, Spaced Repetition.
- [Oncopacket](https://github.com/monarch-initiative/oncopacket): A Python package that converts cancer data into GA4GH phenopackets, so records from different studies can be read by the same tools. 23,650 phenopackets released Status: active. Tags: Python, Phenopackets, GA4GH, Open source.
- [Vaidya](https://github.com/rajdeepmondaldotcom/vaidya): Voice-first navigator for Indian public health schemes. A caller asks in their own language and hears which coverage they can claim. 23 languages, near-zero false positives Status: active. Tags: Voice, Multilingual, Public Health, Agents.
- [Caliper](https://github.com/rajdeepmondaldotcom/caliper): Local-first analytics for AI coding spend. It reads Codex CLI and Claude Code logs on disk, prices usage at API rates, and breaks cost down by project, PR, model, and session. $200 plan, ~$8.5K of work a month Status: active. Tags: Python, CLI, Cost Analytics, Local-first.
- [WHOOP MCP Server](https://github.com/rajdeepmondaldotcom/whoop-mcp-server): Read-only MCP server that connects WHOOP records to Claude, ChatGPT, and other MCP clients so health and training questions are answered from computed data. 24 WHOOP tools plus prompts and resources Status: active. Tags: MCP, Health Data, Python, OAuth.

## Published essays

- [Employee-Led Content: The Whole System](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/employee-led-content): Summary: The company page is the weakest publishing asset a company owns. This is the whole system for publishing through your people instead, with the gates, the cost, and the kill criteria. Published 2026-08-26T12:00:00.000Z. 27 min read. Tags: content, distribution, startups, writing, hiring, sales. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/employee-led-content.md
- [Luck Is an Engineering Problem](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/luck-is-an-engineering-problem): Summary: Wiseman's newspaper experiment, and the three controls behind what people call luck. Published 2026-08-20T12:00:00.000Z. 16 min read. Tags: mental-models, decision-making, self-improvement. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/luck-is-an-engineering-problem.md
- [Advertising Is a Volume Game](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/advertising-is-a-volume-game): Summary: Hormozi's lead machine: four channels, a volume floor, and a ratio that gates the spend. Published 2026-08-14T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, distribution. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/advertising-is-a-volume-game.md
- [Predictable Beats Heroic](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/predictable-beats-heroic): Summary: Aaron Ross built the pipeline machine inside Salesforce, and the machine transfers to a founder's desk. Published 2026-08-09T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, founder-sales, sales-systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/predictable-beats-heroic.md
- [Charge More, Collect Sooner](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/charge-more-collect-sooner): Summary: Hormozi's offer and money books as one argument about price and thirty days of cash. Published 2026-08-04T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, pricing. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/charge-more-collect-sooner.md
- [The Founder Sales Playbook](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-founder-sales-playbook): Summary: Kazanjy's formula for founder selling, run until the motion survives being handed over. Published 2026-07-29T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, founder-sales, sales-systems, b2b. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-founder-sales-playbook.md
- [Terms Outrank Valuation](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/terms-outrank-valuation): Summary: Feld and Mendelson read the term sheet the way the investors who wrote it read it, clause by clause. Published 2026-07-24T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, finance, negotiation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/terms-outrank-valuation.md
- [Profit Is an Estimate](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/profit-is-an-estimate): Summary: Berman and Knight on why the bottom line is an opinion, cash is a fact, and one assumption moves profit by half. Published 2026-07-17T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, finance, startups, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/profit-is-an-estimate.md
- [Prepare Until Thinking Is Optional](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/prepare-until-thinking-is-optional): Summary: Tim Grover trained Jordan and Kobe for two decades, and the usable chapter is about decisions. Published 2026-07-12T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, mental-models, decision-making, habits. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/prepare-until-thinking-is-optional.md
- [Crossing the Chasm](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/crossing-the-chasm-why-good-products-still-lose): Summary: Moore's adoption rooms, and the beachhead that gets you past the pragmatists' gate. Published 2026-07-07T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, go-to-market, positioning, market-adoption. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/crossing-the-chasm-why-good-products-still-lose.md
- [Three Seats Beat One Genius](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/three-seats-beat-one-genius): Summary: Isaacson's history of computing, where every advance needed the same three seats filled in one room. Published 2026-07-02T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, management, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/three-seats-beat-one-genius.md
- [Narrow Until the Numbers Work](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/narrow-until-the-numbers-work): Summary: Bill Aulet builds a startup backward from one paying customer in twenty-four steps. Published 2026-06-25T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, product, sales. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/narrow-until-the-numbers-work.md
- [Separate the Bet From the Result](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/separate-the-bet-from-the-result): Summary: Annie Duke grades decisions the way poker does, before the result arrives to lie. Published 2026-06-20T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, decision-making, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/separate-the-bet-from-the-result.md
- [Storytellers Get Paid First](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/storytellers-get-paid-first): Summary: On why new fields pay for stories first, and building yours like a system. Published 2026-06-14T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: startups, mental-models, storytelling. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/storytellers-get-paid-first.md
- [Momentum Beats the Big Bet](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/momentum-beats-the-big-bet): Summary: Jim Collins screened 1,435 companies and found eleven that turned, all the same way. Published 2026-06-09T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, leadership, management. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/momentum-beats-the-big-bet.md
- [Price Before You Build](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/dont-build-first-and-price-later): Summary: Simon-Kucher's method: price the product while the roadmap can still hear the answer. Published 2026-06-02T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, pricing, product-strategy, monetization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/dont-build-first-and-price-later.md
- [Permissionless Beats Permissioned](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/permissionless-beats-permissioned): Summary: Naval on wealth without permission: equity, specific knowledge, and a name you sign. Published 2026-05-28T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, mental-models, decision-making, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/permissionless-beats-permissioned.md
- [The Shape Coding Agents Converge On](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-shape-coding-agents-converge-on): Summary: Every serious coding agent is converging on one shape. The same hard limits force the same parts, whatever brand sits on the front. Build the ring around the model, because the ring is where the value stays. Published 2026-05-24. 5 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-shape-coding-agents-converge-on.md
- [Draw Before You Decide](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/draw-before-you-decide): Summary: Osterwalder's canvas puts a business model on one page where a team can argue with it. Published 2026-05-23T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, startups, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/draw-before-you-decide.md
- [Feature Gates Show The Product Pressure](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/feature-gates-show-the-product-pressure): Summary: The switched-off corners of Claude Code reach for one kind of work. It outlives the prompt, runs far away, remembers, plans, and shares. Every corner builds from parts the earlier ideas already named. That reuse is the clue worth reading. Published 2026-05-22. 5 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/feature-gates-show-the-product-pressure.md
- [Everything Is Pluggable](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/everything-is-pluggable): Summary: Six rings snap onto a core that never moves. Around two dozen named moments in a session hand control to your own code. Every piece carries a tag naming where it came from. Published 2026-05-20. 6 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/everything-is-pluggable.md
