and I’m so excited to introduce sniffing
food sniffing food was born in a small
village in Punjab and he grew up right
here in India he have had a very
interesting career he had worked in a
mall he had washed cars
he has valley parts cars and then when
he finished his master’s degree which he
got from the George Washington
University in DC he went on to work for
the u.s. government so he made quite a
jump and then he got a job at the World
Bank we made an even bigger jump and now
we’re done
he is now the CEO and founder of happy
Shappy which is a startup based right
guys with his Sunnah that has been in
the US for the longest time in her life
which is why she keeps like this 27
years to be precise he loves to read he
loves to write he’s authored a
children’s book on Diwali he had a
career in international risk which is
crazy since she took the biggest of them
all by one marrying me and second moving
[Applause]
so we have here a Hindu married to me a
Muslim and we have here someone from our
family who gave us permission to share
her reaction with you guys today this
was her actual reaction of hearing that
we wanted to get married but in all
seriousness when people found out that
we wanted to get married they weren’t
very happy Shappy
but we were pretty adamant about getting
married which is why we’re married and
we’re here today before you it was the
first of many unpopular decisions that
we made and we’re going to talk to you
guys today about one of the many
unpopular decisions that we made and
many many unpopular decisions that we
made in our lives we made major
decisions minor decisions all of which
were about chasing our happiness and
about being happy Shappy
now happiness means different things to
different people
for me happiness is arranging all my
books by so I’m just working so I’m kind
of OCD I like to have things very
organized sniffing is super Punjabi so
his happiness is having candy let’s see
from Columbus a happiness means
different things to different people so
today we’re going to talk to you guys
about what happiness means happiness is
not static happiness is ever-changing
but we believe in always chasing your
happiness and doing what makes you happy
so with that we’re going to talk to you
guys about how our happy journey started
we will start with how we met it’s
always a good phase start so we met at a
networking event in Washington DC and I
remember it was the room full of people
and I just walked in and I thought I had
seen the most stunning woman in the
world but then I come from an
engineering college so the second
thought they came to my mind
the second thought that came to my mind
is do fearing Ichabod and you can blame
me right so and then I said to myself
dude him hundred-odd sake vodka so I
mustered enough courage and I went up to
her and it spoke to her and well that
was the best decision of my life but I
got her number Center a few hundred
texts and and clearly not thinking that
somebody is respond back also but then a
few hundred texts you know this happened
to be outside her house for no reason
although it was very far away and took
her out for drives and eventually a
movie and here we are yeah and not just
a movie right he happened to have free
passes like basis are likely to get to a
movie and I was so enamored by him that
I didn’t think about all the communal
tensions all the religious problems that
we would eventually have and and we did
we had a lot of pushback from family you
know obviously that auntie that we
showed you earlier definitely showed up
in our house in both of our houses we
hit a lot of speed bumps and people were
wondering that you know you guys will
have you know we come from very
different backgrounds and the Sooners
opened job’ Hindu and I’m a Muslim from
Lucknow so we come from very different
experiences but we really stuck to our
guns and we knew what made us happy and
it with each other and we really stuck
to it and now all these years later for
some reason my family has really seem to
love sniffing and and we here we are
together but you not to blame my family
but you know I come from a border
village in the job so they never met a
Muslim so forget about them ever
thinking that one day their son is gonna
bring one home and it’s it’s the most
crazy thing so when I told my parents
that here Here I am and I’m serious
about Nana and the first question
obviously the religion and all those
apprehensions were there so they met her
for the first time because sometimes
it’s really good to put faces to ideas
and thoughts and ever since their
question of religion is level
and every been we’ve had no problems at
home I wish we had the most veteran
melancholy story to tell
no we did we did have some push back but
then we live in got permission to to
marry me and we have a lovely proposal
story but I think that then tells it
better than I do
[Music]
my mites have inherent problem because
they understand that I can do it without
them I believe so basically now to her I
had to do something out of the box
I’ve been DC at that point and I I used
to love to fly planes another thing so
the way I thought the best way to
propose asana would be to rent one of
these planes and just fly her from
Harpers Ferry in Washington DC which is
a beautiful sight and then pop the
question
so but there were two reasons why it is
