When it comes to making a career in Bollywood, Mumbai is definitely THE place to be. And it’s precisely why the city has also been christened as the city of dreamers. But when it comes to following your gut, taking risks, and entrepreneurship, Delhi definitely emerges out as the true blue city of dreamers. With the right focus, network and of course, hard-work, nothing is unachievable in our Dilli! For instance, take this ballsy Dilli wallas who chose unique careers for themselves and are now running their dream companies! If this doesn’t inspire you, we don’t know what will!
- Shipra and Amit Chhabra
Here is one couple (now) based in the city which literally gave up the big, American life to follow their dreams. Shipra and Amit, both quit the corporate world in the US to come back to the country to follow their passion for photography. They took it up professionally, and now run a super successful children’s photography business in Defence Colony, Delhi, which has a following of over 7 lakhs on Facebook!
In their own words, “Moving back from the US five years back, leaving the corporate world behind, we thought of capturing these wonderful memories for other parents, that’s how the studio came into being in India.” Talking about some of their memorable shoots, they said, “Each child and his childhood memories are special. But we regularly do celebrity kids shoots in the studio, to name a few of them, MS and Sakshi Dhoni, Asin, Suresh Raina and more.”
Their advice for all the dreamers out there, “Just be true to what you want to do. With kids photography, patience and warmth are the two biggest assets for you.”
2. Pooja Sareen
Image source: fuccha.in
How many times do you hear of women being the brain behind a startup? Especially in our country? Let’s just say that number is not high. But here we are, talking about a lady who co-founded probably one of the most innovative startups in the city- a startup about star-ups, yes! Pooja Sareen is the co-founder for Inc. 42, a web platform which covers and reports on the entire startup ecosystem, growing businesses and technology in the country.
Talking about how it all started, Pooja said, “I was working with a digital media company in 2013 and the concept of ‘startups’ had started to pick up steam. During that time, there was a little coverage about the startups in the mainstream media, and very few Indian media houses were specifically writing about the startup ecosystem. The gaps existed be it in terms of coverage was limited, and altogether, these factors led me to quit my job and along with my two co-founders, we decided to attempt what nobody was focusing on — bringing out the unique stories of Indian startups.”
Talking about her struggles, Pooja mentioned, “Just like any other startup, building the right team, getting the right people to support and guide us were some of the initial challenges. Luckily, in the first year of our operations itself, we got our first round of investments. And for all the dreamers out there, Pooja has some pretty solid advice, “If you want to start something, be smart about it. Make a plan, have some savings and don’t dive into it with the attitude that “I’ll figure it out”. Sounds absolutely right!
3. Dharya Gambhir
Dharya’s passion definitely shows that the more creative and unique you are, higher are the chances of achieving success. How else do you explain the success of an art studio which does hand-painted and other designs for the beautification of spaces! Sounds fancy, right? Dharya now runs a pretty successful art & design studio in Delhi, which does exactly this.
Talking about how it all began, Dharya said, “The Artender started in 2013 with an aim of making a product line up which is related to art and design with not much experience of how the Indian market will react to a product which is hand painted or designed for the beautification of space. Biggest projects till date have been environmental space designing for Go-MMT group office and two floors of Airtel India office in Gurgaon.”
So, if you are ever there, you’d know who designed the super cool graphics on the walls! He did talk about how to stay OG in this social media frenzy world, “Never overdo yourself. Overloading yourself with work will force you to lose originality. Social media is a great medium to do research on your subject and based on your study you can create your art/design.”
4. Pawan Soni
If you are big on these two Fs’ in your life- food and Facebook, you’d know who Pawan Soni is! He created one of the most successful food-related web platform and Facebook groups in the country- Indian Food Freak.
He spoke to us about how it all began, “It was among the first food blogs in the country over a decade ago. It started as a result of a bad experience in a leading 5-star hotel and I realised the potential of food blogs.” Talking about his memorable moments in the journey, he added, “We did the biggest food awards in Gurgaon. These awards have put home chefs, home bakers and many small businesses in the limelight that are usually ignored by other food awards.”
He also spoke about being relevant in the social media crazy world, “Keep reading and keep yourself abreast of the latest development. Knowledge should be shared and learning never stops. Don’t forget to carve your niche basis your strength” Touche!
5. Azhar Iqubal
Image Source: afaqs.com
Are you fond of tracking the latest news, especially through phone apps? Odds are that you may have used this app called ‘In Shorts’. Well, Azhar is the co-founder for the same. He’s still in his mid-twenties (seriously, what are we doing with our lives!), and running one of the most successful news apps of the country.
Azhar spoke to us about how it all started, “Back in 2013, we observed that millennials of the country are increasingly getting disconnected from the concept of reading news every day. It was then that I along with my co-founders Anunay and Deepit, came up with the idea of curating the most significant news items of the day and serving them in 60-word summaries. Inshorts recently doubled its revenue rate to Rs 60 crore per annum and targets a revenue run rate of Rs 100 crore per annum.”
Whoa! And how about his two cents on all those who dream to make it big like him? He added, “I would say there is no right or wrong time to start anything, if you feel confident inside and have a strong, trustworthy team to back you up, along with a strong business concept, you can take the plunge. Whether you succeed or not, starting your own company is going to be the best education of your life. Words to live by, guys!
All these success stories all are amazingly inspiring! We certainly learnt a lot interacting with these wonderful people. We bet you sure did too.
