Outliers

This isn’t the first time we’re discussing entrepreneurial journey and how it’s lonely, and filled with failures and self doubt.But unlike the do’s and don’ts in entrepreneurship dished out byexperts and mentors who have absolutely no experience in building anything.

When a veteran entrepreneur such as Harsh Mariwala openly shares his biggest entrepreneurial failures and how he handles critique, the insights are far more valuable.

“I can talk about my failures all this podcast,” he says.

As for wealth, Mariwala calls himself a caretaker of all he’s earned in his career. “The first 25 years are about learning, the next 25 is when you earn. And the next 25 about sharing that wealth.”

Please do listen in.

“Things became so bad around 2012 that one of my co-founders came to me and said I was bullying everyone around,” Aneesh Reddy, co-founder of Capillary Technologies, told me while recording this episode of Outliers podcast.

With over Rs 60 crore in the bank raised from investors such as Sequoia and a secondary share sale of around $5 million (more than Rs 26 crore then), Reddy, then 25, became his own biggest enemy.

“With all that, it (money and success) starts getting to your young mind,” he told me. I first heard about Aneesh’s journey at fixing his bully image over a year ago.

His boldness in accepting his problems, fixing it, and sharing the story with everyone so they learn makes Aneesh an outlier. That and the growth of Capillary.

Capillary now counts Walmart and other top retailers among its top customers and earning nearly $5 million in revenues a quarter currently. While Aneesh wouldn’t disclose financials himself, a person familiar with his company confirmed the numbers.

Listen in to Aneesh.

“Things became so bad around 2012 that one of my co-founders came to me and said I was bullying everyone around,” Aneesh Reddy, co-founder of Capillary Technologies, told me while recording this episode of Outliers podcast.

With over Rs 60 crore in the bank raised from investors such as Sequoia and a secondary share sale of around $5 million (more than Rs 26 crore then), Reddy, then 25, became his own biggest enemy.

“With all that, it (money and success) starts getting to your young mind,” he told me. I first heard about Aneesh’s journey at fixing his bully image over a year ago.

His boldness in accepting his problems, fixing it, and sharing the story with everyone so they learn makes Aneesh an outlier. That and the growth of Capillary.

Capillary now counts Walmart and other top retailers among its top customers and earning nearly $5 million in revenues a quarter currently. While Aneesh wouldn’t disclose financials himself, a person familiar with his company confirmed the numbers.

Listen in to Aneesh.

“Things became so bad around 2012 that one of my co-founders came to me and said I was bullying everyone around,” Aneesh Reddy, co-founder of Capillary Technologies, told me while recording this episode of Outliers podcast.

With over Rs 60 crore in the bank raised from investors such as Sequoia and a secondary share sale of around $5 million (more than Rs 26 crore then), Reddy, then 25, became his own biggest enemy.

“With all that, it (money and success) starts getting to your young mind,” he told me. I first heard about Aneesh’s journey at fixing his bully image over a year ago.

His boldness in accepting his problems, fixing it, and sharing the story with everyone so they learn makes Aneesh an outlier. That and the growth of Capillary.

Capillary now counts Walmart and other top retailers among its top customers and earning nearly $5 million in revenues a quarter currently. While Aneesh wouldn’t disclose financials himself, a person familiar with his company confirmed the numbers.

Listen in to Aneesh.

After quitting his job as Microsoft India chairman, Ravi Venkatesan spent few months working with a core team of former colleagues on a startup idea. Just before an investor was about to write a cheque, he realized he wasn’t passionate enough and backed out. It was the second time he was bitten by the startup bug in his career.

“Let’s say I had gone ahead and flamed out, so what, what’s the big deal? In the cosmic scheme of things, these don’t matter. What matters is you live a fulfilling life, you figure out the way you’re really going to make a difference,” he says.

Ability to learn new things, to lead and not just manage and the ability to manage self, are three timeless skills and traits that can help ride through the disruption, according to Venkatesan.

“The biggest obstacle to your success is you. If you look at what has been happening around the world, the number of amazing people who’ve crashed and burned because they did something incredibly stupid ranging from Rajat Gupta at Mckinsey to many others.”

Venkatesan is the chairman of a state-owned bank (Bank of Baroda), a philanthropist with his Social Venture Partners (SVP) and was a board member at India’s second largest software company Infosys until last week.

“The reason we were born on earth is not to have a job; most of us are searching for the reason as to why we were put on the earth. The job is only a means to that bigger end.”

There’s a raging debate going on in India’s intellectual networks and among those seeking employment about the future of jobs and new skills required to earn a living.

With his experience across different sectors, Ravi offers some great insights that could help in navigating the disruption better.

Do listen in.

