Workwise with Naukri
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Workwise with Naukri
How to Thrive in a Startup and Build Wealth?
Watch this episode on YouTube- https://opener.one/yt/p3o57i
Ever wondered if employees can create wealth comparable to entrepreneurs? In this episode of Workwise with Naukri, Aakash Anand, a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of Bella Vita & Unikon.ai, debunks myths about wealth creation for employees. He shares actionable insights on navigating startup culture, the value of ESOPs, and how to align personal values with organizational goals for maximum growth.
Aakash dives into why joining a startup can be a game-changer, even for employees, and emphasizes the mindset shift required to embrace the hustle without falling into burnout. He discusses networking strategies, identifying your ideal role, and how to negotiate equity to build generational wealth.
Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup employee, or someone navigating corporate structures, this conversation offers valuable lessons on leveraging opportunities for personal and professional success. Tune in to discover how you can turn your career into a wealth-building journey.
00:03
What a lot of people don't understand is that employees can't make money or if you're in a job, you cannot create wealth. Absolutely f**k. Of course you can. You know, being a team member or an employee in a promising startup is the biggest blessing one can have. Why? Akash Anand is a serial entrepreneur and the powerhouse behind Pella Vita Organic and Unicorn. Today he's here to reveal how you can make money by working in startups.
00:31
You spend more time in office than you do at home, so you have to figure that the place you're working in is that the place you really want to spend those 10-12 hours a day or not? Don't talk about the work-life balance, it's fine. It's fine! For me, work-life balance doesn't exist because... Prash, I've heard you say that there is a rule of number two when it comes to hiring. What exactly is that?
00:51
Now, let's get technical. How does an employee make money while being a part of a startup? The answer to that is...
01:07
Hello and welcome to another episode of Workwise with Nokri. I'm your host, Deva Gupta, and today we are joined by Akash Anand, founder of Bella Vita Organic and professional networking platform Unicorn.ai. In this episode, Akash shares valuable insights on how working professionals can generate wealth while thriving in the dynamic world of startups. Let's dive in.
01:39
Welcome to Workwise with Nokri sir. Hi Davis, how are you? All well, how have you been? Very well man. People are listening to us. Yeah. And they want to know, how did Akash make so much of wealth? I am just an employee working in an organization. And this person has also seen an Instagram reel which says that only three people can make money. Business owners, investors and the stars, the celebrities. I don't think so. How can employees make money? I think...
02:08
You asked me a question, how did Akash Anand make so much wealth? I think we should rephrase this question. How did the top 13 CXOs working at Akash's company or Akash's group company or Ananda's group companies, Bella Vita, etc. How did they make so much wealth, which they wouldn't have ever imagined that they would make? What a lot of people don't understand, where they say that, you know, employees can't make money or if you're in a job,
02:36
you cannot create wealth, of course you can. The highest paid or the, I'll give an example. Gurgaon has this new housing or new apartments called Camellias, the most expensive apartments in the country. I was there for dinner last night, I was sitting on the table with a few gentlemen. Most of them had made their wealth by being the top CXOs of some very good startups or very famous companies of the country.
03:04
Right. And this is what people have to understand. Yes. That if you want to create wealth, it does not matter. You have to be an entrepreneur. You can actually be an entrepreneur. And I have been, you know, if you open my LinkedIn, my first article that I wrote on LinkedIn was actually about being an entrepreneur, because that's how I started my journey. For example, like Swiggy, yeah, nine thousand crores were earned by the employees of Swiggy.
03:32
That kind of mindset that I will earn this much amount of money maybe after a few years. People always look for short-term gains. What do you tell them about the mindset? You know, being a team member or an employee or an entrepreneur in a promising startup is the biggest blessing one can have. Why? You enjoy all the credits and all the merits of the journey, whereas you leave all the stress to the founder.
04:00
And it's very deep and you have to understand this very well. Anything goes wrong, the blame is on the founders that they screwed up. They messed up. Whatever is right, the credit goes to the team and that's our job. So when wealth gets created for the company, the team enjoys that wealth while having founders don't take salaries. The team enjoys that wealth while having a stable monthly income coming to their homes. So what more do you want?
