let’s go for bringing me to go in a
season when everyone rushes in so it’s
really nice to be here how I found it
faking news and all that I would I won’t
really go only about that because the
topic is unheard you know doing
something that’s different from the
heard different from the crowd and I
have a little bit of you know experience
limited successes some failures in that
and I’m going to talk about my journey
you know and what mistakes I made how I
decided to do something that was not to
be the part of the crowd what you know
what were the factors that took me into
that and perhaps you know there could be
something which you could associate with
if you are planning to do something you
could do that or you could not repeat
that what I did so my talk is going to
be about that in case there was any
confusion what I was going to do and
yeah even though I my hands are free I’m
not going to perform any act because I
don’t know any so so so first thing you
know the first I would say something
everyone present here has not done that
mistake which I did and that was that I
had decided that if I have to do
engineering I would do only from IITs
and I wasted one year of my you know
life or education after twelve when I
thought no I have to get into IITs only
now obviously none of you are that
foolish so we start with you know bits
bits go of one Rahul Russian zero so
this is the score with which we are
starting and obviously why why was that
you know why why I act is only that was
a herd mentality you know I come from
Bihar and okay the half of the people
tomorrow I’m turning 38 I didn’t want to
say that so so you can imagine you know
the the generation that I come from
I hope bahar has changed since then but
you have to be either a engineer or a
doctor and in that also itis too must
have you know when I didn’t know
anything brilliant tutorials is it still
around you know those things were coming
around so and you know my friends were
getting into IIT so I decided no I have
to get it only you know and that was my
first herd mentality and I decided that
no you know I have already wasted one
year of my life after twelve I’m not
going to do it again so when you want to
break from her what what do you do how
do you really figure out what you want
actually want to do and not do something
just because your friends are doing the
you know the most basic thing the most
important thing is to explore different
things you know now again why I talked
about my age even though I don’t want to
talk about that is because those days we
had dial-up connections you know and
Google was you know 98 I think that was
still formed so what how do I do explore
other things so there were two things
that was available one was you know it
was post liberalisation so new yeah new
TV channels and all that was coming so I
could just see that you know a news
channel so it would be there and my
father’s library my father is a
literature you know professor in
literature so I you know out of just
curiosity even though I hated all this
poetry and composition of Island School
I suddenly became very interested in you
know the novels and all that and the
other thing I liked I you know as
perhaps 50 or 60 or 70% of the
people in India believe that they can
sing like Kishore Kumar so I thought
okay maybe I become a singer or I would
become a writer now the single part I
very very soon realized it’s you know a
little bit too much so writer is
something let me try to be and then you
know unfortunately one thing that
separates me from the rest of the Bihar
is in a way is that my parents were very
supportive you know because if you don’t
get into IITs you do sad harm Hagrid
Iike bow heckle you have to crack ups
see you know and and you have to become
an IAS officer my father my parents
never told me to do that
they said that okay whatever you want to
do go ahead and do it and that and
that’s that’s one thing you know
whatever if I could break from the herd
it was because they were no you know
shackles at least from the parents so I
told them that okay I want to write
something and most of the writers
novelists I figured out where at some
point of time also working in media
journalists so I went I decided you know
my actually my brother found out that
for journalism there is an institute
called I am say in New Delhi which is
good Indian Institute of mass
communication and I took the entrance
exam it was rather easy and I got there
and I thought that okay now I’m doing
something that’s that’s that’s what I
wanted and that was the time when new
news channels also were coming I got a
job as well now there after two years in
journalism I realized that I’m just part
of heard again you know I’m the
journalists or the media they are I mean
I I would die grace and go into
ideological things which I don’t want to
touch over here but you know it’s it’s
the most heard mentality out there
actually you know they they want
conformity any any different point of
view is actually not so you know
encouraged and all that living that
aside and and to be honest I was not
getting paid that
also and I realized that it was just
another job you know all the good things
about journalism that I thought was not
happening and definitely I was not
writing anything decent when you know I
was working for a news channel which was
catering to Turkish elections politics
