Ankur Warikoo

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a leader was, I hired people with top colleges and great brands on their resume, ignoring how they worked as people.
I assumed their degrees will drive their success.

As you grow professionally, it is not what you know but how you deal with people, that determines your success.

#hiring #jobinterviews #warikoo

Some of the best decisions of my life:

1. Dropping out of my PhD
2. Coming back to India
3. Resigning from consulting to become an entrepreneur
4. Leaving a corporate job to start up again
5. Stepping down as CEO of my startup to go solo

If we don't give ourselves the space, nobody else will.

#failures #personaldevelopment #sucess #warikoo

I was jobless!

#job #years #warikoo

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a leader:
I hired people with top colleges and great brands on their resumes, ignoring how they worked with people.
I assumed that their degrees would drive their success.

And that was wrong.

Today, I realize, as you grow professionally, it is not what you know that determines your success.
Rather how you deal with people.

At the end of the day, every job is a people specific job.
Every single job.

#jobinterviews #resume #work #warikoo

You are not the only one confused.
You are not the only one unsure.
You are not the only one struggling.

You are not dumb, inadequate, or incapable.

Everyone is struggling.
Everyone is figuring it out.

Don't be harsh on yourself.

#failure #success #life #warikoo

The best candidates I have interviewed had these 3 things in common:

1. They asked a lot of thought-provoking questions. Not just in the end but throughout.
2. They took their time to answer. For them, speed didn’t mean smartness.
3. They smiled often.

#interview #career #warikoo

We are an insignificant speck of dust in a significantly large universe.

And the day we act that way, we establish our significance!

Image from Daniel Abrahams.

#wellbeing #tips #life #warikoo

It has become fashionable to startup today.

In the world of Shark Tank, everyone thinks they should start their own business.

Worse, people think that those in a job are losers.
They have sold their soul.
They have become part of a rat race.

That’s a lie.
A corporate job early in your career can shape you up meaningfully.

1. It gives you financial stability. Which sets up a good foundation. 
2. It teaches you the power of planning, of systems, of processes. 
3. It shows you the magic of teams and how your individual contribution at a micro level comes together with that of several others, to create impact at a macro level.

What is the one thing you have learnt from your job?

#job #career #lifelessons #warikoo

Just because you are unhappy in your job, don't be stupid and quit.

But don't be stupid and stay!

Work nights and weekends to find another.
Make that your job!

#job #career #life #warikoo

Mistakes I made in my first job

A thread…

All of these things are stepping stones in life.
Stepping stones that are a part of your life, but AREN’T your identity.

Your identity is defined by your kindness.
Your thoughts and beliefs.
How you strive to do better after a failure.
Who you are when no one is watching.

That stays forever.
You are much bigger than this!

–
If this resonated with you, follow me for more mindset shifts that help you grow.

3 selfish ways to live life!

I stole Rs. 400!

#money #life #warikoo

21 ways to win at your job

A thread...

Those in a job are the ones who have sold their soul.

This is one of the biggest lies being sold to us nowadays!

To startup or to take up a job is knowing who you are, and what you want to do. It is NEVER about being uncool if you pick something that the world calls “cool” but you don’t find it.

You do you. And that is success. Period.

#startup #job #success #warikoo

3 suggestions to people in their 20s whenever you fall into a comparison trap:

1. Do not feel you are running out of time.
You are very, very, very, very young.

2. The only person you should be competing with, is who you were yesterday.
For me, if in December every year I end up laughing at who I was in January of the same year, I have won!

3. Know that, you do not have to stay married to the decision you were compelled to make in Class 11 or picking up your college.
Life is huge, and you can always make wiser decisions, once you get wiser!

#awareness #time #comparison #warikoo

A huge mistake I made as a leader was, I assumed people will be okay if we lay them off and find them another job.

No!

Laying people off is rarely about the job.
It is about their self-respect.

#job #culture #warikoo

One of the mistakes I made early on as a leader was I thought that no one wants to be led.
Everyone wants to do their own thing, so let them.

