1. Tell us about your journey

When I was reflecting on my journey thus far, I realized I am on my fourth career path now!

I am essentially a mechanical engineer by education and I quite enjoyed the college experience and incidentally one of my parents actually got incubated in our college workshop.

Post-engineering I joined the IT industry, much like most of my friends. It was again a great learning experience working on intelligent networks and my first exposure to AI. After being a programmer for 4 odd years,  I proceeded with my MBA. 

Post my MBA I did a number of roles in enterprise sales, M&A, building commercial models, negotiating fairly large contracts (loved it!), and at one point was one of the youngest Vice Presidents in a Top tier IT consultancy firm, heading the sales for the vertical for Europe. This is when I felt an overwhelming need to head out and set up my own startup.

In our venture, we made our fair share of mistakes, but the feeling you get when someone pays for something that you conceived and created out of nowhere – is a phenomenal high. Fair to say an entrepreneurial journey will also show you the lowest of lows – but if you are able to persevere and power through, it just makes you so much more resilient. At times I am surprised by my own reactions.

It was during the startup that I was pushed into product management, and quite enjoyed it. Product management, in my mind, gives you the chance to play the CEO (for the product) time and again. So post our startup’s successful exit, I have been building AI products for various firms over the past 6-7 years, and thoroughly enjoying it. 

2. What are the key ingredients to achieve success?

In my mind, there is no profound secret recipe for success. The answer has always been – follow your heart, put in the hours and play the long game. The harder bit is – how to get oneself in a position to be able to do all those things. 

This is where I can share some bits of wisdom I have picked up along the way, have stayed with me… (take them with a fistful of salt) 

1. Know what you want and have the courage to ask for it.
2. Go from the known to the unknown – do things that leverage your natural strengths, but make it a point to know your negatives.
3. Failures are bound to happen (it’s a mathematical certainty), so might as well fail big – pick the hard path always. If you succeed then it’s fantastic, if not then the odds were anyways stacked up against you. 
4. Always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Do what you think is right – easier to explain your actions as well. And either you will become an inspiration or a cautionary tale, either way you would have left a lesson behind. 

In terms of one key trait that has helped me over the years – it sounds a little silly to say it – but I am happiest when I am learning something new! The desire to just assimilate information, being able to do it quickly and then build on it  – is genuinely why I think I have succeeded on the occasions that I have. 

3. How do you handle failures?

I take my failures to heart. Even for the small ones – probably more so. The goal is to hate that feeling of failure, to figure out what you could have done differently, so that you never have to feel like that again. But know that failures will keep happening – can’t eliminate that. The key is to not fail for the same reason again.

4. What’s the one word or phrase that defines your identity?

I know my strengths, but more importantly I am aware of my weaknesses

5. Is the search for excellence utopian or is it for real?

Excellence is a relative term. Perfection is utopian. The pursuit of both is the only way to go, otherwise, we would still be living on trees. 

6. How would you mentor/advise people struggling in their lives?

Your life state is a function of the 5-6 people you most interact with. So surround yourself with people who would most increase your chances of being comfortable in your own skin and living up to your potential. Notice, I did not say success – that is a consequence. So cut out/ignore the negative and the noise.

But the most important person in this equation is ‘you’. Self-pity is a killer. And again, hard work is the key. You need to change your state, you need to put in the effort (that incidentally is also Newton’s first law of motion!).

It’s a myth that a positive mindset and good health come for free. One needs to be deliberate about them. It is not easy, but these are muscles that you have to keep exercising actively till they become second nature. 

7. What’s the one quote that defines your approach to life?

This is something I recently came across and has stayed with me – “ What you don’t manage, you lose”.