or news whatever and you will always
have crime stories and those kind of
things coming over there and you know
three people killed that’s all I would
be writing daily so that’s not what I
wanted you know that’s not what Charles
Dickens did you know that’s not what the
novel say I studied it was not about
that but more than that as I told you
that I
I felt very disillusioned that you know
I have to again that again came up that
I have to break free I have to explore
this is not something that I again
wanted to be so so the second phase of
excellent explanation came and I started
reading up random things you know which
was not required part of my job and I
decided to study for study further as
well I took at my idea was that maybe I
would land some somewhere in my car and
come back in media and do something more
I landed I am the bath and there I got
into herd mentality again you know in in
the first semester I don’t know how it
happened but some investment banker
would come very smart and all that you
know with great English and all that I
still have that chip on my shoulders
that I can’t speak like them or you know
look very smart like them I have a bunch
now you know you go to New York London
Hong Kong and become an investment
banker so I was again in that red rat
race in that herd thing very soon I
realized that neither I have the skills
not the skin to be an investment banker
the only good thing was that maybe I
could understand a little bit of maths
but that’s not what makes you in an
investment banker it’s much more than
that
so my third phase of exploration started
there again to explore I
I attended a class thrown by a professor
called professional Honda in ahmedabad
that that class was actually not part of
our course
now professor Honda is known to
brainwash the students into believing
that entrepreneurship is the best thing
when I say brainwash obviously I don’t
mean that
what he ultimately wants to teach you is
wrong but he gave the sense that you
should do entrepreneurship you should
not be in the rat race of you know
campus placements and investment banks
or this bank or consulting that try you
know create jobs try to be something of
our view or and you know do something of
your own that impressed me very much and
I kind of wondered if entrepreneurship
is what I wanted to do I mean you know
this this whole belief that I want I
don’t want to do what everyone else is
doing is more or less very similar to
entrepreneurship you know that job is
also everyone is going you have a set
kind of guidelines and all that you have
to do so I thought that okay let me try
something you know I had you know the
silly thing was that I had no idea what
what businesses I would former or any
innovation I had nothing like that but I
had to be an entrepreneur that that was
my feeling now if you start a business
if you start a new thing what do you
need now very stupidly foolishly be plan
right you need a business plan so where
do you get a business plan I had I was
not even participating in in any any of
those business plan contests that you
know happens in MBA schools near
september/october and all that but a
friend of mine and my dorm mate or
hostel mate who incidentally is a
alumnus of BITS Pilani he he had 1b plan
so with his B plan which funnily was to
setup an ethanol factory in Bihar we
went to Professor Honda I am damn sure
that profs at hand I would have said Kip
poggle here you know but you know what
he did he gave us a good SUV
the next day on one of our weekends when
we didn’t have any classes or anything
we went to bard only in Gujarat and we
we saw how sugarcane is extracted
because an ethanol factories and very
much work similar to a sugarcane not
only that Nitish Kumar happened at
currently Bihar Chief Minister and then
also Bihar Chief Minister he visited our
campus and he had some interaction with
students from Bihar and we happened to
present that plan to him about an
ethanol factory and in those days green
fuels and all that we are being talked
about and you won’t believe that two
months down the line I was with the
sugarcane minister yeah that was a
ministry created by Nitish Kumar I was
with the sugarcane minister and I was we
were talking that how can we set up an
ethanol factory and he handed you know
he even told that okay go meet that Babu
get that what you call land acquisition
forms and all that but obviously we
realized that you know where is where
will the capital come from and our
skills what do we know about ethanol at
best manage and not you set out to couch
attorney in America which which is like
you know about ethanol and and the
capitalist skills how do you do that but
now in retrospect we realized that you
know that talking to a minister talking
to a Chief Minister going and wasting in
in those factories not only that the
professor Honda called the chairman of
Renuka sugar and he put him on
speakerphone and he said that here are
two guys wanting to do that and he also
said that yeah why you can’t do it you
guys can do it yeah you know so that
gave us a lot of confidence and we
realized that okay if we are out there
to achieve something if we have some
plan there are people willing to help
you but our first learning was obviously
we don’t need a bee plant we need an
idea we need an idea which
our skills are there which which which
