What do you do when someone whose opinion you deeply value raves about something they like? You put it at the back of your mind, at first, and then finally run out of excuses and decide to experience it for yourself — which led me to just about the most lively and enjoyable Saturday afternoon I’ve had in a while!
The Rodinhoods Open House at Mumbai (with 200 attendees!) was filled with three things that I believe are the life-blood of life itself – energy, enthusiasm and positivity. Three hours didn’t seem enough to capture what seemed like three months’ worth of perspective, and yet they somehow did. The theme of the event was “Celebrating Pain”, and ironically, I can’t seem to describe how happy it made me!
A few things that I found extremely interesting as a first-timer: Sushrut Munje (Hammer and Mop) is 23, has had 16 months of start-up experience and has lived to tell the tale. What struck me about his presentation was the fact that he’d turned a simple idea like cleaning into a service (or a product, as he’d prefer :)) that can be monetized. He seemed confident of dealing with labour, and was cognizant of giving it dignity (and career progression), which is an extremely mature attitude; sometimes found lacking in individuals way older than he was. Did I mention he was 23?
Equally engaging were presentations by Hardik Shah (Theek Kar Do) who’d chucked a cushy accountant’s job to pursue his dream, and Saaransh, who’d learnt, tried, failed, and learnt and tried again (and then succeeded). Hardik’s attitude toward resolving conflict between co-founders (you need to deal with issues in a similar fashion, else the business suffers) were things you couldn’t pick up from a fat tome on conflict management. Saaransh was the product and the service (his words, not mine :)) and seemed fully aware and prepared of how to make the most of his time under the sun. It was fascinating the way these 20-somethings had made the transition from wanting to do something and then actually going on to do it.
Energy and vibrant ideas aside, what I wasn’t prepared for was meeting Alok Kejriwal, whose persona seemed to exude a vibe of reaching out and helping individuals, not just entrepreneurs, in the real sense of the term. The questions were genuine, the criticism was honest, and the encouragement was there for all to see. I felt like his enthusiasm was possibly the most infectious, and had spawned an entire community. I could somehow relate to the pain of doing it all yourself, and facing an emotional dilemma when one makes an unpopular choice.
The advice to those all-too-eager to turn entrepreneurs (“Wanting to be your own boss is possibly the worst reason to turn to entrepreneurship”) courtesy Kanchan Kumar (from TIE Mumbai) was something nobody should forget in a hurry. Audience participation (someone asked Alok about whether he’d experienced his aha moment in life), a unique guest speaker (Anubha Sharma from the Angel Xpress Foundation), and the giving away of copies of An Autobiography of a Yogi (my very own, finally!) were a few things that made this event very special. To paraphrase Alok’s words to all budding entrepreneurs present “You guys don’t know what it is that you’ve got”, they truly don’t. And we’re all just beginning to figure that one out…
asha chaudhry
my wish…. is that everyone who attends the Open House for the first time should feel what you just described.
and though i’ve been to quite a few, i myself believe y’day’s was very very very special…
keep writing pooja. i think you gave us all a bit of magic as well by coming up to the stage and sharing what you felt about AOY. and how it’s changed your life. i think you would’ve inspired others present y’day to read it as well. if you can – pls add that bit to your post….
keep inspiring 🙂
p.s: welcome to therodinhoods. never said it to you before – but then it’s never too late to welcome a rodinhooder….!
Pooja Shirangi
Thank you for the beautiful comment! 🙂
As far as AOY goes, I somehow wanted this post to be about the OH and its energy, and felt AOY deserved a separate post all by itself — only fitting, considering how much of a difference it’s made to my life.
Thanks for the welcome — I feel superbly proud to be a Rodinhooder!
asha chaudhry
awesome!
pls create the post on rodinhoodmonastery.com
then we’ll share the link here on your post!
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Awesome!!! Thanks for being there!!
Rushikesh Khadtare
200 like minded people at the same place.I would like to call it the “KUMBH MELA” of Entrepreneurs. Awesome !
Aparna
This makes me wanna wish I was there as well :). Great write up as well!
Sushrut Munje
Thank you Pooja! This is so awesome 🙂
Dhaval Katira
Hi, This was my first Rodinhood experience and one word to describe it would be as Alok Says (often) ”Awesome” . Being in pain myself (read entrepreneur) I could relate to most of what was happening. And as it was concluded by most of the audience , we are not alone in this world.We have power of the Rodinhoods.
Thanks everybody for making my first Rodinhood an “Awesome” experience
Karan Ahuja
awesome read . looking forward to attend the next (my first) one 🙂
Anamika Joshi
Pooja, thanks for this awesome post…. for those who couldn’t attend the open house, posts like these are a boon! I can almost feel the energy and enthusiasm.. I so badly want to be there and meet mumbai rodinhooders!! Alok ji, we are eagerly waiting for the next Delhi Open House.. :)))
Hardik Shah
Thank you Pooja for your words.
Happy that people took back something from the quick PPT 🙂
Krishna
Hi. This was my first Rodinhoods Open house meeting and was really inspiring. Liked all young entrepreneurs and their energy, enthu, positive mindsets etc.Really Nice. In future wanna be part of that Presentation session( As a speaker) .
Thanks to organizer aakancha.
Pooja Shirangi
Thanks Alok! I absolutely loved every minute of it!
Pooja Shirangi
Rushikesh, believe you me it was! So I did attend a “Kumbh Mela” after all! :)))
Pooja Shirangi
Hey Aparna, perhaps you can make it for the next OH in September? Thanks for your comment!
Pooja Shirangi
It’s your presentation that was! Thanks Sushrut 🙂
Pooja Shirangi
Thanks Dhaval!! We do have the Force with us!
Pooja Shirangi
Thanks so much Karan! It’ll be more than you think it will, trust me!
Pooja Shirangi
Hey Anamika, thanks for the comments! I’m waiting for the next one in Mumbai myself!!
Pooja Shirangi
Hi Hardik, your ppt addressed the crucial ‘pain points’ quite aptly! Thanks for your comment!
Pooja Shirangi
Hi Krishna, that’s precisely what I felt! Thanks!!
Pooja Shirangi
Hi Ritesh, this post was about my personal experience at the OH, not a summary of the events taking place. I haven’t made a mention of Alok’s presentation, or even Divyesh’s — you haven’t been singled out in any way. Richa Vani has summarised the event in an excellent post which can be found here. Thanks.
Richa Vani
Thanks so much Pooja….However, your summary is wonderful and trust me it was the same magic that inspired me to write about the entire event every time…