P.S. we will make the transcript of this podcast available next week.

After quitting his job as Microsoft India chairman, Ravi Venkatesan spent few months working with a core team of former colleagues on a startup idea. Just before an investor was about to write a cheque, he realized he wasn’t passionate enough and backed out. It was the second time he was bitten by the startup bug in his career.

“Let’s say I had gone ahead and flamed out, so what, what’s the big deal? In the cosmic scheme of things, these don’t matter. What matters is you live a fulfilling life, you figure out the way you’re really going to make a difference,” he says.

Ability to learn new things, to lead and not just manage and the ability to manage self, are three timeless skills and traits that can help ride through the disruption, according to Venkatesan.

“The biggest obstacle to your success is you. If you look at what has been happening around the world, the number of amazing people who’ve crashed and burned because they did something incredibly stupid ranging from Rajat Gupta at Mckinsey to many others.”

Venkatesan is the chairman of a state-owned bank (Bank of Baroda), a philanthropist with his Social Venture Partners (SVP) and was a board member at India’s second largest software company Infosys until last week.

“The reason we were born on earth is not to have a job; most of us are searching for the reason as to why we were put on the earth. The job is only a means to that bigger end.”

There’s a raging debate going on in India’s intellectual networks and among those seeking employment about the future of jobs and new skills required to earn a living.

With his experience across different sectors, Ravi offers some great insights that could help in navigating the disruption better.

Do listen in.

P.S. we will make the transcript of this podcast available next week.

After quitting his job as Microsoft India chairman, Ravi Venkatesan spent few months working with a core team of former colleagues on a startup idea. Just before an investor was about to write a cheque, he realized he wasn’t passionate enough and backed out. It was the second time he was bitten by the startup bug in his career.

“Let’s say I had gone ahead and flamed out, so what, what’s the big deal? In the cosmic scheme of things, these don’t matter. What matters is you live a fulfilling life, you figure out the way you’re really going to make a difference,” he says.

Ability to learn new things, to lead and not just manage and the ability to manage self, are three timeless skills and traits that can help ride through the disruption, according to Venkatesan.

“The biggest obstacle to your success is you. If you look at what has been happening around the world, the number of amazing people who’ve crashed and burned because they did something incredibly stupid ranging from Rajat Gupta at Mckinsey to many others.”

Venkatesan is the chairman of a state-owned bank (Bank of Baroda), a philanthropist with his Social Venture Partners (SVP) and was a board member at India’s second largest software company Infosys until last week.

“The reason we were born on earth is not to have a job; most of us are searching for the reason as to why we were put on the earth. The job is only a means to that bigger end.”

There’s a raging debate going on in India’s intellectual networks and among those seeking employment about the future of jobs and new skills required to earn a living.

With his experience across different sectors, Ravi offers some great insights that could help in navigating the disruption better.

Do listen in.

P.S. we will make the transcript of this podcast available next week.

At 59, Uday Kotak banks on his over three-day decades old business acumen in the financial services world for building the future, and keeps awake at night wondering if he will have his bank the next morning. For incumbent entrepreneurs such as Kotak, the forces of technology disruption are not science fiction anymore. In this episode of Outliers, i sit down with Kotak, who combines the old world business acumen with a sense of paranoia for the future in a way that very few leaders do. What makes him an outlier is his hunger to learn the new, new thing and still keep the faith in the core principles of financial services based on trust and risk management. Here are edited (and abridged) excerpts from the conversation. Please do tune in and enjoy the full podcast.

At 59, Uday Kotak banks on his over three-day decades old business acumen in the financial services world for building the future, and keeps awake at night wondering if he will have his bank the next morning. For incumbent entrepreneurs such as Kotak, the forces of technology disruption are not science fiction anymore. In this episode of Outliers, i sit down with Kotak, who combines the old world business acumen with a sense of paranoia for the future in a way that very few leaders do. What makes him an outlier is his hunger to learn the new, new thing and still keep the faith in the core principles of financial services based on trust and risk management. Here are edited (and abridged) excerpts from the conversation. Please do tune in and enjoy the full podcast.

At 59, Uday Kotak banks on his over three-day decades old business acumen in the financial services world for building the future, and keeps awake at night wondering if he will have his bank the next morning. For incumbent entrepreneurs such as Kotak, the forces of technology disruption are not science fiction anymore. In this episode of Outliers, i sit down with Kotak, who combines the old world business acumen with a sense of paranoia for the future in a way that very few leaders do. What makes him an outlier is his hunger to learn the new, new thing and still keep the faith in the core principles of financial services based on trust and risk management. Here are edited (and abridged) excerpts from the conversation. Please do tune in and enjoy the full podcast.