04:29
If you're an entrepreneur or an employee, you are getting monthly checks or monthly on the 1st or maximum by 7th, you get money credited to your account. And God forbid the company becomes successful. God forbid, there's a 1% chance you create so much wealth that you wouldn't have done by your salary for the next 10 years. That is where the mindset needs to change. I'll relate this to getting married.
04:59
You know, I read this somewhere and it's actually true because I saw this in my life. Let's say you're, and I'm saying woman and a man, okay. So let's say you're a woman and you're in your early 20s or mid 20s and you want to get married to a man. Okay. And you're dating this guy, right? Who? And you have two options, right? Let's say option one, the man you're dating is financially average.
05:28
He's not gained that much success, but he carries this energy or he's always talking about the fact that I'm this ambitious, I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll create this, I'll create that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah versus man number two, who is kind of successful as in in a good role, making decent money to run a upper middle class household both for you and him, but is not as ambitious.
05:58
as you would like or is not very ambitious, right? Who's saying, yeah, I'm happy, this is working, we'll have a great life, there'll be a normal progression, safe life. Who would you end up marrying? The first one. The first one, why? That comes with a lot of risk. Yes, it does. Yeah, then there's an aspirational element to it. That's the exact way how you should choose the company you want to work for, depending on yourself. If you join a company today where the company might have just started,
06:28
But you can see that the founders, the investors, or the other team members are crazy passionate that we will create the largest XYZ in this ecosystem versus you joining a company which is already established and you know you'll have a career progression which is the norm. 10% or 5% or 7% or 12% every annum and you'll keep growing as the company grows, but there's no significant growth.
06:57
That's exactly how you should choose a job or a career, depending on how ambitious you yourself are. So about the risk appetite. As long as you're, so I'll give you small examples. When I was building Bella Vita, and now that I'm building Unicorn and other companies I've built, a lot of people who are professionals or employees or team members who could have made great wealth at Bella Vita or at the new companies that we are creating.
07:28
are not here or they did not join because they wanted a higher salary, right? Which was far more than what they actually needed to run their household. Okay, so I'll give you an example. Let's say that you can run your home very well at 14 lakhs per annum and your current package is 14 lakhs per annum and you're working in a stable company. You got a job offer at a Bella Vita which promises you or you got a job offer at Unicorn.
07:56
which promises you that I am a passionate founder, I'm doing this for the third time, I will ensure this company becomes a global multi-billion dollar company in the next five years, right? And you see my vision, you buy my vision, but then you come and say, I need a 18 lakhs LPA because that is what I'm being offered at, let's say, LinkedIn, right? Now, LinkedIn is a great stable company, but would you ever make...
08:20
a substantial growth at LinkedIn versus the growth you'll make at unicorn by being number two or number three? Not possible. So when the founder is going through so much pain by not taking any money home and looking for the big picture, why can't you survive at 14 lakhs per annum by keeping your package the same but having the opportunity of facing or experiencing an entrepreneur live in action? That's the exact difference between visiting a zoo or visiting a safari.
08:50
Why do enthusiasts visit a safari? Because that's where they see animals in action. Zoos are tamed. So working in a stable organization is important. But if you really want to create that next leap, let's say you have these two, three years in your life where you want to risk it. The best risk is by doing entrepreneurship. Because if the company fails, you've learned far more than what you've learned if the company flourishes.
09:17
And that's what people should see. So as long as a startup or any organization which has a massive appetite can give you enough money for you to run a house, run your home, where your needs are being met, then don't worry. Keep your wants aside for the next two years, work hand in hand with the founders or with the founding team or with the management and help that company grow further. The reward you'll get would be beyond imaginable.
09:43
So, Aakash, how does an employee create wealth in a startup? The answer to that is by owning equity in the form of ESOPs. See, the most important or the most expensive asset in life is equity. It is more valuable than land. The more equity you have in a company, in any company, in your investments, that's the more wealth you'll create. So, as an employee, if you're joining a startup, I would say negotiate harder.