that one I think it’s really cool second
I didn’t want to have a water two ever
way out we’re up in the air you better
say yeah so so I did say yes I did say
yes and we got married in Hawaii that’s
our wedding right there the reason we’re
showing you this picture is not to
pretend like we’re super cool but the
reason we showed you this picture is
because we did we had a very
untraditional but you’re super cool wait
well nothing is very cool I’m not cool
at all we did not have a muslim wedding
we did not have a Hindu wedding and we
did not have a Christian wedding we did
not have a religious wedding at all
actually we had a civil ceremony Hawaii
it’s recognized by the state of Hawaii
so it’s an american-style wedding but we
did rent out a beach in Hawaii for it
and we did it for two very important
reasons the one is because I really
wanted to get a good tan while getting
married which I did and the second one
was that we made a very conscious
decision that if we’re going to be
starting our lives off together and
let’s do it on a really happy note let’s
start our lives off together let’s
consciously choose to start this
marriage off together in a way that
makes us happy and not in a way that’s
inviting drama into our lives I mean all
of you guys sitting here have had
weddings in your family even when it’s
to Hindus getting married or to Muslims
someone’s always pissed off right like
there’s always some drama some monkey
who’s like angry Ikki like she got
insulted or something happened and when
it’s a Hindu and Muslim getting married
we knew there was gonna be some drama so
we took our family’s blessings like they
told us it’s absolutely fine with them
and we went up completely alone it was
just the two of us we did it our way on
our terms but that was a conscious
decision that we made to do it our way
and it was one of the best decisions we
made not an orthodox way of doing things
but a conscious decision to do things
without the hotkey to make sure that we
were choosing our happiness where that
we were choosing our happy Shappy you
know I know that I heard her say it I
don’t think our story does justice to
the fact that we came back from the US
Open a wedding company but whatever
right so the next obvious thing was we
had a reception where we invited all her
friends and we had the three most
important ingredients foods food drinks
and DJ you know and that’s always a good
party so and then we had the troop
casual origin aha they’ve taken up half
of the Father itself really so the next
obvious question was what is their
religion going to be you know so we
spend a lot of time in teaching good
deeds to our kids we teach them how to
be good humans we teach them how to not
hurt anybody we teach them how to leave
the world a little better than how they
found it and you know just being a good
human and karma how’s that for a
religion I feel more people had that
religion instead of you know really
despised
[Applause]
so that that would knit themself I
completely agree with that so that
brings us to the second most unorthodox
and unpopular decision that Pippin and I
made and when we talk about working
towards our happiness and working
towards our happy Shappy I very
literally mean that we work towards that
every single day
the second decision that we made that
was very very big by this point
Nixon had been in the US for about ten
years I had been there for about 27
years and we both had very good jobs I
was working at a multinational Nitin was
at the World Bank we owned a home we had
you know two cars that could go really
fast that had been loved we would get a
paycheck every two weeks and we had a
very stable life you know we had a life
that on paper looks really good and
everything was hunky and dory and in
many ways we were living the American
dream and a dream it was a trust me for
a village boy from Punjab the day I got
my world bank job I looked around me you
know that place is so amazing because
you have people from every country on
this planet working there
most of them retire there so when I got
the job I thought of it as now it made
it I thought you know and and ice all
around me and stability came to my mind
as a very positive virtue and a lot of
other things associated with it and then
a year went by and two years went by and
the amazing thing about happiness is
that the goal post is always shifted
what you were happy about today is not
it it’s always never going to happen
that you’re going to stay happy about
the same thing for the rest of your life
so the same two things I associated with
the same job stability security good
pension I’ll retire here I’m set for the
life suddenly the same things I started
associating different words to them and
the different words were mundane
predictable am I going to retire here do
I know that till I turned 60 I’m going
to be coming to the same office doing
similar things and suddenly everything
that was so charming about the first job
it was still the same job and in fact I
had even some pay hikes by then so I was
making more money doing same thing
at the same place but suddenly something
changes right and so you have to keep
moving yeah so that’s the thing about
happiness I will say don’t get stuck to
an idea or a notion of happiness you
always have to work at happiness