- [Match Quality Beats a Head Start](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/match-quality-beats-a-head-start): Summary: David Epstein against the head start, wherever the feedback is slow and the rules hide. Published 2026-05-18T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, mental-models, decision-making, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/match-quality-beats-a-head-start.md
- [The Right Primitive](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-right-primitive): Summary: Five primitives carry every behavior you add to a coding agent: hook, command, skill, tool, subagent. They line up by weight. Ask the questions lightest first and take the first yes. Name that primitive in one sentence before you build. Published 2026-05-18. 5 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-right-primitive.md
- [Subagents Turn The CLI Into A Small Scheduler](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/subagents-turn-the-cli-into-a-small-scheduler): Summary: A subagent is a scoped runtime. It carries its own tools, its own permission, its own transcript, and often its own workspace. It can run in the background while you work. The scope you set before dispatch decides whether it helps. Published 2026-05-16. 6 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/subagents-turn-the-cli-into-a-small-scheduler.md
- [Done Means Verified](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/done-means-verified): Summary: "Done" is the most expensive word an agent can say without proof. The words sound the same whether the change works or fails. Treat "done" as a claim until a check runs the part that changed. Published 2026-05-14. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/done-means-verified.md
- [Arithmetic Beats Patience](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/arithmetic-beats-patience): Summary: MJ DeMarco against the forty-year retirement plan, with the arithmetic that breaks it. Published 2026-05-13T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, finance, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/arithmetic-beats-patience.md
- [The Agent Is Built To Fail Well](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-agent-is-built-to-fail-well): Summary: Every break in a coding agent gets a named repair. A blip gets a retry, a long answer gets more room, an overflowing prompt gets trimmed. When every repair fails, the turn stops and says why. Trust lives in that clean stop. Published 2026-05-12. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-agent-is-built-to-fail-well.md
- [Staying In Control](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/staying-in-control): Summary: Autonomy is worth handing over only when you can take it back. Every other control rests on one brake the agent cannot refuse. Your input lands at the next safe point between steps, so a redirect never breaks the run. Published 2026-05-10. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/staying-in-control.md
- [Reading A Codebase It Has Never Seen](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/reading-an-unfamiliar-codebase): Summary: The first job in an unfamiliar codebase is to stop being lost, cheaply. Read the names, then search, then open a file. Each step costs more than the one before it, so judge an agent by how few files it opens. Published 2026-05-08. 5 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/reading-an-unfamiliar-codebase.md
- [Traction Comes Before the Pitch](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/traction-trumps-everything): Summary: Weinberg and Mares give distribution the same rigor founders reserve for product, five steps at a time. Published 2026-05-07T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, traction, distribution, startup-strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/traction-trumps-everything.md
- [Thinking Is Cheaper Than Doing](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/thinking-is-cheaper-than-doing): Summary: Some of what an agent does is reversible and costs nothing to redo. The rest sets, and a mistake there costs a cleanup. Spend everything you can in the cheap half. Review the plan before the agent crosses. Published 2026-05-06. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/thinking-is-cheaper-than-doing.md
- [Memory After The Laptop Closes](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/memory-after-the-laptop-closes): Summary: Memory is the part I got wrong first. I reached for a bigger window. The fix was a small diary, gated at every page. Judge a memory system by what it refuses to write down, and by how it tears out a wrong note. Published 2026-05-04. 5 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/memory-after-the-laptop-closes.md
- [Many Models Beat One](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/many-models-beat-one): Summary: Munger's latticework, the misjudgment list, and the Coca-Cola talk run as one argument. Published 2026-05-02T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, mental-models, decision-making, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/many-models-beat-one.md
- [Why It Feels Fast](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/why-it-feels-fast): Summary: A slow agent can still feel fast. You build that gap out of three moves. Stream each word as it lands, run the independent chores together. Start the next tool before the message ends. Latency is a product decision. Published 2026-05-02. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/why-it-feels-fast.md
- [The Prompt Is An Economy](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-prompt-is-an-economy): Summary: The model reuses the prompt from the front and stops at the first change. Part order sets the bill and the speed. Put the steady parts first and the new message last, and most of a turn comes back free. Published 2026-04-30. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-prompt-is-an-economy.md
- [Context Is Managed, Not Infinite](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/context-is-managed-not-infinite): Summary: For a long time I wanted a bigger window. The wish was wrong. A window is a budget with a hard edge, and Claude Code defends it early. It drops duplicate reads, defers rare tools, and folds the rest into one note. Published 2026-04-28. 6 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/context-is-managed-not-infinite.md
- [Permissions Are A Runtime, Not A Popup](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/permissions-are-a-runtime-not-a-popup): Summary: The runtime decides whether a tool runs, with a ladder of rules and then a race between answerers. Whatever the ladder does not settle falls to the race: you, a hook, an automatic check, or a phone. The first answer wins. Published 2026-04-26. 6 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/permissions-are-a-runtime-not-a-popup.md
- [Your Creditor Sets Your Growth Rate](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/your-creditor-sets-your-growth-rate): Summary: Phil Knight grew Nike broke for eighteen years, and picking the right lender was the whole strategy. Published 2026-04-25T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, finance, management. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/your-creditor-sets-your-growth-rate.md
- [The Tool System Is The Product](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-tool-system-is-the-product): Summary: A tool is a contract the runtime checks before anything runs. The contract fixes the input, the safety, the rule that decides, and the shape of the result. It fixes what later calls can count on. The order of those checks is the product. Published 2026-04-24. 7 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-tool-system-is-the-product.md
- [The System Prompt Is The Agent's Worldview](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-system-prompt-is-the-agents-worldview): Summary: An agent is a model plus a worldview you reinstall on every turn. That worldview is the real programming, and it arrives as one briefing card. A line earns its place on that card only by changing a decision the agent makes. Published 2026-04-22. 4 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-system-prompt-is-the-agents-worldview.md
- [The Save Is Already In The Building](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-save-is-already-in-the-building): Summary: Thirty-two founder interviews, one repeating pattern, and the pivot sitting in plain sight. Published 2026-04-20T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, product, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-save-is-already-in-the-building.md
- [Claude Code Is A State Machine](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/claude-code-is-a-state-machine): Summary: Claude Code is a machine that loops through model calls and tool results. It stops at one of a fixed list of endings. It reads what came back rather than the label on it. Hold that picture and the rest gets simpler. Published 2026-04-20. 6 min read. Tags: Agents, Claude Code, AI Systems. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/claude-code-is-a-state-machine.md
- [The Refused Test Is the Finding](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-refused-test-is-the-finding): Summary: Bad Blood, read as a checklist of the cheap verifications Theranos refused, one counterparty at a time. Published 2026-04-15T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, decision-making, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-refused-test-is-the-finding.md
- [The Pitch Is a State Change](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-pitch-is-a-state-change-not-a-speech): Summary: Klaff's frames and flash rolls, built for the twenty minutes a buyer gives you before deciding anything. Published 2026-04-10T12:00:00.000Z. 8 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, pitching, persuasion, enterprise-sales. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-pitch-is-a-state-change-not-a-speech.md
- [Own More of Less](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/own-more-of-less): Summary: Rand Fishkin took the venture path, published the ledger, and did the arithmetic in public. Published 2026-04-05T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, finance, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/own-more-of-less.md
