Hyderabad, March 20, 2023...FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) organized an interactive session with ISB Alumni, Ankur Warikoo in the city on Saturday. About a hundred FLO members attended the session. A serial entrepreneur, author, educator, and content creator, Ankur Warikoo was in conversation with Shubhraa Maheshwari, Chairperson of FLO. In a freewheel and half-hour chat, he made interesting revelations of many routine things of life.
For instance, in reply to a question on the rule book on parenting, he said. the only rule book for parenting is to stop being a parent. There is too much parenting, but still, we have so many problems with our young generation. Parenting is the single biggest responsibility on the earth. But it is left to parents to learn on the job. There is no formal training. In many cases, a lot of parents are emotionally not available when the kids need them the most.
Allow children to explore life on their own. God doesn’t teach them. They learn many things by looking at and observing their parents. Being good, doing good, and being inspirational is the best thing a parent can do for his or her child. Because the children are the reflection of their parents.
Further, he observed that the parent’s generation suffered because of the scarcity of things and facilities. but, this current generation is suffering from abundance.
Speaking further Ankur, 42, born in Kashmiri and grew up in Delhi, said the one year he spent studying at ISB in Hyderabad changed his life.
He shared his life journey with the participants. Recalling his stay in Hyderabad, he said, it is a dear city to him. Whatever I am today because of what ISB gave to me, he told his audience. I was born in a middle-class family. I was confused about life. I wanted to become a Space Scientist. It went to the USA to pursue my dream at a very good University. But, I realized that I was not happy. I came back to India dropping myself from the Ph. D in the AstroPhysics program, much to the shock of my parents.
He said, “what you are good at is different from what you are happy with”. I was totally confused. That is when I got enrolled at ISB for management studies. I tried a couple of jobs as a consultant. Then I started a start-up. I built several startups in due course. I stepped down as CEO of my startup. I began my journey as a content creator at the age of 40, he shared.
Ankur Warikoo is now a YouTuber, entrepreneur, and author. He is the former CEO of Groupon India, and co-founder & former CEO of Nearbuy. He is the author of two books–Do Epic Shit, Get Epic Shit Done.
Speaking to Shubhraa he gave three tips to be a successful entrepreneur. Building something that helps people will work for you. Build a good organization culture from the very first day so that culture will bail you out in a crisis. Get prepared to handle when things go wrong, which inevitably go wrong when trying out entrepreneurship. You cannot live an air-purified life. You must get trained to handle the difficulties of life, he said.
Later he answered the questions of the participants.
Earlier welcoming the gathering Shubhraa Maheshwari recalled Nelson Mandela’s famous quotation “the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”, she said that success is never easy one. There are no shortcuts to success. We will learn today from Ankur how to deal with failure.