0:00

White

0:03

studio.

0:08

Everyone was like placement, placement, placement,

0:11

and I was like I at some

0:13

point, even if I get into consulting, I

0:15

probably want to start my own outfit

0:17

because in their journeys of those people, after

0:19

a few years, they want to start something

0:21

of their own. You know the world revolves around it.

0:23

A lot of times what you believe is

0:26

so biased because of your own experience

0:28

and environment that's very far from the

0:30

reality you have several other people. I

0:32

am not above averaging anything

0:35

at all. And every day, I'm just looking

0:37

at my hair, trying to tidy it, trying

0:39

to cover up the bald patch, and realizing

0:41

that just so many insecurities at

0:44

different just coming together, becoming

0:46

this massive ball

0:49

which is hitting myself work inside

0:51

of me when you take action on something

0:53

that you fear and it shows some

0:55

success when you consistently take action.

0:58

That fuels you to face your

1:00

fears even more in life

1:02

ahead. From

1:11

Wine Studio, you are listening to The

1:13

Inspiring Talk, a show

1:15

where I bring the conversations with today's

1:17

most successful and inspiring

1:20

personalities to help you

1:22

check your life, business, and career

1:24

to the level. Two

1:32

thousand fifteen, when I just graduated from the

1:34

college, and went to take

1:36

my first job. Like every

1:38

first time job was I

1:41

was really excited at that job

1:43

and I was generally curious

1:45

about a lot of things, and I was

1:47

not wholly focused on doing my work, but also

1:50

trying to see what else I can do

1:52

at my work? What difference I can make in people

1:55

that I was working with?

1:58

So this one time I went to event, and

2:00

I saw this interesting concept called

2:02

Goody's Box. One that essentially

2:04

is is whenever you feel like

2:06

appreciating someone you just

2:09

write a note and then drop it on the

2:11

box. And on a designated day,

2:13

you just open that box and read those

2:15

appreciation in front of everyone.

2:17

So you really feel good about yourself

2:20

and you kinda inculcate the

2:22

culture of appreciation. So

2:24

when I implemented that, one day

2:27

my department had noticed that

2:29

and she went like, hey, what

2:31

is that? And who implemented

2:33

this? And took out the long story

2:35

short, I ended up being appreciated

2:38

at our town hall. The point of the

2:40

story is Oftentimes we

2:43

feel that, hey, you know what, this is not my

2:45

role. This is only what I'm supposed to do,

2:47

and we really don't do

2:50

things that are beyond RKR

2:52

is. And in today's episode,

2:54

I invited Sartakorhouta, who is a startup

2:57

and business consultant who's

2:59

also a content creator, and I love his

3:01

content because his perspectives are completely

3:04

How you can really develop

3:06

this sense of ownership and prepare

3:08

for the future. Like, you must

3:10

know the way AI and machine

3:12

learning is taking over people's

3:15

jobs and how you can really be in top

3:17

one person, how you can really prepare for the

3:19

future, how do you generate curiosity, how

3:21

do you go beyond what you

3:23

are expected to do and make

3:25

a real difference. This episode

3:27

is something that you will walk back

3:29

by learning a lot and also we talk

3:31

about Saturn's and mine

3:33

ball story. What did we learn from

3:35

our ball ness? It's insightful. You

3:38

enjoy this conversation. Let's get

3:40

started. Sadtok,

3:46

thank you so much for being on the show. Thank

3:48

you for inviting me. I'm very excited

3:50

to be here this morning. Awesome. And

3:53

I thoroughly enjoyed having

3:55

this offline conversation with you, and I'm so

3:57

excited on what our audience

3:59

is gonna take from this conversation because

4:01

when I came across your reels on Instagram,

4:03

I said, hey. Here's this one guy. Whose

4:06

content like a I wanna, like,

4:08

binge listen and binge watch

4:10

and consume because the analogies

4:12

that you draw are really, really beautiful. Like,

4:14

I insert the one where you said, you know, good

4:16

products are like, you know, temples where

4:19

you engage, like, five senses.

4:21

I can recommend people to go and check his

4:23

Instagram, but I wanna start off this

4:25

conversation from what we're

4:27

discussing offline about the

4:29

Avis half life

4:31

of any career today is

4:34

three, four years. And at the pace,

4:36

things are changing. It's very important

4:38

for us to up scale and sort of learn

4:40

as much as we can to stay relevant.

4:42

So why do you think it's

4:44

important for you not only to focus on

4:46

one thing, but then start looking at other

4:48

things. I think this is something

4:50

I've said multiple times, not

4:52

just to people at my office, just my partner

4:54

as in business this, but even any occasion

4:57

I've got to speak with people, this

4:59

was a realization that happened sometime last

5:01

year. When I start making content, it's been

5:03

about a year and a half and the

5:05

journey started from the perspective that

5:07

one as a business consultant, I would

5:09

feel every day the questions that a lot

5:11

of founders ask me were very

5:13

repetitive. You know, the same kind of

5:15

FAQs come to you daily. And I

5:17

felt there was a way to productize it

5:20

so I can productize my answer. And

5:22

anyone sends me that question, I can

5:24

just send them that short video saying

5:26

here is the answer to your question. That's

5:28

why the whole journey of creating

5:30

content really started. And

5:32

whatever were the FAQs I could think

5:34

of. I just kept everyday making a

5:36

short video of not over one

5:38

to two minutes giving the answer in

5:40

brief. And keeping it ready

5:42

also for my team to consume and learn from.

5:45

But what I realized about three

5:47

months into the process and I create content

5:49

daily, it's a part of a daily ritual. Is

5:51

after three months or almost ninety

5:53

videos down. I felt like

5:55

I had no other insight to

5:57

offer. Or I did not really

5:59

have any other question that I could think

6:01

of that comes to me from clients, which

6:04

I answer routinely. And suddenly,

6:06

I felt that, okay, if

6:08

all my ten years of experience

6:10

being a CA helping companies

6:13

with Tax helping them with

6:15

business consulting related to product

6:17

and customer insight and marketing

6:19

and finance could be brought down to

6:21

just ninety to hundred insights,

6:24

and I don't have anything more to share.

6:26

That for any expert is a very

6:28

heart wrenching realization. Make

6:31

it, like, how less

6:33

I know. Exactly that I don't

6:35

know more than hundred insights and I call myself

6:37

an expert. So I think that day,

6:39

there was a switch that kind of, you

6:41

know, went on in my mind which said

6:43

that, okay, I need to come up with at

6:45

least one new insight every day. And

6:47

I feel that when you think

6:49

of output, you know how much value

6:51

can I add to others,

6:53

it takes at least ten units of

6:55

input to come up with one unit of put,

6:58

which made me realize that if I want one

7:00

unique insight which is beneficial to

7:02

business owners around the country, if

7:04

not the world, I will have to do at least

7:06

ten times input myself.

7:09

And I think that clearly started

7:11

my self learning journey

7:13

or I would say it was a

7:15

catalyst in pushing it or propelling

7:17

it much faster. And that was the point I

7:19

also realized that, you know, whatever you

7:21

know today. The world is changing so rapidly.

7:23

We had Crypto Tech product

7:25

consumer behavior that

7:28

in the next five years, people will be

7:30

engaging with businesses and with each

7:32

other in a completely different

7:34

way. And if you've not upskilled yourself

7:36

daily towards it, you will be absolutely

7:38

replaceable and irrelevant

7:40

which is why it's important now more than

7:43

ever for not just businesses, but

7:45

also for individuals to have

7:47

a LND department

7:49

or an LND function, not

7:52

for business, but for oneself, which

7:54

is what brings us to, you know, learning and

7:56

development on a daily basis this is so important.

