Tell us about yourself, your educational and professional background.
My name is Manish Harodia. I did my MBA from IIM Kozhikode. Though I joined corporate sector straight after my MBA. But I found my calling in entrepreneurship, and founded an educational start-up named Genesis Mentors. After it scaled new heights and was ranked at #1 position by leading ranking agencies in Pune and nationwide, I joined another FinTech Venture named DreamWallets as a co-founder. Our FinTech venture is in Crowd-funding area. In the beginning, it was a very novel idea in the context of Indian market with regulation at the evolving phase. But thankfully regulations favoured the growth of this sector. We’ve various crowd-funding campaigns related to social sector, start-ups, hobbies, entertainment industry etc. We plan to be the biggest crowd-funding organization in India within next 5 years and subsequently the world’s largest one.
What attributes are essential for a candidate to thrive in a career in entrepreneurship?
In my opinion, risk taking ability, people skills, and passion to learn diverse things are the main attributes essential for someone to thrive in this career. When we start our own venture we work even on those areas which are not our strengths and subsequently we evolve as an individual. E.g. throughout my entrepreneurial journey I’ve worked in every aspect of business viz. finance, marketing, operations, HR etc. And the prospect of learning new skills daily keeps me on my toes and makes my journey fulfilling and challenging. The most important one is the perseverance. During the initial phase of our FinTech venture, we had to wait for long for regulations to get evolved. And during that tough period it was the perseverance which kept us all moving ahead with great stride.
What are the best aspects of having a career in entrepreneurship?
The best aspect of having a career in entrepreneurship is the direct impact which I’m able to create in the society. I can think of ideas and rationally execute them in a quicker manner with the help of my team. And though you’re in control of things, it also brings responsibility on your shoulder for your employees. Fortunately, I’ve enjoyed every bit of this thrilling experience.
What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last six months?
The toughest decision I had to make was to partially exit my flourishing educational venture and foray into the disruptive FinTech field. I thought my learning curve got stagnant after some time in my earlier venture. So when I heard about this revolutionary idea of FinTech, I had to choose between stability and uncertainty of a Blue Ocean idea in the context of Indian market. But I’m happy I made the decision of choosing later one and here I’m on a challenging and exponential growth curve.
What did you miss out on doing/trying at your B-school?
Experimentation and entrepreneurship is what I miss out during my B-School. I wish I could’ve taken more risks and tried out different aspects of entrepreneurship during B school. Sometimes B school becomes so challenging and competitive that we tend to fit into social norms. I wish I could’ve tried more unconventional paths even during my B school journey.
What advice would you like to give to the forthcoming batches of your B-school?
The first advice which I would like to give to the forthcoming batches would be Network & Network a lot. Try to reach out to your college Alumni, students etc. through LinkedIn or every other available network channel. I’m sure every interaction will bring out a whole new dimension in your way of thinking and help you out in figuring out what exactly you want out of your amazing journey at B school. B school can be very hectic sometimes. Sooner you’re able to make an informed decision about your career path, more benefits you’ll be able to gain out of that thrilling 2 year journey.