Not true.

99% of people want to be led. They want to be told what to do, and then they will go on to do their best.
They want to be led. Not managed.

#leadership #people #team #warikoo

Nothing feels worse than letting those down who are the closest to you.

Especially your parents.

When I came back to India after dropping out of my PhD from the US, the biggest burden on me was crushing the expectations my parents had from me and my life.

For 8 years, all that I had spoken about and worked towards was: PhD, US, NASA, Space Scientist.

And now here I was - aged 24. Clueless. Directionless. Confused.
The one who had let down his parents.

We come from a very humble background. Hand to mouth existence.
Me going to the US was meant to change all of that.
All of that seemed to have gone to the dumps, because of my return.

And I remember feeling guilty.
Selfish.
Self-centered.
I felt small.
I felt inadequate.

I felt I hadn't played the role of a son the way I was supposed to.

Today, I am wiser. And here is what I have realized:

All I ever wanted was for my family to be happy.
BUT - before you can make or keep anyone else happy, YOU need to be happy.
The decision I had made, to come back to India, was a decision that made me happy. Immensely happy.

Was there fear? Yes.
Uncertainty? Yes.
But no regret. No unhappiness.
I was at peace with the decision.

I am grateful that things worked out for me and my parents are (I think so) proud of me today :)
But even if they hadn't, I am certain I would have found ways of keeping them happy.

Because I had attended to the most important person first.

Me!

#family #life #happy #warikoo

When the pandemic began 1.5 years back, most of us saw a dip in our income. 
But, we somehow managed.

We didn't face hunger, weren't without clothes, didn't have to walk hundreds of kms to reach home.

Here’s the truth:
We are just lucky! We don't deserve to be where we are in life. 
We were born to a family that took care of us, gave us love, food, shelter, an education.
Because of which we sit on privileges that people outside of our world won't experience even a second of their lives.

And yet,
We have the audacity to stand in front of the mirror and say, 
“I deserve to be where I am in life.“

DON'T GET ENTITLED!

#gratitude #perspective #luck #warikoo

Just one year - of hard work, of commitment, of devotion, of patience, of hustle - can change your life.

Just one year.

And that year has just started.
Are you getting started?

Image via @Kataivisuals on Instagram

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If you found this helpful, follow me for more growth insights.

#2025 #start #change #warikoo

Did Epic Shit with Netflix. Can’t wait for you to see it!

#NetflixPlayback2022 ⏩ #warikoo

“If I can’t trust you, it doesn’t matter how smart you are.”

The best advice I have ever got!

#manager #advice #trust #warikoo

This is me signing copies of the book (5,000 of them!) at the Thomson Press.

To my right is Rajesh ji, who narrated the most joyful stories of his times with Thomson. He has been with them for 25+ years. Wow!

First 5,000 pre-orders on my first book get an exclusively hand-signed copy. Get yours here: https://buff.ly/3lWtO19

When I turned 40 in 2020, I shared my failure resume with the world.
In the hope that people recognize behind every success is a series of events that we all failed at, which eventually led to the success we enjoy!
 
Cheers to celebrating failure and learning from it.

#failure #success #resume #warikoo

The year is 1998.

I have just given my IIT-JEE exam after class 12th.
And I was confident that I would make it to the top 1000 ranks.

On the day of the result, I go to the IIT Delhi campus with my dad, on our Bajaj Super FE Scooter.
Walk to the notice board where the roll numbers are displayed.

And start moving my finger from top to bottom.
My roll number is not there.
I rub my eyes, shake my head, and start from the top again.
My roll number is not there.

At that moment, my life felt like it was over!!

Hundreds of thousands of students in India go through this every year.
Not clearing that CA exam.
Not making that dream college.
Not clearing CAT or GMAT exams.
Not clearing the NEET/IIT exam.
And I often get emails from those who did not clear the exam, or know they will not clear the exam.

Devastated!