7:59

And I think for a lot of us

8:01

learning stops at college,

8:03

we are being bombarded with a lot of

8:05

information on a day to day basis on our

8:07

social media and so on and so forth. But,

8:09

like, active learning where we

8:11

have an intention to learn where we

8:13

say that You know what? I wanna learn

8:15

about this thing in the next few thing, like, the

8:17

structural learning that we have in our school or

8:19

colleges. Like, that's the whole other conversation

8:22

on, you know, I love the structure part

8:24

of it. Like, the other aspect of what do we

8:26

learn is something that is

8:28

debatable, but the structure is something that we can

8:30

definitely pick from, you know, our college

8:32

and school. On picking a

8:34

topic and then creating a structure around it and

8:36

then and going about learning. For

8:38

most of us, it stops after

8:40

the call is. Right? And one of the things

8:42

that you talk a lot

8:44

about is entrepreneurship, but

8:46

I wanna focus on entrepreneurship.

8:48

The people not everybody needs to

8:50

be an entrepreneur. If I'm happy

8:52

doing job and I don't need to take the

8:54

pressure of being an entrepreneur. However,

8:57

I can be the best at

8:59

my job. And show

9:01

the skills at my job. Right?

9:03

So for somebody, like, what are some of

9:05

the traits that you

9:07

have seen? In the people who

9:09

are entrepreneurs, people

9:11

who have done exceptionally well

9:13

even in their jobs and, you know,

9:15

as working professionals. I

9:17

this kind of reminds me of this one class

9:19

I took back at ISP. It

9:21

was called strategic talent

9:23

management. And I

9:25

remember our professor shared this very

9:27

interesting stat with us which had that

9:29

world over an employer mix

9:32

seven times the amount of money

9:34

from an employee's work

9:36

and what he pays him, which if you

9:38

were to also reverse it probably

9:40

comes to that, you know, fifteen

9:42

percent of a businesses

9:45

cost should be employee cost. But

9:47

When you switch it over, it also makes

9:49

you realize that if you're an employee, if

9:51

you are adding seven times

9:53

value to your employer, of

9:55

what you are being paid. If you're

9:58

adding just seven times value, you are

10:00

an average employee. So for you

10:02

to really like add value

10:04

to your employer, you need to do

10:06

much more than seven times. And I

10:08

would say, as in business, they say that

10:10

your product should add ten

10:12

x value to your consumer

10:14

that what they pay for the product

10:16

of the service, they should be able to

10:18

monetarily or in

10:20

the context of time saved.

10:22

Or you know, effort saved, get

10:25

ten times the value. So as an

10:27

employee, you need to add ten times the value

10:29

to your employer if you are not

10:31

doing that. You're probably just being an

10:33

average employee. So the debate about

10:35

whether the employer should be

10:37

taking that much work from you or not

10:39

is a completely different aspect because an

10:41

employer is going to compare to

10:43

other businesses. And the risk in

10:45

entrepreneurship is much higher. Risk of

10:47

failure is higher. Employees get

10:49

a fixed pay on a monthly basis.

10:51

So I feel here ten times value to

10:53

be added if the moment a

10:55

person realizes that and

10:57

starts looking at how

10:59

much value am I adding on a

11:01

daily basis, that can help a person

11:03

become a better entrepreneur.

11:06

And I think a lot of times when you realize,

11:08

okay, how do I add more value?

11:10

That is also the switch that makes

11:12

you realize that, okay, I probably need to upscale

11:14

a little more. So coming from the

11:16

finance industry, I'd say that, you know,

11:18

an accountant could possibly feel

11:20

that my job is to just record

11:22

all accounting entries in such a

11:24

manner that the output is

11:27

correct. But for him to

11:29

upscale and learn to study

11:31

those MIS reports better, compare

11:33

it to industry benchmarks and

11:35

then come up with the insight that we are

11:37

underperforming in this area where we

11:39

need to improve by pulling

11:41

one, two, or three levers. That is

11:43

what requires extra

11:45

effort on an ongoing basis,

11:48

and that's where an accountant can

11:50

really add value to the

11:52

employer or the business. I really love

11:54

this. This is really great metrics for

11:56

you to look at, like, if I'm creating

11:58

seven x value, then I'm average.

12:00

Ten x value than maybe I'm ever

12:03

average or I'm being better. Right? And to

12:05

me, for anybody to think

12:07

that way, I think that comes

12:09

from the sense of ownership that

12:11

you need to own what you are

12:13

doing and feel like this is my

12:15

work and not just that, you know, I'm an employee

12:17

and I don't care like just do whatever.

12:19

Right? And and for somebody who's

12:21

looking at growing in their

12:23

career or whatever way in their

12:25

learning or a producer career, you need to

12:27

take that ownership and you need to step up and

12:29

say that, hey, you know what? I wanna take this

12:31

responsibility. Right? And this is

12:33

something that nobody can give you.

12:35

Ownership is something that nobody can ignite

12:37

in you. Right? But that is something that

12:39

comes from within. Correct?

12:41

But I feel there is a way to

12:43

probably ignite it in a

12:45

person. And of course, it comes from within, but I

12:47

feel a lot of times like when I speak with

12:49

people who are much younger than me or even people

12:51

are older than me. And

12:53

this is what people call like a quarter

12:55

life crisis or a mid life crisis where

12:57

they feel that whatever I've been doing all my life

12:59

and I probably wasn't meant for this, so I'm

13:01

not finding fulfillment. I think what is

13:03

happening is people lose that

13:05

ignition or that drive

13:07

to further on keep adding

13:09

value in what they're doing,

13:11

which is also because

13:13

things are changing so fast,

13:15

and people haven't upskilled at the

13:17

same level. So I feel for anyone who's

13:19

younger, who doesn't know, what do I really want to

13:21

do in my life. It starts with just

13:23

experimenting with so many

13:25

things. These days, you can learn marketing

13:27

online. You can learn product development online. There

13:29

are so many no code tools that you can actually

13:31

become a tech developer online. You can

13:33

learn finance online. And

13:35

it's that curiosity in a person

13:37

that I just want to learn how this

13:39

functions, which drives

13:41

experimentation or gathering

13:44

knowledge on different aspects, and then

13:46

whatever you start enjoying, you begin

13:48

to naturally without consciously

13:50

thinking about it, doubling down

13:52

on it. As you double down on it

13:54

over a period of time, you know, it's

13:56

success fuels much

13:58

better than failure. So when you

14:00

see some success in learning something

14:02

or finding an insight, it

14:04

fuels you to keep going deeper and deeper, and I

14:06

feel that's how careers are

14:08

probably meant to be

14:10

made. It's all driven on a first

14:12

principles level from a

14:14

person's curiosity. And do you think that

14:16

curiosity is something that we can learn?

14:18

I think how they say that

14:20

there are several types of luck.

14:22

Right? And it would be unfair for

14:24

us to say that Vigai's talking here

14:26

don't come from places of privilege

14:29

because the first kind of luck you really get in

14:31

your life is the family and the

14:33

environment that you're born in. And

14:35

for people who've probably

14:38

been not born into

14:40

as giving or

14:42

nurturing as environments, For

14:44

them, the fight has probably

14:47

been more, not from the point of view of what is

14:49

it that I want to do, but from the

14:51

perspective of, I need to do something to

14:53

earn money and then

14:55

rise up the self actualization pyramid

14:57

and be like, okay, now what do I really want

14:59

to do? So I feel when we

15:01

say curiosity, we also have to be

15:03

conscious of the fact that we're probably

15:05

speaking of an

15:07

environment or a country where

15:09

basic needs of people are

15:11

taken care of. And the reason why

15:13

these conversations are now so much more

15:15

relevant today, even in a country

15:17

like India, is because over the

15:19

years, the nation has also developed

15:21

in a way that a lot of people have

15:23

actually enough parents in the prior

15:25

generations, two generations have worked so

15:27

hard to give us the basics.

15:29

Then now we can actually think

15:31

of nurturing our curiosities

15:33

because our environments have

15:35

enabled it. So even now, if

15:37

you're not trying to be curious

15:39

or not trying to be learning about

15:41

new things, we're actually doing a disservice

15:43

to the prior two generations. Who

15:46

ensured that we have the basics in

15:48

place. You know, you talk about accent

15:51

curiosity on your, you know, take a look. Maybe

15:53

we can dive a little deeper into that and

15:55

what do you mean when you say accent curiosity?