and you keep marching forward yeah and
on a very practical level I remember
very clearly that moment so sitting in
my office and you know I called up
nipping at his office as I always would
when I was running late and I called him
up and I was like you know I got called
into a meeting my boss called me I’m
gonna be late so the kids are gonna get
picked up late so I won’t be able to
make dinner so you have to pick up
dinner and then this is not gonna happen
and then this is not gonna happen and I
was going on and on and on
and I was complaining and I was tired in
my life with you know those hamsters
that run inside those wheels and they
just keep feeling like they’re just
running and running that’s what I was
feeling like and it them said to me he
was very calm and he said so why don’t
you quit and let’s just do this another
way I was like what do you mean like do
what another way and he simply said life
let’s do life another way and so that’s
what we did the next thing we did is we
could have jobs we sold a house we sold
those fancy cars we had bought which I
always wore as a medal of achievement
because that’s what these things are
after a while and we sold it all the tag
our bags we packed up our kids and we
just came to India and what an enticing
and thrilling journey has been so far so
when we moved back the first question
and you know I’m sure a lot of you for
Punjab but even otherwise at five but
more so because I’m from there so I
relate more to it when we moved back the
first question was Baba’s gone under who
comes back what is wrong with these
sites and we had to face this question
for quite a long time from pretty much
everybody we knew the fashion was always
why did you come back what is going on
there and you know the
answers if there are a lot of reasons
for why you will come back and while you
a lot right but never ever I think we’ve
regretted the decision but no we haven’t
but I think it’s a very valid question
I mean nine out of ten startups do fail
and we came here to launch a startup if
they we have a company called happy
Shappy which is a social media portal
which is what we came for so when people
said gave up us cannot buy it is a valid
question and there’s a very fine line
between crazy and and courageous which
is success right so if you’re successful
then you’re courageous and if you’re
free and if you fail then you’re crazy
which is what what people say
so I guess time will tell whether we are
crazy or courageous but it doesn’t mean
that we are these like amazing rock
stars who are so cool that we’ve come
back real I know you are but no I was
very scared when I first came back you
know just earlier today someone was
asking me how does it feel to be back
and when I first got here I was really
scared when I first got here first of
all I had no friends which is really
lame okay like I was really sad that I
had no friends second of all I couldn’t
drive so it’s really scary things come
at you from all directions and it’s like
being trapped in a very bad video game
and on a very serious level we had no
financial security because that house
that we had and those cars that we had
we sold them and that was our startup
capital so that’s the money that we put
into our startups right so when you’re
in the States and we you know you have
those jobs you know where your next
paycheck is coming from and you know you
know what what you’re gonna be doing
where your money is coming from and all
of a sudden you don’t know what what’s
coming up next and you don’t know what
your revenue is gonna look like so it
was very daunting and it is very scary
so all that was there but it’s also
extremely exciting and what we’re
building is also very exciting for us
exciting it is I I don’t think any day
is a lot exciting when you do this pace
and what better way to explain today’s
theme of ideas reaction than
entrepreneurship itself because
inherently entrepreneurship is about
taking an idea and putting it into
action
so but there’s some you know not that
I’m telling you guys got to have jobs
jobs
things as well but for us what the
difference was that when you do a job
you have a job responsibilities if
you’re like gee you pretty much do IT
stuff if you’re in HR you do a charge
stuff marketing sales and sometimes in
your life very rarely you will get
opportunities to move here and there but
when you know entrepreneurs suddenly we
also came from backgrounds of a certain
kind me from ICS and sunna from
international rest right but then the
moment we started this company suddenly
you’re doing everything and everything
you have no idea about and you just
gotta go figure it out you’re you an IT
person you are the HR person you’re the
accountant you were everything else that
there is right but I will say I mean the
other thing you have to be mindful of is
that when it’s when it’s a venture that
is yours the failures are also always
yours it’s a very cool thing to being a
start-up I think right now in India you
always you’re hearing about startup
India and it’s a very big buzzword and
and you’re hearing about all these cool
things you also have to keep in mind
that the buck stops with you so you
can’t pin it on anybody else you can’t
pin it on the intern it’s a heavy weight
to bear so keep that in mind as well if
you’re looking at startups don’t make it
