Its 2:04 A.M, as I am sitting at the Until ROI office, and looking at dreams outside the balcony on the third floor. Its the Delhi skyline, I am looking at and its a quiet time, when nothing sounds except you and your heart and those many sleepless dreams!
And as I sit here, at such a time, I am doing two things:
- Working to make sure all the deliveries to our clients are completed on time
- I just saw the entire 12 part series of “Inside The World Trade Center” by Discovery Channel on YouTube
“And as I just finished seeing the series, I am filled with anger and hope, death and life and many other emotions at the same time”
Well, and as they say you can never predict the future, just keeping the thought in my mind, I write this post, and to start with I want to thank everyone from my family to friends, some people who I have been really close in life, all whom I have respected more than my life and many others, who I know I remember deep down in my heart! Especially I thank my family and Suhita Poddar, who has kept the ultimate faith on me and Until ROI and being from London School of Economics still offered to join a rising start-up rather than go in for a great comfortable job!
THANKS FOR WHAT?
Well, thanks for making me the man I am. Thanks for giving me the heart to proudly say, that today I am an entrepreneur, not because I wanted to make a lot of money and be rich and famous, but actually if I share the real story in my heart, its about, how I always wanted to join the Indian Air Force and achieve the dream called INDIA.
I COULD NOT BECOME AN AIR FORCE OFFICER, I CHOSE TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR!
Due to whatever reasons that I could not become one, I found my calling in the purpose which I have deep inside my heart since I know of myself, which is, to see my country, my INDIA as one of the fastest and the biggest superpowers in the world. That no-one, and I mean no-one ever calls us the 3rd world country.
And today for the first time in my life, I want to share it with the world. I became an entrepreneur, well, to make INDIA a superpower. YES! to many it may sound weird, and this may come as a statement to just boast on, but I challenge you, to join Until ROI, I will promise you one of the fastest growing careers, though we are a very small company right now!
You know why I can confidently say this? well, because you will be joining this company with a vision of INDIA and when INDIA grows, we will anyway grow up and that too much faster!
INDIA IS MY STORY!
INDIA is my story, Iv always been passionate about this one feeling called INDIA in life. After not succeeding to become an Air Force officer, I decided to be an entrepreneur earning a meager 15k a month, living in Delhi, being responsible towards the family. I knew being an entrepreneur would be one of the best ways I can really fuel the fire. Create employment, Create New Dreams, Empower other people’s passion and get the real determination out of them!
I CAN GET A COMFY JOB
Yes, I can get a very comfy job, leading marketing for a major corporate, but well, where is the empowerment of thousands and millions of others? That’s my calling!
WHAT WILL THEY SAY WRITING MY OBITUARY?
They will write, this was that man, who showed us how to see dreams and fight till the very end, even if all hell broke lose, even then, fight it out and he empowered us to create the dream called INDIA.
WHAT AM I DOING AS OF NOW TO JUSTIFY ALL I AM SAYING?
At Until ROI we have a mandate, set by me as the Founder and CEO, that every 10 paying clients that we get at Until ROI, we sponsor the education of a poor and DESERVING child! And I will make sure that we take personal care in raising that child and chose the best out of them to hone them into leading organisations of tomorrow’s INDIA. And mind you, we are still a small company, a start-up as they call us!
I CALL YOU TODAY!
I call you today – yes, the one reading this post, if you feel there is some part of your heart, which is screaming out to achieve your dreams after reading this post, well, give me a ping and we will talk about exploring opportunities of working together to achieve this dream called “INDIA”! Write to me at careers@untilroi.com and we will live the dream we call INDIA!
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This blog post is surely one of the closest to my heart! And before going ahead with it, I must thank the people in my life who have made it possible for an ever middle class, traditional, safeguarded by Jobs background individual (which I was) to be a dreamer, an entrepreneur today!
There are many, though to name a few, My Folks, My Life 
, Avinash, Neha, Sarika, Rajiv Sir and a host of others who have always been a support!
Entrepreneurial life is something, which can only be read about in books and blogs, but felt the high of, only when you leave a comfortable job, to find your dreams, when you give into your eternal calling and make a way for yourself.
How I got My Wings?
I remember how I was the happiest soul on earth when I had received a good offer from a major Indian IT company to work in their testing practice at Bangalore, I was sure that now the career is set. It was a different kind of a high! BUT still, what was a bigger high for me, as I remember those moments today after a couple of years, was to sit on a plane, the first ever flight of my life. I had never been on a plane all my life and that one journey from Delhi to Bangalore on a plane, got me my first wings!