is not very capital-intensive and which
we can scale later on which obviously
you cannot start in a small ethanol
factory and then think that it will
become big so what next
so I again started exploring and because
I was in journalism
I mean worked in TV channel and as you’d
see that in you know these news channels
every time they would say discommode k
hey you know ask you now who at ocal
hoga and all that and and you p
elections were coming in 2007 when Maya
Bertie Bertie Oh was chief minister so
you know what was this age Kaliyuga
discommode ki he is basically trying to
capture the sentiments so I thought that
what exactly is there any matrix that
captures sentiments and you know if you
think about capturing sentiments the
first thing that comes to you is stock
exchange you know I mean if there is any
bad news or anything the Sensex fall
census goes up obviously its many of
that has got to do with financial
performance as well but it’s mostly
capturing sentiments so I came with an
idea that let’s have a political stock
exchange you know it’s like a continuous
disc a moody I hear you you invest in
and it was more related to you pea
elections that Akhilesh Yadav Echidna
share but hey gotta get my share but
obviously all virtual thing and it was
you know because my friend the bits guy
he was a computer engineer so he knew
how to code it and all that and I need
and I had some decent idea about how to
promote it no no so what is our next
step should we simply do it now there is
one very good thing that drops a Honda
had told and maybe this is a query that
some of you planning to do your own
entrepreneurship or a business might
might be having is that one guy in that
class asked that so we are a little
scared of
our ideal ideas with people that what if
they steal it right how do we trust
anyone with our ideas perhaps the Honda
said a very good thing and you know
which I want to share with you is that
if somebody can steal your idea and
implement it better than you then let
him steal it so because he once the idea
is out there he would any anyway know
about it and he would screw your initial
investment in investment of money you
know energy and everything so don’t
so never bother about discussing I mean
don’t be so scared about discussing
ideas because somebody may steal it one
everyone is not so bad and secondly you
know if somebody can really do it better
then let them it’s better that he does
it so we actually you know discuss this
idea among our friends and that’s where
the you know I’m pretty sure that you
guys also learn a lot outside the class
rather than inside the class I mean as
well as inside the class is that you
know so my friend said that okay forget
politics yeah
Mayawati and ecclesia though only
because you were journalists it you find
them very you know hot property think
about cricket so 2007 years remember
2007 World Cup was also there so they
said that we you know you should create
cricket Stock Exchange and we created
that so our first venture in a way what
in a way it was cricket Stock Exchange
it’s what the virtual gaming website
where you could trade shares of you know
Tendulkar’s
and all that and it was in the run-up to
the 2007 World Cup now it created a lot
of you know news we got a lot of free
publicity actually because at that time
in news I am am double salaries was also
being discussed you know some some of
our batch mates had got a pre placement
figure of something you know obviously
some of some of it is exaggerated not
exactly exaggerated but it’s not what
you get into cash every every year but
for normal people of
it’s like everyone is making minting
money so so you know so the news was
that okay and Sensex was also booming at
that time so the news was that okay
there are some guys of I’m am debarred
who are not with who are opting out of
placements and doing this thing so even
now if you google about you know cribs
cricket Stock Exchange and maybe either
my name or your alumnus name Kartik
Lakshman you would get a lot of you know
news reports that was there in those
times and we got an offer from a leading
news channel a national news channel
that they will create a show out of it
so you know they would have a half an
hour show where this to the studios
couple Dame’s they will become stock
analysts and say are they performing
right and little carries cashier Charl
Walker oh you know so in a sense we
thought that we are we are off to a
flying start you know our first idea we
have we have coordinated the website is
live we had thousands I mean on within
two or three days we had 10,000
registered members in those days it was
big even today it’s big
pakistan is also very registering and we
got a you know offer from news channel
and they paid us a licensing fee also so
that was very important you know when
you have a rather decent check in your
hand and rest of your you know
batchmates are still studying or
preparing for the campus placements so
that our was our first success little
success that we tasted and we thought
that our entrepreneurial entrepreneurial
career is off to a flying start now
casual was talking earlier that there
are some things that’s not be in your
control and if you pretty sure many of
guys here know about cricket and if you
remember 2007 Cricket perhaps you don’t
want to remember in India and Pakistan
