Q&A
- Please tell us about NebulARC Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
NebulARC is a tech startup solving the most pertinent problem of lack of supply chain visibility across various industries. Via our IoT-driven, AI-enabled product, we are enabling the businesses to enhance their operational efficiency & reduce the losses due to lack of real-time insights across the supply chain, thereby, leading to transformation of the supply chains into profit centers. We are a small team of 12 technocrats with founding team having total industry experience of 50+ years and have Indian Navy as one of our first customers. We are proud to be the digital transformation enablers for the defense warriors of India.
- What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
My inspiration for entrepreneurship was a combination of both – working around & learning from some good leaders at Knowlarity & some pure good luck. While working at Knowlarity, I interacted with many former entrepreneurs day in, day out. All were heading one or the other verticals at the company and while working as a Data Product Manager, I would chat with them about their journey and their success & failure stories along with the inputs about the new product I was working on. Then, there was Mr. Ambarish Gupta, our CEO at Knowlarity. Seeing him work meticulously to solve every problem was a boon for me. I understood all the small vagaries of entrepreneurship by observing the way he handled his daily activities.
My luck came after almost 3 years, having left Knowlarity & working on Supply chain problems of US based MNCs as an Analytics Lead Product for a startup. As luck would have it, out of nowhere, I met my current Co-founder, Alok Sharma at a common forum. He was also trying to solve supply chain problems for his clients. We exchanged our ideas and clicked instantly and we decided to work together. Had he not agreed, I think I would have had to look out for support for a longtime & may not have gone ahead with this idea instantly. So, on 12th March, 2018 NebulARC was born & we set out to bootstrap our way & earn success the hard way.
- How did your Great Lakes experience help you in your entrepreneurial journey?
I was exposed to Entrepreneurship first time at Great Lakes. There were four aspects of my Great Lakes journey that have made a big impact on my short entrepreneurial journey till date –
1. Guest/Industry Lectures & my stint as a Placement Committee member– I still remember, our very first Guest Lecture by Mr. Aloke Bajpai from ixigo.com. Listening to him that day laid foundation for entrepreneurship within me. The foundation became stronger each day while interacting with all the brilliant industry faculties (most of them entrepreneurs) either during guest lectures, as course faculties or during my interaction as a Placement Committee member.
2. Brilliant Resident Faculties– The most important part of GLIM for me was the knowledge I gained from our superb resident faculties especially Himadri Sir, Uma Sir & Bappa Sir. Being from the tech background, I actually have gained all business knowledge by listening to these brilliant professors at GLIM and now, I am using their inputs on day-to-day basis.
3. The Course Design – During that 1 year, the MBA with 8 trimesters was fast, hectic & tiring. But now when I look back at those days, I think all the aspects of 1 year program prepared me for this entrepreneurial journey – the time management, prioritizing things, to persevere & solve real life business problems, to learn fast – act fast and so on.
4. My fellow Vikings of PGPM’15 batch – I learnt a lot from my fellow Great Lakers of PGPM’15 batch. The cultural understandings, our camaraderie during both success & failures, the group studies, the late night parties & then 8 am classes – all these things have helped me to fight my way through this short entrepreneurship journey.
- What are the skills essential to become an entrepreneur?
I think the most important skill is perseverance. One can be brilliant at business skills, tech skills etc. that enable you to excel in your day-to-day job as a manager or a corporate employee but if one wants to be an entrepreneur then he/she must be ready to persevere with their goals even during hard times.
The journey seems exciting at first – you are your own boss, you can control every step, you can flaunt being an entrepreneur etc. but soon down the line you understand the reality. No monthly salary, no backups, product not shaping up as fast as you want, lack of resources but need to excel in output – all these issues lead to frustration & damaged morale. At that time, it’s your perseverance to fight on, the faith & having patience with yourself & your goal that drives you forward.
As this famous dialogue in The Matrix Revolution between NEO & Agent Smith goes –
“Agent Smith : Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you’re fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can’t win. It’s pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?
Neo : Because I choose to.
- What advice would you give to Great Lakers?
I would advise the Great Lakers –
1. to learn both inside & outside the class – from everyone around you in college
2. be active & participate as much as you can (in class, committees, competitions, seminars etc.)
3. focus on learning rather than scoring marks, each day of this journey will help you explore new things and will enable you to find your way to success, so just persevere & keep learning
Above all this, enjoy your 10 months at college as for most of you, this will be the last time you will be in a formal educational institution & may not get this opportunity again to enjoy close to 300 days with no worries of responsibilities & work pressure.
- How do you spend your free time?
I read books or listen to them and watch movies in whatever free time I get. I actually am a big movie buff and try to watch at least one movie (laptop or theatre) every week.
Great Lakes Institute of Management 