It is pretty ironical that I am starting this series of posts during a train journey. The Indian Railways has remarkable ability to inspire thoughts. I realized that most of my earlier posts have also started during a train journey, like this one.
But this time it is different; it is different because this time the post is not about me. It is not about my emotions and experience. It is about people who have influenced my most recent journey, the journey I am currently on, the journey of our startup … ’this post about our team at XAMCHECK’.
Today the news of our first round of venture investment was shared in the public domain. It is one of the small ‘steps’ in this long journey. For Naveen (cofounder) and me it was a usual day at work and we were doing some meetings, hiring talks with some great folks, planning for meetings in Bangalore, working on the product samples, figuring out some issues at banks. What we totally missed was the undercurrent energy and excitement which was there in the team. By the end of the day we were speaking with people and got a sense of it. And after getting on this train, we started getting calls and messages; facebook posts and all the excitement was felt.
For me personally it was not a big day initially, as the news was known internally for a while now and we are already deeply engrossed with the work. All it meant it to me was more responsibility, more balance, more expectations from everywhere and I am trying to figure out how I can stretch my boundaries and try to live to everyone’s expectation. And during all this, when the news was shared in the public domain, people start sharing their emotions. Sensing that energy affected my emotions which went from, feeling weird to humbling to overwhelming and I ended up writing this post.
This post is about acknowledging the stories of the people who bet their lives and careers. This post is about the stories of the people who have made XAMCHECK their identity. The story is about the leadership which often goes unacknowledged. (watch – Derek Sivers ). The story is about our team, which gives XAMCHECK its identity.
XAMCHECK (www.xamcheck.com) is a school exam and personalized learning input company which was incubated in the mother company Policy Innovations. Policy Innovations (www.policyinnovations.in) is an education consulting and impact evaluation company. Before I begin the stories I would like to mention a few names who built the mother company. Gautam Bastian and Sudarshan Gopalan were co-founders with Naveen and I and they still play a role of great friend, mentor and emotional support to Naveen and I. First two members, Sandhya and Aditi, were amazing colleague, friends and mirrors to the founding team. Third member Palash was a bundle of energy who walked with us in all sort of highs and lows with equal ease. And a few other members who came and gone but helped us to build Policy Innovations.
So finally I get to introduce the team I am writing this post about. Following are the core members of the team who displayed amazing leadership and I will be writing about them. I am listing them and will be writing about them in the order of their joining the team –
And then there are many more who have recently join and about to join and will be part of the team in a few months. But what leadership these first few members have displayed and how they stood together against all odds is very very humbling for me personally. I wish that all entrepreneurs can get to work with such amazing people early in the startup journey!
Posts to follow soon…
Varun
But this time it is different; it is different because this time the post is not about me. It is not about my emotions and experience. It is about people who have influenced my most recent journey, the journey I am currently on, the journey of our startup … ’this post about our team at XAMCHECK’.
Today the news of our first round of venture investment was shared in the public domain. It is one of the small ‘steps’ in this long journey. For Naveen (cofounder) and me it was a usual day at work and we were doing some meetings, hiring talks with some great folks, planning for meetings in Bangalore, working on the product samples, figuring out some issues at banks. What we totally missed was the undercurrent energy and excitement which was there in the team. By the end of the day we were speaking with people and got a sense of it. And after getting on this train, we started getting calls and messages; facebook posts and all the excitement was felt.
For me personally it was not a big day initially, as the news was known internally for a while now and we are already deeply engrossed with the work. All it meant it to me was more responsibility, more balance, more expectations from everywhere and I am trying to figure out how I can stretch my boundaries and try to live to everyone’s expectation. And during all this, when the news was shared in the public domain, people start sharing their emotions. Sensing that energy affected my emotions which went from, feeling weird to humbling to overwhelming and I ended up writing this post.
This post is about acknowledging the stories of the people who bet their lives and careers. This post is about the stories of the people who have made XAMCHECK their identity. The story is about the leadership which often goes unacknowledged. (watch – Derek Sivers ). The story is about our team, which gives XAMCHECK its identity.
XAMCHECK (www.xamcheck.com) is a school exam and personalized learning input company which was incubated in the mother company Policy Innovations. Policy Innovations (www.policyinnovations.in) is an education consulting and impact evaluation company. Before I begin the stories I would like to mention a few names who built the mother company. Gautam Bastian and Sudarshan Gopalan were co-founders with Naveen and I and they still play a role of great friend, mentor and emotional support to Naveen and I. First two members, Sandhya and Aditi, were amazing colleague, friends and mirrors to the founding team. Third member Palash was a bundle of energy who walked with us in all sort of highs and lows with equal ease. And a few other members who came and gone but helped us to build Policy Innovations.
So finally I get to introduce the team I am writing this post about. Following are the core members of the team who displayed amazing leadership and I will be writing about them. I am listing them and will be writing about them in the order of their joining the team –
- Saraswati
- Karunya
- Sailaja
- Aditya
- Pankaj
- Nitya
- Anuradha
- Santosh
And then there are many more who have recently join and about to join and will be part of the team in a few months. But what leadership these first few members have displayed and how they stood together against all odds is very very humbling for me personally. I wish that all entrepreneurs can get to work with such amazing people early in the startup journey!
Posts to follow soon…
Varun
