If the title is a little of a click-bait, that is unintentional. The way I see it, it was the verbal equivalent of cheerful whoop at a minor accomplishment. If the post seems to be a little or a lot late; it is justified. This past weekend I was wondering what I was doing for fun in the previous weekends so that I could do that again. There was one in particular that I could not replicate on my own - visiting Tech Sparks. Thus, this is an attempt to put on paper a blog post my memories as an attempt to relive the experience.
Note: This isn't a coverage of the event. For that, you should go to the page here.
For the uninitiated, Tech Sparks is an annual event hosted by YourStory, which is dedicated to reporting the stories from the startup scene in India. At Tech Sparks, stalwarts from Indian startups spread their knowledge in fireside chats and panel discussions. However, the main event is a 2-minute pitch by each of the top 30 startups as chosen by YourStory for that year. And free lunch, if you are like me.
This year's edition was held at Taj Vivanta at Yeshwantpur, bless the heart of ITC for their properties. Although, the 4-leaf clover shaped lights at the restaurant could do much better with LED strips instead of bulbs. But I digress.
For someone like me, who is used to visiting events related to lighting and/or commercial real estate, Tech Sparks was several notches higher than any. Right from the entrance where I (and everyone; I wasn't special) was welcomed by a small army of YourStory to the (at least) 20 feet wide curved LED screens and sound systems that didn't screech every few minutes, the whole event was a very luxurious experience. In an event of such a scale, it is natural to see a lot of celebrities and I was there partly to do just that. The first celeb that comes to my mind is Shradha Sharma, the founder of YourStory. Call me ill-informed, but the fact that she heads this company was somehow intimidating me. What I mean by that is that if I were to come face-to-face with her, I probably would turn the opposite direction and walk away fast. Why? Good question. I have no idea. I usually tell myself that it is because I am an introvert, but I truly have no idea. Anyway, I digress. Shradha is not someone of whom people need to be intimidated, based on what I saw that weekend. She's more like the friendly senior in college who loves chatting in the canteen while discussing difficult topics. Approaching her did not seem to be a task. In fact, she probably would be one of the easiest people to reach out to.
This theme seemed to be a constant. I don't know about you but in my mind, people running companies were high profile VIPs who aren't easy to reach. The bigger the company; the bigger the celeb and the harder to reach. Luckily the world - the real world - is different. People are different, just like the companies they head, but they are all quite like any other person that you might come across on a day to day basis. PayTM boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the next person that I think of. His self-deprecating humour was the biggest surprise. There would hardly be any college gangs without one such stocky, unendingly jovial, laugh-like-there's-no-tomorrow type jokers. Read his interview here to get an idea of the criticisms that became his motivations. I have at least one good friend, who was similarly driven by people telling him he can/not do something, just to prove them wrong. Chances are, you have someone like that in your close circles if you aren't one of them. VSS, as he's known, wasn't shying away from making crude jokes relating to email addresses; or about dropping the Hindi equivalents of F-bombs from the stage. It wasn't because he was careless or arrogant, it was because he was displaying his raw side. He's a businessman with no pretence of haughtiness or the airy high-handedness that I (perhaps wrongly) have associated with all forms of public figures. These are but two examples in a long list of such "celebrities" who have changed my opinion about public figures. Kishore Biyani who heads the Future Group too is a very wonderful person to listen to when he is engaged in conversation. Speaking of Future Group: it is not just Big Bazaar but a massive conglomerate and not many know that. He has a knack of saying what's on his mind without sounding arrogant. Or preachy. Naturally, having a strong opinion isn't enough. Having the ability to stick to it even when it is not popular is what is not easy. That is something he does with ease. The list goes on and on... Roee Adler from WeWork Labs spoke at length about his toddler's birthday when there was a minor technical issue with the pointer that delayed the start of his presentation and made the audience sing "happy birthday" for the kid. Ashish Bhasin from Dentsu Aegis is a man who grew his business from close to nothing to one of the top businesses in the country in the ad industry and made 13 acquisitions on the way. Yet, he laughs heartily, shares his email in a blink and apologises in advance if he cannot reply to an email within an hour. I take days to reply to mine. * hides face *
Some young ones who are not yet celebrities per se but are promising nonetheless were Gaurav Singh from Verloop, who was very forthright in saying his presentation was a version of another celebrity's presentation tuned to his business experiences. More importantly, when I emailed him, he replied back and was quite happy to continue the thread until I felt guilty of preventing him from running his business and stopped replying. Kalyani Khona is young enough to be mistaken to be a student but is the CEO and co-founder of a social media app for the differently abled called Inclov which is a portmanteau of inclusive love. For a "millennial" Kalyani is extremely wise beyond her years and her company is something I deeply root for, as it does something that is genuinely heartwarming. However, the highlight of the event was the very hilarious Akshar Pathak. My first exposure to his work was through his Facebook page where he displayed his art that summarized and/or related film scenes as their posters. He was at the event to talk as the creative director of Zomato, which in itself has been setting Twitter abuzz quite regularly. It was a highlight because he was downright funny and his slide about Zomato's marketing strategy was a killer. It was also a highlight because a tweet of mine that he retweeted ended up having 20000+ "Impressions."
