CEOs say no to luxuries
By Zoya Anna Thomas   |   Tuesday, 02 June 2009, 16:16 IST   |    7 Comments
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CEOs say no to luxuries
Bangalore: "I had to give up my habit of buying expensive clothes, gadgets, travelling places and clubbing because of the recession. I just can't afford such things anymore," says Vishwas Mudagal, CEO, JobeeHive.com. The recession has meant a major lifestyle change for most Indian entrepreneurs of startup companies. Most of these entrepreneurs have either had to take a pay cut or drastically cut down on their expenditure. Ankit Maheswari, CEO, Instablogs says, "As a CEO, I took a 100 percent pay cut and decided not to withdraw any salary till we as a company got positive revenues." But the change in lifestyle does not end here. Travelling habits too have changed. Now a days, Vishal Singhal, CEO of Cellstrat, has started travelling in auto or bus in Delhi. When having to go outside the state he says, "I have stopped flying for business purposes. Now I either use non AC trains or buses." However there are some entrepreneurs who claim that they never followed an expensive lifestyle and this helped them to survive the recession. Rajiv Poddar, CEO, CallGraph says, "To be frank, the lifestyle changed when I decided to become an entrepreneur. Several luxuries were given up then itself. I downgraded to cheaper cigarettes and drinks and lesser night outs with friends. The fact that I was already living at a bare minimum helped me to survive the downturn." But are these lifestyle changes enough to combat recession? Apart from such changes, entrepreneurs are also putting in extra work hours. Sumeet Anand, Founder & CEO, i-nable Solutions says, "Besides spending more hours for work, I try to stay more focused on objectives and execution with an increased sense of customer and revenue focus." However lifestyle change or no lifestyle change, most of these entrepreneurs are optimistic that they will walk out more experienced and educated from this recession. As Maheswari says, "I do understand that this recession is far from over. Things can become tougher, so we have to be more prepared, agile and ready to take any challenges thrown our way." You can meet over 500 similar entrepreneurs who are agile and having risk appetite to take up challenges at siliconindia startupcity. https://www.siliconindia.com/startupcity_09/index.php

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