I recently came across a tradition at Forerunner Ventures: choosing a single word to guide your year personally and professionally. While it seemed easy at first, I found it to be a challenging yet rewarding way to pinpoint what truly matters. Here’s what I landed on:

Personal: Connection

This year, I want to deepen my connection:

1. To New York City. I don’t know exactly what this will look like yet, but I do know I want to embrace more of what NYC offers — a platform to explore, grow, and find yourself.

2. To friendships, focusing on reconnection with friends and family that I was once closer with in a different time and place.

3. To myself, by fostering a deeper connection to my values and aspirations through self-reflection and awareness to find more joy.

Professional: Momentum ✨

HappyBoards is approaching its 3 year launch anniversary, and we’ve found our stride (official announcement coming later this month). 2025 is about keeping the momentum going by:

1. Broadly sharing our mission of creating moments where people can be  #HappyTogether, the core reason and purpose behind why I founded the company.

2. Building our operations to replicate HappyBoards' success in other cities.

3. Experiment with new ideas! One example? We’re rolling out our first batch of HappyCandles — anyone interested in sampling them?

I found this exercise fun and clarifying — if you’re inspired, what’s your word for 2025? Share it with me, whether it's a word or two or even a sentence.

I Pebble You, 
Ankit

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