- [Direction Beats Diligence](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/direction-beats-diligence): Summary: Richard Hamming taught a course on doing important work, with the arithmetic attached. Published 2026-03-29T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, mental-models, habits, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/direction-beats-diligence.md
- [Manage for the Bad Case](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/manage-for-the-bad-case): Summary: Ben Horowitz wrote the management book for the quarter where the plan is dead and the layoff is yours. Published 2026-03-24T12:00:00.000Z. 12 min read. Tags: books, management, leadership, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/manage-for-the-bad-case.md
- [Cap the Downside, Keep the Option](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/cap-the-downside-keep-the-option): Summary: Taleb's case for the barbell: cap the loss, keep the open upside, and stop paying for forecasts. Published 2026-03-18T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, mental-models, decision-making, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/cap-the-downside-keep-the-option.md
- [Stop Pitching](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stop-pitching-start-learning-the-truth): Summary: The Mom Test's discipline for founders: collect the facts a polite stranger cannot fake, then pitch. Published 2026-03-13T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: books, startups, sales, founder-sales, customer-discovery, validation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stop-pitching-start-learning-the-truth.md
- [Low Margin Is a Moat](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/low-margin-is-a-moat): Summary: Brad Stone on the margin Amazon refused to take, the debt that financed it, and who carried the difference. Published 2026-03-06T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, pricing, finance. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/low-margin-is-a-moat.md
- [Culture Is What You Pay For](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/culture-is-what-you-pay-for): Summary: Uber's collapse as an incentive audit, from the review form to the boardroom coup. Published 2026-03-01T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, management, leadership. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/culture-is-what-you-pay-for.md
- [The Standard Comes Before the Score](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-standard-comes-before-the-score): Summary: Bill Walsh rebuilt a 2-14 team by writing the standard first, and the book prices what it cost him. Published 2026-02-23T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, leadership, management, habits. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-standard-comes-before-the-score.md
- [Cheap Tests Beat Forecasts](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/cheap-tests-beat-forecasts): Summary: Marc Randolph tested the idea that became Netflix with a used CD, an envelope, and a 32-cent stamp. Published 2026-02-18T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, product, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/cheap-tests-beat-forecasts.md
- [Systems Beat Willpower](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/systems-beat-willpower): Summary: James Clear on identity as the layer that carries a habit through the week when motivation stays home. Published 2026-02-11T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, habits, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/systems-beat-willpower.md
- [Mechanisms Outlive Intentions](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/mechanisms-outlive-intentions): Summary: How Amazon replaced good intentions with machinery, from six-pagers to one-way doors. Published 2026-02-06T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, decision-making, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/mechanisms-outlive-intentions.md
- [Dayara Bugyal: Twenty-One Kilometers, Sixteen Months Later](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/dayara-bugyal-return): Summary: The same twenty-one kilometers sixteen months later, walked as a measurement. Published 2026-02-01T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: trekking, travel, adventure, mountains, growth. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/dayara-bugyal-return.md
- [Fifty Feet Beats a Status Report](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/fifty-feet-beats-a-status-report): Summary: Kelly Johnson ran the Skunk Works on fourteen rules and a tape measure, and Rich prints the receipts. Published 2026-01-27T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, strategy, product. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/fifty-feet-beats-a-status-report.md
- [Your Output Is Your Team's Output](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/your-output-is-your-teams-output): Summary: Andy Grove runs management like a factory, and the one-on-one is the machine that pays eighty hours. Published 2026-01-22T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, leadership, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/your-output-is-your-teams-output.md
- [Name the Job Before You Name the Family](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-the-generative-modeling-view): Summary: Six jobs, six contracts, and the family choice that follows the metric. Published 2026-01-16T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, generative-modeling, vae, gan, sampling. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-the-generative-modeling-view.md
- [The Leader Is the Constraint](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-leader-is-the-constraint): Summary: Multipliers get twice as much from the same people, and Wiseman found the five habits. Published 2026-01-11T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, leadership, management, hiring. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-leader-is-the-constraint.md
- [Exact Likelihood Has a Price in Order and Speed](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-pixelrnn-predicts-an-image-one-piece-at-a-time): Summary: Exact likelihood, paid for in pixel order and sampling speed. Published 2026-01-04T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, pixelrnn, pixelcnn, autoregressive-models, generative-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-pixelrnn-predicts-an-image-one-piece-at-a-time.md
- [Fewer Goals, Scored in Public](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/fewer-goals-scored-in-public): Summary: Doerr's OKR machine, from Grove's Intel to the billion-hour YouTube bet, with the scoring rules intact. Published 2025-12-30T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, strategy, leadership. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/fewer-goals-scored-in-public.md
- [The Old Habits Survive Because the Failure Modes Survive](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-practical-convnet-tips-that-still-matter): Summary: The old habits that survive every architecture because the failures survive too. Published 2025-12-25T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, convnet-tips, training, practical-ml. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-practical-convnet-tips-that-still-matter.md
- [Score the Job Before the Person](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/score-the-job-before-the-person): Summary: Geoff Smart prices a bad hire at fifteen times salary, then hands you the method. Published 2025-12-19T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, hiring, management, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/score-the-job-before-the-person.md
- [Depth Is a Scheduling Decision](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/depth-is-a-scheduling-decision): Summary: Cal Newport prices undefended hours, and the calendar he prescribes is buildable this week. Published 2025-12-14T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, habits, strategy, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/depth-is-a-scheduling-decision.md
- [Adversarial Examples Expose the Gap Between Scores and Sight](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-adversarial-examples-expose-the-gap-between-scores-and-sight): Summary: Training gradients turned against the model, and defenses that need named attackers. Published 2025-12-07T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, adversarial-examples, robustness, security. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-adversarial-examples-expose-the-gap-between-scores-and-sight.md
- [Ruinous Empathy Costs the Most](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/ruinous-empathy-costs-the-most): Summary: Kim Scott on the kindness that ruins careers, and the two-minute habit that replaces it. Published 2025-12-02T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, leadership, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/ruinous-empathy-costs-the-most.md
- [Adding People Makes It Later](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/adding-people-makes-it-later): Summary: Brooks measured why software runs late, and fifty years on every manager still argues with him. Published 2025-11-26T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, product, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/adding-people-makes-it-later.md
- [NeRF Learns a Scene as a Function](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-nerf-learns-a-scene-as-a-function): Summary: A scene stored as a queryable function, supervised by photographs alone. Published 2025-11-21T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, nerf, 3d-vision, rendering. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-nerf-learns-a-scene-as-a-function.md
