From Finance to Founding: My Startup Journey

Startups, man, they’re like roller coasters, full of crazy highs, terrifying drops and unexpected twists. And my journey? Oh, it’s been a wild one! From finance to fitness to fintech, I’ve seen it all. So, let me take you through my story, no boring boardroom talks, just the real deal. I graduated from IIT Kharagpur and was ready to take on the world in finance. Like most IITians who want to pursue finance, I had two main career options, quant jobs in finance or front-end banking. I picked the latter because I was always intrigued by understanding how businesses actually work. That’s how I landed a gig at Ambit Corporate Finance in the M&A advisory team. From there, as per very standard career progression, I joined Everstone Capital, a $6 billion private equity fund. Sounds fancy, right? Well, the work was intense 14 to 15-hours in a day, many times on weekends too. While I was enjoying in deep-diving into business operations, after a while, I started wondering: Should I be putting in all this effort to build something of my own, as this is the golden era for India to build businesses. My elder brother had also tried (and some successful and some partially failed at) multiple startups, but the way he talked about it, the learnings, the excitement, I was hooked. That was my sign. I quit my cushy finance job and jumped headfirst into the startup world. I didn’t have a business plan, but I had curiosity, drive, and that itch to build something of my own. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it felt right. I was ready to