After delivering a highly successful project, I felt a void, some sort of a calling. When everyone else used to leave office at 6-7PM, I used to sit at the library, get books, loads of them, and sit through reading stories of established people. A Ratan Tata, An Ambani, they were all dreams that time. And finally I decided its time!
I Quit my First Job after 9 months
Obviously everyone in the friends and family said, you have lost it, why do you want to come back to Delhi when you have all the chances of going onsite and have a good life? I still remember, when I packed my bags from Bangalore and got onto the flight, with nothing in hand, I was a little unsure as to what will I do next after landing in Delhi.
Finally landed in Delhi, quite some humiliation and frustration, but finally when the dust settled everyone accepted the fact, that I had quit a safe haven only to do something of my own. And I started my search for something.
My Ex-boss From My Part Time Job from Class 12th Called up
I was working since class 12th. Did road shows, Joined a Start-up BPO unit which today is pretty established while I was pursuing full time college. My Ex-boss called up, when he got to know I’m in Delhi and we said lets work again.
And to everyone’s utter amaze, I became a Relationship Manager with an insurance company. The job was simple, go pick your bag each morning and come back to office with a cheque in your hands and be happy till you are performing.
The targets, the pressure of performing, the heat, dust, cold weather, abusive people in Delhi, I faced it all. Iv knocked at people’s doors, just to be shooed away under the name of insurance agent.
I was performing though, but was not satisfied. Though till today I think this was one of the most steep learning phase of my life, when I got to know how to sell! YES! I could sell… taking a cheque worth a lakh of rupees in India, from a lala sitting in a Gandhi Nagar, Kapda Market, is no less than a feat.
I moved on…
I submitted my resignation to my boss, who was against it, telling him, Boss I will come back one day with my own company. There is a bigger calling for me in life.
And I started looking again and hit upon my first idea and floated a company called: “WeYouPoint – Together we make a point” it was an idea of creating an online platform to get the industry and the academia together. I did my research and started building contacts, by going to smaller colleges and delivering lectures and talks!
I became the second youngest Indian after Ankit Fadia, to deliver a talk at Symbiosis Pune! Where it was a mixed feedback I got, but for me, it was a high of sorts. I remember, how it was hurting to invest 3500 rupees to catch a flight to Pune and reach the college, but I had in mind that this could be the turning point.
But As They Say Life Aint That Easy…
The venture could not work out, due to two simple reasons:
- I was immature to really understand the dynamics of running a venture
- I learnt the art of building the right team of people
And I came back to square one, jobless, again an undecided member of the family, and someone who was not right as per the people around. At an age of 20-21 when I was discovering myself and following my heart, there was a lot which put me back, also I missed not having a mentor around at that time.
Finally to sustain myself, I had to go back to being in a job and I knew selling, so went back to the wealth management industry and started performing, with my eyes and ears open to all sorts of ideas and stories and everything else.
And Now I wanted to Know, How People Earn From the Internet?
YES! Internet was catching up at that time, and I wanted to know how people could just sit at home and earn. And my quest started, which pulled me into studying the internet closely. Closely such that one fine day I stumbled upon a major industry association’s Blog.
And to be honest, I did not know what a blog meant, till I saw it and this was in 2007 end.
I knew I could write and there was a lot in me which wanted to share and learn and grow and hence I contacted the administrator of the blog, with a blog post, who actually responded back and today he is a mentor, a guide to me! He came as a stroke of opportunity and it changed the game.
I started blogging and that is how Paritosh Sharma the blogger emerged. I got my motivation from the fact that people started liking my work and this kicked in me the view of taking it to the next level, which was to take my skills LIVE. And I started going to events, while LIVE blogging them.
People till today express amaze as to how fast can you capture the thoughts of a speaker, speaking LIVE at an event? And I say, its the love of the work guys, it makes you achieve things automatically!
I became the Official Blogger for One of India’s Largest Industry Associations…
While this happened, it opened a new chapter in my life with an offer from a start-up into Social Media Marketing, to expand the Social Media operations with the Co-Founding team! Though Social Media was fresh, very fresh 2 years back, we started dabbling into the same and made a name for ourselves.
This was a good learning period for me as it opened up a whole new world of opportunities, which spelled future!