10:12
on the ESOPs rather than negotiating on your package. That's very important. Got it. We all know the story of this guy who painted a wall and Facebook's office and instead of getting paid in cash, he took equity, he took ESOPs, he took shares and made a couple of, made a few millions out of that, which was just a couple of hundred thousand, couple of thousand project. So similarly, if you're able to get ESOPs, now what are ESOPs? ESOPs is basically equity that gets vested
10:42
over a period of four years or five years, where the more you work with the company, the more E-SOPs you keep getting, they keep getting vested or matured. And that is like holding shares of that company that once that company gets sold or gets listed or gets a series B, series C, series D, you would be cashed out. And that's how you make your money. How much E-SOPs can someone ask for in the first interview? Yeah, you can ask for anywhere between 100%.
11:09
to 50% of your salary. Let's say your salary is 25,000, 24,000 rupees per annum. You can ask ESOPs worth 12,000 rupees at the current valuation up to your one year's package. It totally depends on the negotiation, the opening, the position. And I feel everyone, everyone from senior to junior level should be asking for ESOPs. I somehow feel that employees aren't very clear with their personal values, that who they are from the inside.
11:39
So the right strategy to know what exactly are my personal values? Do they map with the environment, the culture of a startup world? How can he get to know? They can get to know this very easily. You know, they can get to know what, I mean, what is the company doing? What is the culture of the company? What is the culture of the founder? Where does the founder come from? Culture of the investors. It's very easy to understand that would you be a fit in this company or not? And I think you can guess that.
12:08
the moment you spend about an hour in that office where you've gone to give an interview. So I don't see that as a very big challenge, Davis. What will you observe as an employee? I'll observe how the company is, how long have I been to wait before I start my interview, how have people greeted me in the company, how are the people's faces in that company, how's the decorum in that company?
12:37
how corporate is it or how startup vibe is it. I will see a lot of different factors. To the extent that how am I being served my coffee when I'm sitting on an interview, everything. The way the HR would treat the person who gets the coffee, all those things. Everything, everything that, you know, you spend more time in office than you do at home. So you have to figure that the place you're working in
13:07
Is that the place you really want to spend those 10-12 hours a day or not? Beautiful. Talking about money, Google pays a lot of money to get the top talent. Absolutely. That's right. And then unicorn will not pay that much of money to have the same talent. And then again, says that it's about the money, you know, all this looks fine, fancy, but then how do you attract the top talent? You don't. What do you mean by top talent?
13:36
Okay. As I always say, hard work always beats talent. Yes. Okay. If there is a guy who is amazing at his job or her job, but they are happy getting paid a plush salary and a consistent salary and working in a top MNC, good for them. But if there's someone who is maybe 30% lesser in their capability or the talent, but would work those extra two, three hours a day and would be a
14:06
biggest morale booster or moral support to the founder and say don't worry we'll crack this. And yes, I'm getting paid well, I'm running my home. We will make money together when the company flourishes. That's the people we want. So my strategy in life and in fact a lot of founders and strategy, founder strategies in life has always been that those who don't want to come, I don't want to convince them. I do not because I've done sales so for so long in my life.
14:34
I would tell this to everyone, don't waste time in convincing someone who doesn't want to come. Spend your time in growing someone or grooming someone who is desperately wanting to build this journey with you. It's as simple as that. Because even when that person joins, you will still be spending your time convincing them or manoeuhing them, you know, on a weekly basis that, hey, we'll get the hey, we'll get the... Whereas, what do you actually need?
15:04
is a team of people who are standing next to you and saying, don't worry dude, we'll get there. Because the amount of nirashay or disappointments a founder faces on a daily basis is crazy. And that's when you need the right teams, the right people to be with you and say, we'll make this work, don't worry. People at the top level, they'll be hesitant that, Akash makes sense and I should apply to a startup.
15:30
But then what I get over here, I would not get over there. Again, back to the same point from different lengths altogether. So you won't get a top guy, but then he's not willing to literally trade off what he's getting. How do you convince him? We don't. That's what I'm saying. You don't want to because a top guy... But he's a good guy, you know, he knows how to get things done. And having him on the team would be a great asset for you. No, you'll show him the picture or you show her the picture, you show them the picture. But then if they really want to create that wealth...