15:58

Sure. So as you mentioned that, I think it's

16:00

important that I kind of give people

16:02

context on this, and I explained that through

16:04

a story. So I had a close friend back

16:06

in college in undergrad, and

16:08

I would travel in the metro every day with him, and

16:10

we could have called this together and come back. And

16:12

that year, he won the

16:14

top cuisine competitions in

16:16

the country. All of them. So imagine

16:18

he was competing with people who were

16:20

several years older to him, but

16:22

not as many younger to him, but

16:24

winning most national level

16:26

quizzes. I was just amazed at what

16:29

he was able to do. So I asked him this one

16:31

day that, how is it that you're so

16:33

good at cruising? How is it that you know so much

16:35

about everything? And he said, you know what? It's

16:37

now been about eight years. After

16:39

school, go back home, open Vicki

16:41

Pedia, and just read Vicki

16:43

Pedia daily for two hours.

16:45

Sounds like, how do you read Vicky Pedia? I I

16:47

couldn't understand the concept. Then he said, so,

16:49

say, for example and that day,

16:51

I remember specifically we were discussing

16:53

night key as a brand and, you know, Nike

16:55

shoes because that year also, there was one

16:57

design which was quite a rage. So he said,

16:59

like, we've been discussing Nike. So

17:01

I'll go today. I'll type Nike. I'll

17:03

be reading about Nike, and I'll see

17:05

the founder is Phil Knight. So I'll click

17:07

on Phil Knight's name. I'll start reading about

17:10

Phil Knight. then I know that he

17:12

grew up in Oregon, so I'll start reading about

17:14

Oregon. And then that's also

17:16

where Osho origination is, you know, built his

17:18

empire from. So I'll hop

17:20

onto Oshul Rajneesh. So he's like, that's

17:22

how, like, you know, from one topic to the

17:24

other, I'm diving deep into all of

17:26

them, and whatever interests me then, which

17:28

is related. I hop on to that topic.

17:30

So the learning here is

17:32

that you and I can be curious

17:34

about ten thousand things. But

17:36

do we really take action on that

17:39

curiosity to learn

17:41

about how that is functioning and

17:43

go deeper? Or do we let that

17:45

curiosity be so superficial

17:47

that it just dies out in a few minutes

17:49

of you not taking action? So I think

17:51

there's this gentleman who asked

17:53

a managing partner at Sequoia that

17:56

most VC funds are able to

17:59

showcase great results only in, like,

18:01

one decade or, you know, a five year

18:03

period. That too dependent on

18:05

very few bets that they've taken

18:07

on startups. So eventually, it's a game of

18:09

luck. So Sequoia has probably been

18:11

in existence for over forty years now,

18:13

so four decades. How is it that

18:15

it's always outperformed other

18:17

investors in this space. And they said that because

18:19

we're always paranoid about

18:23

not knowing enough And

18:25

I think that paranoia comes from

18:27

your curiosity poking you that you

18:29

don't know this. If you don't know

18:31

this or if you don't take action

18:33

on knowing this. will become irrelevant

18:36

because someone else will know this and they will

18:38

make money off of that or

18:40

gain fulfillment or whatever is

18:42

your goal. You know, out of that

18:44

and you will be left behind because you don't know

18:46

this. Not saying that you have to always

18:48

be paranoid, but I

18:50

think as they say certain amount of pressure is always good

18:52

for you to perform well. So it's just

18:54

knowing that balanced amount of pressure

18:57

when you're mind is always in that I need to learn.

18:59

Otherwise, I'll be relevant or what will

19:01

I do? It's just about not being

19:03

passive about, okay, I've made this much money and

19:05

I'm getting this much income and

19:07

It's about constantly pushing yourself to

19:10

learn. I think it's beautifully summarized.

19:12

And one of the things, what we do here at

19:14

wine is often, you know, push

19:16

people to find something interesting,

19:18

to explore beyond

19:20

their scope of work. Like for instance, our

19:22

video editor will say that, hey, you

19:24

are already table editing the videos, but I think what you should

19:26

also look at is learn about storytelling,

19:29

which is very relevant

19:32

for video editor to also

19:34

know how to tell the story. Like, even

19:36

if somebody, like, let's say, we are having this

19:38

conversation and somebody needs to take out the piece out of

19:40

it and then you know, curate this into

19:42

a beautifully done thirty second reel, you need

19:44

to have that knack of storytelling. Else you

19:46

will just cut, like, twelve minute, thirty

19:48

second, and thirty minute, and then boom, you just

19:50

have thirty second thing. But it might not

19:53

be very, you know, gripping. Right?

19:55

You need to have that jack up story

19:57

telling. Okay. Now I know the storytelling bit, then what

19:59

else should I know? And probably, you should

20:01

look at how

20:03

the distribution of this piece of content

20:05

that I'm creating work or how to

20:08

conceptualize it for me personally, and

20:10

particularly for the people at jobs,

20:12

one way to really learn about, and this is

20:14

something that comes from my work

20:16

at pharma company. I was in analytical

20:19

research, which means the

20:21

product has been developed by

20:23

the research and development team. And that

20:25

would come for us to create

20:27

the testing methods and, you know,

20:29

analytical methods. Right? Which means the

20:31

step before the product came

20:33

to us. Is the development, you know,

20:35

the product development results

20:37

team. Right? So take look

20:39

one step before it

20:42

came to your table. What is it that's happening

20:44

there? You try and learn about that. And

20:46

then one step after you have

20:48

done your job. Like, for instance, after we

20:50

have done that, then it would go to Manfaxing

20:53

site where the knowledge transfer would happen. Right?

20:55

And how things work there? Now

20:57

from what you just do, you have expanded

20:59

one step back and you have gone one

21:01

step ahead. And once you have learned enough

21:03

about that, maybe take one further step,

21:05

maybe to, you it's in the manufacturing site, the probability it

21:07

goes to the packaging, and then it will go to the

21:10

marketing. Right? There you can go as

21:12

further as you can. And similar in the, like,

21:14

before research and there was somebody who

21:16

did a market study and

21:18

said that probably this is the product that we should

21:20

work on. Then there's a, like, a research. And

21:22

then somebody said that, okay. Can we try creating

21:24

this product? Then comes into the product development? Then

21:26

comes to the research. And then, you know, analytical

21:28

research then after this is done, then

21:30

you know, like, then you keep on expanding till

21:32

the time you understand entire thing about

21:34

that business. Now you can take one step at

21:36

a time and that has really helped me

21:39

understand whatever I work and that's the playbook that I

21:41

use. So is there any playbook that you

21:43

particularly use Absolutely.

21:45

I think that what I really like about this

21:47

conversation is that we're picking up

21:49

frameworks from business and applying

21:51

them to individuals and actually

21:54

seeing how if an

21:56

individual were to apply the same

21:58

frameworks of business growth to their

22:00

own lives how they can become such better

22:02

human beings. Like, for example,

22:04

what you just mentioned when companies have to

22:06

grow beyond the point, it's

22:08

about you know, either vertical integration or

22:10

horizontal expansion and all your mergers

22:12

and acquisitions and all growth

22:15

strategies essentially revolve around,

22:17

okay, if I want to optimize on

22:19

my purchase cost, maybe

22:21

I should acquire the vendor

22:23

who sells to me. And, you know, I

22:25

will be able to then save on that

22:27

additional margin. Or what if I

22:29

were to own distribution myself

22:31

I will save on the margin which my

22:34

distributors are earning. So you know, that's how most business

22:36

expansion works, but you asked about

22:38

frameworks in my life. I think If I

22:40

were to talk of one mantra which has

22:42

probably helped me all through

22:44

at every stage be it in school or

22:46

college or later even in my

22:48

career right now, it's just facing

22:50

your fears. So

22:52

I remember I was horrible

22:55

at public speaking. Like so much

22:57

so that I remember my

22:59

class twelfth. My class teacher asked me

23:01

to represent our section

23:03

for intersection debate

23:05

and while it was too smaller competition to really worry about.