- [Every Rung Is a Different Job](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/every-rung-is-a-different-job): Summary: Camille Fournier's ladder, where each promotion retires the skills that earned it. Published 2025-11-13T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, leadership, hiring. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/every-rung-is-a-different-job.md
- [Generative Models Learn the Shape of the Data](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-generative-models-learn-the-shape-of-the-data): Summary: Three families, each buying one property and paying in a fixed direction. Published 2025-11-08T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, generative-models, vae, gan, pixelcnn. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-generative-models-learn-the-shape-of-the-data.md
- [Effectiveness Is a Habit](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/effectiveness-is-a-habit): Summary: Drucker's five practices, written for executives in 1967 and still ahead of most of them. Published 2025-11-02T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, decision-making, habits. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/effectiveness-is-a-habit.md
- [Transformers Turn Attention Into an Architecture](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-transformers-turn-attention-into-an-architecture): Summary: Routing promoted to the backbone, and the recipe that pays for it. Published 2025-10-28T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, transformers, self-attention, vision-transformers. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-transformers-turn-attention-into-an-architecture.md
- [The Owner Is the Discount](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-owner-is-the-discount): Summary: John Warrillow's fable prices what a buyer pays for a business that runs without you. Published 2025-10-21T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, finance, management. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-owner-is-the-discount.md
- [The Cue Outranks the Case](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-cue-outranks-the-case): Summary: Cialdini spent three years undercover in the influence trades and came back with six levers. Published 2025-10-16T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, sales, negotiation, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-cue-outranks-the-case.md
- [Attention Routes Context Instead of Compressing It](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-attention-routes-context-instead-of-compressing-it): Summary: Queries, keys, and values as retrieval, one context per generated word. Published 2025-10-10T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, attention, sequence-modeling, transformers. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-attention-routes-context-instead-of-compressing-it.md
- [The Buyer Must Say It First](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-buyer-must-say-it-first): Summary: Oren Klaff replaces the close with status, a flash roll, and a handed-over decision. Published 2025-10-05T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, sales, negotiation, storytelling. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-buyer-must-say-it-first.md
- [Teach the Buyer Their Own Problem](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/teach-the-buyer-their-own-problem): Summary: SPIN and Challenger, forty-one thousand measured sales calls landing on one finding about teaching. Published 2025-09-30T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, sales, strategy, negotiation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/teach-the-buyer-their-own-problem.md
- [RNNs Remember by Carrying State](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-rnns-remember-by-carrying-state): Summary: One compressed state carried forward, as mechanism and as ceiling. Published 2025-09-24T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, rnn, sequence-modeling, image-captioning, lstm. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-rnns-remember-by-carrying-state.md
- [Context Before Authority](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/context-before-authority): Summary: McChrystal took a task force from eighteen raids a month to three hundred by moving context, then authority. Published 2025-09-19T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, leadership, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/context-before-authority.md
- [Transfer Learning Is Buying a Head Start](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-transfer-learning-is-buying-a-head-start): Summary: Two numbers, dataset size and distance, that set the whole transfer plan. Published 2025-09-12T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, transfer-learning, fine-tuning, pretraining. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-transfer-learning-is-buying-a-head-start.md
- [Stick First, Then Spread](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stick-first-then-spread): Summary: The Heaths on why ideas die in memory, Berger on why they die in transit, run as one system. Published 2025-09-07T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, marketing, storytelling, distribution. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stick-first-then-spread.md
- [Visualizing ConvNets Is Debugging the Representation](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-visualizing-convnets-is-debugging-the-representation): Summary: Probes that catch a model using wrong evidence while you can still act. Published 2025-09-02T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, visualization, interpretability, saliency, cnn. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-visualizing-convnets-is-debugging-the-representation.md
- [Talent Density Is the Policy](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/context-beats-control): Summary: Patty McCord deleted the policies at Netflix and replaced them with adults, context, and honest exits. Published 2025-08-27T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, management, hiring, leadership. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/context-beats-control.md
- [No Starts the Negotiation](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/no-starts-the-negotiation): Summary: Chris Voss negotiated hostages for the FBI, and the method survives a salary call. Published 2025-08-22T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, negotiation, sales, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/no-starts-the-negotiation.md
- [Convolutional Networks Exploit the Shape of Images](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-convolutional-networks-exploit-the-shape-of-images): Summary: Locality and repetition written into the wiring, and what the prior costs. Published 2025-08-15T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, convolutional-networks, cnn, pooling, architecture. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-convolutional-networks-exploit-the-shape-of-images.md
- [Clarity Outsells Beauty](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/clarity-outsells-beauty): Summary: Donald Miller's StoryBrand, where the customer is the hero and the website has five seconds. Published 2025-08-10T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, marketing, storytelling, sales. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/clarity-outsells-beauty.md
- [The Trigger Moves Inside](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-trigger-moves-inside): Summary: Nir Eyal's four-phase hook, from paid trigger to internal habit, with the ethics gate wired on at the end. Published 2025-08-04T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, product, habits, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-trigger-moves-inside.md
- [At Two Dimensions Nothing Hides](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-a-minimal-neural-network-case-study): Summary: A two-dimensional spiral where every failure arrives as a visible shape. Published 2025-07-30T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, case-study, toy-model, softmax. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-a-minimal-neural-network-case-study.md
- [The Prototype Is the Spec](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-prototype-is-the-spec): Summary: Marty Cagan's 2008 manual: prove the product on a prototype before engineering pays for it. Published 2025-07-22T12:00:00.000Z. 12 min read. Tags: books, product, startups, management. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-prototype-is-the-spec.md
- [Training Neural Nets Without Lying to Yourself](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-training-neural-nets-without-lying-to-yourself): Summary: The inspection loop: overfit ten examples before the model earns a dataset. Published 2025-07-17T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, training, hyperparameters, optimizers, evaluation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-training-neural-nets-without-lying-to-yourself.md
- [Run the Plant by Its Constraint](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/run-the-plant-by-its-constraint): Summary: Goldratt's novel about one factory, and the constraint arithmetic that runs far past it. Published 2025-07-11T12:00:00.000Z. 13 min read. Tags: books, management, strategy, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/run-the-plant-by-its-constraint.md
- [Most Training Failures Are Setup Failures](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-data-initialization-normalization-and-regularization): Summary: Five setup choices that make good architectures look broken when they disagree. Published 2025-07-06T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, preprocessing, normalization, dropout, batch-normalization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-data-initialization-normalization-and-regularization.md
