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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
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<title>About Karthik Suresh</title>
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<div class="nav-left">
<a href="#" class="nav-logo" id="home-link">KS</a>
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<ul class="nav-menu" id="nav-menu">
<li><a href="#" data-section="about" class="nav-link" data-default-text="About">About</a></li>
<li><a href="#" data-section="investments" class="nav-link" data-default-text="Investments">Investments</a></li>
<li><a href="#" data-section="thoughts" class="nav-link" data-default-text="Thoughts">Thoughts</a></li>
<li><a href="#" data-section="mission" class="nav-link" data-default-text="Mission">Mission</a></li>
<li><a href="#" data-section="quotes" class="nav-link" data-default-text="Quotes">Quotes</a></li>
<li><a href="#" data-section="work-together" class="nav-link" data-default-text="Work Together">Work Together</a>
</li>
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</nav>
<!-- Main Content Area -->
<main class="main-content">
<!-- Default: Word Cloud Section (Home) -->
<section id="word-cloud-section" class="content-section active">
<div class="word-cloud-container">
<div class="word-cloud-wrapper">
<div class="word-clouds-list">
<!-- Ski Section -->
<div class="word-cloud-section">
<div class="section-category">Ski</div>
<div class="word-cloud-wrapper-inner">
<div class="word-cloud">
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Niseko" data-category="Ski" data-region="JP">
<span class="region-tag">JP</span>
<span class="word-text">Niseko</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Hakuba" data-category="Ski" data-region="JP">
<span class="region-tag">JP</span>
<span class="word-text">Hakuba</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Kiroro" data-category="Ski" data-region="JP">
<span class="region-tag">JP</span>
<span class="word-text">Kiroro</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Chamonix" data-category="Ski" data-region="FR">
<span class="region-tag">FR</span>
<span class="word-text">Chamonix</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Val d'Isère" data-category="Ski" data-region="FR">
<span class="region-tag">FR</span>
<span class="word-text">Val d'Isère</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Les Grands Montets" data-category="Ski"
data-region="FR">
<span class="region-tag">FR</span>
<span class="word-text">Les Grands Montets</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Zermatt" data-category="Ski" data-region="CH">
<span class="region-tag">CH</span>
<span class="word-text">Zermatt</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="St. Moritz" data-category="Ski" data-region="CH">
<span class="region-tag">CH</span>
<span class="word-text">St. Moritz</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Whistler" data-category="Ski" data-region="CA">
<span class="region-tag">CA</span>
<span class="word-text">Whistler</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Jackson Hole" data-category="Ski" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Jackson Hole</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Kirkwood" data-category="Ski" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Kirkwood</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Alta" data-category="Ski" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Alta</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Palisades" data-category="Ski" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Palisades</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Copper Mountain" data-category="Ski"
data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Copper Mountain</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Valle Nevado" data-category="Ski" data-region="CL">
<span class="region-tag">CL</span>
<span class="word-text">Valle Nevado</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Portillo" data-category="Ski" data-region="CL">
<span class="region-tag">CL</span>
<span class="word-text">Portillo</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Dolomiti Superski" data-category="Ski"
data-region="IT">
<span class="region-tag">IT</span>
<span class="word-text">Dolomiti Superski</span>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Surf Section -->
<div class="word-cloud-section">
<div class="section-category">Surf</div>
<div class="word-cloud-wrapper-inner">
<div class="word-cloud">
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="J-Bay" data-category="Surf" data-region="ZA">
<span class="region-tag">ZA</span>
<span class="word-text">J-Bay</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Pipeline" data-category="Surf" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Pipeline</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Nazaré" data-category="Surf" data-region="PT">
<span class="region-tag">PT</span>
<span class="word-text">Nazaré</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Uluwatu" data-category="Surf" data-region="ID">
<span class="region-tag">ID</span>
<span class="word-text">Uluwatu</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Tofino" data-category="Surf" data-region="CA">
<span class="region-tag">CA</span>
<span class="word-text">Tofino</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Cloudbreak" data-category="Surf" data-region="FJ">
<span class="region-tag">FJ</span>
