About the Collaborators Corner category

[Donald]

The Collaborators Corner is a new category addition.
While everyone can see what is posted here, only Collaborators will be able to create and reply to topics/posts.

We continue to believe every hard worker newbie is capable of upping the scale on continuous learning curve - provided he/she is continually exposed to the right, high-quality discussions VP has been known for.

However, with huge membership now ( ~40K) and increasingly accelerating new registrations, it is difficult to control/incentivise quality discussion flow without diluting the essential democratic VP traditions (and/or imposing restrictions on newbies).

This category could be used by the community as a barometer of desired higher-order contribution at VP. Purpose is to give back to the community - in a more controlled/structured way through the Collaborators Corner - where no one has to spend time (continuously) to nurture/clean-up the discussion flow.

Invited participants (by virtue of new data-driven collaboration-capable work at VP, and/or exemplary work outside) are fully aware of the participation demands. They willingly put-up their hands for it, appreciating how it helps improving their own learning curve, as well as the larger Community’s.

As mentioned before, just about anyone (all newbies inclusive) can put his/her hands up for this - but has to demonstrate that willingness by submitted work at VP.
Proof of the Pudding - is always in the Eating!!

[Donald]

Who is a Collaborator?

A Collaborator is someone who essentially looks to work hard and contribute towards taking any story to its logical conclusion. Some inherent traits (non-exhaustive):

a) loves to take forward value-additive (data-driven) work of other contributors
b) from time to time loves to share his own original data-driven work
c) is comfortable revealing the inner-workings of his/her mind by illustrating how he/she connects disparate data-points (comfortable exposing what one knows/doesn’t)
d) can be a senior investor/domain expert helping us read between the lines on the numbers show, or connect-the-dots in a not-so-apparent picture
e) can be a senior investor/domain expert helping us understand/dissect different business models/competitive position/advantages in the industry
f) can be a senior investor helping/nurturing newbies (and seniors alike) on navigating between myriad investment choices available before us
g) any hard worker (newbie even) eager to put his/her hand up for all kinds of collaborative exercises always ON at VP like Deep Dives, Stock Stories, prep for AGM Questions, prep for Management Q&As
h) any hard worker (newbie even) eager to put his hand up for business/industry scuttlebutt and capturing the takeaways from on-field discussions - with domain veterans/trade professionals/experts

A collaborator is also someone - who isn’t a know-all; is humble and flexible to admit he can always be wrong (no matter how mature); is an open, willing, continuous learner - from every other collaborator he works with!!

Other key attributes of a Collaborator
a) prioritises Team/collaboration activity, over individual priorities
b) willingly steps up to bridge the gap, when other team members/collaborators slack/fall short

Collaboration isn’t about doing the bare minimum, but occasionally going above and beyond in unexpected ways. When people know you’ll step up when needed, collaboration is easier, enjoyable, and so much fun!

Collaboration isn’t about getting what you want all the time and everyone else collaborating for your benefit. Often a good question to ask is, “What am I contributing to this Team and how am I supporting the greater good?” Others will be more likely to collaborate to help us if we step up when they need help as well.

Good collaborators are effective at judging how long it will take them to get something done and then manage their schedule to deliver on time. They can be taken at their word and be counted on and because of that, we love working with them.

Anyone can put his hand up to belong to this group - by demonstrating enough evidence on any/all of above desired traits through current work at VP.

Previous work/reputation does NOT count!!

[Donald]

As a responsible VP members we invite you to help us refine this better. Feel free to add your constructive suggestions.

Main objectives:
a) help provide an improved clutter-free environment for serious learners (which seniors have complained is becoming impossible)
b) help expand the base for next-gen VP Collaborators (help nurture through active Mentoring)
c) help highlight, incentivise, and propel quality contributions higher - keep raising the bar
d) help attract smarter contributors/domain-experts to VP

We will keep refining the model with our active experience and, as the situation demands.
Your considered inputs will help us improve and refine on the objectives outlined.

[Donald]

On popular demand, the Collaborators Corner experiment is now OPEN for participation from everyone - the only caveat - data-driven posts!!

Its been exactly a year since this category was created with above-mentioned objectives - all of which have been largely achieved - primary one being maintaining discussion quality with data-driven posts (as opposed to merely opinionating) and taking forward each others work - with value-additive inputs.

Earlier we allowed only the Collaborators to create/reply to posts, while everyone could see the posts. From now on everyone can see and reply (and therefore add-value) to ongoing discussions. Collaborators can also additionally create the initial posts/thread.
[As before anyone can put his/her hand up to belong to the Collaborators corner - with consistent quality submissions; Its NOT a closed group; inconsistent ones will drop out eventually]

The catch - to maintain the same pristine discussion quality - Collaborators Corner is now a fully moderated category. Every post/reply will need to pass through a moderation queue. We have enlisted a few more Moderators - specifically for this category - to manage the queued up posts, if any.

Thanks for staying with us over the last year (despite some confusion maybe with parallel threads) and supporting the new initiative. By opening this up to everyone - we hope to be able to attract larger number of folks willing/wanting to collaborate on their favourite business analysis and dissections. And therefore, greater value-add to ongoing discussions in a more controlled environment.

We certainly hope more folks will be putting their hands up to analyse/dissect/collaborate. To match the rigour demanded - more folks will be inspired to invest more time/diligence - raise the bar for themselves and others - take forward each others work!