both were kicked out in first round
itself I think we lost to Bangladesh or
Ireland or someone yeah so this news
channel they said we are not going to
make
you know programming because nobody
wants to talk about cricket cricket is
dead
now what and in the meantime although it
was a very short time what we had done
which was going against the teachings of
Professor Honda was that the money that
we got we used that money to pay off our
educational loans so we were left with
no money in in in that case you know in
that sense and the product was not being
backed by the biggest partner that we
thought we had captured obviously the
news channel didn’t ask the money back
because not making a show out of it was
their executive decision it can’t impact
what they have already done so you know
this is also the one of the important
lessons that I learned which professor
Honda taught but life taught in a more
harsher way was that if you are an
entrepreneur your life is always going
to be in debt and we coming from
middle-class families are you know first
trying to be first generation
entrepreneurs we don’t like the word
debt because now you don’t want anything
on your head obviously right now I mean
now I’m paying a lot of EMIs
so you know so debt is definitely
something you cannot run away from if
you want to do something of your own now
we got another offer from a company some
us-based company who wanted to buy that
website out the cricket stock exchange I
was of the feeling I go by mostly by gut
feeling and I had told my teammates that
let’s stick with it cricket cannot be
you know it in this country cricket
cannot die some day or the other it will
come back let’s stick with it but they
were thinking that no we have already
used our money we need some money and
there is an offer of buyout let’s sell
it out we sold it off because I couldn’t
have superseded everyone else
we were three partners so okay again we
got the money but I was left with no
property no product and then that’s
where I decided you know I was exploring
again what to do
learning from my earlier failures that
what should be done what should not be
done and this time I decided to go solo
and that’s when I found it it was just a
very impulsive decision I founded I saw
that whether this domain faking news was
available or not I was I was not sure
because it’s you know two very common
words but I could get it faking news.com
I registered I started writing even
though while I was a journalist or
earlier I had never written a piece of
satire at all in fact in yeah in those
two years that I spent on campus there
was one piece that that was of satire
that I had tried and which was liked by
my batch mates but never ever and never
had I had written a satire again so I
needed some you know feedback some
honest thing honest feedback whether I’m
doing the things right or not so that’s
why I started anonymously nobody knew I
was I was running faking news and it
started gaining popularity you know I I
would always target things that would
interest engineering guy or an MBA guy
or the media and regularly one or one of
the other things would be you know they
would go viral
and it became you know it back back in
2011-12 it was a big hit I’m not saying
it’s flop now but yeah it’s definitely
the potential that it has it couldn’t
achieve that also I’ll come to later but
you know I again again I had a property
but how to monetize it I had a product
it was doing well do I again go to a
news channel say let’s have a satirical
show like a daily show or something or
there could be something else so you
know and also I was getting old I just
told you I’m getting 38 I got married
also you know even though my wife never
said that okay you need to earn I
started feeling feeling the pressure
and during and
at the same time email landed in my
inbox from a chief executive of one of
the media’s company saying they want to
buy out faking news so I needed money I
you know and although I could have gone
for investments as then I started
exploring with other media companies and
then I was in final talks with two or
three media companies and finally I went
ahead with network 18 network 18 I went
with because I saw them very
entrepreneurial you know that little
first first team that I had
unfortunately Network 18 was acquired by
Reliance so a lot of bureaucracy came in
and I got bored again and then again I
thought ok let me explore and then I
started you know another website which
you know currently it was again acquired
in all equity deal with so raja magazine
so you know this is my kind of a story
that every three or four third or fourth
here I start believing that okay I am
doing something that I have to break
break away from and necessary to do that
you know in if you want to do that is
it’s the most important thing is that
you start doing something that you you
wouldn’t have done otherwise even if
there is no requirement for that you
start doing start exploring see what
interests you and at the end of the day
you know I don’t want to sound like that
3d8 guy but money does follow you know
even though I didn’t didn’t go out
looking for it the product was right and
the money came in I I can in retrospect
I have done decently monetary wise also
so perhaps to end we started with bits
ago one revolution 0 perhaps there is one one when I end this talk thank you