23:07

But somehow, I was just, you

23:09

know, so perturbed by the idea that

23:11

I had to write down the

23:14

entire debate, learn it by

23:16

heart because it's almost like, you

23:18

know, how people narrate the

23:20

Hindu Manjali, so that if you kind of

23:22

mess up with one line, you will have to go

23:24

all over again because you've mugged it

23:26

up. So I think that really embarrassed

23:28

me about myself to a great degree that I was

23:30

so afraid of talking in public

23:32

that at one point I decided that

23:34

I have to face this fear and I

23:36

have to try and go speaking to people and I

23:38

start teaching basic concepts

23:40

to children from government schools.

23:42

Because what I realized was

23:44

you don't fear speaking in public,

23:46

you fear the judgment that people

23:48

will make on your ability or

23:51

inability to do something. So

23:53

when say you start with an audience where at least that fear is

23:55

not present, it gives you an opportunity to

23:58

practice it again and again and slowly

24:00

elevate your audience. So, you know, there's a

24:02

process to it. Another thing was I

24:04

remember I was one of the editors

24:06

of the school magazine. And I

24:08

was pushing people that you're

24:10

asking for them to write for

24:12

the magazine. But at the end of the year

24:14

when the chance for me to write

24:16

an editorial game, I didn't want

24:18

to write anything because, again, I

24:20

was scared thought people are gonna be, like, what a methodically

24:22

written piece and why has this guy been

24:24

made in editor because he doesn't even know how to

24:26

write? And there was something I

24:28

did which I was embarrassed of, and I felt really

24:30

apologetic about for a very long time

24:32

thereafter. I one of my friends

24:34

here written a piece, and I said, listen, you

24:36

are so comfortable writing you

24:38

know, different articles. Can I just take this piece that you've written,

24:40

put it in my name and publish it in the magazine?

24:42

And I did that that year, so that

24:45

year the piece that went in my

24:47

name was actually written by a friend. And

24:49

I kind of held that inside of me

24:51

for a very long time, and I felt really bad about

24:53

it. And one point in undergrad,

24:55

I said I need to overcome this fear

24:57

of writing. So I decided to start

24:59

a blog, and it was called my life

25:01

as a Jalebi. So it was

25:03

a Humalog, and it's

25:06

almost like think Malgucci

25:08

days for a

25:10

punjabi kid, North Indian kid in

25:12

the nineties. So to write a

25:14

lot about, you know, my relationship with my

25:16

grandparents, my friends, the kind of

25:18

candies, we would all be

25:20

crazy about, and, you know, the kind TV

25:22

shows I would watch and what movie was my

25:24

favorite, what cartoon character was my favorite, I

25:26

would write a lot about nostalgia of the

25:28

nineties from my life and

25:30

I started that exercise just to

25:32

see that I didn't want people to

25:34

judge me for what I write, so I

25:36

just want to put it out on public display.

25:39

I kept doing it consistently for for about

25:41

six, seven years, and I think it has

25:43

about one fifty SS1

25:45

fifty s s is down I

25:47

remember in twenty fifteen, it got the best Humor blog

25:49

of India word. So I think that

25:52

one point, really, reiterated

25:55

in my life that when you take action

25:57

on something that you fear,

25:59

you know? And it shows some success

26:01

when you consistently take action,

26:04

that fuels you to face

26:06

your fears even more in

26:08

life ahead, which is why I

26:10

feel that as a framework is really important for

26:12

people to try and take small

26:14

successes out of so that they can kind

26:16

of double download it in the future. Talking

26:18

about fears, you know, I wanna touch

26:21

upon this because this is something that you

26:23

mentioned before we started recording. Right?

26:25

The fear of losing something.

26:27

And you have your own journey, and I

26:29

want you to share And I

26:31

think this also connects back to what

26:33

we discussed on learning, beta, and

26:36

experimenting and going once one

26:38

extra step. stops us

26:40

really is the fear of

26:42

probably thinking that I'm probably not

26:44

good enough to be going to my manager and so that I

26:46

also want that extra responsibility

26:48

or whatever that is. Right? So and it

26:50

stems from your self belief and,

26:52

you know, the self acceptance

26:55

that you have. Out and that the self image

26:57

that you have out yourself. Right? You

26:59

know, share with us about your sort

27:01

of experience of and this is something that I can

27:03

absolutely relate with going

27:05

bald. And what letting

27:07

go of that, whatever remaining hairs you

27:09

have on your head, you know, taught

27:11

you about life that we can

27:14

probably learn and implement. And I'll share

27:16

might be tough to, you know, share

27:18

yours. Yeah. So I think while

27:20

it sounds very superficial to

27:22

to people and it may seem

27:24

very in gone sequential to a lot for someone

27:26

who's probably not gone through it. But I think

27:28

I started losing my hair back at the age

27:30

of seventeen. I was probably in eleventh grade,

27:33

twelfth grade, I remember writing

27:35

the pre board exams. When I was doing

27:37

that, I could see strands of hair like

27:39

just falling on the on so sheep. I was

27:41

just brushing it off and

27:44

writing my exams. And I think at that

27:46

time, I thought it's probably the stress of the

27:48

board exams, which is leading to this. But soon

27:50

after I realized that it continued to

27:52

fall and I started going to dermatologists, started

27:54

talking to doctors, and they recommended a bunch of

27:56

things, you know, topical solutions that you should

27:59

apply. Serums and this thing called my noxidil and

28:01

probably eat to this and eat to that and eat to

28:03

eye end tablets and whatnot. And I think my

28:05

biggest fear at that time was that

28:07

You know, I I did my schooling from a boys school. Sounds

28:09

like my entire opportunity

28:11

to date women is gonna start after I

28:13

get done with schooling. If at

28:15

this point, it's gonna give me the biggest hit at a point,

28:17

which is probably my strength, which is my

28:20

hairstyle. You know, harmago, go ahead

28:22

in life, and whoo, whoo,

28:24

whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo,

28:27

whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo,

28:29

whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo,

28:32

whoo, whoo, who but I

28:34

remember a doctor gave me some minor

28:36

oxygen solution, which I would continue to

28:38

apply, and it worked for about two,

28:40

three years. After which, you know, the effect of keeps

28:42

veining off and you start losing hair and you've

28:44

got a receding hair line and all

28:46

in. I remember this was

28:48

around twenty sixteen, I had joined

28:50

ISP, and I saw a few

28:52

pictures from the orientation week, and I saw there

28:54

was a bald patch behind my

28:56

head and at losing

28:58

air was probably in a state of denial,

29:00

but that's when it really hit

29:02

me that omen you have bald.

29:05

And I was like, damn,

29:07

I look easily at least

29:09

seven, eight years older than I

29:11

actually am. If I don't find this

29:13

face attractive, how will any other

29:15

person find this attractive? And you

29:17

know, to add to that, ISB such a

29:19

phenomenal place of such

29:21

smart people were put

29:23

together in one campus and

29:25

locked in That for one year, you're

29:27

literally interacting with

29:29

some of the biggest alpha people

29:31

in the country, smartest people in the

29:33

country. And while I was always

29:36

academically one of the brightest

29:38

in the cohorts I would find

29:40

myself. That was one place where I

29:42

felt time I'm not smart at all, not

29:44

even average I gotta be negative

29:46

in my statistics paper, which was

29:48

term one. Suddenly, I'm like

29:50

below average as a student. I have

29:52

no self worth because of the way

29:54

I'm looking. I feel I'm not smart

29:56

enough. I feel I'm a misfit. People are

29:58

so much smarter, so much better

30:00

looking. I was never good at sports. Suddenly,

30:02

I see people playing football and

30:04

tennis and swimming in better

30:06

than me at literally everything.