sound scary it’s not rising the
victories are also all yours you know
it’s so amazing so when something goes
wrong you obviously feel bad about it
and your butt is on the line whatever
right so but when the victory some even
a small success you celebrate it like
you’ve never celebrated anything else in
your life so I I always you know to put
in perspective say the lows are low but
the highs are very high as well it’s
just the feeling it has you know it’s
doing something for you versus for
somebody else it’s it’s a whole
different ballgame absolutely and I will
say you know before we finish up I do
want to say that it’s been just over two
years since we’ve been here and that
we’ve had happy shopping and not for one
minute have we regretted these very
unpopular decisions to come back
sniffing and I have definitely lived our
lives together and focusing on our
happiness and doing things our way there
was a moment a few months ago where
things were going really badly we were
late burning the midnight oil or 3:00
a.m. Oriole we didn’t know where our
funding was gonna come from we were
exhausted we were tired and I looked at
him and I said we have to make this work
we have to do it right because despite
not being from India despite being gone
for so long I feel such a sense of
belonging in this country I feel like
this is my home I feel like this is the
place where I want to be this is the
place of where I want to bring you know
raise my kids and have a family and I
feel like this is the place where I want
happy Shappy to be I feel like there’s a
lot of innovation in this country and
this is the place where I want happy you
know happy shop is a product that came
out of India for India as an innovative
product you know that that was created
by Indians and I feel like this is the
market for it and you know we’re not
ready to give up and I’m excited to see
what all of us can do together in this
country you know in the startup space as
well absolutely so the low moment that I
was talking about wasn’t a boost to be
personally because I always felt at home
and I always felt like a Punjabi in
America when I was there so never really
felt 100% American because I grew up
here but to hear her say this was such a
boost and then I look around me and I
look what India is up to when it’s all
so encouraging we work with a lot of
interns a lot of young kids like you and
it’s amazing how kids are thinking now I
remember my generation when we were kids
of your age we didn’t have all these
opportunities and the freedom to think
and now that we have started thinking I
am really looking forward to where we will to take in the next decade or two
food sniffing food was born in a small
village in Punjab and he grew up right
here in India he have had a very
interesting career he had worked in a
mall he had washed cars
he has valley parts cars and then when
he finished his master’s degree which he
got from the George Washington
University in DC he went on to work for
the u.s. government so he made quite a
jump and then he got a job at the World
Bank we made an even bigger jump and now
we’re done
he is now the CEO and founder of happy
Shappy which is a startup based right
guys with his Sunnah that has been in
the US for the longest time in her life
which is why she keeps like this 27
years to be precise he loves to read he
loves to write he’s authored a
children’s book on Diwali he had a
career in international risk which is
crazy since she took the biggest of them
all by one marrying me and second moving
[Applause]
so we have here a Hindu married to me a
Muslim and we have here someone from our
family who gave us permission to share
her reaction with you guys today this
was her actual reaction of hearing that
we wanted to get married but in all
seriousness when people found out that
we wanted to get married they weren’t
very happy Shappy
but we were pretty adamant about getting
married which is why we’re married and
we’re here today before you it was the
first of many unpopular decisions that
we made and we’re going to talk to you
guys today about one of the many
unpopular decisions that we made and
many many unpopular decisions that we
made in our lives we made major
decisions minor decisions all of which
were about chasing our happiness and
about being happy Shappy
now happiness means different things to
different people
for me happiness is arranging all my
books by so I’m just working so I’m kind
of OCD I like to have things very
organized sniffing is super Punjabi so
his happiness is having candy let’s see
from Columbus a happiness means
different things to different people so
today we’re going to talk to you guys
about what happiness means happiness is
not static happiness is ever-changing
but we believe in always chasing your
happiness and doing what makes you happy
so with that we’re going to talk to you
guys about how our happy journey started
we will start with how we met it’s
always a good phase start so we met at a
networking event in Washington DC and I
remember it was the room full of people
and I just walked in and I thought I had
seen the most stunning woman in the
world but then I come from an
engineering college so the second
thought they came to my mind
the second thought that came to my mind
is do fearing Ichabod and you can blame
me right so and then I said to myself
