India undoubtedly has one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems in the world. However, one must stop and start asking the question of why almost 9 out of 10 startups fail in India. The answer would provide you with a typical checklist of bad unit economics, copied business models, and businesses that scaled and invested capital before finding adequate product-market fit. Illustration by The Geostrata Every single reason is true, but it is not the primary reason. All these reasons are...

The 47th American President, Donald John Trump, declared in his inaugural speech on 20 January 2025 that his legacy would be measured by the “wars we never get into”, while promising a “greater, stronger & far more exceptional” America. Barely a year later, America finds itself trapped in an unending war against the Persian state, two broken ceasefire agreements, and a sharp decline in the world's tacit acceptance of American Greatness. Illustration by The Geostrata As Washington struggles to...

The Geopolitical architecture of the Persian Gulf is undergoing a profound realignment. For over half a century, the security doctrine of the Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rested on a foundational, military-centric arrangement: the host states provided territorial basing access and recycled petrodollars into Western financial markets and weapons systems, while the USA provided the deterrent shield against external threats. Illustration by The Geostrata This historical...