"The sooner you start, the better it is so that you have time to fail, learn and fail again." - Aditya Arora

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1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

Faad Network is recognized as a leading Member based Investor Network hand holding early stage startups. Our team is made up of seasoned Investors and experienced entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, who collaborate with partners to help foster innovative ideas into successful businesses.

My journey started at 17, when I was part of a company which we had sold off to a private group of Investors. That gave me the experience of how companies can be built and grown over time. When I entered college, I decided to intern at Faad. My job was to read about Startups in various reports and documentations day in and day out.

That’s where the Entrepreneurial bug bit me and I decided to explore this field and make it my profession. I had a passion to reach poor kids so I did that through my campaign Education Yatra – which fetched me Microsoft Top 15 Change maker in the country, Parliament Award, Duke of Edinburgh Award, United Nations Volunteer Award amidst a bunch of others. I grew from an intern to CEO of an Investment firm by the time I had reached 21. I haven’t looked  back since then. I have found my passion in helping other young entrepreneurs start their journey which I do through my guest lectures, seminars, government assignments etc. Within 3 years, I have spoken at 140+ such events all across the globe.

2.  How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

Faad was started as a one stop solution to all entrepreneurial needs. We realized that Sustaining and scaling startups is difficult in India due to the dearth of resources and help available. We did that at scale, doing about 50+ events in 6 different cities of India, working with 120+ startups and meeting 90+ Investors.

Later we realized how important it is to find your core competency among various needs that startups might have. In 2018. We found ours in Early Stage Startup Investment and till date we have 9 portfolio companies in the kitty.

3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

I did not come from a traditional Investment/ VC background. Hence, learning everything from scratch and that too along with your college and social campaigns was a challenge. Leading a company at 19 is a story of challenge which I can’t describe in words.

I overcame that by putting in those extra hours, taking responsibility of my work and being patient while learning and executing things.

4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?


A successful entrepreneur takes calculated risks to find abnormal opportunities for that risk. They are not only calm and patient, but aggressive and resilient in their approach. They will fly with wings on their way down.

5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

I believe the most important attribute is Clarity. Clarity of the market you are  in, industry domain you operate and most importantly your thoughts on how to scale this and beat the competition. Marrying your business is brilliant but being obsessed about it is not. You should be dynamic to adapt to changing landscapes accordingly.

6. What are your tips for first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Age is just a number and it is always relative. The sooner you start, the better it is so that you have to time to fail, learn and fail again. I started my journey at 17, never realizing would come this far by 22. So, definitely everyone can make a change. Not everyone can be an Entrepreneur, but how would you know without giving it a shot?

Get in the ring and see for yourself. Put up a fight and even if you lose, you won’t lose out on the fun and learning along.  

7. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up? 

Most enterprises bootstrap their ventures through influx of internal capital to begin with. Raise money through friends/ family or an incubator if you don’t have that much influx of capital and need more guidance on your business early on.

With early stage traction and when the product is market operational, then Angel Investors come into the picture where you raise funds for short term livability and further long term scale.