Taking the Plunge: Getting out of the Comfort Zone
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ~ Lao Tzu
When I had decided to get out of my comfort zone at Cognizant and jump into an early stage startup Kritilabs, where IT was just part of the whole ecosystem, to be honest I was skeptical about many things. Some of them were around
- Surviving the chaos called early stage startup
- Learning and doing new things (Electronics, Mechanical engineering etc.)
- Finally about being successful and doing well in my career (intellectually, financially etc.)
To help me get started, I have had discussions about these things including the monetary aspects of joining a startup with a few of my mentors and friends. Many of them were confident that I will definitely do well and one of them also pointed out that I was always curious by nature in terms of learning newer things, so it would not be that difficult for me.
By the time I had my discussions with the founders, I had made up my mind that I will jump out of the comfort zone and get into unknown territory. To get started with this journey, I had done a fair bit of preparation during my free time. Best part was though I was jumping into a new sector, my role primarily was similar and this kind of helped me to gain some amount of confidence in getting started
- Tried understanding the sector / that I was getting into it. Since Kritilabs specializes in IoT in the Oil & Gas sector, started reading about it during my free time during my notice period (IoT, Oil & Gas, Logistics etc.)
- Spoke to a few of the experts in the field of logistics, got to pick their minds on what the industry was about, what challenges the industry faces and how companies like Kritilabs can help them
- Since I knew what I was going to get into, made a high level plan on what would be my short term goals (3 months) and medium term goals (9 months)
Its now almost a month since I joined Kritilabs, the journey has been very eventful and I believe this initial planning /preparation has helped me in this journey so far. I m positive that my association with Kritilabs will be very interesting and intellectually challenging.
Senior Director, Client Partner - Corporate & Institutional banking and Cybersecurity@ Capgemini
5 年all the best Kishore.. this definitely was a move that would have taken you deliberation. However, i am excited for you as i do understand that it would be immensely fulfilling in terms of your professional experience.
Co-Founder @ KaleHQ
5 年One of the things that also helped to take the plunge is this 4 step framework by Jeff Bussgang, clearly articulated by Tejaswi Raghurama?in his video. Have provided the link to that post Thanks Tejaswi Raghurama for helping me get my thoughts in line :) https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/kishorev_startups-marketing-job-activity-6582931536620941313-trUK
Solution engineering, India lead
5 年Congratulations again Kishore. Having worked alongside for the last 5 years, I am sure you would achieve more than you aspire for. All the best.?
Client Partner at Thoughtworks
5 年All the best kishore , yes you have been always curious , that aspect is going to help you in a startup
Driving global Market’s programmes for Financial Services clients.
5 年Loved reading that comfort learning’s only made u more sure footed in the future and the future brings options to explore new sectors & skills. Way to go Kishore, all the best!