House of Experts Ep 35: Vibha Kagzi in conversation with Punit Goyal, Co-Founder of BluSmart

House of Experts is a show that ReachIvy kick-started to help those who are unclear about their career choices. We hope through these sessions with some very successful people, we can shed light on a new career path every week. House of Experts plans to make a collection of interactive and informative sessions with experts from various domains.
Vibha Kagzi, the host, is the Founder and CEO of ReachIvy.com, a premium study abroad and career consultancy organization. Vibha, a Harvard alumna, is a successful entrepreneur and believes in helping others chalk out their future careers.

In episode 35 of House of Experts, we were fortunate to host, Punit Goyal Co-Founder of BluSmart. Punit is recognized as India’s under 40 most promising young business leaders in the solar industry. He is the man behind BluSmart, India’s first 100%-electric taxi service. He’s already raised several million dollars in investment for his business, with plans to raise a further $100 million to scale up to 3,500 cars and create 10,000 more jobs for taxi drivers by late 2021.

Punit’s company, BluSmart has been Covered by CNBC YoungTurks, CNBCTV18 India’s EV Mission, and BBC Worldwide News.

Some excerpts from the interview:

1) Tell us about your early childhood, and where your entrepreneurial zeal stems from.
My early childhood was very relaxing, and there was no pressure as such to be an entrepreneur. I grew up in a joint family and I spent a lot of time with my father who was into the manufacturing industry. My grandfather encouraged me to visit my father’s company, and used to talk about how one should start something one their own. I did my schooling from Calcutta, but my Dad was in Bombay, and he wanted me to come to Bombay post my schooling, which was actually great for my career. I then went to Sydenham for my undergrad, and I did really well in economics, so I had a dream to study at LSE, which did come true. After a brief stint at Airbus, and then came back to India in 2007 to set up my own venture.

2) You had to deal with failures very early on in your journey. How did you deal with it?
I think failures are great teachers. In a scenario like that, there are only two things you can do-either you sulk and stay put there, or learn and move on. I chose the latter. I’m glad that it happened at an early stage. The takeaway from it was that you have to be really clear about what you want to get into. Manufacturing had always been very challenging, it’s a policy-driven field. So, I feel it was a good lesson learnt. I wouldn’t go back to the manufacturing space, but there were other projects and opportunities I got after that.

3) What were your key takeaways from the failures and successes you experienced in your journey?
I think the team is very important. It’s crucial to have a solid team and co-founder so that you can share the load. Remember, you’re good at a few things, but not everything. You have a particular skillset, so use it to the fullest, but get more people onboard who have a skill set that you don’t possess!

4) What advice would you give someone who wants to start out on this journey of entrepreneurship?
It’s very important to know your subjects well. Education plays a very important role in this journey. Also, give your time to what you want to get into, and do thorough research in that field. Invest in that field, but make sure you know what you’re getting into.

We are really thankful to Punit for sharing his journey and words of wisdom with our audience!

Missed out on the previous house of expert episodes? You can watch them here

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