15:58
by sacrificing maybe that 20, 30, 40 lakh per annum, which doesn't affect them at all. And you know, this is the irony that that top guy, if takes a salary cut or comes at the same package while taking ESOPs or equity in this new startup, his or her lifestyle would not get affected. It's just a number in the bank. Someone who's already making, let's say, five lakh rupees a month, you start paying them seven lakhs.
16:27
those two lakhs would not affect them. Or if someone downgrades from a seven lakh a month to five lakh rupees with the hope that, okay, I'm gonna give this startup two years, I'm gonna give this founder two years, if it works, I will be making 100 times more than the delta of the money I've lost in this company. The moment people understand that, you'll have far more wealth creators in this country than there are right now.
16:53
We'll have some people saying that, Agash, all this sounds very good, but how about the hustle? How about the toxic work culture? Startups are known for that, that you have to slog day in, day out to get things to that goal. Yeah, of course. How do you think companies get built? How do you think big businesses get built? And if you don't have, that's what I'm saying, you have to decide what kind of a person are you and what kind of a partner do you want to marry?
17:20
If you want to enjoy those luxuries in life or whatever you long for, then you have to go through a few years of hardship. So first point is to be clear with what you want. To be clear of what life do you want. Or whom do you want to marry? Be very clear. Very clear. Marry a guy in the government services, a stable job, 9 to 5 will be there with you. Or someone who can build a dream life. And there's no wrong answer. Yes. Both are right. You could be a person who could say, I'm happy living a very...
17:50
I'm happy living in upper middle class or a middle class life or you know and I'm saying middle class for a reason. Middle class, upper middle class, a great life to live here. You've got your expenses met, you're driving a good car, your kids are going to a decent school, you've got a good social circle, you do a holiday a year, great. But then don't be that person who is in a Kia Seltos looking at a Merc on the red light and saying I wish I had this. Don't whine, don't complain. Don't complain.
18:20
then be happy where you are. And that's what's most important, there was being content of where you are. If you could be happy and live that life, then you are not made for entrepreneurship and that's fantastic because entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs don't have an easy life. The debate was there when Samurthy said, I want like 70 hour week, or Bhavesh said that it's okay, only weekends are okay, it can be skipped.
18:49
So people working in a startup, one is a close circle, close to the founder, the guys who joined initially. Then there are other guys who joined later on, may not get the ESOPs, may not get those perks and benefits or the future benefits. They're like the culture is again toxic, hustle, hustle, hustle, 70 hours, 100 hours. But we won't make that money, which the top guys in the startup would make. What is their?
19:17
driving force. I'm going to make this statement and I want to stick by the statement. Please. Founders are not loyal to anyone. Okay. Why do you say that? A successful entrepreneur or a successful individual is not loyal to anyone. Okay. And there's a very, very deep statement. Now, what does that mean? Let's say we are a very close knit team of seven people in a company. Let's say you're my number two and the guy at number five,
19:46
who thinks he'll never make it to the circle, is logging himself and working hard to prove a point. Yes. The founder would be the first one to recognize that guy, pick him up from there, and bring him at a number two spot. You know why? Because we don't operate on hierarchy, or politics, or the bureaucracy of an organization. So let me tell you, people who are saying that we are working 70 hours a week in a startup, but we're not getting the benefits,
20:16
They're lying. The people who are working 70 hours a week in a startup are the ones who are holding ESOPs, are the ones who are taking trips to the founder, are the ones who are in the founders cabin shadowing their meetings, are the ones who are meeting investors, are the ones being exposed to opportunities. The man who's, or the individual who's working 70 hours a week gets the reward. The ones who are saying that we're working 70 hours a week and we don't get to see the good side, they're lying.
20:46
They're not. Something like the top 11 Indian team. You have to be the best. Absolutely. There's a reason why there are people sitting on the bench. Yeah. If you played well in IPL or in Iranshi, you would be picked up. You just participate for the extra two hours a day. That's it. People like me have done that. I know so many founders who come from being ex-employees.
21:10
They have worked hard and they've worked harder, smarter, and have been more efficient at their, when they were an employee in a company, and they look for the same. Don't talk about the work-life balance, that's fine. That's fine. The way I see the work-life balance, some people see it as eight plus eight plus eight. That's work-life balance for them. Some would see it as five plus two. Like five days of work and two days of balance. I would say, okay, a few years and decades.