I know exactly how it feels to let your parents down.
To let yourself down.
To be clueless as to what to do next.
To think that life is over!

And if there is only one thing that I can tell you at this moment, it is that life IS NOT over.

That just isn’t true!

The truth is - that exam, that job, that salary, that relationship, that house, that car, that bank balance - is not the destination.

These are all means to get to a point in life - where we all want to get to.
The truth is - there are a million ways to get to this point.
Most of which are not even known to us.

So many of you have already gone through this experience.
In many ways you are perhaps grateful that you did not clear that exam, that college, that interview.
Because it opened up new paths for you to venture on.

That exam, that interview, that relationship, that money does not define you.
You are much bigger than this :)

#life #failure #motivation #warikoo

At wariCrew, we don’t ask for the candidate’s CV until the last stage.

What matters to us isn’t what they’ve done.
It’s who they are and how far they can go.

The first stage of the application is a list of 20 questions that have NOTHING to do with work.

Questions like “What are 3 things you’ve learnt about life?” and “What would you do differently if nobody would judge you?”

What I wish to gather - is this person someone who would enjoy working with me, as much as I would enjoy working with them, beyond the work?

In the second stage, we request applicants to respond to 2 tests: around emotional regulation and attachment style.

Both these stages are rarely eliminatory in nature.
The objective is simply to know the person beyond their professional settings.

The third stage involves a project (tasks similar to what their role will entail).

The fourth stage is a 1:1 discussion.

This is when we look at the resume for the FIRST TIME.
We frankly don't care.
Because by now we know the person through their motivations, their EQ and their work.
We have everything we need.

The discussion is a free-flowing conversation.
We discuss movies, family, sports, work-life, and money.

In all my startups, one trait has been constant:

A strong culture and a 'nice' group of colleagues to work with.
No politics, no unhealthy competition, no drama!

People >> Product >> Profits

Employees are people.
Not data points on an Excel sheet.

Image via George Stern

21 ways to win at your job

A thread

The biggest mistake people make is to reject the right advice because it comes from “unsuccessful people.”

I believe “unsuccessful/unhappy” people often have good advice to share, provided they realize what got them to that point.

Don’t dismiss good advice just because it comes from someone who hasn’t followed it themselves.

#advice #mistakes #failure #warikoo

Google is a very powerful tool. But your mind controls this tool and your reality!

#Google #perception #life #warikoo

5 signs of a job worth staying in:

1. You are respected for who you are.
2. There is acknowledgment of what you do.
3. You are rewarded for how well you do it.
4. There is growth while you do it.
5. You are mentored when you lose track.

1 sign of a toxic job:
You dread going to work everyday.

#job #life #respect #warikoo

7 uncomfortable truths about life that you must know:

Uncomfortable Truth #1: Life has no purpose.

We came from nothing. And once we are gone, there will be nothing.
No one will remember us beyond a few years or decades.
And yet, we spend every second of our life wondering what people think of us!

Uncomfortable Truth #2:

Where you were born, who you were born to, and when you were born, have the highest correlation to where you will end up in life.
Your opportunities, your privileges, your worldview - all stemmed from this lucky event that you had no role to play with.

Uncomfortable Truth #3:

Whatever you are feeling today, will fade away.
Our emotions and feelings are temporary.
We think of them as permanent.

Uncomfortable Truth #4:

We know others through their actions.
We know ourselves through our thoughts.

That’s why we think we are right - because we know why we are doing something.
We don’t know the same for others.

Uncomfortable Truth #5:

Every parent learns on the job.
And some of them end up not doing a good job.

Uncomfortable Truth #6:

The purpose of college is to explore yourself.
Most of us get lost instead.

Uncomfortable Truth #7:

“I don’t know what to do” mostly means “I don’t know if what I want to do will work out or not.”
We always know what to do.

#truth #life #purpose #warikoo

Don't dwell on the time that has passed.
It cannot be changed now.

Instead, focus on the time that you have at this moment.
In the future.

And all the possibilities that lay ahead of you.

Do you agree?

