From Success to Farmer

Hey ,

What would you do after making your company a successful one?

Scale it further or go back to your hometown and live in solace?

Seems weird to think about the latter option, right?

Well, today I’m going to share the story of a founder who made his way from a small village with little to no opportunities to building a multi-billion dollar company, only to return to his village for peace.

This is the story of Arjun in his own words:

Before I share my story with you fellow founders, I want to say that life is unfair to everyone, but only those succeed who are willing to take action.

So, I was born into a poor family in a small village in India. Opportunities were scarce, and the idea of achieving something big seemed like a distant dream, as daily meals were not guaranteed, let alone something else.

However, technology fascinated me from a young age when I got a chance to look at the only radio in our village. I decided that day, irrespective of the odds, I would do something big as most founders’ journeys would have started.

In my village, there were hardly any schools nearby. I walked 15 kilometres every day to attend a school where the education was minimal, but at least it was something better than nothing, isn’t it?

Yet, this did not deter me. My perseverance paid off when I became the first person in my district to get into college. I enrolled in an engineering program, and from that day my life began to change.

It was really hard in the beginning, as with minimal education everything went over my head, but I kept pushing until my third year when I was getting better, way better than my own expectations.

Opportunities started to unfold when I secured admission to one of the top universities in the world. There, along with my friends, I created a tech-driven company, as by that time I had heard about Steve Jobs.

The product showed great promise, but sales were non-existent because none of us knew how to sell. Eventually, we had to sell the company at a loss.

Instead of feeling devastated, I turned to meditation and prayer, practices that had always helped me stay calm and focused since my childhood, which my mother and village instilled in me. This resilience led me to take another shot at entrepreneurship.

My second venture was another tech-driven company. This time, it became a massive hit. Investors were eager to invest, but I chose to bootstrap my company. With zero funding, I built a successful company, achieving almost $350 million in revenue.

Despite my monumental success, I felt a void for many years until four years ago when I returned to my village in order to live a humble life, focusing on community service and CSR activities while serving as the chairman of my company.

My journey came full circle, from the struggles of my village to the heights of global success, and back to my roots.

I believe that founders must be resilient at every phase of life, as resilience is the key to overcoming challenges and achieving success.

The most important thing I learned that I can share is:

TL; DR would be:

No matter where you start, the potential to create a significant impact is within you.

Thanks for taking out your precious time for reading this.

If you have any specific feedback or anything interesting, you’d like to share, please let us know by replying to this email.

Stay tuned for the next one. Until then, keep building consciously.

Thank you,

Santhosh, founder of WeBuidl