- [Start Smaller Than the Market](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/start-smaller-than-the-market): Summary: Andrew Chen on cold starts, from Fresno's credit card drop to Uber's driver math, one atomic network at a time. Published 2025-06-29T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, strategy, distribution. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/start-smaller-than-the-market.md
- [Name the Obstacle First](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/name-the-obstacle-first): Summary: Rumelt separates strategy from its impostors, and most plans do not survive the kernel. Published 2025-06-24T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, decision-making, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/name-the-obstacle-first.md
- [The Battlefield Moved](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/battlefield-moved-yc-ai-camp): Summary: Notes from YC's AI Startup School, where the field moved past chat. Published 2025-06-19T12:00:00.000Z. 18 min read. Tags: ai, startups, agents, technology, founders. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/battlefield-moved-yc-ai-camp.md
- [Neural Networks Are Learned Feature Machines](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-neural-networks-are-learned-feature-machines): Summary: Hidden layers as learned coordinates, defended only by an easier comparison. Published 2025-06-14T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, neural-networks, activations, architecture. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-neural-networks-are-learned-feature-machines.md
- [Search Before You Execute](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/search-before-you-execute): Summary: Steve Blank wrote the discipline the lean movement packaged, with the numbers still in it. Published 2025-06-09T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, product, strategy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/search-before-you-execute.md
- [Backpropagation Is Blame Accounting](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-backpropagation-is-blame-accounting): Summary: The chain rule as bookkeeping, and the three bugs that break it. Published 2025-06-03T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, backpropagation, gradients, chain-rule. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-backpropagation-is-blame-accounting.md
- [Look to the Barrier First](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/look-to-the-barrier-first): Summary: Hamilton Helmer's seven Powers, each a benefit paired with the barrier that protects it. Published 2025-05-29T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, startups. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/look-to-the-barrier-first.md
- [Learn Faster Than Anyone Else](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/learn-faster-than-anyone-else): Summary: Eric Ries, read for the mechanics the slogans shed: cohorts, pivots, and small batches. Published 2025-05-24T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, product, management. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/learn-faster-than-anyone-else.md
- [Optimization Is How Models Pay for Being Wrong](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-optimization-is-how-models-pay-for-being-wrong): Summary: Reading the loss curve as an instrument before accuracy can speak. Published 2025-05-19T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, optimization, gradient-descent, sgd. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-optimization-is-how-models-pay-for-being-wrong.md
- [Good Management Is the Root Cause](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/good-management-is-the-root-cause): Summary: Christensen's disk-drive data: the best-run incumbents lost every disruptive fight, for rational reasons. Published 2025-05-14T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, management, product. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/good-management-is-the-root-cause.md
- [One Template Per Class Is the Whole Limit](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-linear-classifiers-margins-and-softmax): Summary: One matrix, one averaged template per class, and the limit that follows. Published 2025-05-09T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, linear-classifier, svm, softmax, regularization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-linear-classifiers-margins-and-softmax.md
- [Goechala: Sixty-Five Kilometers to One Sunrise](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/goechala-trek): Summary: Ten days and sixty-five kilometers for one sunrise on Kanchenjunga. Published 2025-05-04T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: trekking, travel, adventure, mountains. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/goechala-trek.md
- [Human Error Is Design Error](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/human-error-is-design-error): Summary: Don Norman on doors, cockpits, and every interface that blames its user for the designer's mistake. Published 2025-04-29T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: books, product, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/human-error-is-design-error.md
- [Escape Competition](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/escape-competition): Summary: Thiel's argument that competition is for losers, and the build order that follows from it. Published 2025-04-23T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, startups, strategy, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/escape-competition.md
- [Image Classification Is a Promise About Generalization](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-image-classification-is-a-promise-about-generalization): Summary: The split as the only instrument on generalization, and its two leaks. Published 2025-04-18T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, image-classification, knn, validation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-image-classification-is-a-promise-about-generalization.md
- [Fit Is a Stack of Hypotheses](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/fit-is-a-stack-of-hypotheses): Summary: Dan Olsen decomposes product-market fit into five layers a clickable mockup can test before code exists. Published 2025-04-12T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, product, startups. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/fit-is-a-stack-of-hypotheses.md
- [Vision Is Representation Under Pressure](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-computer-vision-system-map): Summary: From pixels to systems, under pose, lighting, scale, and occlusion. Published 2025-04-07T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: machine-learning, computer-vision, technical-notes, deep-learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/computer-vision-computer-vision-system-map.md
- [Compete to Be Unique](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/compete-to-be-unique): Summary: Magretta compresses Porter to five tests, with the five forces underneath them and the P&L as referee. Published 2025-04-02T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, strategy, mental-models. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/compete-to-be-unique.md
- [Discovery Is a Weekly Habit](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/discovery-is-a-weekly-habit): Summary: Teresa Torres turns customer research into a weekly habit a shipping team can keep. Published 2025-03-27T12:00:00.000Z. 12 min read. Tags: books, product, habits, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/discovery-is-a-weekly-habit.md
- [Capital Allocation Is the Job](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/capital-allocation-is-the-job): Summary: Thorndike's eight CEOs beat the market twentyfold by doing the half of the job nobody grades. Published 2025-03-22T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: books, finance, strategy, decision-making. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/capital-allocation-is-the-job.md
- [Untrusted Text Stays Evidence](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-trustworthy-agents-under-pressure): Summary: Prompt injection as the native attack, and the architecture that separates channels. Published 2025-03-15T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, trustworthy-ai, privacy, robustness. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-trustworthy-agents-under-pressure.md
- [Responsible Scaling Needs Measurement](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-responsible-scaling-needs-measurement): Summary: A gate that works needs an eval, a threshold, a mitigation, and an owner who can refuse. Published 2025-03-10T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, responsible-scaling, ai-safety, capability-evaluation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-responsible-scaling-needs-measurement.md
- [Open Models Need Open Science](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-open-models-need-open-science): Summary: Same model, different scores, and the scaffold disclosure that makes results science. Published 2025-03-05T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, open-source, foundation-models, evaluation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-open-models-need-open-science.md
- [Embodied Agents Need a Data Pyramid](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-embodied-agents-need-a-data-pyramid): Summary: What irreversible actions demand: a data pyramid, a simulator, and honest feedback. Published 2025-02-28T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, robotics, embodied-agents, simulation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-embodied-agents-need-a-data-pyramid.md
- [Language for Ambiguity, Solvers for Commitments](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-neural-symbolic-planning-is-the-escape-hatch): Summary: Language for intent, solvers for constraints, and the translation that breaks. Published 2025-02-20T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, planning, neural-symbolic, solvers. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-neural-symbolic-planning-is-the-escape-hatch.md