21:39
a few years of work, work, work, work, work, and then you have like decades of life to yourself and time to yourself. That can be a broader perspective to see work-life balance. What do you say? No, for me, work-life balance doesn't exist. Okay. Because work-life balance is only for those who are not enjoying their work. Absolutely. Right? If you've landed into a job or a role that you deeply enjoy, you will never ask for a work-life balance. You manage a lot of teams.
22:09
When they have to slog so much, what do you do as a founder or what people can do as employees in a startup? To avoid burnout. Burnout? What do you mean by burnout? Burnout again is when you've slogged or when you've spent so many hours doing something and then you're tired and you're like, dude, I need a break. I'm screwed. Nothing worked out. Dude, burnout only happens and I'm going to keep going back to this like a broken record.
22:37
burnout only happens when you're not enjoying what you do. If you enjoy driving, you can drive from Jammu, Kashmir to Kanyakumari and not feel tired because you're enjoying the journey. So a burnout is only happening. So it's, and you know, you can also be in the founders. I would say it's also my fault if I've got the right person for the wrong job or the wrong person for the right job. If I'm not being, or if my HR is not being able to marry the person to the right
23:07
job role, then we failed. Massively we failed. When people marry, families get involved. The right person is good, fit and all. How do you ensure that this person is the right fit for your job? It's actually the other way around, that when we get candidates who apply for different roles, and then we assess whether the person is making the right choice or not by looking at their history, work history, qualifications, what have they done? Do they even match?
23:36
the skill set and a one-to-one interaction within the first five minutes gets it very clear to you if this is the right person for the role or not. So let's flip the situation, right? Rather than a founder assessing, let's say you're the candidate and I'm the founder, rather than the founder assessing if you're the right person for this role, let's try and understand that today if you have to do a job, right? Or if you have to build your career in a company, what would be the most at role for you? Okay? It's very simple. So I'll say, so they was...
24:06
You're looking for a job now? Yes, sir. That said, this is my company. And today, you are free to choose any role in the organization which pays you well and keeps you happy. What would that role be for you? A role where I have to talk to people. Okay. And that's what I enjoy. Okay. I would, I can be a sales profiler as well, where I can head the business group.
24:33
That's what I even enjoy. Are you okay taking a lot of pressure because sales requires a lot of pressure? Yes, I'm open to that. Okay. That's a little bit fun. Okay. So good to go. Okay, so you basically... Great. So you basically... So you basically want a job where one, you are able to talk to people. Number two, you are able to sell. And you're saying you will not succumb to pressure. And you have to be open with me, Devas. Because if you are... If you're not being able to take the pressure of sales, then...
25:01
The job that you want, which involves talking to people, is somewhat to do in communication and PR. So now I can open two streams for you. I can either have you join our communication and PR team, where you have to ensure you go to schools, colleges, companies, and communicate and inform them about what we do. That has no sales pressure. It is just awareness. So that's an awareness job. You'll get to talk to a lot of people, attend conferences, seminars, meetings, but there's no sales pressure.
25:30
versus I can put you in the corporate sales job where you have to go to different companies and convince their HRs or show them the value proposition at Unicorn and ensure that every week, you get one company on boarded on Unicorn whose employees can come and take mental building sessions on the platform. But that means you'd have to make your cold calls, speak to people, you will have sales targets. Sales job would pay you 30% more than your job at communication. What would you like?
25:57
I prefer the first one because your answer gave me clarity that what exactly do I want. I was open to communication and also sales, but the first option is like this is what I want to enjoy. And the first option will give you 30% lesser money than the second sales option. That's okay. I'll do well in the first role. Great. So now this helps us identify that you are made more for a non-sales job, but a more comfortable job with less money. Yeah, perfectly fine.
26:24
Fantastic. Welcome to the team. Thank you so much. Offer letter. So now do you understand this Davis? Yes. You've grown many companies. You realize that networking played a neat role in that. Absolutely. The reason why I ventured into coffee as a category, I ventured into perfumes as a category, and we still keep venturing into different categories is only through networking.
