Cloud Capital’s Post

Transcript

High speed. He's 26 year old. What he does is he helps e-commerce brands sell their products on chat apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. So if Shaky is actually listening right now, you are making a product which is ideal for them. But my first question Vinayak to you is that when somebody like you who sort of made it to bits Pilani. Its a dream college for a lot of people went to your parents and said that, listen, I do want to do a job, I'm not dreaming to be in the. And the big fours. And I want to do something on my own. What was the reaction like? Yeah, I think, uh, I think it took some time, um, for them to also digest it. Um, but I think overtime, overtime it got better. Initially, of course, there was a mix of surprise and concern. But yeah, I think once, once we started showing signs of progress, things, things just got better. And now I think they're quite supportive. Vinayak today by Sweet is in a very like even we were, we were just sharing with our number, with our audiences. Some of the numbers you, you've raised 2 million in funding with Sequoia a little while back. You know the numbers look good, but tell us a little bit more about the earlier time. So you actually started this in your first year in bits Pilani with a number of your friends. You decided to do this and then you iterated multiple times in between, right? Like you've shifted what it is that you are going to do. Tell us about that and then tell us a little bit about the Genz. Confidence. Seemingly that's happening here. At no point are you going in Naikar. Now you know, you're just figuring out the next step. Yeah. I think for us, as you said, we got started in college and I personally was doing a manufacturing degree, so I knew that wasn't going to get me a job. So I had to sort of figure things on my own. And yeah, we did. We did actually change things along the way. I think initially we just got started in the music space. That was back in my first year. Then we did something in the restaurant space and eventually ecommerce sort of stuck. But I think like we were just generally more. A problem and solution agnostic. We just wanted to build something that works and we were not very married to a particular space, at least at that point. And we just wanted to be early on something that might be important in the future and just build some domain expertise to be able to build something. Hmm. I see, I see. So Vinayak, help us understand this. When you say we wanted to do this, I'm assuming a lot of people around you at bits Pilani were also, you know, had the startup Kira, as they say, but one, only one in every 10 startup is actually, you know, profitable actually sees the light of the day. We know the statistics and all of it. Help us understand why so many young people are driven towards doing their own thing and why is there. Lesser, lesser confidence being driven by the big companies which come with their own set of job security and a regular inflow of income. Yeah, I think the tent has definitely picked up. I think like 6-7 years back when I I was starting up, there were maybe like very few people at least in my badge and immediately knew who are actually starting up on their own as you said, like going to a larger company was the default. But I think Fast forward to now, I see maybe more than 50% of people in my immediate circle just wanted to start something of their own leaving their job. So it's definitely picking up and I think. I, I, I can speak for myself. For me at least, the reason was just operating in an environment that's more permissionless and that has more non-linear upside. I did try doing a few internships back in college and also was fairly, fairly involved in the college clubs, but I just figured for at least my personality type, just doing something of my own was a better fit. And I think over time there's also. A lower risk profile now associated with startups in general. There's more funding available. It's become more mainstream, which is why I think people are sort of picking up picking it up more now when I can. We also ask you, the two founders we spoke to a little earlier, they run a clothing brand and they run a slimmer operation, right? They, it's the two of them in a tailor. In your case, you have 26 people in your team. What is the day-to-day of that like? Because you obviously came on board with this idea, but making that shift to someone who is going to lead a team of 26. People look over their day-to-day issues. What has that been like? Yeah, I think it was a learning experience for sure because I hadn't worked anywhere else and hadn't let A-Team. So it definitely took some time to sort of understand how all this works. But I think I think what's also quite helpful is in general the Bitcoin community, people who started up earlier, you can lean on them for advice. There's a lot of content available on how do you sort of go about different fundamentals of starting a company. Umm. So I think I just used some of that to be able to learn some of this overtime and now it's sort of settled in, given that we've been around for like 4 or five years now. Yeah, OK. Yeah, when I've learned a new word today, I wanted an environment which was permission less. I think that is going to really stay with me for a while. But quick one there. And, you know, just a story which is on everybody's mind right now. When we talk about workplaces, do stories like Anna Sebastians, what happened at EVI, do they also play a role in how Genz decides where to work and what to work these days? Hard to see, hard to say. As I said, at least for me, the reason was just having already tried what was available, I could see that, OK, this is the best fit for me. I still don't think that doing, let's say, a startup is a good, it's a, it's a very rational career choice. It doesn't come across like that, at least to me. And it's good for startups to be relatively low status. And I think, yeah. So I think it it varies. The reason to do a startup varies for different people. And the choice between working at a large company versus startup, there is merit to of course trying both and then seeing what fits best. OK. Thank you. I see, I see. Alright, we leave it there for the moment. Thank you so much for joining us with that perspective and good luck with what Bite Speed is doing next.