Rajshri Deshpande is a name I came across in the cast of Sacred Games, making her a true blue celebrity. And yet, she was at the event to talk about how her NGO Nabhangan helped resurrect a dried up river in a village in Maharashtra. For someone from the celluloid world to be helming the reins of an NGO isn't probably new; but for a noob like me, it sure was a glimpse into what makes them... them.
This "humanised" version of these leaders, at least to me, was an important and a very helpful insight. Nobody falls from the skies on a dark day accompanied by a barrage of thunder and lightning with supernatural abilities to start and/or run businesses. I say this as it serves as a motivation to me in my pursuits. Everything can happen, but only if you work at it tirelessly. PayTM was founded in 2010 and yet it zoomed to popularity only in 2016 - a good 6 years later. How can you quit your business in a few months or years, if it took PayTM that long? Similarly, all these people are approachable and are more than willing to share knowledge and talk to you, if you don't heckle them or intrude upon their privacy. Moderators like Dr Madan Mohan Rao and Vishal Krishna from YourStory engineered good discussions with their panel members proving just this aspect. Think about it... wouldn't you help someone who asked you for directions if you were at a signal? It isn't that different from asking these luminaries for advice, it appears. Ask them nicely, and get a small part of their wisdom.
Tech Sparks 2019 is eagerly awaited.
Note: This isn't a coverage of the event. For that, you should go to the page here.
For the uninitiated, Tech Sparks is an annual event hosted by YourStory, which is dedicated to reporting the stories from the startup scene in India. At Tech Sparks, stalwarts from Indian startups spread their knowledge in fireside chats and panel discussions. However, the main event is a 2-minute pitch by each of the top 30 startups as chosen by YourStory for that year. And free lunch, if you are like me.
This year's edition was held at Taj Vivanta at Yeshwantpur, bless the heart of ITC for their properties. Although, the 4-leaf clover shaped lights at the restaurant could do much better with LED strips instead of bulbs. But I digress.
For someone like me, who is used to visiting events related to lighting and/or commercial real estate, Tech Sparks was several notches higher than any. Right from the entrance where I (and everyone; I wasn't special) was welcomed by a small army of YourStory to the (at least) 20 feet wide curved LED screens and sound systems that didn't screech every few minutes, the whole event was a very luxurious experience. In an event of such a scale, it is natural to see a lot of celebrities and I was there partly to do just that. The first celeb that comes to my mind is Shradha Sharma, the founder of YourStory. Call me ill-informed, but the fact that she heads this company was somehow intimidating me. What I mean by that is that if I were to come face-to-face with her, I probably would turn the opposite direction and walk away fast. Why? Good question. I have no idea. I usually tell myself that it is because I am an introvert, but I truly have no idea. Anyway, I digress. Shradha is not someone of whom people need to be intimidated, based on what I saw that weekend. She's more like the friendly senior in college who loves chatting in the canteen while discussing difficult topics. Approaching her did not seem to be a task. In fact, she probably would be one of the easiest people to reach out to.
