A meet with the Alum and 'Mastishk' Storming

This post is not about any routine lecture but that of a special session organised for us.Dressed up in formals, we all arrived at the classroom to listen to three of our Alumni. Our first interaction was with Mr. Nikhil Kulkarni, the think-tank behind India’s first online business gaming challenge  Mastishk , whic is now a popular event in B-School circles. 

I found Nikhil,presently working with KPMG in Banking and Financial Services domain, to be a very simple personality and a serious person initially by the looks. As he addressed us and the session went ahead, I witnessed that his ideas are so powerful that everybody in the room was left impressed and inspired to think out of the box.
I found Nikhil,presently working with KPMG in Banking and Financial Services domain, to be a very simple personality and a serious person initially by the looks. As he addressed us and the session went ahead, I witnessed that his ideas are so powerful that everybody in the room was left impressed and inspired to think out of the box.
I found Nikhil,presently working with KPMG in Banking and Financial Services domain, to be a very simple personality and a serious person initially by the looks. As he addressed us and the session went ahead, I witnessed that his ideas are so powerful that everybody in the room was left impressed and inspired to think out of the box.
He started the discussion asking us how many of us want to become entrepreneurs, many of us raised hands, then he tried drilling into their reasons for this choice and figured that except a few most of us had exactly zero idea what exactly it is to be an entrepreneur.
Most of the students look at entrepreneurship as an exit option from their mundane job lives. Most of us were confused between being independent with taking zero liability. He tried to give us a brief understanding of what exactly it is to be an entrepreneur, quoting some examples he inferred that we never noticed.

He pointed out that  we hardlt come to know about failed startup stories because their stories go unsung, and the very few which succeed catch the limelight, and reading their stories we envisage ourselves as future billionaires without peeping into the ground realities.
“A startup demands extreme patience and passion and if you are ready for both it is THE thing for you” said Nikhil, but if you are confused even to the extent of one percent  don’t go.
The feeling of a job creator comes with its own terms and conditions. Comparing doing a job and being an entrepreneur he identified that neither the efforts nor the responsibilities are less anywhere, in job you have an advantage of switching whenever you want, in startup you are your own boss doesn’t mean that you are not answerable to anyone, your stakeholders , your customers are all your liability.

 

While he was just to start telling his experiences about Mastishk, Hemant entered the class, classmate of Nikhil and co-founder of Mastishk. A vibrant personality; who lightened the discussion with his smiling face, both shared their experiences about the genesis of Mastishk, the problems faced by them running it and what they learnt from it. The discussion was very involving. 

I loved the part where Hemant told us how they used to look at themselves as C2C (CEO to Chapraasi) of the company and how they derived their satisfaction while fulfilling what they envisioned.After the arrival of our third Alum the discussion turned more engrossing and we enjoyed a mind boggling and eye opening session.

At the end of the session, they answered many of our doubts and guided us with some TO-Dos. They concluded the session with a promise to be back soon to help and guide us with our issues what so ever they may be.
He pointed out that  we hardlt come to know about failed startup stories because their stories go unsung, and the very few which succeed catch the limelight, and reading their stories we envisage ourselves as future billionaires without peeping into the ground realities.
“A startup demands extreme patience and passion and if you are ready for both it is THE thing for you” said Nikhil, but if you are confused even to the extent of one percent  don’t go.
The feeling of a job creator comes with its own terms and conditions. Comparing doing a job and being an entrepreneur he identified that neither the efforts nor the responsibilities are less anywhere, in job you have an advantage of switching whenever you want, in startup you are your own boss doesn’t mean that you are not answerable to anyone, your stakeholders , your customers are all your liability.

While he was just to start telling his experiences about Mastishk, Hemant entered the class, classmate of Nikhil and co-founder of Mastishk. A vibrant personality; who lightened the discussion with his smiling face, both shared their experiences about the genesis of Mastishk, the problems faced by them running it and what they learnt from it. The discussion was very involving. 
I loved the part where Hemant told us how they used to look at themselves as C2C (CEO to Chapraasi) of the company and how they derived their satisfaction while fulfilling what they envisioned.
I loved the part where Hemant told us how they used to look at themselves as C2C (CEO to Chapraasi) of the company and how they derived their satisfaction while fulfilling what they envisioned.After the arrival of our third Alum the discussion turned more engrossing and we enjoyed a mind boggling and eye opening session.

At the end of the session, they answered many of our doubts and guided us with some To-Dos. They concluded the session with a promise to be back soon to help and guide us with our issues what so ever they may be.
Such talks in future would be very helpful for us to take the important career decisions ahead.

Looking forward to more such enlightening experiences.