dude him hundred-odd sake vodka so I
mustered enough courage and I went up to
her and it spoke to her and well that
was the best decision of my life but I
got her number Center a few hundred
texts and and clearly not thinking that
somebody is respond back also but then a
few hundred texts you know this happened
to be outside her house for no reason
although it was very far away and took
her out for drives and eventually a
movie and here we are yeah and not just
a movie right he happened to have free
passes like basis are likely to get to a
movie and I was so enamored by him that
I didn’t think about all the communal
tensions all the religious problems that
we would eventually have and and we did
we had a lot of pushback from family you
know obviously that auntie that we
showed you earlier definitely showed up
in our house in both of our houses we
hit a lot of speed bumps and people were
wondering that you know you guys will
have you know we come from very
different backgrounds and the Sooners
opened job’ Hindu and I’m a Muslim from
Lucknow so we come from very different
experiences but we really stuck to our
guns and we knew what made us happy and
it with each other and we really stuck
to it and now all these years later for
some reason my family has really seem to
love sniffing and and we here we are
together but you not to blame my family
but you know I come from a border
village in the job so they never met a
Muslim so forget about them ever
thinking that one day their son is gonna
bring one home and it’s it’s the most
crazy thing so when I told my parents
that here Here I am and I’m serious
about Nana and the first question
obviously the religion and all those
apprehensions were there so they met her
for the first time because sometimes
it’s really good to put faces to ideas
and thoughts and ever since their
question of religion is level
and every been we’ve had no problems at
home I wish we had the most veteran
melancholy story to tell
no we did we did have some push back but
then we live in got permission to to
marry me and we have a lovely proposal
story but I think that then tells it
better than I do
[Music]
my mites have inherent problem because
they understand that I can do it without
them I believe so basically now to her I
had to do something out of the box
I’ve been DC at that point and I I used
to love to fly planes another thing so
the way I thought the best way to
propose asana would be to rent one of
these planes and just fly her from
Harpers Ferry in Washington DC which is
a beautiful sight and then pop the
question
so but there were two reasons why it is
that one I think it’s really cool second
I didn’t want to have a water two ever
way out we’re up in the air you better
say yeah so so I did say yes I did say
yes and we got married in Hawaii that’s
our wedding right there the reason we’re
showing you this picture is not to
pretend like we’re super cool but the
reason we showed you this picture is
because we did we had a very
untraditional but you’re super cool wait
well nothing is very cool I’m not cool
at all we did not have a muslim wedding
we did not have a Hindu wedding and we
did not have a Christian wedding we did
not have a religious wedding at all
actually we had a civil ceremony Hawaii
it’s recognized by the state of Hawaii
so it’s an american-style wedding but we
did rent out a beach in Hawaii for it
and we did it for two very important
reasons the one is because I really
wanted to get a good tan while getting
married which I did and the second one
was that we made a very conscious
decision that if we’re going to be
starting our lives off together and
let’s do it on a really happy note let’s
start our lives off together let’s
consciously choose to start this
marriage off together in a way that
makes us happy and not in a way that’s
inviting drama into our lives I mean all
of you guys sitting here have had
weddings in your family even when it’s
to Hindus getting married or to Muslims
someone’s always pissed off right like
there’s always some drama some monkey
who’s like angry Ikki like she got
insulted or something happened and when
it’s a Hindu and Muslim getting married
we knew there was gonna be some drama so
we took our family’s blessings like they
told us it’s absolutely fine with them
and we went up completely alone it was
just the two of us we did it our way on
our terms but that was a conscious
decision that we made to do it our way
and it was one of the best decisions we
made not an orthodox way of doing things
but a conscious decision to do things
without the hotkey to make sure that we
were choosing our happiness where that
we were choosing our happy Shappy you
know I know that I heard her say it I
don’t think our story does justice to
the fact that we came back from the US
Open a wedding company but whatever
right so the next obvious thing was we
had a reception where we invited all her
friends and we had the three most
important ingredients foods food drinks
and DJ you know and that’s always a good
party so and then we had the troop
casual origin aha they’ve taken up half
of the Father itself really so the next
obvious question was what is their
religion going to be you know so we
spend a lot of time in teaching good
deeds to our kids we teach them how to
be good humans we teach them how to not
