Manik Gupta
Hell Yes or No
Inspired by Manik Gupta episode
Manik Gupta's filter: every feature should be hell yes or it's no. Apply to toddler activities and your calendar will thank you.
Manik Gupta has a brutally simple filter: "Every feature should be a 'hell yes' or it's a no." If you're not genuinely excited about building it, cut it. Lukewarm features create lukewarm products.
This is your weekend with a toddler. Saturday soft play? Lukewarm. Birthday party for a kid you've never met? Lukewarm. Museum trip that sounded good in theory? Also lukewarm. So you say yes to all of it because you're trying to be a good parent who provides enriching experiences.
Saturday morning arrives. You're at soft play watching your kid ignore the elaborate foam obstacle course to play with a broken crayon someone left on the floor. The birthday party is three hours of standing in someone's backyard making small talk about preschools while eating grocery store sheet cake. The museum? Your toddler spent seventeen minutes looking at the gift shop and negative-four minutes looking at actual exhibits.
Sunday night you're lying in bed wondering why everyone's exhausted and miserable. You built a weekend of compromises. Hell yes or no. Nothing in between.
