as a first generation entrepreneur, I started freelancing at 13 and till date, I’ve started over 10 businesses of which over 70% failed. Built one multi-million dollar business myself and consulted for several million dollar businesses producing $m+ in measurable profits.
Dropped out of high school, made & lost millions, got financially broke multiple times, written e-mails I wouldn’t even read today, made draconian plans & messed it up, failed the people who entrusted me, and to sum it up – failed at most of the things, I ever attempted. But trust me, that never mattered much because I loved everything I did at every point in time! Learnt quite a bit along the way, and continue to do so.
Fail, fail and fail again, but never give up the thirst for knowledge and habituating action/progress
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. [I realize, its time for it once again]
Also went from building a 0-60 member company at late teens, traveled across the world alone (20+ countries), recognized as Icon of Coimbatore and featured in the Business Line, Deccan Chronicle, Times of India, etc. I speak at university events, industry conclaves motivating wanna-do entrepreneurs.
Out of curiosity I read about Start-ups, Psychology, Economics (specific to Development Economics), Growth Hacking, Management Consulting, Philosophy and my new-found passion for spirituality & mysticism.
For those who’d like to know a little more, here’s more:
My Journey as an Entrepreneur
born in Coimbatore, India, blessed with all the ingredients to evolve. Forget entrepreneurship, little did I know what it means to start a business until I had started and realized what I was doing was one. Surrounded by enthusiasts of formal education, emphasis was to graduate and work. Fortunately, I was one among 100 to have access to the Internet and a home computer – thanks to the privilege I had. With an attention-span shorter than normal, due to me getting too bored of things – I distract myself doing whatever comes on the way to skip schooling like Piano, Yoga, Tennis, Scouting, NCC etc. This has helped enable the seeker in me & push the boundaries while being grounded.
“Hello World!” (Early 2007)
At 13, all you need is excitement. What excites you (or at-least me, at my age 13) costs money, and I had probably used “God Google” to do a hundred different things from freelancing to blogging. Yes, for nothing else but to make some money & even know if it’s possible or not. Nothing worked for several years, and then “failure” got too bored of being there always and decided to not show up some-day. That’s when the whole journey of starting a digital media agency has begun.
My First Business (Late 2007 – Early 2008)
To my own pleasant surprise, postman rang the bell to hand over a cheque worth $65 from an advertising company for reviewing mobile phones, gadgets, laptops, etc. Built a team to scale the ventures up, started servicing clients and worked my way up to offer holistic digital marketing services to customers I worked with through the late-teens.
a Full-stop to Formal Education (Mid of 2009)
Schooling for me was limiting the scope of what I could acquire as knowledge. With a team-sized 15, and with grit, I dropped out & stepped into scaling my venture. I wish I had known self-education enthusiasts like Peter Thiel, Gary Vaynerchuk, James Altucher back then (Go, google who they are)!
and in-between
Written to hundreds of businesses for opportunity, advice, and support. Was privileged to get conversations going with few entrepreneurs that has enabled my world travel.
What, now?
I run Bright Bridge(a Digital marketing company), invest in Indian equities, and consult for digital-first start-ups. I have so far largely been in constant state of change, action, and hustle. Currently, also working on a few things in stealth (healthcare retail, SaaS and D2C). Whatever scales up, and proves to be valuable enough to pursue, I intend to focus on that one venture of a lifetime. I express my gratitude to many unselfish people who quenched my thirst for knowledge without whom I’d not be here.
While been into marketing largely, I have fairly touched upon every sphere of running an Internet business as both an entrepreneur and serving in the leadership team at different organizations. I would love to connect with people interested to talk about media, technology, business, spirituality or start-ups. I am also looking to work with some of the interesting minds in my ventures. Feel free to reach out.
You know what? It’s the first day of rest of my life, so let me begin!