And future it was, with the New Media industry gaining ground, I found my calling. I knew this is it. This has enough scope for exploration, freedom of expression, delivering absolutely innovative solutions and creating new possibilities for clients.
Becoming a Social Media Evangelist was a turning point in life and till date Iv never looked back.
Plugging Gaps in The Industry Which I Realized Early On, I Started Until ROI
Looking at the gaps in the delivery and expectations of the market, I again set out to plug the same and started a venture called Until ROI.
Its been 7 months now and we have been growing as a company briskly, with interesting offers of acquisition and the rest. I remember how it all started from a very modest small store room, a laptop and me. Yes, that was http://untilroi.com/ when we started and today we are a growing team of passionate people who are simply winning hearts with absolute client satisfaction and innovative solutions for the market.
I want to thank every client, every one who supported us through all the rough patches, these 7 months have not been the easiest months of our lives. For me personally its been like a new birth. Like a new life, which is of learning, exploring, knowing the various dynamics of creating an organization.
And today as I sit at a good looking, though a small one room office, at 5 AM in the morning, remembering old times, and taking new decisions, making new calls, I feel blessed, to be, to choose to be an Entrepreneur! With dreams of making it big for not just myself, my team, my people, and many others who I wish to touch with the possibilities of seeing dreams and reaching out to get them, today I feel good taking strides!
May God Bless everyone and give everyone the power to change the world for the better of everyone else
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Here I am once again LIVE blogging the NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave at Le Meridien in Delhi. And as always I am glad to bringing to you one of the largest Corporate conference in the IT industry LIVE from where the action is.
A warm welcome to all at the NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave, we bring you EMERGEOUT LIVE. We have Mr. Som Mittal and Mr. KrishnaKumar Natrajan from MindTree on stage.
We have Mr. Som Mittal welcoming the delegates and the hall is filling up to its brim. Talkign about the period of uncertainty, Mr. Mittal is referring to growth and how entrepreneurship is taking a leap in India. There are positive changes that are taking place says Mr. Mittal.
We are focusing on things that we have never done before
From an EMERGING companies point of view, its interesting to seehtat over the last couple of years our focus on emergign companies has increased. Mr. Mittal is sharing some very interesting numbers.
We have had almost 150 best practices sessions in the last year. We have had more than 25 companies which have gotten mentored.
People joining us in the delegations in the past year have majorly been from the emerging companies. Mr. Mittal is giving some very interesting examples of how emerging companies are truly EMERGING OUT! When we had our Innovation awards, no surprise 40 % of the companies were from this strata.
Mr. Mittal is talking about the recent trends that NASSCOM studied along with a major research firm, and they have identified some really interesting opportunities. And 80% of the opportunities have come out from the market that exists in areas that we still haven’t explored.
The business done in IT outside fortune 500 is more than what gets done in the fortune 500
I think there is a huge opportunity ahead in the domestic market as it grows from t10 billion dollars to 50 billion dollars. The charter for us in the next 10 years is laid out and we have a road ahead.
Mr. Mittal announces the summit open by thanking the member companies and talks abotu competing and collaborating fiercely to bring out opportunities. Inviting KK on the podium, Mr. Mittal takes his seat.
And now we have KK from MindTree talking about how small and medium companies are the stars of tomorrow. I always love listening to KK, as I was a previous MindTree Mind. Talking about how the entire EMERGE community has grown up with the increasing extent of participation.
EMERGEOUT Conclave is a result of all the deliberations that have happened with all of you contributing
Collaboration is a very integral part of how all of us become successful. For the Indian IT industry to be successful its not just the largest companies to be acknowledged at the Global scale. If we see tens and humdreds of you be successful, that is when the real power would come out.
KK is really inviting participation from the delegates in the local events and pushing the sharing of knowledge.
A key focus of the EMERGE forum has been, how do we enhance the visibility of the EMERGING companies. I personally am of the view that the entire EMERGE forum has definitely enhanced the standing of the EMERGING companies. KK talks about the EMERGE awards and congratulates th group which has made this all happen.
A lot of our own success depends on how can we as a community decide how we collaborate. The industry needs a tremendous number of people amongst you on a global scale.
Now we have the EMERGE 50 AWARDS being handed over. I am sure we are going to have more of such companies and more EMERGING entrepreneurs along. I congratulate all the winners and look forward to be on the receiving end myself soon.
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