hurt anybody we teach them how to leave
the world a little better than how they
found it and you know just being a good
human and karma how’s that for a
religion I feel more people had that
religion instead of you know really
despised
[Applause]
so that that would knit themself I
completely agree with that so that
brings us to the second most unorthodox
and unpopular decision that Pippin and I
made and when we talk about working
towards our happiness and working
towards our happy Shappy I very
literally mean that we work towards that
every single day
the second decision that we made that
was very very big by this point
Nixon had been in the US for about ten
years I had been there for about 27
years and we both had very good jobs I
was working at a multinational Nitin was
at the World Bank we owned a home we had
you know two cars that could go really
fast that had been loved we would get a
paycheck every two weeks and we had a
very stable life you know we had a life
that on paper looks really good and
everything was hunky and dory and in
many ways we were living the American
dream and a dream it was a trust me for
a village boy from Punjab the day I got
my world bank job I looked around me you
know that place is so amazing because
you have people from every country on
this planet working there
most of them retire there so when I got
the job I thought of it as now it made
it I thought you know and and ice all
around me and stability came to my mind
as a very positive virtue and a lot of
other things associated with it and then
a year went by and two years went by and
the amazing thing about happiness is
that the goal post is always shifted
what you were happy about today is not
it it’s always never going to happen
that you’re going to stay happy about
the same thing for the rest of your life
so the same two things I associated with
the same job stability security good
pension I’ll retire here I’m set for the
life suddenly the same things I started
associating different words to them and
the different words were mundane
predictable am I going to retire here do
I know that till I turned 60 I’m going
to be coming to the same office doing
similar things and suddenly everything
that was so charming about the first job
it was still the same job and in fact I
had even some pay hikes by then so I was
making more money doing same thing
at the same place but suddenly something
changes right and so you have to keep
moving yeah so that’s the thing about
happiness I will say don’t get stuck to
an idea or a notion of happiness you
always have to work at happiness
and you keep marching forward yeah and
on a very practical level I remember
very clearly that moment so sitting in
my office and you know I called up
nipping at his office as I always would
when I was running late and I called him
up and I was like you know I got called
into a meeting my boss called me I’m
gonna be late so the kids are gonna get
picked up late so I won’t be able to
make dinner so you have to pick up
dinner and then this is not gonna happen
and then this is not gonna happen and I
was going on and on and on
and I was complaining and I was tired in
my life with you know those hamsters
that run inside those wheels and they
just keep feeling like they’re just
running and running that’s what I was
feeling like and it them said to me he
was very calm and he said so why don’t
you quit and let’s just do this another
way I was like what do you mean like do
what another way and he simply said life
let’s do life another way and so that’s
what we did the next thing we did is we
could have jobs we sold a house we sold
those fancy cars we had bought which I
always wore as a medal of achievement
because that’s what these things are
after a while and we sold it all the tag
our bags we packed up our kids and we
just came to India and what an enticing
and thrilling journey has been so far so
when we moved back the first question
and you know I’m sure a lot of you for
Punjab but even otherwise at five but
more so because I’m from there so I
relate more to it when we moved back the
first question was Baba’s gone under who
comes back what is wrong with these
sites and we had to face this question
for quite a long time from pretty much
everybody we knew the fashion was always
why did you come back what is going on
there and you know the
answers if there are a lot of reasons
for why you will come back and while you
a lot right but never ever I think we’ve
regretted the decision but no we haven’t
but I think it’s a very valid question
I mean nine out of ten startups do fail
and we came here to launch a startup if
they we have a company called happy
Shappy which is a social media portal
which is what we came for so when people
said gave up us cannot buy it is a valid
question and there’s a very fine line
between crazy and and courageous which
is success right so if you’re successful
then you’re courageous and if you’re
free and if you fail then you’re crazy
which is what what people say
so I guess time will tell whether we are
crazy or courageous but it doesn’t mean
that we are these like amazing rock
stars who are so cool that we’ve come
back real I know you are but no I was
very scared when I first came back you
know just earlier today someone was
asking me how does it feel to be back
