Why I decided to forgo my IIT placement to Start Up On My Own

“Start with your story. That’s it.”

This is one of the most simple yet powerful pieces of advice I’ve gotten in my life. “But, my story? Does it even matter?” I thought, “Why in the world would people care to hear my story?”

As entrepreneurs, we generally tend to see the positive side of things, and so I told myself, “Why not? If my story can inspire even one single person, it’s worth telling. I will be able to make an impact and that matters.” Somehow, the latter seemed to make much more sense to me (given that I am biased towards it) and I decided to write it down.

Coming from a small town in Bihar, I always wanted to be rich and famous. And the easiest way I could think of to get there was to get into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and become an engineer (up until the time I got in). And so, clearing the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) was a dream I always had since young. As it happens, I went to Kota and cleared the exam.

I got into IIT Delhi with big dreams and high expectations. For about a year, it was all about getting a high-paying job at the end of it, and living like a king. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was a still a part of the rat race at this point of time. But things started to change.

Two things happened during this time:

1. College was my first ever encounter with intelligent people having different perspectives about the same thing, and all of them good. It became very clear to me that I needed to improve a lot. I started observing people and picking up their good qualities. I started to look at things differently, which helped me make better decisions.
2. Life after getting into college became aimless for a while. I previously had a well-defined goal and was working to achieve that. Now, I didn’t feel like doing anything else.

By then, all the wisdom that I was able to accumulate from my colleagues and peers through self-learning, knocked me on the head.

I started asking myself: Will getting into a particular college be the biggest achievement of my life? The answer was a clear no. I felt the need to set new and bigger goals.

But what should the goals be like?

Cracking another big exam? Or getting a day one placement from the campus? This time, I stepped back to think about it. I was in no hurry. It took me around a year to figure this out.

During this year, I got exposed to the terms ‘startup’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ in various college events. I was fascinated by the idea of being able to make something that many people out there may use, and which could change their lives for good.

Throughout the year, this thought made a place deep in my heart. Even now, it fills me up with motivation.

I realised what my goals should be — making an impact on people’s life and pushing the entire generation to a new level.

I started looking out for people who share the same sentiments, and met Durgesh and Vibhanshu. We started with some ideas accompanied by half-baked executions. Among them were thoughts of having a grocery delivery startup for the IIT-D campus and a Bliss App to make others happy.

We tried executing these ideas, but it didn’t go well. Eventually, we had to shut them down. But executing these ideas made us look for more. It was around the July of 2015 when we got the idea for Notice App — making information sharing within communities easier. We started working on it, and by around October, we launched the first version of our app.

Things went well, and we were getting good feedback. Though people liked the initial idea, we needed to update the product constantly.

But there’s always the twist in every story. It was IIT placement season, and I had landed a job. It was time to make a decision. What followed was a period of deep reflection and self-questioning.

In the end, I came to my decision.

Conversation with parents and family

I am blessed to have parents who have been very supportive every step of the way.

But this time, they were skeptical. The idea of me leaving a job and starting something of my own did not go down well with them. They wanted my future to be safe and secured.

I talked to them, and asked a very simple question- What is the biggest risk I am taking by starting up? They agreed that the biggest risk is that I might not get a high paying job if the startup failed.

And this was not as big as it seemed. You can’t achieve big without taking the risk. After a few emotional conversations, I was able to convince them to allow me to pursue the startup full time after graduation.

Conversation with friends and peers

Most of my friends and colleagues at IIT have been very helpful and supportive of the idea that I wanted to start something of my own. They have been helping me out in any way they can.

However, you always meet people whose idea of life may be a little different from you. Hear them out, and you can always choose whether to accept it or not.

Life with Notice App: Is this worth it?

It has been around 2 months after graduation, and I have been working full time on Notice App. I have experienced happiness, excitement, awe, fear, loneliness all at the same time. It can be considered the most ‘happening’ phase of my life.

I am learning a lot — every moment of it. Surely, there are times when I have questions about what I am doing, but then I find answers to those questions, which only motivates me to put in more effort. We are committed to helping people see and share useful local information that they care about. And I feel that this by itself is worth everything I have done so far.

The 5 most important things I have learnt so far

1. Think big

You need to think big. Have insane targets in your mind.

If you don’t have a goal big enough to keep you motivated, it’s not going to work. You don’t want to give the most precious years of your life doing something you don’t consider big enough.

2. Evaluate the risk

Taking the leap is always a brave thing to do. Going out there and building a business is one of the hardest thing to do. And people appreciate it too.

But sometimes, things just may not work. You need to be mentally prepared for it. You need to analyse the risk you are taking, and consider if you are willing to do whatever it takes.

3. Be clear about your goals

You need to be clear about what you are trying to achieve and what your end goals are. Break them down into smaller objectives with a time frame for each of them.

Above all, have a goal for your life. It will keep you moving in the right direction.

4. Keep experimenting

As Eric Ries puts it, keep experimenting on the idea you have. You never know which one thing will work out and eventually take off.

But make sure you have a robust way of receiving feedback and measuring the results.

5. It’s all about learning

This is the most important thing that I have learnt. Keep learning. Anything that you learn in your life will help you someday.

Keep learning from your mistakes; there’s something to be learnt in every one of them. You’re going to be your best teacher. Learn and improve.