<span class="word-text">Cloudbreak</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Honolua Bay" data-category="Surf" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Honolua Bay</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Ocean Beach" data-category="Surf" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Ocean Beach</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Trestles" data-category="Surf" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Trestles</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Malibu" data-category="Surf" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Malibu</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Puerto Escondido" data-category="Surf"
data-region="MX">
<span class="region-tag">MX</span>
<span class="word-text">Puerto Escondido</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Rockaway Beach" data-category="Surf"
data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Rockaway Beach</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Sayulita" data-category="Surf" data-region="MX">
<span class="region-tag">MX</span>
<span class="word-text">Sayulita</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Teahupo'o" data-category="Surf" data-region="PF">
<span class="region-tag">PF</span>
<span class="word-text">Teahupo'o</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Snapper Rocks" data-category="Surf" data-region="AU">
<span class="region-tag">AU</span>
<span class="word-text">Snapper Rocks</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Pleasure Point" data-category="Surf"
data-region="AU">
<span class="region-tag">AU</span>
<span class="word-text">Pleasure Point</span>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Run Section -->
<div class="word-cloud-section">
<div class="section-category">Run</div>
<div class="word-cloud-wrapper-inner">
<div class="word-cloud">
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Patagonia" data-category="Run" data-region="CL">
<span class="region-tag">CL</span>
<span class="word-text">Patagonia</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Mount Fuji" data-category="Run" data-region="JP">
<span class="region-tag">JP</span>
<span class="word-text">Mount Fuji</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Lofoten" data-category="Run" data-region="NO">
<span class="region-tag">NO</span>
<span class="word-text">Lofoten</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Fitz Roy / El Chaltén" data-category="Run"
data-region="AR">
<span class="region-tag">AR</span>
<span class="word-text">Fitz Roy / El Chaltén</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Faroe Islands" data-category="Run" data-region="FO">
<span class="region-tag">FO</span>
<span class="word-text">Faroe Islands</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Aiguille du Midi" data-category="Run"
data-region="FO">
<span class="region-tag">FO</span>
<span class="word-text">Aiguille du Midi</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Laugavegur Trail" data-category="Run"
data-region="IS">
<span class="region-tag">IS</span>
<span class="word-text">Laugavegur Trail</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Zion Narrows" data-category="Run" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Zion Narrows</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Mt. Whitney" data-category="Run" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Mt. Whitney</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Tahoe Rim" data-category="Run" data-region="US">
<span class="region-tag">US</span>
<span class="word-text">Tahoe Rim</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Annapurna" data-category="Run" data-region="NP">
<span class="region-tag">NP</span>
<span class="word-text">Annapurna</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Everest Base Camp" data-category="Run"
data-region="NP">
<span class="region-tag">NP</span>
<span class="word-text">Everest Base Camp</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Kilimanjaro" data-category="Run" data-region="TZ">
<span class="region-tag">TZ</span>
<span class="word-text">Kilimanjaro</span>
</span>
<span class="destination-word" data-destination="Mt. Tam" data-category="Run" data-region="TZ">
<span class="region-tag">TZ</span>
<span class="word-text">Mt. Tam</span>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- About Section -->
<section id="about" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">About</h1>
<p>
I'm currently living in San Francisco <s>New York</s>
<s>Los Angeles</s> <s>Austin</s> <s>Portland</s> <s>Honolulu</s>
<s>Troy</s> and working on something new ;).
</p>
<p>
I was previously at Pave, an HR software company helping companies
make compensation more transparent. Before Pave, I spent time
improving the mortgage experience at Blend, investing at Contrary
Capital, learning from extremely smart individuals at 8VC, working
on education access at Coursera, and refining glucose monitors at
Biomedtrics.
</p>
<p>
When I'm not working, you can find me signing up for new product
waitlists, running, playing poker, skiing (in the winter), and
surfing (in the summer).
</p>
</div>
</section>
<!-- Investments Section -->
<section id="investments" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">Investments</h1>
<p>
I am occasionally lucky to be invited to join a founder on their
journey. I generally invest in early stage companies focused on
fintech, education, biotech, and enterprise software. I'm a small
part of the cap table and any success is squarely due to the work
and tenacity of the founders.
