1dot1 | Adding new dimensions to career Mentoring

• BySheetal Sidhu     |    May 1, 2021

“Trust your intuitions, take risks and persevere”, the magic mantra and the most crucial lesson learned on the journey shared by Rahul Ahuja, Co-founder, 1dot1 in an engaging interview with Startup Story.

1dot1 is more an intention, a service dedicated to help people understand and find their path towards their true passion and pursue it, rather than an ambitious business venture. The founder Rahul Ahuja was ardent on emphasising and being crystal clear about this point while explaining the reason behind starting 1dot1 to Startup story media.

The backstory: a journey full of risks and possibilities

Rahul Ahuja, Co-founder, 1dot1 is a risk-taker and that is the only constant thing that pushed him to go further with his dreams.  His interview with Startup story media gave him a chance to reminiscence and look back at his entire journey. He eagerly shared all the details with us in a chronological order. Beginning with how belonging to a small town Champa in Chhattisgarh, he had little clue about what he wanted to do in his life and the path he wanted to take, but one thing was certain that he was ready to juggle and try different things. He was slightly put off with the idea of studying and pursuing the cliché career paths that most of the people took. So, for the time being he settled in his town and helped his father in his retail tyre shop. Soon, his young mind grew restless and he was keen to explore. And just like that, he took off to Raipur and began studying to become a CA.

On attending his first class he was despondent because coming from a science background he had trouble understanding accounts. His first approach and take on the situation was flight rather than fight and so he packed his bags and came back home. He could not handle the immense pressure he was subjected to. But, after a conversation with his father, who lightened him, he went back and attempted his exam. And surprisingly, he scored well. From here on he found a representation in a friend, a rank holder and that is when he dreamed his ’first realistic dream’ as he describes it “I held a rank in high regard and I wanted it” he said with confidence spilling through his voice while on the interview with Startup story media.

After two failed attempts he finally made it through the IPCC Group-II exams and fulfilling his dream he became an “All India Ranker in CA-Final”. However, there was another field that was at the peak of his interest and that was the stock market. Next, he started the search for a job of his interest in which he was supported by Vinod Kela, a mentor whom he has utmost respect for. And so after meticulously searching for a job in different cities, he bagged a position in Equity Research at Edelweiss. This he says is “a hard earned title and job and amongst the accomplishments of his life”. He realized that coming from a small town he did not receive proper guidance and just followed his heart through, he does not wish the same for others and that is the core idea behind 1dot1.

What really inspired Rahul to form 1dot1 is an amalgamation of his entire life and a chance to question it all, he revealed to Startup story media being a part of the YMCA Club at Mumbai, he got a chance to meet people from different professions and on being acquainted to a scientist he wanted to know how does one become a scientist? Ironically, the scientist wondered vice versa about him. This question was his lead to the idea, having faced numerous challenges himself, he wanted to help the students and people from small towns to get help easily and get their questions answered about various professions. Because it is always better to be a fool for a minute than is to be one for your entire life. He discussed this idea with his brother Ashish Panjwani, who is also the Co-founder at 1dot1, to develop a platform providing mentoring services.

As far as the name goes, it is quite peculiar, as it means a 1 to 1 connection with the person, which in itself is reliant.

What is it like being a part of the 1dot1 team?

1dot1 kicked off four months ago, with a collaboration among friends from different fields. It is a core team of five namely Rahul, Ashish, Sonam, Priya & Palak and with more than 60 experts and mentors from around 27 fields and having successfully accomplished more than 60 requests, by on they are so far moving on with a good start. Most of the work is mediated by the core members as there are no employees so far, but they are managing quite well overall.

Service becoming the ‘main agenda’ and overall customer experience

The main idea behind 1dot1 as stated by Rahul Ahuja, “Service is our main agenda, we are not in this to make money”. He wants the intention behind it to remain alive and so they are trying to stay authentic. The mentors provide guidance at minimal cost and 100% fee is transferred to them. The team as mediators takes nothing for their hard work.

When asked about the mentee’s feedback, Rahul’s immediate response was ‘superb’. He has had great experience from mentees and he feels a sense of pride and accomplishment every time a satisfied mentee drops a good feedback. He is glad to be of help.

A word of advice for the readers

On being asked to impart a word of advice to his fellow entrepreneurs, he said my only advice would be “take risks, experiment as much as you can”, because only by undertaking risks has he been able to achieve beyond.

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