This theme seemed to be a constant. I don't know about you but in my mind, people running companies were high profile VIPs who aren't easy to reach. The bigger the company; the bigger the celeb and the harder to reach. Luckily the world - the real world - is different. People are different, just like the companies they head, but they are all quite like any other person that you might come across on a day to day basis. PayTM boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the next person that I think of. His self-deprecating humour was the biggest surprise. There would hardly be any college gangs without one such stocky, unendingly jovial, laugh-like-there's-no-tomorrow type jokers. Read his interview here to get an idea of the criticisms that became his motivations. I have at least one good friend, who was similarly driven by people telling him he can/not do something, just to prove them wrong. Chances are, you have someone like that in your close circles if you aren't one of them. VSS, as he's known, wasn't shying away from making crude jokes relating to email addresses; or about dropping the Hindi equivalents of F-bombs from the stage. It wasn't because he was careless or arrogant, it was because he was displaying his raw side. He's a businessman with no pretence of haughtiness or the airy high-handedness that I (perhaps wrongly) have associated with all forms of public figures. These are but two examples in a long list of such "celebrities" who have changed my opinion about public figures. Kishore Biyani who heads the Future Group too is a very wonderful person to listen to when he is engaged in conversation. Speaking of Future Group: it is not just Big Bazaar but a massive conglomerate and not many know that. He has a knack of saying what's on his mind without sounding arrogant. Or preachy. Naturally, having a strong opinion isn't enough. Having the ability to stick to it even when it is not popular is what is not easy. That is something he does with ease. The list goes on and on... Roee Adler from WeWork Labs spoke at length about his toddler's birthday when there was a minor technical issue with the pointer that delayed the start of his presentation and made the audience sing "happy birthday" for the kid. Ashish Bhasin from Dentsu Aegis is a man who grew his business from close to nothing to one of the top businesses in the country in the ad industry and made 13 acquisitions on the way. Yet, he laughs heartily, shares his email in a blink and apologises in advance if he cannot reply to an email within an hour. I take days to reply to mine. * hides face *
Some young ones who are not yet celebrities per se but are promising nonetheless were Gaurav Singh from Verloop, who was very forthright in saying his presentation was a version of another celebrity's presentation tuned to his business experiences. More importantly, when I emailed him, he replied back and was quite happy to continue the thread until I felt guilty of preventing him from running his business and stopped replying. Kalyani Khona is young enough to be mistaken to be a student but is the CEO and co-founder of a social media app for the differently abled called Inclov which is a portmanteau of inclusive love. For a "millennial" Kalyani is extremely wise beyond her years and her company is something I deeply root for, as it does something that is genuinely heartwarming. However, the highlight of the event was the very hilarious Akshar Pathak. My first exposure to his work was through his Facebook page where he displayed his art that summarized and/or related film scenes as their posters. He was at the event to talk as the creative director of Zomato, which in itself has been setting Twitter abuzz quite regularly. It was a highlight because he was downright funny and his slide about Zomato's marketing strategy was a killer. It was also a highlight because a tweet of mine that he retweeted ended up having 20000+ "Impressions."
Rajshri Deshpande is a name I came across in the cast of Sacred Games, making her a true blue celebrity. And yet, she was at the event to talk about how her NGO Nabhangan helped resurrect a dried up river in a village in Maharashtra. For someone from the celluloid world to be helming the reins of an NGO isn't probably new; but for a noob like me, it sure was a glimpse into what makes them... them.
This "humanised" version of these leaders, at least to me, was an important and a very helpful insight. Nobody falls from the skies on a dark day accompanied by a barrage of thunder and lightning with supernatural abilities to start and/or run businesses. I say this as it serves as a motivation to me in my pursuits. Everything can happen, but only if you work at it tirelessly. PayTM was founded in 2010 and yet it zoomed to popularity only in 2016 - a good 6 years later. How can you quit your business in a few months or years, if it took PayTM that long? Similarly, all these people are approachable and are more than willing to share knowledge and talk to you, if you don't heckle them or intrude upon their privacy. Moderators like Dr Madan Mohan Rao and Vishal Krishna from YourStory engineered good discussions with their panel members proving just this aspect. Think about it... wouldn't you help someone who asked you for directions if you were at a signal? It isn't that different from asking these luminaries for advice, it appears. Ask them nicely, and get a small part of their wisdom.
Tech Sparks 2019 is eagerly awaited.
Well written!
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