Whether you're aspiring to be a top company, or you focus on that every day 1% rather than 100% at the end of the year. And it's that small accumulation that kind of accumulates and compounds to give you that massive gap. So focus on everyday day-to-day challenges and the day-to-day 1% is my advice to people.
1. Can you tell us about your background journey and upbringing?
I was born in Bombay, born and brought up in South Bombay. And I was, I've grown up and from the cathedral and john Korean school. So I think that stemmed a lot of my inspiration to achieve something because we were surrounded with a lot of competition, motivation, and inspiration, you know, the kind of exposure that we had from school. So after that, I went on to do my IB in Poddar International, where I pursued computer science and mathematics, and physics as a major. So that is where I did my schooling from.
And just after that, when I was I joined engineering college just after that. So after that, I did a diploma and a degree that. So when I was in the second year of diploma itself, I started creating apps on the App Store, which was brand new at that point of time, this could be in the year 2009, or 2010. So that is the time when this whole smartphone, I felt I'd come and I started building games on the App Store.
Yes, after I built, they got published, and I got a lot of inquiries globally and even got a chance to send my applications to even Switzerland and I was just in the second year of college, just after that I took an internship. In that place, it was an unpaid internship. But after a certain point, after three months, I could tell that I was controlling and commanding a lot of the operations at that company. In terms of ideas, logic, business, and creativity.
That's when I got my first commercial project at the age of, 18 or 19. When I got recognized, which got published, and my first game, my first commercial project got published. So soon after that, I realized that this is something that I wanted to pursue. And I got together with three of my friends at that point in time to create a company that would essentially start delivering websites, to begin with. And eventually, the story began from there.
2. When and how did you get the clarity on what you wanted to do?
So that's the beauty of entrepreneurship, you never really get clarity on what you want to do. Is that is that what you do is that every opportunity that comes to your path, you take it, and you start finding the next milestone in what you want to achieve. It's very later you realize that some idea of yours that is clipped can actually turn into a career path.
Today, I have seen so many people start in short ideas, start in short companies. Nobody really knows if this is going to be a career path until you know something clicks and you get serious. So that clarity, you get much later. So the only thing that I would say is that every opportunity that comes your way respected, go towards the next milestone, and then keep looking forward. And there should be nothing that stops you.
3. What does your typical workday look like?
So my typical workday starts at about 10 - 10:30. Right now we're working from home, I typically work till about 9:30pm every day, And that's pretty much what the routine is. So in terms of function, like you know, coordinating with teams understanding new business, creating new plans, strategies, projects, dealing with an HR finance company, sciences, accounts, you know, creating different strategies for different brands for different projects, investing, reading and researching on new technology. That's pretty much what my day looks like, almost dinner, about 10:30 to 12:30 is where I spent two hours for myself on reading about innovation and staying relevant in the industry.
4. Several global companies have come out and thrown the support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?
So my opinion and my thought processes are very similar to what Elon Musk says right about this. And the way he hires people, and the thing is that I have got the opportunity of being a professional, a professor, and an educationist, in the past five years, where I've taught and mentored more than 5000 students. So the thing is that being so passionate about the education space, today, we live in very different times.
It's not about how qualified you are. But it depends upon how much value add you can actually add to the job you're doing. Now, there is a very different dilemma in my mind for this. And the thing is that there are two schools that two distinct schools of thought. One is that you know, practical experience teaches you better than formal education, which is obviously the saying that we've learned from our forefathers and generations, yes.
But the difference is that if you pick up the right students from the right courses, they tend to have a certain kind of command and a certain kind of nature, what do you call is other culture. So for example, if you pick up five good students from a B school, you pretty much know what you're going to expect out of them in terms of mentality.
And that same goes for the saying of even technical students. Like today, there will be a very different thought process over a well-qualified engineer with a Java developer who's learned from themselves, because you're learning the fundamentals straight. But then again, this rule doesn't it's not a blanket rule, because it applies to very few people.
So the necessity of today's time formal education as a blanket rule, I don't think it makes much of a difference. But having said that, when you talk to the qualified students like the, you know, like the people, so what education actually teaches us basically the seriousness of your subject matter. Yes. And that is basically the definition. And that actually brings this debate to rest.
That is formal education, shows a student how serious they are about a subject matter. And that commandment actually takes them forward in their career. So for example, if the student is in the 10th, standard, his life should revolve around his books, of course, with after extra-curricular activities. But that also shows how sincere he is towards the subject matter, that's why is able to achieve certain marks.
So the education system was actually they had created marks to create a diversification between good students and bad students so that they could be some filter factor. But in today's online generations, specifically, after the pandemic, formal education doesn't really have a blanket impact on a person's career, because you can still be the best and do what you can do without having that qualification unless you're basically serious about the matter.
So that's what it is. Yes, yes. The reason why I'm saying this kind of a take is that you know, we are not, I'm not trying to say that, you know, I'm against formal education. All I'm trying to say is that today, we've seen that education needs a stand massive evolution into a more practical and more tangible, and more vocational kind of system. What we are, what the education system that we have today. And what people actually do in their careers is very, very different. And I see them being described in these cliche movies like, you know, your three idiots and stuff like that. I got it.
That's true. And a qualification is, there are two sides. One is when you talk about a professional, who's actually serious and is properly qualified, like when you talk about the CAs or the cfaes of the world, that's a different ballgame because they're licensed to practice and handle certain things. But today, if you're looking at other factors, you can still be as good as the job. And a lot of it comes from parental pressure.
So, to back that statement, is formal education surely required? I would say no, it's about the seriousness and about, you know, getting becoming an expert in your subject matter. But definitely, you can't become a doctor by just reading online or you know, watching on YouTube practice, because you don't want to do that. That is what it is.
