One Year to the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast!
Welcome to the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast!
It has been one entire year since I first welcomed everyone to the Podcast and wow, what a phenomenal year has this been!! It feels surreal to scroll through the 64 Episodes on Spotify knowing that I have been able to play a part in generating such valuable conversations. It feels surprisingly wonderful to know that I have persevered to release at least one episode every Sunday since the last 53 weeks. But more importantly, it feels truly satisfying to have found something that helps fuel my curiosity, passion and fascination in perhaps the best possible manner.
None of this would have ever become a reality without the phenomenal guests on the show, the awesome set of listeners, the supporters, the believers, the critics and the wonderful friends I’ve found along the way, all of whom I am eternally grateful to.
This year has been beyond eventful for me. The experiences through building the podcast have significantly transformed my personality and thoughts. Here are my most crucial learnings from this spectacular year!
- Trying is Powerful
Believe me, trying is powerful. I have tried and tried, to eventually fail & succeed, but most importantly know. Know what the output could be post a valid attempt. This power of trying has helped me reach out to guests whom I have always longed to have a conversation with and in turn produce incredibly valuable content. Some have agreed, some have respectfully denied, while some others have not responded and that’s a part of the process. The result is inconsequential but the fact I tried, and that I know that I gave it my best shot, has been truly liberating for me. - Consistency Compounds
When I set out, I told myself just this — “I’ll do this every week for the next 6 months and we’ll see where it goes.” Staying consistent is challenging, but very rewarding. It compounds in magical ways. I’ve seen the impact of consistency first hand by releasing at least an episode every week since I started. This level of consistency has not been easy for me. It has required innate focus, a lot of obsession and multiple trade-offs; all of it resulting in an absolutely satisfying feeling, the compounding effects of which I am only beginning to now see. - Staying true to my “Why”
A strong “why” is the best foundation one can hope for. I was fortunate to have it when I started and I feel even more fortunate to fall back on it, every time I go astray. My “why” was/is direct — “an innate passion to learn from in-depth conversations with the special tribe of people we call Entrepreneurs”. This is what got me started and keeps me going. As the podcast grows, I find myself going back to the “why” often and this practice helps a lot in making the journey even more wholesome. - Finding “my” Way
When I began, I was unsure of most things. I had never run a podcast before so I had to figure out a bunch of aspects. Seeking answers really helped, but relying on them started becoming a liability. From a purely qualitative standpoint, I believe that we can derive viewpoints externally, but we should always curate our own answer. This perspective helped me conduct things in my own way. Be it my obsessive discipline of research or my lengthy structure documents for episodes, or even my hosting style. Good or bad, will always be subjective and that time will tell, but doing things in my own different way really helped boost my confidence and discover aspects of myself that I did not know of. I still am unsure of most things, and I still love to seek direction, but now I always remember to carve my own path. - Loving the Process
Building a podcast is not just about recording the wonderful episodes. Recordings are perhaps 30% of the entire cycle. The rest includes focused research, long editing hours, preparing show notes, executing distribution mechanisms and multiple other aspects. I have to love the process in order to sublimely execute it. Because if I do not love it, I will inevitably end up getting tired of it, which will negatively impact the pod. I learnt this gradually and it really helped me add the much-required method to the madness behind the scenes. I now love editing long podcasts, writing show notes, and doing everything else that is required & some more, to build the Podcast! - Persevere — Persevere — Persevere
Perseverance is perhaps one of the few omnipresent themes I have observed across episodes on the show, and one that I have dearly come to love. This relevant yet distinct perspective struck me by osmosis. I never realised it truly until I spoke to so many Founders and witnessed how perseverant they were. This made my grasp of it easier and practice even smoother. Follow-ups did not seem burdensome anymore, task-bundling became second nature & the hustle became a part of my routine. It will always be challenging, but there is nothing that perseverance cannot solve.
These learnings have been pivotal in shaping me to become who I am today. The Podcast has provided me this beautiful avenue to experiment, learn, grow and surprise my own self in unexpected ways. I cannot express how glad I feel to have undertaken the journey to pursue my passion and manifest it via the Podcast. As one year concludes, I can safely say that it is one of the most fulfilling decisions of my life. With much hope, passion, and curiosity I move forward one episode at a time.
Stay Tuned and Keep Building!
Thank you so much to everyone around me for making this journey as eventful as it has been!
Check out the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or the audio platform of your choice + select episodes on YouTube.
If there’s anything at all that I can further help with, please feel free to reach out to me on Email/Twitter/LinkedIn, Cheers!
