It has been epic…

I’ve been working on a slide deck for a presentation that I have to make before the MBA class of a rather credible business school. I’m quite excited about this- I pitch for a living but I’ve never spoken about my startup journey before. The dean has generously given me ‘a hundred and fifty minutes’, and I’ve been told not to wing it. So, I sat down to think about the decisions that landed me here.

Turns out this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I can’t remember any Eureka moments. I remember writing code and selling software back in high school, I ran a software consulting practice during my engineering undergrad days, and somehow I’ve always been this hallucinogenically optimistic about my destiny as an entrepreneur. I had a bunch of ideas that I wanted to pursue so I was never very interested in the college job fair. I was finding furniture for our office when Adobe was looking for talent on the campus. I could not wait to get out of college for my shot at changing the world. On my own.

The earliest I ever spoke about my wish to be at a startup was in grade 10. I remember we had gone away for leadership training course and we had to answer a formal ‘career-goals’ question, I guess that’s when I first consciously thought about it, I told this girl- very pretty and a year senior to me- that my life’s aim was to build a company that could make a reasonable dent in my universe… I don’t know if she remembers this, I hope she does.  Would it make her happy that I’m even attempting to do it?

I was lucky in getting an opportunity to help start QuadLabs. Gaurav is a brilliant hard-knocks entrepreneur who had already tasted both the fruits of victory and the tribulations of failure. That makes him the perfect partner and teacher. Tempered, yet unjaded. A kindred soul, if you like. And how has it worked out?

Well, I’ve loved it thus far.The feverish adrenalin rush of conceiving and executing ideas, meeting unreal deadlines and building products that people love. Sometimes falling, then dusting-off,  getting up and then getting hit on the nose again. Yes, we have had our days when noone knew where the next paycheck was coming from, and we’ve had our days where we thought we ruled the world. We’ve been shaken up and euphoric, beaten down and charged up, but we’re still at it, still fighting and still dreaming, and that’s what counts. There is no Gulfstream V. Not yet. But there might be, just around the next corner, the next deal, the next great idea. And that’s why this is all I ever want to do. And for the students hopefully hanging on my every word, or at least awake, I can only offer this. A man’s reach must always exceed his grasp. Or else what’s Heaven for?
Some dreams take longer than others to come true. But they always do, and they’re worth waiting for.

Now, if I could only remember that girl’s name…..

Here's a bunch of images from the early days...!!