26:51
Unicorn was again a baby of networking. Right? How? Before Unicorn, Bella Vita, how did I land up in creating perfumes from skincare? I was at an Amazon office speaking to their teams and as a founder taking their advice that, I need to create more product lines. Can you please help me understand what is growing? What trends do you see? They said perfumes. They said we see a great trend in perfumes.
27:20
During scaling Bevzilla coffee, we were at the Flipkart office asking them that, you know, at your data in the beverage category, what is now booming? They said we've seen people moving to smaller packs of coffee. We said, great, we learned sachets. We recently launched a jewelry company. We were sitting with the Blink-It and the Zepto teams. And we asked them, tell us in this category, what is it that Quick Commerce wants? They gave us a few ideas.
27:49
We're working on them, they'll be a hit. What is this? This is all networking. The more open you are to asking people for advice, for guidance, for feedback, and if you can get that instantly, great. Networking helps. Do you also feel that building a relationship is the first thing people often they, what do I get from you? Than giving something to the person. I think we live in a world which is very fast.
28:17
for us to spend time on building relationships. Okay. If we have something very short term to achieve from each other. Right? Understood. No one has the time. Right? And I am a big believer that if there is something which you want, which is a win-win for both me and the person I want advice from, or I want to network with, then just come straight to the point. Hide the small talk. And people appreciate that. I appreciate that.
28:45
When I see a LinkedIn message or a unicorn message or a WhatsApp, which just says, Hey Akash, need one hour on a podcast for us to promote XYZ in employees to make our country a better or a more employee friendly ecosystem. Bang on, I'm great. Versus me getting a message saying, Hey Akash, would love to speak to you over a cup of coffee and discuss some podcast ideas. Let me know when is a great time to connect.
29:14
I would not even revert. Also the first few lines, I'm a big fan of your work, you know, amazing work. We don't need, we don't need flat tree. No one needs flat tree. People who've made it know they've made it. They don't need flat tree. Just come straight to the point. You have to grab my attention. Just come straight to the point and say, dude, this is what I need. Can you help me? Yes, no.
29:38
And that's why Unicorn was made. I think everyone should be on the platform. It is a platform from India for the world where everyone can be on the platform, set up their own prices, their own rates, let people connect with one another by the virtue of money. Unicorn has actually been made as a platform, which is for the masses. That means if you are a junior manager, you don't need to connect with the founder. You should connect with the senior manager. You should only be speaking to people two steps ahead of you or two steps below you, because that's when the energy and the experience is the freshest.
30:08
relevant as well. Is relevant. I don't remember what I did seven years back in my performance marketing campaigns, but my marketing manager today, my performance marketing head today would know exactly what's happening. And he'll be cheaper as well to speak to. Yeah, interesting. A lot of times people have this thought in their head that how can I approach a senior guy like Akash or like some VP and all, how will I connect with him? So what can that person do?
30:36
If you are just at a distance of two positions or one position from anyone, it's automatically approachable. You know when people say that, oh, I want to approach this guy, I can't because you're aiming too high, dude, you need to aim right. And then there's this rule of four, that it only takes four connections to reach the right person. So you go the hierarchical. If you want to reach out to Akash Anand, for example, to me, you first reach out to my senior manager in my company.
31:05
Through him you reach out to my VP marketing, through them you reach out to my founder's office and then you come to me. Because the right word of mouth has been put there. So Akash, I've heard you say that there is a rule of number two when it comes to hiring. What exactly is that? Yeah, that's what I follow. That's what I follow very, very rigorously and religiously in building all my organizations and that's what I've done from the beginning.
31:34
It's very interesting. Please share. I've seen a lot of companies, or founders, or enterprises, when they want to hire someone for a new role or in a new department, they would say that, you know, why don't we pick up the head of this department in a competing company and get them on board? Whereas I do it completely different. And it's always worked for me, touch wood. I hope it keeps working for me and everyone else now. It's revealing a big secret here.
32:01
Rather, let's say again, digital marketing, let's say I want to hire the performance marketing head for Bella Vita today. Okay. Who will I go to? I will go to my competitors. I would first look at, I won't name the brands, I'll go to brand A, brand B, brand C. Okay. The guy who's heading the department would be at the highest of positions, would have the highest persona, highest ego about himself or herself.