<i>Note: these are a mix of personal investments, investments via
SPVs, and investments led/made while working at a fund.</i>
</p>
<ul class="content-list">
<li><a href="https://www.naborly.com/">Naborly (Acq by Singlekey)</a>, B2C Fintech, Seed</li>
<li><a href="https://www.wiseapp.live/">Wise Leap</a>, EdTech, Seed</li>
<li><a href="https://runway.com/">Runway</a>, B2B Fintech, Series A</li>
<li><a href="http://payhippo.ng/">PayHippo</a>, B2B Fintech, Seed</li>
<li><a href="https://www.modernintelligence.ai/">Modern Intelligence</a>, Defense, Seed</li>
<li><a href="https://stytch.com/">Stytch</a>, B2B SaaS, Series B</li>
<li><a href="https://www.aetherbio.com/">Aether</a>, BioTech, Seed</li>
<li>Stealth, Defense, Seed</li>
<li>Stealth, B2B Fintech, Seed</li>
<li>Stealth, B2B SaaS, Seed</li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<!-- Thoughts Section -->
<section id="thoughts" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">Thoughts</h1>
<p>
I love to write about topics that interest me such as startups,
software, investing, ethics, heuristics, and history. I'm also
interested in the intersection of software, startups, and
investing and how this intersection can transform antiquated
industries such as finance and education.
</p>
<ul class="content-list">
<li><a href="#nominative-determinism">Nominative Determinism</a></li>
<li><a href="#agency">On Agency</a></li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@karthik.s814/unpacking-the-5-3b-acquisition-of-plaid-d296e73e48e8">Plaid</a>
</li>
<li><a
href="https://medium.com/@karthik.s814/framework-for-evaluating-seed-stage-startups-78c604f1f3eb">Investing
Principles</a></li>
<!-- <li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/5f9a46261a76/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-328359">From what I've read this week... #21</a>, Newsletter, Feb 10, 2019</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/84765c1b8dc6/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-321875">From what I've read this week... #20</a>, Newsletter, Feb 3, 2019</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/ea9477377744/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-170319">From what I've read this week... #16</a>, Newsletter, Aug 14, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/0a6642770772/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-160651">From what I've read this week... #15</a>, Newsletter, Aug 5, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/715eb5e29228/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-150151">From what I've read this week... #14</a>, Newsletter, July 29, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/314f65416f7f/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-142707">From what I've read this week... #13</a>, Newsletter, July 24, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/87fe7bf50e44/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-128943">From what I've read this week... #12</a>, Newsletter, July 16, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/2194b7ec6219/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-106495">From what I've read this week... #11</a>, Newsletter, July 2, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/5ff63973fb5a/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-94243">From what I've read this week... #10</a>, Newsletter, June 25, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://us18.campaign-archive.com/?u=17a8fee51dde53b23da76d2dc&id=98584d5930">From what I've read this week... #9</a>, Newsletter, June 18, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/7fac1bfecfa9/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-70759">From what I've read this week... #8</a>, Newsletter, June 10, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/5eb1f28641ef/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-62207">From what I've read this week... #7</a>, Newsletter, June 4, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/033caf65fd10/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-52367">From what I've read this week... #6</a>, Newsletter, May 28, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/022349df11c1/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-34351">From what I've read this week... #5</a>, Newsletter, May 14, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/21fa4e76ecd0/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh-29455">From what I've read this week... #4</a>, Newsletter, May 9, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/7bc20159e28a/from-what-ive-read-this-week-3-karthik-suresh">From what I've read this week... #3</a>, Newsletter, April 29, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/83d0a1522d59/from-what-ive-read-this-week-2-karthik-suresh">From what I've read this week... #2</a>, Newsletter, April 22, 2018</li>
<li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/8ca299a6bfaa/from-what-ive-read-this-weekkarthik-suresh">From what I've read this week... #1</a>, Newsletter, April 8, 2018</li> -->
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<!-- Mission Section -->
<section id="mission" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">Mission</h1>
<p>make people think.</p>
</div>
</section>
<!-- Quotes Section -->
<section id="quotes" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">Quotes</h1>
<ul class="content-list">
<li>"The open secret of real success is to throw your whole personality into your problem." – George Polya,
<i>How to Solve it</i>
</li>
<li>"To the extent that you enjoy working hard, do. Subject to that constraint, it's not clear that the
returns to effort ever diminish substantially. If you're lucky enough to enjoy it a lot, be grateful and
take full advantage!" – Patrick Collison, <i>patrickcollison.com/advice</i></li>
<li>"Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly
everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough." – Richard Feynman</li>
<li>"The most important task at first is to build something people want. If you don't do that, it won't matter
how clever your business model is." – Paul Graham</li>
<li>"Work until you no longer have to introduce yourself" – Harvey Specter, <i>Suits</i></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<!-- Work Together Section -->
<section id="work-together" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">Work Together</h1>
<ul class="content-list">
<li>Email: karthik [dot] s814 [at] gmail [dot] com</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/ThisIsKarthik_">Twitter</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.strava.com/athletes/43178764">Strava</a></li>
<li><a href="https://linkedin.com/in/karthiksuresh814">LinkedIn</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<!-- On Agency (blog post) -->
<section id="agency" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">On Agency</h1>
<p>
My favorite writer is Aaron Sorkin. And it's no surprise that the West Wing is one of my favorite shows. He's
also responsible for <i>A Few Good Men</i>, <i>The Social Network</i>, and <i>Moneyball</i>.