30:08

And my self worth took such a

30:10

dip because I was like I

30:12

am not above average in anything

30:14

at all. And every day, I'm just looking

30:16

at my hair, trying to tidy it,

30:18

trying to cover up the bald patch,

30:20

and realizing that just

30:22

so many insecurities at different

30:24

places, just coming together,

30:26

becoming this massive ball

30:29

which is hitting my self worth inside

30:31

of me that I want to get rid of.

30:33

And very jokingly, this

30:35

one day, I just decided that, okay, I'm

30:37

gonna shave my head with a friend and, you

30:39

know, he he took this shearing

30:42

machine and just shared me and made me

30:44

go boil and I was laughing about it

30:46

and I went for a shower immediately

30:48

after I came back and I looked at myself in the

30:50

mirror and I literally just broke

30:52

down that very moment. I

30:54

started crying and I was like, what do I

30:56

even look like? Like, what has happened

30:58

to me? How can anyone

31:00

find this face attractive when I

31:02

myself don't have enough love for

31:04

myself? And I remember easily for

31:06

about four or five months. would

31:08

cry myself to sleep on some

31:10

days worrying about that I don't

31:12

have friends that I can relate to. Another

31:14

day is thinking I'm not smart enough. Third

31:16

day is thinking I'm not. looking enough

31:18

four days thinking that physically I'm not

31:20

the most fit. I can't play sports. And

31:23

I think it took a fair bit

31:25

of looking at myself like that

31:28

daily for about six months,

31:30

which brought me that acceptance.

31:32

I felt that I should shift my focus on things

31:34

that I can possibly control. And

31:36

if I'm not smart, that's okay. I can

31:38

at least focus on learning whatever

31:41

I can. So suddenly my

31:43

focus it from? Do I want a big placement from

31:45

ISP or do I want this benchmarks? Two,

31:47

I want to learn something I don't already

31:49

know. So while I've done my CACS

31:51

CMA, these kind of courses in finance and accounting.

31:54

Prior to that, I decided to take

31:56

up my expertise or my

31:58

masters in marketing and leadership at ISB,

32:00

and I thought I'm gonna study all case studies

32:02

related to this. And even though at

32:04

terms seven and eight where students

32:06

are placed, they don't study

32:08

as much because, you know, placements are done.

32:10

They want to relax and party towards the end

32:12

of the NBA. I

32:14

would read all my cases

32:16

before Underlying make point

32:18

does not because I was trying to

32:20

impress a professor or something,

32:22

but because my mind has

32:24

switched to I need to learn and be

32:26

better. I'm below average, that's absolutely

32:28

okay. And I think that mental

32:30

switch from what is within my

32:32

control to what is in

32:34

my control. Is very powerful.

32:36

And gradually, I

32:38

start loving the way I look

32:40

because my mental switch

32:42

changed to what is it that I can

32:44

control. And because consciously

32:46

I was making efforts towards that,

32:48

suddenly all these voices

32:50

gradually started weaning off and, you

32:52

know, started shutting down, I started

32:54

liking myself in all other aspects too. So even though

32:56

I wasn't the best of swimmer, I decided at

32:58

least I can do ten thousand steps every day and you

33:00

don't take care of my health and that's doable and

33:03

why not? So I started focusing on

33:05

that and because I achieved that

33:07

over a long period of time, that gave me a

33:09

certain feeling of success and

33:11

whatnot. And now it's it's probably been about six years.

33:13

I've spotted this look and I call

33:15

it, you know, how there is a crew cut and

33:18

there is mushroom carton, whatever.

33:20

I think this is the Brazilian cartilage,

33:22

and I think it's hot

33:24

looking. I can very well afford

33:26

a hair transplant, but I would rather

33:28

never do it because I think for me,

33:30

this is a constant reminder that

33:32

this is something you've feared in your life

33:34

for probably about five years

33:37

and shaving that hair

33:39

off knowing that now what is there

33:41

to fear. Now what is there to

33:43

lose? Nothing. Focus on things

33:45

that you can control. That was such a

33:47

powerful switch in my life

33:49

that I rather keep it this

33:51

way every day as a constant

33:53

reminder that facing

33:55

off yours and focus on things that you can

33:57

control. So beautifully put in thank you

33:59

so much for sharing that because I know you

34:01

haven't shared this before. And, you know, I can

34:03

so relate with that. Because

34:05

for me, it was a little different

34:07

my own experience because I

34:09

was losing the hair, but I was at least bothered about it. And,

34:11

like, I didn't leave it down. Like, if I'm losing hair,

34:13

then so what's the big deal with it? I

34:15

mean, there's no issue with that.

34:18

Right? But For me, it was external, you know, sort of

34:20

poke that a lot of people would give. Oh, look,

34:22

you are losing your hair. What are you doing

34:24

about it? You should go and do this and

34:26

that and

34:28

whatnot. And for the longest period of time, like you said, I was in denial. I was like,

34:30

oh, you keep on talking. I didn't give her damn.

34:32

Like, I'm okay with it. It's okay. And

34:34

then when, you know, the thought

34:37

of, okay, I think I should just get rid of it

34:39

and then go completely bald. That

34:41

scared me. You know, like you said,

34:43

the fear of losing something. I

34:45

don't know what. And, you know,

34:47

I tried, you know, using the apps to create

34:50

a mock up of what I would look like

34:52

if I

34:54

you know, went to boil and so on and so forth. And one day, like

34:56

you said, I just got rid of it. And then

34:59

I realized how much

35:01

time efforts and energy we

35:04

put in things when I did

35:06

that, I felt relieved. And I'm like,

35:08

okay, like you say, now what else

35:10

is there to fear? Like, you know, this is something that I felt is such a

35:13

big thing in my life. Now, it's almost

35:15

nothing because, you know, I don't even

35:17

care about it. Like, it's That's

35:20

me. And, you know, after that I

35:22

I have felt this absorb

35:24

of self confidence, you know,

35:26

that I started feeling. That, hey, you

35:28

know I own this. This is part of me.

35:30

And like you said, even today, like people said that,

35:32

hey, I think you should consider transplant and

35:34

so on and so forth. I'm like, I'm never gonna do that. Why

35:36

would I

35:38

wanna force something. I would just leave with it because

35:40

for you, it's a reminder of facing

35:42

your fear. For me, it's a reminder

35:44

of the journey that I went from

35:47

journey of self love and acceptance

35:50

and owning who I am. Right? And that's

35:52

been such a beautiful beautiful beautiful journey.

35:55

For me there. So I think the lesson from

35:58

whatever we are sharing here

36:00

is for some of us, it

36:02

could be physical insecurity for some of it could be

36:04

emotional or social or whatever that

36:06

insecurity or the fear that we have is just

36:08

that face it and get past it

36:10

and don't

36:12

spend too much time thinking about things. Just

36:14

get done with it and move on. I

36:16

think how it also relates to business

36:20

very consciously. Is there a

36:22

output metrics and input

36:24

metrics? So, basically, if a business focuses on,

36:26

you know, we want this

36:28

much revenue in the next year, or we want this much profit, so want

36:30

this much market share. You can't have

36:32

it because what you're focused on

36:34

is something which is outside of your control.

36:38

What we help businesses with is identifying input

36:40

metrics. What are the levers which

36:42

can help you reach that? And

36:45

your focus in business should

36:47

only be on achieving those

36:49

input metrics consistently because if

36:52

you attach yourself to something

36:54

which is beyond your control, and you

36:56

keep beating yourself about not being

36:58

able to achieve it or

37:00

reach it, then it's just a futile

37:02

attempt because you're crying over

37:04

something which you can't even do anything about. So, you

37:06

know, just understanding those input metrics

37:08

and even in business or your personal life

37:10

focusing on

37:12

just that. Helps make all the difference. It's something as simple

37:14

as, you know, reading. Someone would want to

37:16

learn more about a

37:18

particular subject But if they think

37:20

that how can I know so much that I'll become

37:22

a CFO tomorrow of my company or

37:24

CMO? It's just such

37:26

an intimidating

37:28

thought that you will never get started. But when you focus

37:30

on just reading one article every day or

37:32

just starting with one book and finishing off

37:35

it may be one month, two months or whatever. I'm just doing that

37:38

daily. You won't even realize

37:40

how soon you'll get to that point. I

37:42

think that's a great

37:44

mental switch. To have, you know, attach yourself to and I think

37:46

this is in part with Gita also says that,

37:48

you know, focus on

37:50

government, not on

37:52

the outcome know, what is it that you're

37:54

gonna get? And I think and that also,

37:56

like you said, it's less

37:58

intimidating. It doesn't put a lot of pressure. You are

38:00

doing it for the fun of it, not for the outcome

38:02

of it. Grid. So now we are talking about

38:04

how do you really potentially

38:06

become someone who really

38:08

consistently learns and take the responsibilities

38:10

and entrepreneur.