- [A Workflow Agent Needs a Tape](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-enterprise-workflows-need-state): Summary: The replayable tape that makes a workflow agent auditable and repairable. Published 2025-02-15T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, enterprise-workflows, web-agents, workarena. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-enterprise-workflows-need-state.md
- [Coding Agents Live or Die by Their Interface](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-coding-agents-live-or-die-by-their-interface): Summary: SWE-agent's finding that the interface, held model constant, moves the score. Published 2025-02-10T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, coding-agents, swe-agent, openhands. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-coding-agents-live-or-die-by-their-interface.md
- [A Prompt You Cannot Score Is a Preference](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-compound-ai-systems-and-dspy): Summary: DSPy's trade: a signature and a metric in place of prompt folklore. Published 2025-02-05T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, dspy, compound-ai-systems, prompt-optimization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-compound-ai-systems-and-dspy.md
- [Enterprise Agents Need Grounding](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-enterprise-agents-need-grounding-not-demos): Summary: Grounding, the enterprise failure budget, and answers a company can act on. Published 2025-01-29T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, enterprise-ai, grounding, gemini. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-enterprise-agents-need-grounding-not-demos.md
- [Frameworks Are Coordination Machines](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-frameworks-are-coordination-machines): Summary: The three hidden decisions a framework must surface to earn its keep. Published 2025-01-24T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, autogen, llamaindex, multi-agent. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-frameworks-are-coordination-machines.md
- [Tools Turn Guessing Into Looking](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-the-agent-loop-reason-act-remember): Summary: ReAct's loop, and the action space that decides how much guessing remains. Published 2025-01-18T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, react, tool-use, memory. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-the-agent-loop-reason-act-remember.md
- [Reasoning Is a Scaffold](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-reasoning-is-a-scaffold-not-a-spell): Summary: Chain-of-thought, self-consistency, and the check that must live outside the model. Published 2025-01-13T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, reasoning, chain-of-thought, self-consistency. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-reasoning-is-a-scaffold-not-a-spell.md
- [The Loop Is the Product](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-agent-systems-map): Summary: The agent as a loop a team builds, with the model as one node. Published 2025-01-08T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, agents, llm-agents, technical-notes, reasoning, planning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/agent-systems-agent-systems-map.md
- [Environmental Impact Is a Design Constraint](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-environmental-impact-is-a-design-constraint): Summary: The serving bill that reopens on every call and outgrows the training run. Published 2025-01-03T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, environment, emissions, sustainability. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-environmental-impact-is-a-design-constraint.md
- [Adaptation Is How General Models Become Useful](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-adaptation-is-how-general-models-become-useful): Summary: The least invasive adaptation that clears the bar, from prompts to tuning. Published 2024-12-29T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, adaptation, fine-tuning, prompt-tuning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-adaptation-is-how-general-models-become-useful.md
- [Selective Architectures Move The Hard Problem Into Routing](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-selective-architectures-spend-compute-where-it-matters): Summary: MoE and retrieval buy capacity, and selection becomes the failure point. Published 2024-12-22T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, mixture-of-experts, retrieval, rag. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-selective-architectures-spend-compute-where-it-matters.md
- [Scaling Laws Make Compute Legible](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-scaling-laws-make-compute-legible): Summary: Probe runs that make frontier compute legible, within the setup that produced them. Published 2024-12-17T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, scaling-laws, compute, evaluation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-scaling-laws-make-compute-legible.md
- [Parallelism Is the Hidden Curriculum](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-parallelism-is-the-hidden-curriculum): Summary: Naming the wall, then the parallel strategy, in that order. Published 2024-12-12T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, parallelism, distributed-training, gpu. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-parallelism-is-the-hidden-curriculum.md
- [Training Turns Architecture Into Behavior](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-training-turns-architecture-into-behavior): Summary: Objectives as curricula, and the lower loss that hides worse behavior. Published 2024-12-06T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, training, optimization, objectives. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-training-turns-architecture-into-behavior.md
- [Modeling Is Where Text Becomes Geometry](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-modeling-is-where-text-becomes-geometry): Summary: The tokenizer as first suspect when code, math, or names go strange. Published 2024-12-01T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, modeling, tokenization, transformers. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-modeling-is-where-text-becomes-geometry.md
- [Law Is Part of the Model Boundary](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-law-is-part-of-the-model-boundary): Summary: Four legal questions a dataset must clear, answered before the takedown. Published 2024-11-25T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, law, copyright, privacy. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-law-is-part-of-the-model-boundary.md
- [Security Begins With Memorization](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-security-begins-with-memorization): Summary: Extraction attacks, memorized secrets, and why deletion stops being clean. Published 2024-11-20T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, security, privacy, memorization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-security-begins-with-memorization.md
- [Data Is the Model Before the Model](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-data-is-the-model-before-the-model): Summary: WebText's Reddit proxy, and every corpus choice that lands before training. Published 2024-11-14T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, data, datasets, governance. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-data-is-the-model-before-the-model.md
- [Every Moderation Threshold Picks An Error](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-toxicity-disinformation-and-moderation-are-system-problems): Summary: Moderation thresholds as chosen errors, with both failure directions priced. Published 2024-11-09T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, toxicity, disinformation, moderation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-toxicity-disinformation-and-moderation-are-system-problems.md
- [Harms Start With Measurement](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-harms-start-with-measurement): Summary: Three kinds of harm, each needing evidence an aggregate score hides. Published 2024-11-01T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, harms, bias, fairness. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-harms-start-with-measurement.md
- [Capabilities Are Interfaces](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-capabilities-are-interfaces-not-magic): Summary: Why a capability claim is incomplete without its prompt, context, and failures. Published 2024-10-27T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, capabilities, benchmarks, evaluation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-capabilities-are-interfaces-not-magic.md
- [Language Models Are Probability Machines](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-language-models-are-probability-machines): Summary: Probabilities over strings, and the decoding dials that turn them into a writer. Published 2024-10-21T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, probability, history, language-modeling. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-language-models-are-probability-machines.md
- [Read The Stack Sideways](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-language-model-systems-map): Summary: Six parts to any language-model claim, and where the benchmark stops. Published 2024-10-16T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: ai, language-models, foundation-models, technical-notes. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-model-systems-language-model-systems-map.md
- [Stack Money for the Wrong Reasons](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stack-money-for-the-wrong-reasons): Summary: On ugly motivation that works, and the permission money buys. Published 2024-10-09T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, money, motivation, power, self-improvement, mindset. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stack-money-for-the-wrong-reasons.md