Image credit: Strength Visuals on Instagram.

#life #learnings #lessons #warikoo

20 things I wish we were told in our 20s

A thread...

If you went to a gym without mirrors, a weighing machine or a measuring tape, you would quit, EVEN IF you were making progress.

We feed off the feeling of progress.

If you are struggling to find motivation, it’s most likely because you are struggling to feel progress.

#motivation #success #inspiration #warikoo

7 lessons for your career:

1. If people can't trust you, it doesn't matter how smart you are.

2. Write your emails assuming they will be read by everybody.

3. Don't be in a hurry to create impact. Be in a hurry to learn.

4. Early on in your career, pick a job where you learn the most irrespective of the money.
Learning compounds faster than money!

5. Never trust your memory. Write everything down.

6. A great way to set yourself up for success is to do more after you are finished doing what you were told to do. Become positively unpredictable.

7. Early in your career, you get paid for what you can do.
Later on, you get paid for what you know.

Bonus: In the end, every role boils down to how you deal with people.

Excerpt from Build An Epic Career: https://amzn.to/40RKKuB

Help yourself before helping others.

It's not selfish.
It's necessary.

Image from Seconds Apart.

#learnings #lessons #people #warikoo

Avoid these mistakes in your 20s

A thread...

If you overthink, this is for you.

I received this email recently:

Had trouble sleeping.
Cannot shut down the brain.

Tried acknowledging her emotions, speaking to her family, yet can't seem to figure out what is keeping her up.

I asked her what usually occupies her mind?

“Job search, loan, shaadi related talks, where to settle conversations - move back to India or stay in the States a little longer.

It's hard to pick priorities in life because we have limited time like personal health, career, mental peace or good money.“

To which I replied:

You are worried because you want everything in your control.
And you want everything to work out.
And you want every person who knows you to be happy with what you do.

But the reality is:

1. You control only a small part of your life.

Realising this sets you free.

2. Everything will not work out.
And is not meant to work out.

Life is the sum of small things that work out, not one big thing that works out.

3. People, just like you do, react to the moment.

They cannot always see beyond the moment.

So it's possible that in the moment, they will be unhappy, disappointed, angry.
But that doesn't mean they will always remain that way.

Set yourself free.

Life is not a perfect picture that needs to get clicked in one go.
Life is a jigsaw puzzle of that same perfect image.
You have to fit the pieces one by one.

You won't get it right the first time.
But you will get it right eventually.

PS: Every week, I share such thoughts in my newsletter. You can receive that email for free by subscribing here: https://bit.ly/3TcWYdY

Image via MoveMe Quotes.

Toxicity generates toxic behaviour.

It is your decision who will be in your life and who will not.

Until you don’t feel that respect from within, you will never be able to get that respect from anyone.

Give yourself that respect.
Stay away from such people.

Video by Gary Vaynerchuk.

#life #people #learnings #warikoo

Sharing direct feedback with people is right.

Being rude is wrong.

Asking people for a status update is right.

Assuming they are not working is wrong.

Being strict is right.

Using punishment to lead is wrong.

#feedback #leadership #people #warikoo

25 immensely powerful life hacks

A thread...

Build a team so strong that someone from outside doesn't know who the boss is!

#founders #warikoo #leadership #management #team #teamculture #teamsuccess

“Vidur, what’s the best gift Mumma and Papa have gifted you?”
He shocked us with his answer!

May 2017

It was going to be Vidur’s 6th birthday.
He rarely desired things, but this time he wanted a gift.
A cycle.

There was one problem.
We didn’t have the money.

All of 2016 and 2017 had been a hard time for nearbuy, the startup I was running.

I had burned through a lot of cash, with not much success.
For no fault of theirs, 80 folks had been laid off.
To conserve cash, the founders had taken a pay cut.

With my single income less than our monthly expenses, we were now dipping into our meagre savings.

I had already put all my life's savings into nearbuy.
There wasn't much left.

I took personal loans, maxed credit cards, and was down to 3,000 rupees in my bank account.

