Startup life is equal parts laptop-shopping spree, naming-nightmare, hiring scavenger-hunt and all-night strategy jam-session. Macs beat Windows (after a civil war in the group-chat), Office 365 edges out Google’s ever-climbing Workspace pricing, LinkedIn and Naukri wreck the budget, referrals save the day, and Indian banking still thinks every founder is Infosys-sized. Yet with a backpack full of chart-sheets, an HR-guru-turned-PM, and friends who’ll answer 2 a.m. calls, the dream barrels forward—caffeinated, chaotic and un-stoppable.
Act 1 – Birth of a Brand (and 100 Terrible Names)
I scribbled 107 possible company names on sticky notes—the living-room wall looked like a conspiracy board. Every friend and cousin became an unsolicited focus group. Predictably, they vetoed 106.9 of them. Lesson #1: never crowd-source creativity if you value your sanity.
With a name finally chosen, I outsourced the logo to an Egyptian design studio (timezone math: Cairo ~ Kochi + three chai breaks). Lovely drafts, but brainstorming over Zoom felt like mime. Note to self: sometimes a local whiteboard beats global Figma.
Act 2 – Gear & Grit
Mac vs. Windows: the Great Hardware Duel
Our first capital purchase? Laptops. After weeks of Reddit rabbit-holes, I convinced myself that the MacBook’s reliability justified the premium. Windows fans still mutter about the budget.
Backpacks, Chart-Sheets & Stationery
While the HR-turned-Project-Manager ordered ergonomic backpacks, I bulk-bought chart-sheets and Post-its like a teacher on sale day. If creativity is messy, we’re Picasso.
Email & Collab Stack
Google just hiked Workspace again, so we went Microsoft 365 for Business, enterprise-grade email, Teams, security, all in one predictable bill. (Bonus: Copilot AI is starting to write my meeting notes for me)
Act 3 – Hiring Hijinks
The Paid-Portal Sticker-Shock
LinkedIn Recruiter has become “premium-priced networking” with shrinking hiring ROI (read here if you don’t believe me – Undercover Recruiter).
Naukri’s enterprise-style à-la-carte pricing turns into a bazaar unless you’re a seasoned negotiator.
Plan B: Human Networks
We pivoted to referrals—statistically the highest-retention, fastest-fill channel + workday walk-ins fuelled by chocolates and pure persuasion. Startup recruiting is wild, but telling candidates they’ll shape a company/product from scratch still sparks bright eyes.
Act 4 – Banking Blues
Opening a current account was surprisingly painless; operating it feels like speed-dating auditors (I am smiling now). Community chatter confirms Indian founders wrestle similar red tape and limited employee perks. Negotiating charges took longer than shipping our first sprint!
Act 5 – Momentum & Missteps
20 CEO coffees in 50 days—each one a masterclass in “pitch, listen, iterate, repeat.”
First U.S. client (H2Bid) thanks to Glenn & Vasanthi’s leap of faith.
Sudarshan (CEO of SOCXO, Singapore) became our inaugural office visitor; we still only had few chairs.
Healthcare-Management-System idea hatched on a whiteboard; now an architect + dev squad prototypes it nightly.
I clock 14-hour days yet bounce out of bed. Adrenaline > espresso.
Act 6 – Culture Over Comfort
We promised:
No fear of failure – only “version 0.1 feedback.”
Zero judgement zones – ideas speak louder than titles.
Learn-or-leave access: every hire gets a learning-platform.
And yes, we still argue Mac vs. Windows, but now during stand-ups.
Ending Note
Entrepreneurship is lugging a backpack in one hand, chart-sheets in the other, while berating LinkedIn’s invoices and cheering when the bank finally issues a cheque book. It’s friends doubling as colleagues, HR wearing four hats, and strangers becoming customers before we’ve nailed our tagline.
If the destination is profit, the journey is pure plot-twist—and I wouldn’t trade a single late-night brainstorm for the old comfort of a payslip. Onward we go, coffee in pocket, Copilot in Teams, and a mission to build something worth every sleepless smile.