season when everyone rushes in so it’s
really nice to be here how I found it
faking news and all that I would I won’t
really go only about that because the
topic is unheard you know doing
something that’s different from the
heard different from the crowd and I
have a little bit of you know experience
limited successes some failures in that
and I’m going to talk about my journey
you know and what mistakes I made how I
decided to do something that was not to
be the part of the crowd what you know
what were the factors that took me into
that and perhaps you know there could be
something which you could associate with
if you are planning to do something you
could do that or you could not repeat
that what I did so my talk is going to
be about that in case there was any
confusion what I was going to do and
yeah even though I my hands are free I’m
not going to perform any act because I
don’t know any so so so first thing you
know the first I would say something
everyone present here has not done that
mistake which I did and that was that I
had decided that if I have to do
engineering I would do only from IITs
and I wasted one year of my you know
life or education after twelve when I
thought no I have to get into IITs only
now obviously none of you are that
foolish so we start with you know bits
bits go of one Rahul Russian zero so
this is the score with which we are
starting and obviously why why was that
you know why why I act is only that was
a herd mentality you know I come from
Bihar and okay the half of the people
tomorrow I’m turning 38 I didn’t want to
say that so so you can imagine you know
the the generation that I come from
I hope bahar has changed since then but
you have to be either a engineer or a
doctor and in that also itis too must
have you know when I didn’t know
anything brilliant tutorials is it still
around you know those things were coming
around so and you know my friends were
getting into IIT so I decided no I have
to get it only you know and that was my
first herd mentality and I decided that
no you know I have already wasted one
year of my life after twelve I’m not
going to do it again so when you want to
break from her what what do you do how
do you really figure out what you want
actually want to do and not do something
just because your friends are doing the
you know the most basic thing the most
important thing is to explore different
things you know now again why I talked
about my age even though I don’t want to
talk about that is because those days we
had dial-up connections you know and
Google was you know 98 I think that was
still formed so what how do I do explore
other things so there were two things
that was available one was you know it
was post liberalisation so new yeah new
TV channels and all that was coming so I
could just see that you know a news
channel so it would be there and my
father’s library my father is a
literature you know professor in
literature so I you know out of just
curiosity even though I hated all this
poetry and composition of Island School
I suddenly became very interested in you
know the novels and all that and the
other thing I liked I you know as
perhaps 50 or 60 or 70% of the
people in India believe that they can
sing like Kishore Kumar so I thought
okay maybe I become a singer or I would
become a writer now the single part I
very very soon realized it’s you know a
little bit too much so writer is
something let me try to be and then you
know unfortunately one thing that
separates me from the rest of the Bihar
is in a way is that my parents were very
supportive you know because if you don’t
get into IITs you do sad harm Hagrid
Iike bow heckle you have to crack ups
see you know and and you have to become
an IAS officer my father my parents
never told me to do that
they said that okay whatever you want to
do go ahead and do it and that and
that’s that’s one thing you know
whatever if I could break from the herd
it was because they were no you know
shackles at least from the parents so I
told them that okay I want to write
something and most of the writers
novelists I figured out where at some
point of time also working in media
journalists so I went I decided you know
my actually my brother found out that
for journalism there is an institute
called I am say in New Delhi which is
good Indian Institute of mass
communication and I took the entrance
exam it was rather easy and I got there
and I thought that okay now I’m doing
something that’s that’s that’s what I
wanted and that was the time when new
news channels also were coming I got a
job as well now there after two years in
journalism I realized that I’m just part
of heard again you know I’m the
journalists or the media they are I mean
I I would die grace and go into
ideological things which I don’t want to
touch over here but you know it’s it’s
the most heard mentality out there
actually you know they they want
conformity any any different point of
view is actually not so you know
encouraged and all that living that
aside and and to be honest I was not
getting paid that
also and I realized that it was just
another job you know all the good things
about journalism that I thought was not
happening and definitely I was not
writing anything decent when you know I
was working for a news channel which was
catering to Turkish elections politics
or news whatever and you will always