38:12

So, you know, how do you become one? And there was this

38:15

one conversation I had with Verun

38:17

Maia who runs this

38:20

company called Aveloom scenes. And that conversation I was scared

38:22

because he said that AI is gonna take

38:24

over, and it's gonna take

38:26

ninety nine percent of

38:28

the jobs. Of the people. We don't

38:30

know when that's gonna happen, but, you know, we can see

38:32

that happening with the rapid

38:34

pace of things. Right? One thing

38:36

is learning. You take the extra

38:38

responsibilities and so on and so forth. So

38:40

are there any ways other than that

38:42

that where people can actually become

38:44

irreplaceable? Like, do you really focus on one topic and go deep into

38:46

this? Or do you, like, pick the

38:48

other topics? Is there any any insight that

38:50

you wanna share

38:52

on that? So see

38:54

if you were to ask a business owner.

38:56

You want to hire a CFO. There

38:58

are two options you have. One is someone who

39:00

comes with twenty years of experience. Running

39:02

the finance and accounts function in a related company who

39:05

could solve this problem. The other

39:07

guy comes with just seven

39:09

years of experience. So it's

39:12

literally, like, one third the experience of the

39:14

other guy. But he

39:16

knows a little bit about performance

39:18

marketing also. He knows a little bit about no

39:20

code also. He knows a little bit about product development as well. And, of

39:22

course, he he comes from seventy hours of experience

39:24

of finance. Which one would you

39:26

pick? And I

39:28

ran this as a poll on my social media channels, most people picked

39:31

the latter with lesser years of

39:33

experience in that function. But

39:36

having more exposure to multiple

39:39

avenues and functions also. And

39:41

I think the reason that

39:44

works for most people who want to hire is because they

39:46

do realize that beyond a point,

39:48

skills in a particular function only

39:51

add as much But for you to

39:53

really take on leadership role, you need

39:56

exposure to multiple domains so

39:58

that you can think how all of them

40:00

come together

40:02

and take more holistic decisions for the businesses

40:04

growth. And I think the same

40:06

thing applies in our lives as

40:08

well. You know, as they say that

40:11

life is almost like you need to

40:13

balance between three things,

40:16

which is time, health,

40:18

and money. So at any

40:20

point, people will be able

40:22

to have two, but not the

40:24

third. Zero, when you

40:26

are young, you don't have money, but you have time and

40:28

you have health. When you are

40:30

hustling in your twenties and your thirties

40:32

and your beginning to

40:34

make money, you still

40:36

have health on your side and you have money,

40:38

but you don't have the time. And when you

40:40

grow older, you have money and

40:42

time, but you don't have health. So

40:45

the real beauty is in balancing all

40:47

of them together, which is

40:49

even in skills the

40:52

real beauty is understanding what more

40:54

can you add in your skill set.

40:57

So I remember I was hosting

40:59

and moderating this one, CFO

41:02

summit a couple of weeks ago in Bangalore.

41:04

Where CFOs of some of the

41:06

biggest companies were put together, it was

41:09

So all of us were in a room, and my job was

41:11

to really ask them about how

41:13

tech is disrupting

41:16

their business and their

41:18

function as a CFO. And the

41:20

conversations turned so beautiful

41:22

because I realized those guys as CFOs also

41:25

were so aware of what

41:27

new technology is coming into their function.

41:29

And maybe that's the reason why they rose

41:31

up to the ranks of CFOs because

41:33

they didn't understand it is a function of their learning.

41:35

So I think more people realize they

41:38

need to go deep in

41:40

one function but also

41:42

wide on several others

41:44

is because one function

41:46

can get automated first

41:48

by AI or technology. But

41:51

if you also have a wider able to see where else can

41:53

I continue to add value to the

41:55

business and the world, and then

41:57

maybe continue to

42:00

just be on your old fulfillment journey of adding value to

42:02

other people and making money in the process.

42:04

Dairy coffee and startup. Yeah. That's

42:08

daily coffee and the startup fundraising.

42:10

That's my book. How did that come

42:12

about? So how did that come

42:16

about is assurance business, you always say that, you know, you have to figure

42:18

out what is the gap in the market, what

42:20

is it that the consumer wants

42:22

and giving it

42:24

to them. So in about a year of me making content, two

42:26

of the most common questions I would get

42:28

in my in studying and also in Linkedin.

42:30

One was can you help me with startup

42:32

fundraising? Because

42:34

I work as an investment banker, so that's my job. The second

42:36

was, can you recommend a book where

42:38

I can learn everything that you're talking

42:41

about in your content? And I

42:43

recommend a lot of books on my social media profile. So on

42:45

my Instagram, there's this one highlight

42:47

which says read

42:50

and they're easily about thirty, forty books that I've recommended, which I've

42:52

read over the past one year. So but

42:54

I would never be able to recommend

42:56

just one book, which would

42:59

colate the knowledge from all of them

43:01

for a first time entrepreneur. So I

43:03

felt that was a need in the

43:05

market, answering those two questions together

43:07

in one resource. So I thought, okay, whatever

43:10

is this knowledge base, let's try and convert

43:12

it into a book. There are a lot of

43:14

books on start up

43:16

fundraising, most of them.

43:18

Very safe to say ninety five

43:20

percent or more of them have been written by

43:22

foreign authors. Or even authors of Indian origin, but who are based

43:24

out of the US in Silicon Valley.

43:26

So a lot of the perspective is

43:28

very US

43:30

Silicon Valley

43:32

based, and it's not written for Indian founder. So

43:34

I feel a lot of Indian case studies,

43:37

Indian context. How is the

43:39

law different in India? How

43:41

is the process different in India? You have a lot

43:44

of blogs answering those

43:46

questions, but more than half of them are

43:48

also incorrect. So I felt it was about and

43:50

this one publisher got in touch with me,

43:52

said, you know, would you want to write a book? I

43:54

said, absolutely, you've taken the words out of

43:58

my mouth. I've been thinking about myself. He said, I can help you expedite the

44:00

process. I'll get you a writer.

44:02

You put together the table of contents and

44:04

you give us

44:06

the content. And we will make it easy to transcribe it for you. So

44:08

he got me this one young girl who has

44:10

just completed her undergrad

44:12

in psychology. Had no

44:14

background in finance, nothing in

44:16

entrepreneurship. And every alternate

44:18

day, for two hours, during

44:20

my jog and walk, after I close the

44:22

table of contents, I would just,

44:24

for two hours, tell her about one

44:26

topic in the book and explain it to her,

44:28

and she would understand which I

44:30

thought was quite an achievement because the idea was to explain

44:32

it to people who have no background.

44:34

So we could do that

44:36

consistently over period.

44:38

And, yeah, she was kind

44:40

enough to transcribe the entire recording of what

44:42

I was saying and sending it to me,

44:44

then we would edit it I

44:47

would add tables and processes and flowcharts and

44:49

things like that. So in

44:51

about four months, we

44:53

could close the entire book, right, from writing

44:56

to editing to cover design and

44:58

everything, and we published it, and we released

45:00

it, I think, sometime in the

45:02

end of October. I it was around NavaThras that we did

45:04

launch that book. And, yeah, we've

45:06

sold out the

45:08

first batch. So the

45:10

second batch is now going in

45:12

print and, hopefully, it should be

45:14

out soon. And, yeah, it's it's a

45:16

bit amazing. Super stuff.