</p>
<p>
His dialogue and approach to screenwriting is delightful. Quick witty banter that doesn't spell everything out
neatly, trusting you to keep up.
</p>
<p>
One of my favorite scenes in the West Wing is when Sam, one of the senior White House staffers, lays out his
vision for education:
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://youtu.be/IzV09gESyh0?t=39" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch on YouTube →</a>
</p>
<blockquote>
"Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes; we need gigantic,
monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They
should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely
free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position. I just haven't figured out how
to do it yet."
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>
One of my favorite orators is Shyam Shankar, the CTO of Palantir. Watch him in a <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/live/Zd_SZsI_jUA?si=UjgDSCFfXG7zbDmu&t=2379">congressional subcommittee
hearing</a> hearing and he's able to abstract out of problems and dig into implications from first
principles, in real time, in front of veteran politicians who are used to running circles around witnesses.
His point about Palantir's government work is that navigating the hard bureaucracy of federal institutions
requires operating with the urgency and ownership of a founder.
</p>
<p>
Both Sam and Shyam center on idealistic virtues of a progressive government slowed down by the bureaucratic
machine with moments of progress carved out by a few characters who possess a standard deviation more of
agency, hard work, and the ability to get shit done.
</p>
<p>
I had some time to think about this more carefully after spending a year and a half running my own startup and
subsequently winding it down. Building software for a legacy industry entrenched in pen, paper, spreadsheets,
and a deep skepticism toward anything called "AI", sharpened my opinions pretty quickly on what types of
people can actually do hard things (a la Sam and Shyam), and what types of organizations let them.
</p>
<hr />
<p>A few things I learned the hard way:</p>
<p>
<strong>The blockers are almost never at the top.</strong> When you're selling into a large organization, the
resistance comes from the middle. Middle managers are essentially organizational antibodies – their job,
whether they'd describe it that way or not, is to slow down anything that didn't originate inside the system.
You need someone (or you need to be someone) who can operate with agency in both directions: push from the top
via an exec who can cut through, and pull from the bottom via the end user who actually wants the thing to
exist.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Winning the pilot isn't winning the deal.</strong> Even when a pilot delivers the right outcome, it
doesn't automatically convert. If your champion doesn't have budget authority or access to the right decision
makers, you've done real work for nothing. The relationship work to make sure the right decision makers are
actually there (and that they see the delta between what you built and the status quo) is just as important as
building the product itself. Maybe more, because a mediocre product in the right room will outconvert a great
one in the wrong room every time.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Sometimes the only move is to just show up.</strong> When I had to close my first deal, I knew they
weren't going to take a chance on a young kid from Silicon Valley who was an outsider to the industry. So when
I finally got the meeting booked (after several cold calls), I found a cheap red-eye from SF to Denver and
just showed up in person. They were taking a bet on me, not on a product or a resume and being willing to go
the extra mile, like sleeping on a friend's couch in Portland so I could shadow their company's back-office
team to build empathy and get immediate feedback on the prototypes, became incredibly useful. It didn't hurt
that I ended up getting pegged as "the AI guy who somehow comes into the warehouse before everyone and leaves
after everyone" which pushed the first pilot conversion through more than anything else did.
</p>
<hr />
<p>
After winding the startup down, the question I kept coming back to wasn't what kind of organization do I want
to join – that's obvious, everyone wants the high-agency rocket ship. The harder question is how do you
actually identify one before you're inside it.
</p>
<p>
<strong>The best organizations often look like the worst ones from the outside.</strong> In 2014, SpaceX was
three failures in and one launch away from losing the whole business, and their facility sat right next to
Boeing's. Boeing looked exactly like you'd want a rocket company to look: clean room, bunny suits,
sophisticated, exactly the kind of feel you'd expect from a rocket ship company. SpaceX was open air with
parts on a table and rust on things that probably shouldn't be rusting, and the obvious conclusion was that
these guys had no idea what they were doing. But that was the wrong read. The question isn't where are they
today – it's what's the first derivative? How quickly are they improving? How good is the team? And look
what's possible now: their launch capability is unmatched, and the price performance is orders of magnitude
better than anything that came before it.