have crime stories and those kind of
things coming over there and you know
three people killed that’s all I would
be writing daily so that’s not what I
wanted you know that’s not what Charles
Dickens did you know that’s not what the
novel say I studied it was not about
that but more than that as I told you
that I
I felt very disillusioned that you know
I have to again that again came up that
I have to break free I have to explore
this is not something that I again
wanted to be so so the second phase of
excellent explanation came and I started
reading up random things you know which
was not required part of my job and I
decided to study for study further as
well I took at my idea was that maybe I
would land some somewhere in my car and
come back in media and do something more
I landed I am the bath and there I got
into herd mentality again you know in in
the first semester I don’t know how it
happened but some investment banker
would come very smart and all that you
know with great English and all that I
still have that chip on my shoulders
that I can’t speak like them or you know
look very smart like them I have a bunch
now you know you go to New York London
Hong Kong and become an investment
banker so I was again in that red rat
race in that herd thing very soon I
realized that neither I have the skills
not the skin to be an investment banker
the only good thing was that maybe I
could understand a little bit of maths
but that’s not what makes you in an
investment banker it’s much more than
that
so my third phase of exploration started
there again to explore I
I attended a class thrown by a professor
called professional Honda in ahmedabad
that that class was actually not part of
our course
now professor Honda is known to
brainwash the students into believing
that entrepreneurship is the best thing
when I say brainwash obviously I don’t
mean that
what he ultimately wants to teach you is
wrong but he gave the sense that you
should do entrepreneurship you should
not be in the rat race of you know
campus placements and investment banks
or this bank or consulting that try you
know create jobs try to be something of
our view or and you know do something of
your own that impressed me very much and
I kind of wondered if entrepreneurship
is what I wanted to do I mean you know
this this whole belief that I want I
don’t want to do what everyone else is
doing is more or less very similar to
entrepreneurship you know that job is
also everyone is going you have a set
kind of guidelines and all that you have
to do so I thought that okay let me try
something you know I had you know the
silly thing was that I had no idea what
what businesses I would former or any
innovation I had nothing like that but I
had to be an entrepreneur that that was
my feeling now if you start a business
if you start a new thing what do you
need now very stupidly foolishly be plan
right you need a business plan so where
do you get a business plan I had I was
not even participating in in any any of
those business plan contests that you
know happens in MBA schools near
september/october and all that but a
friend of mine and my dorm mate or
hostel mate who incidentally is a
alumnus of BITS Pilani he he had 1b plan
so with his B plan which funnily was to
setup an ethanol factory in Bihar we
went to Professor Honda I am damn sure
that profs at hand I would have said Kip
poggle here you know but you know what
he did he gave us a good SUV
the next day on one of our weekends when
we didn’t have any classes or anything
we went to bard only in Gujarat and we
we saw how sugarcane is extracted
because an ethanol factories and very
much work similar to a sugarcane not
only that Nitish Kumar happened at
currently Bihar Chief Minister and then
also Bihar Chief Minister he visited our
campus and he had some interaction with
students from Bihar and we happened to
present that plan to him about an
ethanol factory and in those days green
fuels and all that we are being talked
about and you won’t believe that two
months down the line I was with the
sugarcane minister yeah that was a
ministry created by Nitish Kumar I was
with the sugarcane minister and I was we
were talking that how can we set up an
ethanol factory and he handed you know
he even told that okay go meet that Babu
get that what you call land acquisition
forms and all that but obviously we
realized that you know where is where
will the capital come from and our
skills what do we know about ethanol at
best manage and not you set out to couch
attorney in America which which is like
you know about ethanol and and the
capitalist skills how do you do that but
now in retrospect we realized that you
know that talking to a minister talking
to a Chief Minister going and wasting in
in those factories not only that the
professor Honda called the chairman of
Renuka sugar and he put him on
speakerphone and he said that here are
two guys wanting to do that and he also
said that yeah why you can’t do it you
guys can do it yeah you know so that
gave us a lot of confidence and we
realized that okay if we are out there
to achieve something if we have some
plan there are people willing to help
you but our first learning was obviously
we don’t need a bee plant we need an
idea we need an idea which
our skills are there which which which
is not very capital-intensive and which