and when I first got here I was really
scared when I first got here first of
all I had no friends which is really
lame okay like I was really sad that I
had no friends second of all I couldn’t
drive so it’s really scary things come
at you from all directions and it’s like
being trapped in a very bad video game
and on a very serious level we had no
financial security because that house
that we had and those cars that we had
we sold them and that was our startup
capital so that’s the money that we put
into our startups right so when you’re
in the States and we you know you have
those jobs you know where your next
paycheck is coming from and you know you
know what what you’re gonna be doing
where your money is coming from and all
of a sudden you don’t know what what’s
coming up next and you don’t know what
your revenue is gonna look like so it
was very daunting and it is very scary
so all that was there but it’s also
extremely exciting and what we’re
building is also very exciting for us
exciting it is I I don’t think any day
is a lot exciting when you do this pace
and what better way to explain today’s
theme of ideas reaction than
entrepreneurship itself because
inherently entrepreneurship is about
taking an idea and putting it into
action
so but there’s some you know not that
I’m telling you guys got to have jobs
jobs
things as well but for us what the
difference was that when you do a job
you have a job responsibilities if
you’re like gee you pretty much do IT
stuff if you’re in HR you do a charge
stuff marketing sales and sometimes in
your life very rarely you will get
opportunities to move here and there but
when you know entrepreneurs suddenly we
also came from backgrounds of a certain
kind me from ICS and sunna from
international rest right but then the
moment we started this company suddenly
you’re doing everything and everything
you have no idea about and you just
gotta go figure it out you’re you an IT
person you are the HR person you’re the
accountant you were everything else that
there is right but I will say I mean the
other thing you have to be mindful of is
that when it’s when it’s a venture that
is yours the failures are also always
yours it’s a very cool thing to being a
start-up I think right now in India you
always you’re hearing about startup
India and it’s a very big buzzword and
and you’re hearing about all these cool
things you also have to keep in mind
that the buck stops with you so you
can’t pin it on anybody else you can’t
pin it on the intern it’s a heavy weight
to bear so keep that in mind as well if
you’re looking at startups don’t make it
sound scary it’s not rising the
victories are also all yours you know
it’s so amazing so when something goes
wrong you obviously feel bad about it
and your butt is on the line whatever
right so but when the victory some even
a small success you celebrate it like
you’ve never celebrated anything else in
your life so I I always you know to put
in perspective say the lows are low but
the highs are very high as well it’s
just the feeling it has you know it’s
doing something for you versus for
somebody else it’s it’s a whole
different ballgame absolutely and I will
say you know before we finish up I do
want to say that it’s been just over two
years since we’ve been here and that
we’ve had happy shopping and not for one
minute have we regretted these very
unpopular decisions to come back
sniffing and I have definitely lived our
lives together and focusing on our
happiness and doing things our way there
was a moment a few months ago where
things were going really badly we were
late burning the midnight oil or 3:00
a.m. Oriole we didn’t know where our
funding was gonna come from we were
exhausted we were tired and I looked at
him and I said we have to make this work
we have to do it right because despite
not being from India despite being gone
for so long I feel such a sense of
belonging in this country I feel like
this is my home I feel like this is the
place where I want to be this is the
place of where I want to bring you know
raise my kids and have a family and I
feel like this is the place where I want
happy Shappy to be I feel like there’s a
lot of innovation in this country and
this is the place where I want happy you
know happy shop is a product that came
out of India for India as an innovative
product you know that that was created
by Indians and I feel like this is the
market for it and you know we’re not
ready to give up and I’m excited to see
what all of us can do together in this
country you know in the startup space as
well absolutely so the low moment that I
was talking about wasn’t a boost to be
personally because I always felt at home
and I always felt like a Punjabi in
America when I was there so never really
felt 100% American because I grew up
here but to hear her say this was such a
boost and then I look around me and I
look what India is up to when it’s all
so encouraging we work with a lot of
interns a lot of young kids like you and
it’s amazing how kids are thinking now I
remember my generation when we were kids
of your age we didn’t have all these
opportunities and the freedom to think
and now that we have started thinking I
am really looking forward to where we will to take in the next decade or two
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