45:18

I linked that up in the

45:20

description of this episode and for

45:22

anyone interested in learning

45:24

about startups, fundraising, and

45:26

beyond that. You know, Sartre has

45:28

got his past experience in working with

45:30

a lot of startups helping them raise the

45:32

fund. And there's a lot that people

45:35

can take from, like you said, from

45:37

the Indian context, which is really,

45:39

really important. So congratulations on

45:41

your book. What is the

45:43

number one wrong belief? That you

45:45

held for the longest period of time

45:47

about yourself. I remember this taking

45:49

this one, you know,

45:52

test back at ISB. Almost everyone

45:54

was signing up for it and it was, I

45:56

think eating, economic times,

45:58

organizes this some leadership

46:01

test. Okay? Everyone was taking it. I also took it. And I

46:03

didn't get shortlisted for the next round when everyone else

46:05

did. And when I was analyzing my

46:07

answers, I realized that Everyone

46:10

else was probably more data

46:12

focused than I was. That was

46:14

more consumer insight and

46:16

belief and this and that focus,

46:18

then that's what was

46:20

reflecting my answers. And I realized

46:22

that, you know, the world revolves around

46:24

data. A lot of times, what

46:26

you believe is so biased because of your own

46:28

experience and environment that's

46:30

very far from the reality you have several

46:32

other people.

46:34

Which is why before you make any belief

46:36

firm either about yourself or

46:38

the world or how the

46:40

world functions, it's important to

46:44

look at data, which is fair and correct, and

46:46

hopefully free from all biases.

46:48

I think that's when I realize

46:50

they're okay. If data is

46:52

important for business, data is also

46:54

important for one oneself.

46:56

That was the time I built an excel

46:58

sheet. That I said, okay, I'm gonna track every day things

47:00

that I should improve about myself. So

47:02

am I waking up before a particular

47:06

time? Am I going to the gym? How much cardio am I

47:08

doing? How much weight training am I

47:10

doing? I will measure all of these things. I

47:12

will measure my learning.

47:14

Did I read at

47:16

least fifty pages of a book

47:18

on professional development. Did I do at

47:20

least one hour of reading on new

47:22

technologies product, etcetera,

47:24

etcetera. So Those are the kind

47:26

of things I started plugging in an Excel sheet, and I would mark myself

47:28

as green amber or red

47:30

on a daily basis. So

47:33

I think when I started doing that, I

47:36

realized, like, I could clearly see

47:38

the improvement in several aspects of

47:40

my life immediately. So I think a

47:42

lot of times people believe, oh, I'm

47:44

improving this year. I've done

47:46

this, which I had not done last year. This

47:48

year, I've

47:50

achieved this But only when you track it daily, can

47:52

you really see are you

47:54

improving daily or not? I think

47:56

daily is such an

47:58

important aspect. Because consistent effort that

48:00

compounds is very very different and is very

48:02

similar to business. You know, there are businesses who

48:04

look at

48:06

monthly MIS. What was our last month sales and what I'm

48:08

like, no. You've lost the game the

48:10

moment you're looking at monthly MIS because you're

48:12

looking at your numbers only twelve times

48:16

a year. Think of the business which is at weekly looking

48:18

at it fifty two times a year,

48:20

forty times more than

48:24

you are. The difference that mental switch can make.

48:26

So I feel just

48:28

recording and analyzing data

48:32

daily basis. Even about your own self can be a

48:34

very big switch. So to build that

48:36

consistency, it's important first if you've

48:38

read this book called

48:40

Atomic Habit. You know, my James

48:42

Cleher. And when I read it, I

48:44

realized how a lot of it I was

48:46

doing intuitively, but it put a framework

48:48

to it. Which even reinforce that belief

48:50

further in me. So you have to start with something

48:52

which is small and doable. If you're

48:54

probably like

48:56

a hundred kgs and one you want to get down to seventy, losing

48:58

thirty kgs is very intimidating a thought.

49:00

But if you say, okay. What is it that I

49:02

can do daily? Can I walk

49:04

these many steps every day. It's not putting too much pressure. If

49:07

you like playing racket sports, can I

49:09

play back winter every day?

49:12

Can I do something that you enjoy, which is easily

49:14

doable daily? So for a lot of people who

49:16

probably want to get on a diet, you don't just

49:20

cutting sugar. Or if you can cut sugar, just cutting down on say

49:22

two cups of coffee, where you take your

49:24

sugar from four coming down

49:26

to two can also be a

49:28

minor switch. So the idea

49:30

is start with one thing, do

49:32

it consistently over, say, a

49:34

month, then add one more

49:36

small little bit Do that

49:38

also consistently for a

49:40

month. So keep adding one little

49:42

thing on a monthly basis.

49:44

When you do that, You are just working

49:46

on one small habit because the other

49:48

one, since you've been doing it for thirty

49:50

days or sixty days or ninety days prior,

49:52

it's already become a habit in a part

49:54

of your daily routine. So I think the

49:56

idea that I try to follow in

49:58

everything that I'm trying to improve on is just take a

50:00

little one little easily doable

50:02

thing, like, even for content. We're not a content

50:04

company. We are into

50:06

finance, business consulting.

50:08

And I felt, okay, content

50:10

is my learning system. It's also content marketing

50:13

for our business. So we're not gonna focus on how much

50:15

time it takes to edit. We're not gonna focus on

50:17

how much time it takes to record. I'm just

50:19

gonna pick up my iPhone speak

50:21

out an insight, immediately post it

50:24

online and be done. The

50:26

entire process, if it takes more

50:28

than twenty minutes of my day,

50:30

it's eating out time from my main business or what I want to

50:32

do. So I was like the process has to be

50:35

in less than twenty only then is

50:37

it sustainable for me? So

50:40

I think that switch has really helped us keep

50:43

going now with about

50:45

almost six hundred videos.

50:48

That's really powerful. Sergeant, you have been a black

50:50

ship in some extent

50:52

going to ISP and saying

50:54

that I'm not gonna take placements.

50:57

You know? And the problem of being a black ship sometimes

50:59

is you deal with this feeling that,

51:01

hey, you know what? I'm doing something, but

51:03

people around me

51:06

you know, understanding you mentioned about after you, you know,

51:08

term getting over, everybody got placed and they

51:10

were partying and stuff like that he was

51:14

studying. And simply am I doing the right thing that everybody is parting? Is this even the

51:16

right thing to do? Or, you know, am

51:18

I making a mistake? And, you know, that kind of

51:21

downward of peoples in because the

51:23

environment that you're surrounded with

51:26

is heading in

51:28

direction a and you are headed in

51:30

some other direction and you don't know if you are doing

51:32

the right thing or not. Right? And so

51:34

far, anybody who is right

51:36

now listening or watching

51:38

to us who is going through that

51:40

phase of nobody around me

51:42

understands? And am I doing the

51:44

right thing? Is there

51:46

any misses or lessen

51:48

from your own experience of being that

51:50

person that you wanna pass on. I

51:52

think that is a part of my

51:54

personality, ended up because

51:56

of several smaller

51:58

instances or experiences. And if I

52:00

were to go back, I remember

52:02

my parents telling me that in I

52:04

was starting for CA final, and they said, listen, everyone takes

52:06

coaching for this, and it's not easy. What

52:08

all subjects do you think you need coaching for? Do

52:10

you want to sign up? And let's in

52:13

time, let's sign up for those classes so that it's not too

52:15

late that you say, oh, I don't understand this, and I'm

52:18

flunking my exams. I said, you know

52:20

what, like, because others

52:22

take coaching doesn't mean I

52:24

just want to sign up for it. I first want

52:26

to see where is it that I'm

52:28

facing trouble in understanding and then go

52:30

ahead and do it. So for me, I think

52:32

a lot of times in life, my parents trying

52:34

to tell me how the world is doing this.