we can scale later on which obviously
you cannot start in a small ethanol
factory and then think that it will
become big so what next
so I again started exploring and because
I was in journalism
I mean worked in TV channel and as you’d
see that in you know these news channels
every time they would say discommode k
hey you know ask you now who at ocal
hoga and all that and and you p
elections were coming in 2007 when Maya
Bertie Bertie Oh was chief minister so
you know what was this age Kaliyuga
discommode ki he is basically trying to
capture the sentiments so I thought that
what exactly is there any matrix that
captures sentiments and you know if you
think about capturing sentiments the
first thing that comes to you is stock
exchange you know I mean if there is any
bad news or anything the Sensex fall
census goes up obviously its many of
that has got to do with financial
performance as well but it’s mostly
capturing sentiments so I came with an
idea that let’s have a political stock
exchange you know it’s like a continuous
disc a moody I hear you you invest in
and it was more related to you pea
elections that Akhilesh Yadav Echidna
share but hey gotta get my share but
obviously all virtual thing and it was
you know because my friend the bits guy
he was a computer engineer so he knew
how to code it and all that and I need
and I had some decent idea about how to
promote it no no so what is our next
step should we simply do it now there is
one very good thing that drops a Honda
had told and maybe this is a query that
some of you planning to do your own
entrepreneurship or a business might
might be having is that one guy in that
class asked that so we are a little
scared of
our ideal ideas with people that what if
they steal it right how do we trust
anyone with our ideas perhaps the Honda
said a very good thing and you know
which I want to share with you is that
if somebody can steal your idea and
implement it better than you then let
him steal it so because he once the idea
is out there he would any anyway know
about it and he would screw your initial
investment in investment of money you
know energy and everything so don’t
so never bother about discussing I mean
don’t be so scared about discussing
ideas because somebody may steal it one
everyone is not so bad and secondly you
know if somebody can really do it better
then let them it’s better that he does
it so we actually you know discuss this
idea among our friends and that’s where
the you know I’m pretty sure that you
guys also learn a lot outside the class
rather than inside the class I mean as
well as inside the class is that you
know so my friend said that okay forget
politics yeah
Mayawati and ecclesia though only
because you were journalists it you find
them very you know hot property think
about cricket so 2007 years remember
2007 World Cup was also there so they
said that we you know you should create
cricket Stock Exchange and we created
that so our first venture in a way what
in a way it was cricket Stock Exchange
it’s what the virtual gaming website
where you could trade shares of you know
Tendulkar’s
and all that and it was in the run-up to
the 2007 World Cup now it created a lot
of you know news we got a lot of free
publicity actually because at that time
in news I am am double salaries was also
being discussed you know some some of
our batch mates had got a pre placement
figure of something you know obviously
some of some of it is exaggerated not
exactly exaggerated but it’s not what
you get into cash every every year but
for normal people of
it’s like everyone is making minting
money so so you know so the news was
that okay and Sensex was also booming at
that time so the news was that okay
there are some guys of I’m am debarred
who are not with who are opting out of
placements and doing this thing so even
now if you google about you know cribs
cricket Stock Exchange and maybe either
my name or your alumnus name Kartik
Lakshman you would get a lot of you know
news reports that was there in those
times and we got an offer from a leading
news channel a national news channel
that they will create a show out of it
so you know they would have a half an
hour show where this to the studios
couple Dame’s they will become stock
analysts and say are they performing
right and little carries cashier Charl
Walker oh you know so in a sense we
thought that we are we are off to a
flying start you know our first idea we
have we have coordinated the website is
live we had thousands I mean on within
two or three days we had 10,000
registered members in those days it was
big even today it’s big
pakistan is also very registering and we
got a you know offer from news channel
and they paid us a licensing fee also so
that was very important you know when
you have a rather decent check in your
hand and rest of your you know
batchmates are still studying or
preparing for the campus placements so
that our was our first success little
success that we tasted and we thought
that our entrepreneurial entrepreneurial
career is off to a flying start now
casual was talking earlier that there
are some things that’s not be in your
control and if you pretty sure many of
guys here know about cricket and if you
remember 2007 Cricket perhaps you don’t
want to remember in India and Pakistan
both were kicked out in first round
itself I think we lost to Bangladesh or