I felt like an absolute failure.
Correction.
I WAS an absolute failure.

I had let down my employees, my investors, my founders.
And now I was letting down my family.

My 6 year old was requesting for a cycle on his birthday, innocently unaware of our financial reality.
And we couldn’t even afford that.

My wife, Ruchi, suggested we sell her gold bangles, which would generate enough to buy the cycle and have some surplus.
We agreed.

While Vidur was away at school, we went to buy his cycle.
When he came back home, we surprised him with it.
He broke down.
I don’t think he expected it.

We were all crying.
Him with happiness.
Ruchi and I because of our situation.

July 2017

Uzma (our daughter) was born.
She brought us luck.

By August, Paytm agreed to invest in nearbuy.
By December, our income matched our expenses.

June 2018

As part of a school assignment, Vidur was asked to answer a question.

“Vidur, what’s the best gift that Mumma and Papa have gifted you?”
We expected him to say - the cycle.
Because he desperately wanted it.

But...

He replied, “Uzma”

We all broke down.
Him, with gratitude.
Us, embarrassed at ourselves.

The only gift we want is love.
If we don’t get it, we think money will fill the void.
But it doesn’t.

#failure #gratitude #life #warikoo

Do you wish to have chhole bhature WITHOUT oil? :)

#oil #food #choices #warikoo

Until 32 years of age, I treated my body like a dustbin.
I used to weigh 89 kgs.

And the excuse I gave myself?
That all of this is ok, because I don't drink or smoke or eat non-veg!

Then, one day in February 2012, I decided to go exercise in the morning.
I started lifting my knees high up to touch my palms, parallel to the ground.

Something happened.

Within 2 weeks, I couldn’t walk.
The pain was unbearable in my hip bone.

The hip MRI told us I had something called Avascular Necrosis (AVN).
The blood supply to my hip bone had stopped, because of which the bone was decaying.

It was caused due to excessive smoking, alcohol or steroids - none of which applied to me.
I lay in the 10% without cause.

I remember the doctor writing on the prescription,
“STOP WALKING.”

That hit hard!

The standard treatment was to undergo surgery, after which I was supposed to be on bed rest for 3 months and crutches for 5 months.

My life was to change forever…

I went through the surgery.
I went through the bed rest.
I went through the crutches.
I was normal all the time.

Strangely, by being normal about it, the world was normal about it as well.
They didn’t make it a big deal.
And that taught me an important lesson.

The world’s reaction to your circumstances is a reflection of YOUR reaction to the same circumstance.

#health #life #fitness #warikoo

“What the f***! Are we supposed to wash our coffee mugs if there is no office help?“

At nearbuy, the two big pillars on which we built our culture were:
1. Anonymity
2. Obsessive transparency.

One such ritual to induce this culture of anonymity was “Why the F***?” form - an anonymous Google form.

If people saw anything in the company that made them go “what the f***?“ they were encouraged to ask on the Google form.
The form was anonymous.
I cared about the truth.
Not the source of the truth.

Here was the interesting bit though.
The responses to these questions were made public, to the entire company.

This was an actual question I once received.
“What the f***! Are we supposed to wash our coffee mugs if there is no office help?“

Here is what I responded:
“Sorry for this. The help was on leave. You should know though when we started, I was the one opening and closing the office shutter everyday for the 1st year. That's who we are.“

Setting the right culture is no one's except the leader's responsibility.
And each time they accept a new standard, they set a new culture.

#leadership #culture #people #warikoo

It breaks my heart whenever an employee goes through this.

Manager: Hey Ankur, you are terrible at your LinkedIn game. Low ratings for you this year!

Ankur: But I didn’t even realize my LinkedIn game was something I was measured on?

Manager: (evil laugh) Now you know!

Ankur: Why wouldn’t you tell me?

Manager: (continues evil laugh)

The biggest leadership failure is measuring people on metrics they are not aware they are being measured on.

#leadership #performance #failure #warikoo