32:30
would always expect a raise, right? A great raise. And they become lazy also because they've reached the top. But who is the next best thing that I should actually be hiring? Why don't you answer that for me? I got the answer. The number two. Number two guy. I would always approach the number two and I would tell him, Deghbhai, in this organization, you would never be able to be number one because this guy wouldn't let you pass. Do you want to be the number one at my organization?
32:59
If the answer is yes, come meet me tomorrow. And trust me, there was that person, that individual, that professional, works harder, works smarter, has more hunger, because now he's being driven by ambition. He wants to prove himself, or they want to prove themselves, and they would do anything to join you in your mission of becoming number one. So you've discussed the kind of people who should join a startup. How about those people who should not join a startup?
33:29
is not a monster, right, that we're being so scared. So but yes, there are certain characteristics that a startup has, which everyone should know, and be well aware, right? One, every startup is very, very high on energy and emotions. Yes, you have roller coaster days, you'll have a morning when you'll be amazing energy in the office. Whereas by the evening, if something goes wrong, everyone's done, including the founder.
33:59
Right. So people who can bear intense pressures or people who can't bear intense pressures should not be looking at joining a startup. Number one. Number two, you have to be open to being unorganized. So I would not comment for all startups, but majority of startups work in something that we call organized chaos. Where from the outside of it,
34:28
It looks very chaotic, but the founder or the founding team or the management team knows that there is a certain organization or logic or science to all this chaos that is happening. It all comes through together. So people who feel that I need structure, I need to be told my next one week plan, my next two week plan, my next three months plan, only then I can perform, start-up is not for you because you might be doing something today and tomorrow morning you might be told that
34:57
Everything is ruined, this is not the strategy anymore, today we pivot and we start doing this. So if you're looking for a very structured ecosystem, a startup is not for you. If you're looking for a very easy, quiet environment, a startup is not for you. We are very, very high on emotions and energy. I think that's it. These two things. You should be open to facing radical or facing different energy vibes on different days or maybe on the same day.
35:27
and working in an organized chaos. If you're okay with that, you should join a startup. Otherwise, no, you should be in a more easy, peaceful company who will give you a career progression as per the normal charts. So Akash, what tips do you have for people who have worked for two or three years and now they wanna work and grow quickly in their organization? Great question, Devas. And there are a few factors.
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that if you work for two, three years and now you want to progress and you want to get to a senior manager level or a core level or a founding team level, what is that you need to do? So first, you need to network with the right people. That's why I built a platform like Unicorn, where you can get people two or three steps ahead of you, connect with them, ask them, get guidance and get moving. Very important to network. Second up skill. If you know X today, how can you?
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complement your knowledge by adding another why to it, which is just a little bit extra. That takes you really far. How can you be an expert at your domain while also knowing a bit about the domain most relevant to you? I'll give an example. Let's say you are a brand manager at a company or at a brand. So you know everything about branding and content creation, etc.
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But if you're able to learn a bit more about performance marketing, then you can create better brand content, which can also be suitable for performance marketing. Now that just that small knowledge itself opens the doors for you to end up becoming the CMO of that company, because now you understand brand and you understand performance as well. And that's a mistake a lot of people make. They don't add on more knowledge, which is complimenting their domain.
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So that's another way for a very quick progression. Third, the easiest way for the quickest progression is if you are at an X position in a big company, you can actually join a smaller company or a startup or a more emerging company and be at an X plus two position there while you bring the experience of a bigger company to the smaller company. They are more respected and you're more valued and you're adding more to the organization.
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That's a wrap, Akash. Thank you so much for being on the show. It was lovely having you over here, sharing your wisdom and listening to you. Thank you so much. Thanks, Devas. And I just hope if people benefit from such content, there's nothing more that we want in life. For sure. Thank you. Thanks a lot, man. All the best. You too. Thank you. Thank you for watching this episode of Workwise with Nokri. I hope you had great, great insights. I would love to know from you, would you prefer to join a startup? Let me know in the comments section and do subscribe to this channel.
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I will see you in the next episode.