What I learnt working with VSS
This is a short note on some of the things I learnt as an entrepreneur, observing perhaps the most inspiring entrepreneur of our times - Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
After 12 years of running my own ventures, I spent two amazing years at Paytm. What made is most special was that I got an opportunity to observe Vijay and learn so much from him. For entrepreneurs who aspire to be as successful, here are some of my learnings, on what makes Vijay so successful.
1) Hard Work - Hard work should be point 1, 2 and 3 here. I have never seen anyone work as hard as Vijay, and yet enjoy it so much. I remember a colleague calling him Iron man, and I couldn't disagree. For a man worth billions, it was inspiring to see him put in 9-10 hours everyday, again and again. Its perhaps what differentiates true entrepreneurs from 'after money opportunists'. Vijay has more money than he can spend, but he was never in for it. He's a very simple guy. It's perhaps the joy of success, or the patriotism to build India's Alibaba, whatever it is thats driving him, he's is completely devoted to it and he works very very hard for it. The passion with which he talks about things Paytm is doing, would remind you of a love struck teenager. Unless you're in love with what you're doing, that amount of hard work is very difficult to pull. So lesson no.1 for entrepreneurs is something I saw written on Renu Satti's desk, 'Nothing can replace hard work.' Love what you do, and work hard for it. People leading Paytm today, and its inspiring CEO, are not the typical 'born to win' experts. They are the underdogs who outworked everyone else.
2) Laughter - When BBC made a video on Paytm, they showcased how much Vijay laughs. But the secret is, he’s surrounded by a team that laughs as much. Within the VP’s and SVP’s at Paytm, there’s enough talent to do an inhouse stand up comedy. During any day, they’d be burst of laughter coming from different areas on the main floor. Thats the environment you need to balance hours of hard work. There was hardly a meeting with Vijay, where you wouldn’t have a roar of laughter at least once. And yet, they are all dead serious about succeeding. Most successful people love cracking jokes, and that attracts others who enjoy their company. So work hard, but laugh it out. Surround yourself with a team that can work & laugh, 12 hours everyday, else they’ll burn out. Laugh, make sure your team laughs.
3) Humility - Irrespective of the billions in your accounts, and the numbers in your phonebook, be humble. Vijay's humility is a big reason for his success. Had he been arrogant, like many startup CEOs I know, he would have never attracted the team, the investors and supporters he has. He lines up in the cafeteria. He lets everyone take a selfie. He apologises. He's extraordinarily well behaved with women. He's a very normal guy, and thats important. When you run after money, and get it, it ruins you. But when you run after something else, even if you get money, it doesn't change you much. Humility & gratefulness to God/fate/luck/destiny, is a trait you'll find in many self made successes. And arrogance, is what you'll find in a lot of 'have beens'
4) Learning - Vijay would probably count dozens of people as his mentors and icons. He’s constantly learning, and its comes out richly in his conversations. Over 2 short years at Paytm, I saw his horizon grow faster than the company, and that’s a big statement cause the company grew over 10 fold. But he still out paced it. Every month, his conversations were richee with learnings from around the globe. He’s regularly sharing WSJ articles, or business videos, or insightful reports, and its probably a portion of what he’s absorbing. In today’s fast paced world, knowledge & information is everything. If you want to succeed, you need a deep interest in success, and a strong desire to constantly learn and change.
5) Focus on users - I always wondered how billionaires would manage their empires, and the multiple business within them. Paytm is no less an empire today, with dominance in payments, movies, travel, fintech and what not. Despite all that, Vijay’s focus is exactly where is it should be. The App. What millions of people see everyday, is essentially his creation. So he is as close to the consumer as possible, and he’s constantly taking their feedback. Whether its a pao bhaji wala in Mumbai or the thousands of tweets he gets, he’s super focussed on the users and super sensitive to their complaints. I have seen entire verticals getting shut down at Paytm, because of bad user experience. Being fanatically obsessed by user experience is not a 'nice to have' trait anymore. Its 'the' trait. In this era, the slightest complacency on that front could take things downhill. Yahoo, Nokia are successful companies that made these mistakes, and it took a few years to finish what was built in decades. Constant obsession with user experience is critical to entrepreneurial success.