</p>
<blockquote>
"As you become an adult, you realize that things around you weren't just always there; people made them
happen. But only recently have I started to internalize how much tenacity <i>everything</i> requires. That
hotel, that park, that railway. The world is a museum of passion projects." — <a
href="https://x.com/collision/status/1529452415346302976">John Collison</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
That's what Sam is really saying when he commits to schools being palaces before he knows how to get there.
That's what Shyam is doing in front of a congressional committee, treating a bureaucratic hearing as a
founding moment. The world isn't a fixed thing you navigate, instead it's an accumulation of high agency bets
that people made, most of which looked crazy before they didn't.
</p>
<p>
And the best organizations are the ones built around people who actually believe that, and are structured to
let them operate.
</p>
</div>
</section>
<!-- Nominative Determinism (blog post) -->
<section id="nominative-determinism" class="content-section">
<div class="section-content">
<h1 class="page-title">Nominative Determinism</h1>
<h2>What's in a name, really?</h2>
<p>
My gf's sister and brother-in-law are in the thick of the baby-naming process, which is sweet. But it got me
thinking: does the name you give a child actually <i>shape</i> who they become?
</p>
<p>
The idea has a name (of course it does) and it's a good one: <strong>nominative determinism</strong>. The
theory, loosely, is that people are drawn to careers and life paths that rhyme with their own names.
</p>
<h3>The Evidence Is Almost Too Good</h3>
<p>
Let's play a game. I'll give you a name and you guess the profession.
</p>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<p>
Contestant number 1: <i>Bert Beveridge</i>.
</p>
<p>
That one might be too easy – maybe a bartender? A sommelier. It turns out Bert is the man who founded Tito's
Vodka and built one of the most successful spirits brands in American history.
</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<p>
Contestant number 2: <i>Keith Weed</i>.
</p>
<p>
More fun. Maybe someone involved with a little Mary Jane...? Not quite – Keith was the chairman of the Royal
Horticultural Society, the UK's leading gardening organization. So close, Keith. So close.
</p>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<p>
Last contestant: <i>Russell Brain</i>.
</p>
<p>
If you're like me, "Russell" immediately conjures the pudgy boy scout from <i>Up:</i>
</p>
<blockquote>
<a href="https://youtu.be/ILddD8QNbuk?si=57qaxpXyMdD_lyvN&t=11" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">
Good afternoon. My name is Russell, and I am a Wilderness Explorer. Are you in need of any assistance today,
sir?
</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
This Russell, though, is considerably more accomplished: Dr. Russell Brain was a British neurologist who
spent his career as editor of a journal called <i>Brain</i> and authored the standard textbook on diseases
of the nervous system.
</p>
</div>
<p>
These cases are funny precisely because they're so on the nose. With a name like Brain, it's almost hard to
believe he wasn't playacting surgeon on a 19th century version of Operation as a wee lad.
</p>
<hr />
<h3>Or Maybe It Works the Other Way</h3>
<p>
It's worth flipping the theory on its head. A lot of surnames didn't predict careers, they were derived
<i>from</i> them. Mason (stone mason), Smith (blacksmith), Thatcher (laid thatched roofs): these are all
surnames derived from the trades of ancestors. I once worked with a guy named Mustafa Furniturewala, a last
name that almost certainly traces back to a family that, at some point, sold furniture.
</p>
<p>
This is the classic problem of reverse causality, and it haunts the whole field. Is Russell Brain a
neurologist because something in the word "Brain" nudged him down that path? Or did centuries of cultural
evolution just produce a system where the name followed the work, not the other way around?
</p>
<h3>A Brief Detour to the American Revolution</h3>
<p>
Zoom out far enough and you start to notice something interesting about naming conventions across different
eras. During the American Revolution, it was fashionable to use traditionally New England Puritan "grace"
names such as Chastity, Prudence, Verity, Patience. They were aspirational labels, declarations of the
character parents hoped their children would inhabit. The name was meant to shape the person from the outside
in.
</p>
<p>
This is, in some ways, the most honest version of nominative determinism: the idea that names function as soft
social pressure, a constant low-level reminder of an identity someone else picked for you before you could
weigh in.
