Nidhi Kapoor
Founder
FounderMates
Nidhi Kapoor is a member of:
Family Background
I come from a traditional business family background. My dad is a manufacturer of blazers' material.
Working Life Management:
There's no segregation between work and life. Work is life and life is work. I reckon, it's less conflicting this way.
Professional Strengths:
Understanding consumer psychology, common sense
The Journey So Far:
The journey began as a Software Consultant with the likes of Accenture. Understanding that 'corporate' is not my best fit, the restlessness took me to London for an MBA from Imperial College. Thereafter, I have never returned to the corporate life. After completing my MBA in 2011, I worked as a generalist with 2 startups in London. I finally started my venture, http://foundermates.com in January 2013 with a vision to foster entrepreneurship. I was so inspired by my MBA in entrepreneurship at Imperial College that I wanted to make 'fostering entrepreneurship' as my core idea of a startup. I have been running FounderMates for almost 6 months now and it's beautiful, challenging, rewarding,exciting all at the same time.
Role Model:
James Altucher - Building business according to him is all about value & love. Value you create for your customers and the love they show towards you. I think he sums up the tenets of a successful business in these 2 words.
Prized Accomplishment(s):
Starting FounderMates and seeing it evolve.
Done Differently:
I would have never done a Masters in Computer Applications and then worked with corporate. Instead, I should have worked on my own as that's the best teacher.
The Decisions That Matter
To never go back to corporate after MBA. When you have invested heavily in a degree, there's the temptation of returning to a fat pay check but I let go of it as I knew it was just a temporary elation.
Job Profile:
I am a cofounder at http://foundermates.com. We are 5+ months old. At this stage of bsuiness, my role is that of a thinker, planner, executioner, reviewer and anything else one could think of as key to running a startup.
Required Reading:
The lean startup, http://blog.foundermates.com, jamesaltucher.com
Contribution to the field
Connected over 250 entrepreneurs with experts and mentors; created engagement between entrepreneurs and experts.
Plans For The Future:
Developed the entrepreneurship eco-system in India and moved on to next startup.
Career Profile:
The most important difference lies in 'ownership'. This is my startup so it's my responsibility from thinking to execution. In corporate, you are always partly responsible.