- [Reward Optimization Needs a Baseline](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-reward-optimization-needs-a-baseline): Summary: The baseline that makes sparse rewards trainable, and what it stabilizes. Published 2024-10-04T12:00:00.000Z. 12 min read. Tags: machine-learning, alignment, language-modeling, rlhf, grpo, deep-learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-reward-optimization-needs-a-baseline.md
- [Dayara Bugyal: The Trek I Was Not Fit For](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/dayara-bugyal-trek): Summary: Six monsoon days to 11,830 feet, booked before the fitness existed. Published 2024-09-29T12:00:00.000Z. 9 min read. Tags: trekking, travel, adventure, mountains, beginnings. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/dayara-bugyal-trek.md
- [Preference Optimization Is Proxy Design](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-preference-optimization-is-proxy-design): Summary: Proxy rewards, their turn-down curve, and the move to rewards a program checks. Published 2024-09-23T12:00:00.000Z. 15 min read. Tags: machine-learning, alignment, language-modeling, rlhf, ppo, grpo. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-preference-optimization-is-proxy-design.md
- [Post-Training Teaches the System What to Reward](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-post-training-teaches-the-system-what-to-reward): Summary: How feedback shortcuts become model behavior, one rushed rater at a time. Published 2024-09-18T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: machine-learning, alignment, language-modeling, rlhf, sft, deep-learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-post-training-teaches-the-system-what-to-reward.md
- [Data Quality Beats Token Count](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-data-quality-beats-token-count): Summary: The one cheap pattern behind language ID, quality, toxicity, and deduplication. Published 2024-09-11T12:00:00.000Z. 12 min read. Tags: machine-learning, data, language-modeling, deduplication, filtering. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-data-quality-beats-token-count.md
- [Data Is the Model Diet](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-data-is-the-model-diet): Summary: The same tokens, points apart: how extraction, filtering, and mixture set the ceiling. Published 2024-09-06T12:00:00.000Z. 13 min read. Tags: machine-learning, data, language-modeling, deep-learning, preprocessing. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-data-is-the-model-diet.md
- [Let Your Calm Be the Threat](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/let-your-calm-be-the-threat): Summary: On the three advantages built before the meeting, and the last dollar left on the table. Published 2024-08-31T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: letters, negotiation, business, mindset, self-improvement. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/let-your-calm-be-the-threat.md
- [Evaluation Is a Contract](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-evaluation-is-a-contract-not-a-score): Summary: Contamination and length bias, the two choices that decide leaderboards unseen. Published 2024-08-26T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: machine-learning, evaluation, language-modeling, benchmarks, deep-learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-evaluation-is-a-contract-not-a-score.md
- [Scaling Laws Are Planning Tools](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-scaling-laws-are-planning-tools-not-promises): Summary: What happened to Chinchilla's twenty tokens when production teams measured again. Published 2024-08-21T12:00:00.000Z. 8 min read. Tags: machine-learning, scaling-laws, language-modeling, deep-learning, mup. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-scaling-laws-are-planning-tools-not-promises.md
- [Inference Is Cache, Latency, and Scheduling](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-inference-is-cache-latency-and-scheduling): Summary: Serving economics: the KV cache, the latency budget, and the scheduler between them. Published 2024-08-15T12:00:00.000Z. 9 min read. Tags: machine-learning, inference, language-modeling, deep-learning, optimization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-inference-is-cache-latency-and-scheduling.md
- [Scaling Laws Make Expensive Choices Less Blind](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-scaling-laws-make-expensive-choices-less-blind): Summary: Fitting the loss line small so the expensive choices stop being blind. Published 2024-08-10T12:00:00.000Z. 8 min read. Tags: machine-learning, scaling-laws, language-modeling, deep-learning, chinchilla. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-scaling-laws-make-expensive-choices-less-blind.md
- [Distributed Training Is a Scheduling Problem](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-distributed-training-is-a-scheduling-problem): Summary: Measured collectives against datasheet peaks, and the scheduling that closes the gap. Published 2024-08-03T12:00:00.000Z. 9 min read. Tags: machine-learning, distributed-training, language-modeling, deep-learning, pytorch. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-distributed-training-is-a-scheduling-problem.md
- [Parallelism Starts With the Bottleneck](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-parallelism-starts-with-the-bottleneck): Summary: Splits answer the bottleneck, and cluster topology decides the cost. Published 2024-07-29T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: machine-learning, distributed-training, language-modeling, deep-learning, parallelism. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-parallelism-starts-with-the-bottleneck.md
- [Become Undefinable](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/become-undefinable): Summary: On refusing a label, because a label names your replacements. Published 2024-07-24T12:00:00.000Z. 13 min read. Tags: letters, discipline, self-improvement, motivation, mindset, entrepreneurship. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/become-undefinable.md
- [Kernels Save Time by Moving Less Data](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-kernels-save-time-by-moving-less-data): Summary: When to fuse, when to write a kernel, and the benchmark traps that lie first. Published 2024-07-18T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: machine-learning, gpu, language-modeling, triton, cuda, optimization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-kernels-save-time-by-moving-less-data.md
- [GPUs Reward Memory Discipline](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-gpus-reward-memory-discipline): Summary: Bytes moved set the kernel ceiling, and FlashAttention is the proof that traffic beats math. Published 2024-07-13T12:00:00.000Z. 11 min read. Tags: machine-learning, gpu, language-modeling, hardware, deep-learning, optimization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-gpus-reward-memory-discipline.md
- [Mixture of Experts Routes Capacity](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-mixture-of-experts-routes-capacity): Summary: What mixture-of-experts buys per FLOP, and what routing charges back. Published 2024-07-06T12:00:00.000Z. 12 min read. Tags: machine-learning, transformers, language-modeling, moe, deep-learning, architecture. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-mixture-of-experts-routes-capacity.md
- [Transformers Are Controlled Editing Machines](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-transformers-are-controlled-editing-machines): Summary: The decoder recipe every open model converges on, and the measurements behind each choice. Published 2024-07-01T12:00:00.000Z. 8 min read. Tags: machine-learning, transformers, language-modeling, architecture, deep-learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-transformers-are-controlled-editing-machines.md
- [Training Is Math Plus Bookkeeping](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-training-is-math-plus-bookkeeping): Summary: The two numbers that price any run on paper, before anyone grants a cluster. Published 2024-06-25T12:00:00.000Z. 9 min read. Tags: machine-learning, pytorch, language-modeling, gpu, deep-learning, optimization. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-training-is-math-plus-bookkeeping.md
- [Tokenization Is Where Text Becomes Compute](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-tokenization-is-where-text-becomes-compute): Summary: BPE, byte-level fallbacks, and why the tokenizer is the first line on the bill. Published 2024-06-20T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: machine-learning, nlp, transformers, language-modeling, tokenization, bpe. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-tokenization-is-where-text-becomes-compute.md
- [The Pipeline Is the Model](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-language-modeling-system-map): Summary: Eighteen notes from data to serving, each stage pricing the next. Published 2024-06-12T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: machine-learning, nlp, transformers, language-modeling, deep-learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/language-modeling-language-modeling-system-map.md
- [Keep Your Mind Fed](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/keep-your-mind-fed): Summary: On the attention diet, and the week of inputs that changed nothing. Published 2024-06-07T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, focus, self-improvement, mindfulness, learning. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/keep-your-mind-fed.md
- [You Can Negotiate Anything](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/you-can-negotiate-anything): Summary: Herb Cohen's three levers, told through the stories you remember at the table when it counts. Published 2024-06-01T12:00:00.000Z. 9 min read. Tags: books, negotiation, psychology, persuasion, power. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/you-can-negotiate-anything.md
