My Journey in a Nutshell

I was born and bought up in a Tier 3 city, Moradabad. Studying day and night, clearing exams, and finally getting into a college to secure a package that will make life easy, this is the dream of the majority in my area.

I was not in the queue. I had no clue where to go till the 12th, but one thing I was clear about was " Khud Ka Kuch Karna Hai". I passed boards, and finalized BTech, as my degree.

It was COVID times, my first year of college. Classes were online, there were 3 groups -

1. People who didn't learn anything in these times
2. People who studied hard
3. People who were exploring

Of course, people can be in both categories at the same time. What I did was EXPLORE, I scanned books and courses from MBA, Law, Journalism, Arts, Case Studies, Coding, Design, and more. I loved Markets and Business case studies. I did my research well on the subjects, how/when/why/where the amount flows the most in which field. It can be commerce, industries, education, everything.

I realized, only 2 types of people make money - "Who own products or who make products"

My family's decision to push me into BTech(Hons) was not wrong, even though it was great as I had a clarity of building products to make a hell lot of money.

I had a bow (internet) and was making my arrows (skills), to hunt a part-time job. I was hungry to learn, learn about products.

On the journey, I met with books. My best friends. As of now, I read almost 100+ books and my genre is Non - Fiction.

The eagerness of "Khud Ka Kuch Karna Hai" was getting clear with the books and learnings I was gaining. In the journey, I started doing intensive daily research on Startups, New products, and Entrepreneurs.

With my passion for products, I got a couple of campus ambassadors internships, in one the product went to redevelopment during our internship period, which caused a pause in our employment. In another, it was a digital marketing company and they were exploiting the interns. I resigned.

The start was not good enough, less skillsets, and fewer companies to bet on a first-year undergrad.

The thing I went to the root of was ' What a company needs? '

A company needs its business to grow if you are a 12 years old candy chewing baby or a 90-year-old grand human. If you are helping them make more money, they will not hesitate to give you a small chunk. I had a basic knowledge of it when I was a kid as my father have a clothing shop for kids. It got nourished when I explored.

The first company I was selected as the campus ambassador restarted their operations, I said no to the internship renewal but connected with the founder on good terms. Gave the team reviews sometime about the product as a user. Invited the founder as a guest in some online events where I was volunteering. Which made me understand how 'loyalty' in networking works. I still have a connection with the founder and he is backed by YC, so happy for him.

I worked more, and learned more, in the first year and second half, I applied for and got an internship in an education-social platform startup 'MyKates'. This was the first official internship I completed and learned a lot in this. The role was Growth Associate.

In the same time frame, I started making my own courses on Udemy on 3D models and designs. Its basic was in our additional subjects in our university, as it was online, the category 1 students didn't learn anything. I saw money-money there.

I made a deal with some students, where I will be designing their 3D models and will be sending them for Class Assessment just before the time is going to end. It will create urgency, more demand, more prices, who pay more, will be sent directly to him/her. Simple.

I made 5-6k in 2-3 days of online Class Assignments, and a note, I sent many projects for free at the start to make buzz that there is a guy making incredible projects in just 15-20 mins and sending it just before the submission. Yeah, I was good at 3D modeling and made a whole course at it on Udemy.

I got another Internship as a Student Partner too. I enrolled in Google's Professional UX Design certification to enhance my learnings from the user side.

In the same time frame, I started developing an interest in the mental health industry, I will be talking about this in a further newsletter too. I launched a website thesociovilla.com with some friends to study about how people think about mental health. What they read, search, consume, everything.

My first year of college ended with 2 internships in hand and a course published on Udemy, my college mates asked me a lot ' why are you making courses, who will buy them? '

Today DWI Studios have 15+ courses with 20k enrollments in just 1 and a half years. College mates are invisible.

As I got UX certification from Google, I started applying for internships related to design. I had quite a good experience now in 3D Designs and explored myself in the 2D field too.

Did 5 internships in companies in core design and user experience enhancement from Nov 2021 to Nov 2022.

The first internship I got as a UX/UI Designer in Nov 2021 was at a consulting startup making designs for companies. After my internship ends, the founder asked me to join the design founding team after looking at my passion for startups. The stake and voting negotiations didn't work out.

In March 2022, I joined a blockchain company as a Design Mentor, built their whole new UI, and helped them get more user retention.

They saw something in me before my internship ends, and they asked me to join their startup as a founding member. It was a booming market and Web 3 was something I believe in and still have faith in. I joined them as a founding member with a stake in hand. Worked with them day and night, within 1 month of joining the founding team we raised funds and were going in the sun's direction, a bright one.

Fund's first installment was credited, and we were working on the core product. In the span of 3 months, the company's vision started getting blurred and the main light was not on the product center, it was on a short-term money scheme.

I stepped down from my seat in Oct 2022, disappointed but made incredible connections with investors and the startup community with my networking and negotiation skills gained by working.

I was still working on thesociovilla.com, the mental health industry in the backend. The ultimate goal was that mental health startup that will make a change in the world.

I gained experience in the startup industry, in internships, and in clubs and organizations. All of it gave me a return when I started up hugg.co.in in Jan 2023.

I met my co-founder online in early 2022, we started working on making psychotherapy accessible and affordable in the second half of the year, and in 2023 we launched the product.

Today, hugg.co.in is of 4 and half months now and we are scaling with the speed of a virtual-hug.

This was my story in a Nutshell, maybe it was more than a short one but there is more to write down. Stories and experiences never stop giving us learnings.

Ishank Popli, In the Ishank's Mind