When Bhanu, Pawan, and I graduated from IIMA and decided to start up, we had a combined loan burden of 56 lakhs.
56 LAKHS!!!
Pawan had maxed out 2 credit cards. Bhanu had run out of his savings and I had about 20,000 in my bank account.
To top it off, our families weren't well off either.
My dad had retired and my mum was a homemaker. Bhanu's parents were from a small village in Andhra Pradesh without an active income stream. Pawan, in particular, was his family's sole breadwinner. Bhanu would also have been the sole breadwinner if it weren't for his brother, Lokesh. Thankfully Lokesh had a plush job and he provided for them…
Until that is, HE QUIT and joined our startup.
And by the way, this was at a time when we were living off a stipend. We hadn't raised any money. We had no business model. And we were trying to run a publication (Finshots) when none of us could write.
So when investors ask us why we are now dabbling in a new venture (Ditto Insurance) and competing against well-established, well-funded players, I only have one answer.
We are crazy people - Madmen who have no concept of risk. We may crash and burn, but we will do it on our terms.
So stop trying to talk sense into us. We lost it the day we graduated :)
56 LAKHS!!!
Pawan had maxed out 2 credit cards. Bhanu had run out of his savings and I had about 20,000 in my bank account.
To top it off, our families weren't well off either.
My dad had retired and my mum was a homemaker. Bhanu's parents were from a small village in Andhra Pradesh without an active income stream. Pawan, in particular, was his family's sole breadwinner. Bhanu would also have been the sole breadwinner if it weren't for his brother, Lokesh. Thankfully Lokesh had a plush job and he provided for them…
Until that is, HE QUIT and joined our startup.
And by the way, this was at a time when we were living off a stipend. We hadn't raised any money. We had no business model. And we were trying to run a publication (Finshots) when none of us could write.
So when investors ask us why we are now dabbling in a new venture (Ditto Insurance) and competing against well-established, well-funded players, I only have one answer.
We are crazy people - Madmen who have no concept of risk. We may crash and burn, but we will do it on our terms.
So stop trying to talk sense into us. We lost it the day we graduated :)