52:36

Why don't you do this? Has just been like,

52:38

okay. Let me figure it out. Like, I'm not gonna

52:40

take that on face value. So at that time,

52:42

I remember I was really struggling with

52:44

this paper called strategic financial

52:47

management. And even this one on

52:49

operations research. And I

52:52

ordered one book and I studied from it

52:54

and I couldn't understand

52:56

jack shit. Second resource I tried was slightly

52:58

easier. And I said, let me just try and look

53:00

for some resources online. I remember

53:02

in operations research,

53:04

I was searching for that

53:06

subject on YouTube, and I found

53:08

this one class like a two and a

53:10

half hour class recording by a

53:12

professor at IIT Mudras. Was explaining

53:14

that subject. I watched that video and

53:16

I just understood the entire

53:18

thing. And I was like, wow. Like, I'm

53:20

so blown away

53:22

and thankful. That this

53:24

video exists and could teach me

53:26

about it. And then for whatever chapter, I

53:28

wouldn't understand or whatever topics. I

53:30

realized, okay, I can do this. I can search for

53:32

it online. And try and find something that will explain it to me.

53:34

And for everything, I literally found something

53:36

online. So I told my parents I don't

53:38

need coaching I think I

53:40

can find solutions myself. I can

53:42

figure this out. Let me

53:44

attempt this by myself. And they

53:46

said cool. So I

53:48

went ahead and delete and I mean, I'd

53:50

say it would be unfair for me to

53:52

say that the credit goes to me.

53:54

I think I was very, very blessed and lucky to have done that. But

53:56

when I kind of passed my CFA final

53:58

exams, a lot of newspapers kind

54:00

of published this news article about me

54:04

about being possibly the youngest Indian at that time to have completed four degrees

54:06

by the age of twenty three, which was

54:08

CACS, CMA, and an

54:10

undergrad in

54:12

finance. All without any coaching. So I think that was an

54:14

added kicker. That told me that

54:16

I can learn or do something

54:20

Even though the world is taking coaching, that's okay. So think then

54:22

when I went to ISB, everyone

54:25

was like placement Irreplaceable

54:28

placement and I was like, I at some point, even if I into

54:30

consulting, I probably want to start

54:32

my own outfit because in their journeys of

54:34

those people after a few years,

54:38

they want to start something of their own. So I

54:40

remember having a lot of conversations with professors

54:42

and the dean and When

54:45

the dean said that listen if you really want

54:47

to do it, four, five years

54:49

into it, you may probably not have

54:51

the courage to give up and do it yourself because at

54:53

that time you'll probably be married, you'll have responsibility for your

54:56

family, and it keeps getting

54:58

harder and

55:00

harder you know, for people to give up. So he's like, you know

55:02

what, if you really want to try it out

55:04

right now. Why don't you go ahead

55:07

and do it? And let me give you that option that if

55:09

you opt out of placements this year and you try it out for

55:11

a year and it doesn't work out, you can come

55:13

back and sit in the placement process

55:16

next year. And I'm so

55:18

thankful to the dean to

55:20

give me that opportunity and

55:22

that option because I was willing to

55:24

openly speak about it so

55:26

much and you know, try and search for an answer that just

55:28

that safety net. Give me the

55:30

comfort to okay. Let's jump in and let's

55:32

see if we can do this.

55:35

So I feel safety nets are

55:37

also found when you go out searching,

55:39

knocking enough doors. So the first

55:41

step is just going around asking and not fearing that if

55:43

you ask you, look stupid. I think

55:46

that's what has probably

55:48

helped me

55:50

so far. Amazing. This has been such a great

55:52

conversation, sir. I have two more questions.

55:54

The first one, if you were to

55:56

redo this all

55:58

over again, what are those

56:00

three things that you would have done

56:02

differently or started early or

56:04

maybe you wish you

56:06

learned earlier? I think, one, the moment I realized I need

56:08

to track data of

56:10

business in my own self. Had I

56:12

started doing that

56:14

much earlier, I think I would have I

56:16

have liked to believe. I mean, while, of course, I wouldn't want

56:18

to change anything about my life. These are

56:20

certain learnings where if others can

56:22

probably take

56:24

that would be one, just measuring data. Second,

56:27

adding value for the world. Everyone's

56:29

focused on what can I get from this job, what

56:31

can I get from relationship?

56:33

What can I get from this environment, this

56:36

experience? If you focus on what

56:38

can you add to the other person? And

56:40

is it ten x or what

56:42

you're getting? That switch the sooner you make starts opening

56:44

so many more opportunities for you. I think

56:46

that's something I would have started. Third,

56:48

I again, it's linked to the second I

56:50

wish I'd

56:52

started creating content much earlier, and

56:54

that's because that was my way

56:56

to give to entrepreneurs. Knowledge

57:00

about what I knew, which they would pay

57:02

so much to consultants and, you know,

57:04

professionals to get answers to, and I

57:06

was giving it away because I wanted people

57:08

easy ax to that information. I think had

57:11

I started doing that much earlier, there were so

57:13

many more lives I would have touched

57:15

and impacted. So imagine you

57:17

are standing on the stadium. And this

57:19

is the largest stadium in the

57:21

world. And there are millions and

57:23

millions of people that eagerly

57:25

and passionately waiting to listen to

57:28

you. You've been given only one minute of the

57:30

time to share

57:32

the most important lesson that you have learned in your

57:34

life? What would be your message? I

57:36

think if you come down to fundamentals

57:38

and first

57:40

principles, everything comes down to you have control

57:42

over your mind and on your senses.

57:44

So you know how even

57:46

in the gta there's this one visual

57:50

which was you know, Shri Krishna was the one who

57:52

was manning the rat, the

57:54

chariot for Arjun. And there

57:56

are five

57:58

horses and says that these five horses are the five senses.

58:00

Anyone who's gotten control

58:03

over all these will

58:05

be able to achieve everything

58:08

that they possibly want. And a

58:10

lot of times that achievement may

58:12

just be the realization that I was just

58:14

running after

58:16

are inconsequential in life because it's

58:18

just that self control or

58:20

that self realization. You

58:22

know, that you've got

58:24

everything in that satisfaction

58:26

because as they say the paradox

58:30

of success or wealth is also

58:32

the more you keep getting it, the

58:34

more dissatisfied you are

58:36

about not having more

58:38

of it. So I think which

58:40

also stems down to not having control over your

58:42

sense of desire. Right? So I

58:44

feel if people can just learn to

58:48

control that. I remember having this conversation with friend recently, and

58:50

he said that he heard this one

58:53

billionaire talk on a podcast. Moe

58:56

said that in the past eight years, I had the same item

58:59

for breakfast daily. Yeah. You heard

59:01

of that? And the reason is

59:03

that he wants to

59:06

kill his urge to satisfy his

59:08

taste. He's like, if I want nutrition,

59:10

I'm getting it. Tastes pushes you

59:12

to have things which are unhealthy,

59:15

do things which you should not be doing in life and if a person

59:18

can just control that. So much

59:20

of a difference it can really make in their life

59:22

and how they optimize and

59:24

prioritize things. So taste is

59:26

just one sense. If you can have

59:28

control over your desires

59:30

and your senses unbeatably.

59:32

This has been such a

59:34

phenomenal conversation Sartak, thank you so

59:36

much for taking this time out and

59:38

sharing you insights and wisdom with us. Thank

59:40

you, Pajap. Pleasure is all mine. We really

59:42

hope this adds some value to people

59:44

because I mean, I don't think of myself as very wise, to be honest.

59:46

So for you calling it wisdom, I think I'd

59:48

give credit to my look, which is

59:50

similar to that of

59:52

a monk. All credit

59:54

goes there, but two months.

59:56

Two months. Absolutely. So I'm glad

59:58

it added value and it really did to me as

1:00:00

well, and I'm so thankful you had me here. Alright.

1:00:03

Thank you. It's been great condition. Hey,

1:00:09

thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you

1:00:11

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