</p>
<h3>The Subtler Mechanism</h3>
<p>
When researchers have taken nominative determinism seriously, the more plausible mechanism isn't that "Bert
Beveridge" heard his last name and decided to enter the drinks industry. I think it's subtler than that:
people like things associated with themselves.
</p>
<p>
You might also be more alert to opportunities in a field where your name provides a ready-made joke or a
memorable hook. A doctor named Dr. Doctor probably leans into it and a financial advisor named Rich probably
gets a free chuckle at every first meeting.
</p>
<hr />
<h3>So How Would You Actually Test This?</h3>
<p>
Here's where it gets genuinely tricky. If you wanted to rigorously prove that names influence life outcomes,
you'd need to run a statistically significant experiment. And the experiment you'd need is almost comically
hard to pull off, but let's try to design it anyway.
</p>
<p>
Call it the Great Name Association Study. Here's how it would work, in theory.
</p>
<p>
First you'd need a sample. Not a small one, name effects, if they exist, are probably subtle which means you
need to recruit a large sample of say 10,000 newborns.
</p>
<p>
Let's split them into two groups: a control group who get names with no connotations and a treatment group,
whose names are randomly assigned from a list pre-coded for occupational association (say "Hunter", "Taylor",
etc.).
</p>
<p>
Then you follow them for, oh, fifty years, tracking career outcomes.
</p>
<p>
This design immediately poses several problems.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Problem 1:</strong> You can't blind anyone to anything. In a proper drug trial, the patient doesn't
know if they're getting the real pill or the placebo. Here, the "treatment" is the name, and the child knows
their name from roughly age two onward. They'll hear it thousands of times. Their teachers will say it. It'll
be on their homework assignments, their driver's license, their first email address. The whole mechanism we're
trying to study is the awareness of the name which means we can't have a clean control. Strike one.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Problem 2:</strong> Confounding is everywhere. "Hunter" isn't just a name – it correlates with
geography (more common in rural areas), socioeconomic background, etc. We'd need some way to control for
parental income, education, geography, and about forty other variables. Strike two.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Problem 3:</strong> What exactly is the outcome variable? "Career" is deceptively hard to define. Do
you measure job title at age 25? Age 50? Do you count someone who trained as a carpenter but became a
carpenter-turned-contractor? What about someone who wanted to be a fletcher (an arrow craftsmen) but couldn't
break in? Nominative determinism might work on desire rather than outcome, and if you're only measuring what
people ended up doing, we'd miss the effect entirely. Strike three.
</p>
<p>
Given this, most studies on nominative determinism rely on large observational datasets (dental association
directories, lawyer listings, etc.) and accepts that it can demonstrate correlation but not causation.
</p>
<h3>The Initials Thing Is Darker</h3>
<p>
While we're here: there's a genuinely unsettling thread suggesting that the <i>initials</i> people are born
with affect their outcomes in measurable ways. One <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10576473/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> found that people with positive initials (ACE, JOY, WIN)
tended to live longer than those with negative ones (DIE, PIG, ASS). The proposed mechanism is simple: a
lifetime of subtle association with a negative acronym may contribute to lower self-esteem and worse health
behaviors.
</p>
<hr />
<h3>So, What Do You Name the Baby?</h3>
<p>
I don't have a clean answer, which is probably appropriate for a phenomenon that resists clean measurement.
The honest takeaway is that names almost certainly matter <i>a little</i>, through a combination of social
signaling and the way other people treat you when they hear your name for the first time.
</p>
<p>
What they probably don't do is deterministically route you toward a specific destiny. Bert Beveridge might
have been a Beveridge who hated the taste of alcohol. Russell Brain might have gone into property law. The
fact that they didn't is funny, and maybe a little meaningful, but it's also just a handful of coincidences
dressed up as fate.
</p>
<p>
Name the baby something you love. Something that sounds good when you say it out loud in a crowded room.
Something that won't get mangled into a cruel nickname by a ten-year-old (Karthik unfortunately got turned
into Kar-dick a few times). And maybe, if you're feeling whimsical, something that rhymes with a profession
you'd be quietly delighted to see them end up in.
</p>
<p>
Just, you know, no pressure.
</p>
<br />
<p>
<i>Note: For what it's worth, a lot more people are going weird now than they used to. People used to be
almost uniformly conformist. In 1950, only 5% of parents chose something outside the Top 1,000 names. By
2012, that number had jumped to 27%. Going weird, it turns out, is increasingly normal.</i>
</p>
</div>
</section>
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