- [Clean Up Your Mind](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/clean-up-your-mind): Summary: On a messy mind as a systems problem with five inputs. Published 2024-05-27T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: focus, self-improvement, productivity, mindfulness. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/clean-up-your-mind.md
- [The Courage to Be Disliked](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-courage-to-be-disliked): Summary: Adler in dialogue: your past decides nothing, and the freedom on offer costs the approval of a few people. Published 2024-05-20T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: books, psychology, philosophy, self-improvement, relationships. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-courage-to-be-disliked.md
- [Psycho-Cybernetics](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/psycho-cybernetics): Summary: Maltz watched new faces change nothing, then built the mechanism that does, one rehearsal at a time. Published 2024-05-15T12:00:00.000Z. 8 min read. Tags: books, psychology, self-improvement. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/psycho-cybernetics.md
- [The War of Art](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-war-of-art): Summary: Pressfield names the force between you and the work, then hands you the schedule. Published 2024-05-09T12:00:00.000Z. 9 min read. Tags: books, creativity, productivity, psychology, writing. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-war-of-art.md
- [E-Myth Revisited](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/e-myth-revisited): Summary: Gerber's case that a business you cannot leave is a job wearing overhead, and the manual is the way out. Published 2024-05-04T12:00:00.000Z. 13 min read. Tags: books, business, entrepreneurship, systems, management. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/e-myth-revisited.md
- [Nothing You Do Not Earn Stays Free](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/nothing-you-dont-earn-stays-free): Summary: On help that builds strength against help that replaces it, with terms attached. Published 2024-04-29T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, self-reliance, discipline, wisdom, giving. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/nothing-you-dont-earn-stays-free.md
- [Earn Your Name in Private](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/earn-your-name-in-private): Summary: On a name measured by what your weeks contain when nobody watches. Published 2024-04-23T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: letters, humility, service, character, self-improvement, leadership. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/earn-your-name-in-private.md
- [Your Ceiling Is Other People's Trust](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/your-ceiling-is-other-peoples-trust): Summary: On the cap set by how many people will stake their standing on you. Published 2024-04-18T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: letters, self-improvement, relationships, leadership, cooperation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/your-ceiling-is-other-peoples-trust.md
- [Keep Your Heart, Trust Your Eyes](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/keep-your-heart-trust-your-eyes): Summary: On reading people by the patterns that cost them something. Published 2024-04-11T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, trust, self-improvement, relationships, wisdom. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/keep-your-heart-trust-your-eyes.md
- [The War Starts Before the Punch](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-war-starts-before-the-punch): Summary: On choosing fights, naming the one threat that can end you, and pricing the rest. Published 2024-04-06T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: letters, competition, strategy, discipline, mindset, leadership. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/the-war-starts-before-the-punch.md
- [Take the Risk While the Door Is Open](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/take-the-risk-while-the-door-is-open): Summary: A one-page worst case, written before the opening closes on its own schedule. Published 2024-04-01T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: letters, risk, action, opportunity, decision-making, growth. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/take-the-risk-while-the-door-is-open.md
- [Never Bet Your Life on One Door](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/never-bet-your-life-on-one-door): Summary: On building the second answer while the first one still works. Published 2024-03-26T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, strategy, resilience, decision-making, self-improvement. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/never-bet-your-life-on-one-door.md
- [Think for Yourself](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/think-for-yourself): Summary: On judgment as a built object, assembled from many fields and tested. Published 2024-03-21T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: mental-models, critical-thinking, self-improvement, first-principles. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/think-for-yourself.md
- [Second Order Consequences](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/second-order-consequences): Summary: On the bill every choice sends later, and deciding before the curves cross. Published 2024-03-14T12:00:00.000Z. 10 min read. Tags: decision-making, mental-models, long-term-thinking, time. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/second-order-consequences.md
- [Deciding Is a Skill](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/making-decisions): Summary: On deciding as a trainable skill, starting with how few decisions reach you. Published 2024-03-09T12:00:00.000Z. 6 min read. Tags: decision-making, mental-models, productivity. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/making-decisions.md
- [Build Yourself First](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/build-yourself-first): Summary: A letter on building the person first, because the money is a receipt that prints later. Published 2024-03-03T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, discipline, self-improvement, motivation, mindset, diligence. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/build-yourself-first.md
- [Stay Long Enough to Become Unavoidable](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stay-long-enough-to-become-unavoidable): Summary: On staying after the work stops answering, which is where the edge is. Published 2024-02-27T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: letters, persistence, discipline, self-improvement, mindset, consistency. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stay-long-enough-to-become-unavoidable.md
- [The Will to Finish](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/will-to-finish): Summary: On finishing as a schedule kept after the mood is gone. Published 2024-02-19T12:00:00.000Z. 7 min read. Tags: discipline, focus, consistency, sacrifice, self-improvement. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/will-to-finish.md
- [Building Luck](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/building-luck): Summary: Readiness as a system with named leaks, closable this week. Published 2024-02-14T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: letters, self-improvement, action, motivation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/building-luck.md
- [Luck Follows the Ones Who Move](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/luck-follows-the-ones-who-move): Summary: Courage as a monthly rate, paid in asks made before you feel ready. Published 2024-02-08T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, courage, action, self-improvement, motivation. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/luck-follows-the-ones-who-move.md
- [No More Excuses](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/no-more-excuses): Summary: On excuses that arrive as analysis, and the fixed standard that outranks them. Published 2024-02-03T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: letters, action, motivation, self-improvement, discipline. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/no-more-excuses.md
- [No One Is Coming to Save You](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/no-one-is-coming-to-save-you): Summary: On the standards only you enforce, and where they show at year five. Published 2024-01-27T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: letters, discipline, self-improvement, motivation, mindset. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/no-one-is-coming-to-save-you.md
- [Start Today](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stop-thinking-start-moving): Summary: A letter against the clean week that never comes. Published 2024-01-22T12:00:00.000Z. 4 min read. Tags: letters, action, motivation, self-improvement. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/stop-thinking-start-moving.md
- [Your Hour Has a Buyer](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/age-of-distraction): Summary: On the companies paid for your scroll, and the one working defense. Published 2024-01-17T12:00:00.000Z. 5 min read. Tags: focus, productivity, mindfulness. Markdown: https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/writing/age-of-distraction.md

## Contact and profiles

- [Contact form](https://www.rajdeepmondal.com/connect): Best route for specific collaborations and technical notes.
- [Calendar](https://cal.com/rajdeepmondal/30min): Scheduling link for focused calls.
- [GitHub profile](https://github.com/rajdeepmondaldotcom): Open-source work and repositories.
- [LinkedIn profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajdeep-mondal/): Professional profile.
- [X profile](https://x.com/_rajdeepmondal): Short-form notes and public updates.