Ireland or someone yeah so this news
channel they said we are not going to
make
you know programming because nobody
wants to talk about cricket cricket is
dead
now what and in the meantime although it
was a very short time what we had done
which was going against the teachings of
Professor Honda was that the money that
we got we used that money to pay off our
educational loans so we were left with
no money in in in that case you know in
that sense and the product was not being
backed by the biggest partner that we
thought we had captured obviously the
news channel didn’t ask the money back
because not making a show out of it was
their executive decision it can’t impact
what they have already done so you know
this is also the one of the important
lessons that I learned which professor
Honda taught but life taught in a more
harsher way was that if you are an
entrepreneur your life is always going
to be in debt and we coming from
middle-class families are you know first
trying to be first generation
entrepreneurs we don’t like the word
debt because now you don’t want anything
on your head obviously right now I mean
now I’m paying a lot of EMIs
so you know so debt is definitely
something you cannot run away from if
you want to do something of your own now
we got another offer from a company some
us-based company who wanted to buy that
website out the cricket stock exchange I
was of the feeling I go by mostly by gut
feeling and I had told my teammates that
let’s stick with it cricket cannot be
you know it in this country cricket
cannot die some day or the other it will
come back let’s stick with it but they
were thinking that no we have already
used our money we need some money and
there is an offer of buyout let’s sell
it out we sold it off because I couldn’t
have superseded everyone else
we were three partners so okay again we
got the money but I was left with no
property no product and then that’s
where I decided you know I was exploring
again what to do
learning from my earlier failures that
what should be done what should not be
done and this time I decided to go solo
and that’s when I found it it was just a
very impulsive decision I founded I saw
that whether this domain faking news was
available or not I was I was not sure
because it’s you know two very common
words but I could get it faking news.com
I registered I started writing even
though while I was a journalist or
earlier I had never written a piece of
satire at all in fact in yeah in those
two years that I spent on campus there
was one piece that that was of satire
that I had tried and which was liked by
my batch mates but never ever and never
had I had written a satire again so I
needed some you know feedback some
honest thing honest feedback whether I’m
doing the things right or not so that’s
why I started anonymously nobody knew I
was I was running faking news and it
started gaining popularity you know I I
would always target things that would
interest engineering guy or an MBA guy
or the media and regularly one or one of
the other things would be you know they
would go viral
and it became you know it back back in
2011-12 it was a big hit I’m not saying
it’s flop now but yeah it’s definitely
the potential that it has it couldn’t
achieve that also I’ll come to later but
you know I again again I had a property
but how to monetize it I had a product
it was doing well do I again go to a
news channel say let’s have a satirical
show like a daily show or something or
there could be something else so you
know and also I was getting old I just
told you I’m getting 38 I got married
also you know even though my wife never
said that okay you need to earn I
started feeling feeling the pressure
and during and
at the same time email landed in my
inbox from a chief executive of one of
the media’s company saying they want to
buy out faking news so I needed money I
you know and although I could have gone
for investments as then I started
exploring with other media companies and
then I was in final talks with two or
three media companies and finally I went
ahead with network 18 network 18 I went
with because I saw them very
entrepreneurial you know that little
first first team that I had
unfortunately Network 18 was acquired by
Reliance so a lot of bureaucracy came in
and I got bored again and then again I
thought ok let me explore and then I
started you know another website which
you know currently it was again acquired
in all equity deal with so raja magazine
so you know this is my kind of a story
that every three or four third or fourth
here I start believing that okay I am
doing something that I have to break
break away from and necessary to do that
you know in if you want to do that is
it’s the most important thing is that
you start doing something that you you
wouldn’t have done otherwise even if
there is no requirement for that you
start doing start exploring see what
interests you and at the end of the day
you know I don’t want to sound like that
3d8 guy but money does follow you know
even though I didn’t didn’t go out
looking for it the product was right and
the money came in I I can in retrospect
I have done decently monetary wise also
so perhaps to end we started with bits
ago one revolution 0 perhaps there is one one when I end this talk thank you
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