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5. How do you handle someone who has lied on the resume?
It's very simple. The thing is that after a certain point of experience from management from a management perspective, you know, people who are my colleagues, and you know, my seniors, as well would have developed a knack in how to cross questioners or a candidate. So it's this thing is that if today somebody has written something today, every CV that you see today, is basically it's an amplification.
And you know, like, with the riffraff and an entire, like, you know, notification of, of your personal career like they're trying to amplify. But does it actually make tangible sense? That's when you cross-question about the subject matter. And about the kind of experience you have today. Anybody can write in there. It's like, for example, I just saw a resume the other day, were developed software for Microsoft, when you actually, when you actually do something of this.
So it's like, I recently came across somebody.
Recently, I came across a CV saying I developed software for Microsoft. So when I actually asked him, What was your involvement in that entire software, it was actually nothing. That involvement was literally a piece of coordination from one team to the other. So you know, when you actually ask the right questions, that's when you actually get to know so what is the point of a CV is to understand the person's experience in the past, summarized in a piece of paper.
It is upon the employer's moral responsibility to cross-question and understand what was that candidate's involvement And at ground level, what was his hands-on involvement in every single leader claims that he's worked on. When you ask the right questions, I'm not saying from a standpoint of doubt, but a moral responsibility towards your organization to understand what kind of experience and qualification is coming from, you have to understand what is his hands-on take on that.
Whatever is written on that CV and that is a judgment where everyone can make so when people see there's a tendency where people do if not lie, but they kind of amplify what they've actually done. Yes. So when they actually get crossed question and see what is their involvement on a personal level, on a hands-on level. That's when everything comes to the surface. Yes. Then the truth comes out is absolutely Now it could be in a positive way. It could be a negative way. There are certain people you know, who tried to underplay the value.
Yes, yes. So there are good candidates also, who try to underplay the value. And when you realize, okay, they've done a lot more. And, you know, they've done a lot more hands-on than, you know, they've actually mentioned. So it's, upon the employer's judgment, to actually understand the rock bottom of what the candidate's statute is. And I've also come across something you can quote me on this, the “BENCHWARMERS.”
Okay, but the benchwarmers are basically who claimed to have a certain amount of experience, okay, but they actually know nothing and this is a pattern you see a lot in an industry, where they walk in every company for two years, get the hikes and jump. So actually, in six years, they've got working experience of six years. But can they handle anything responsibly on themselves? Or can they take ownership of their work? Or they're actually great?
The answer is no, So be there for benchwarmers. It's a simple study, right to conclude this conversation. It takes six to eight months for a candidate to kind of leave an organization after being inducted. You know, from the time they get inducted, by the time they get introduced to clients, by the time they have poor performances even revealed and stuff like that.
So it is a, it takes six to eight months and there's an old saying that one bad apple can spoil the entire bunch. that's what happens with these benchwarmers. So they, in fact, more than adding ease to their colleagues or adding responsibility towards their work, their work actually gets more and more divided between that colleagues, and pressure starts unwinding from there.
So hiring your candidate is the most important thing in today's time. And understanding that the candidate's case, and how to dissect a CV is not only a skill or talent but also an employer's moral responsibility to make sure there is a culture fit with his other teammates.
6. What are some of the typical challenges and how have they evolved over time in your Company?
So changes, one massive change we saw was from the pandemic, right? When we typically had an office, like a buzzing agency culture, you know, with a young, cool office, you know, like, with a lot of people, you know, interactions, people playing games, culture, you know, like, a lot of bars, a lot of livelihoods and all of that. So, that is what a good agency, coffee center culture looks like. But after it's been almost one and a half years now that we've been working from home.
So to kind of bind, the teams give them still motivated, even though it virtually gives them you know, attracted towards their work and have that same employer and, you know, that bond between, ah, you know, between teammates and employees. That was a massive change and a massive, you know, a hurdle that we had to overcome.
7. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those who I'm on the top job?
It's very simple, have a goal. You should have a long-term goal, and break down your milestones, and start winning on smaller things. So they say like, it's an old saying that Rome wasn't built in a day. So when you reach from destination zero to 100, or if you're running a 100-kilometer race or even a seven-kilometer race, you have to win every 500 meters. So every small milestone that is on your journey to the top. Don't keep looking at the glamour and the top, you build every battle, you overcome, and you sustainably grow.
And you overcome every small micro milestone. And you break that up into targets. Like what they say, right? Today, if you are 1% better of yourself every day, at the end of the day, you're 365% better of yourself, which means three and a half times better than what you have on day zero.
So whether you're aspiring to be a top company, or you focus on that everyday 1% rather than 100% at the end of the year. And it's that small accumulation that kind of accumulates and compounds to give you that massive gap. And that measure of success. So focus on everyday day-to-day challenges and the day-to-day 1% is my advice to people.
8. Which is your favorite book and why?
So I have many many books that I really like to name a few what I've been of late reading like what was really inspiring you to know was like your typical you know, your zero to one your show dog your Rich Dad Poor Dad. So this was basically got you motivated, right? But one of my favorite books that I really go to a something called atomic habits, okay? surrounded by idiots.
Okay, so flip the script and how to be a capitalist without any capital and this is another really good book that I rarely read Hold on, it is a book on leadership. It is a beautiful book. it's called Extreme Ownership. It's basically how US Navy SEALs kind of lead. It's basic leadership from the perspective of a US Navy SEAL. I found that book really inspiring.
Krish Ramnani - Co-Founder @toggleheadindia
Entrepreneur| Public speaker | Educationist | Avid Traveller
Interviewed By: Priyanshu Gupta
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