Startups

Taking a leap- from struggling to starting his own venture

• ByStartupStory     |    December 28, 2022

“Inspirational stories are less about success, and more about how we deal with setbacks, how we conquer the pitfalls and how we grow as human beings,” Shubham Trivedi, Director of Own Your Experts told Startup Story.

Shubham Trivedi, Director of Own Your Experts, was just in teen years when he realized what he actually wanted to do,the inspiration that drove him to reach this point. Coming from a middle-class family background the amenities and resources to land him where he envisioned himself was not there, but did have the zeal to do what it takes. 

The journey and and it’s struggles

In school when his batch mates were looking for bookish knowledge, he believed practical knowledge can take you anywhere. It’s about implementation of theoretical knowledge in a technical way.In the face of reality, we know how rural areas are not backed by proper guidance and the people are not equipped with the right resources to have a life they desire. Similarly, Mr. Shubham came from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.Growing up he saw his uncle, a renowned civil engineer, and aspired to be like that. The dream of providing for himself at an early stage and the need to outshine took over and he went to pursue a career in the field of civil engineering.

After 10th standard he proceeded to get enrolled in a diploma program. In the first year itself he lost the direction of where he was going, faced many complications, due to which he also got a backlog and thereafter opted out. 

Clueless about what the future will hold and how things will look like. He started working for free just to get the exposure and idea of the field. As people say, to become something either you’ve to find a way or if you don’t ,you’ll find an excuse. He never really settled.

He joined Era Infra Engineering Ltd.in 2014 and worked just to gain experience without getting anything in return. Shortly after that he joined MBPL and a project came along to work with DMRC, that too for night shifts. After working a while he realized the corporate sector only works one way, you just do what you’re told and in return learn nothing. They don’t really grow your mental horizons.  He was losing connection with his self-identity. A breakthrough came along and he joined Constructors San Jose and even got a chance to work in a program with NHAI(National Highway authority of India), but unlike others he never considered himself being in the rat race. He saw people having another step up in the career ladder but never really connected to this idea. The urge to do his own thing, made him restless.

Building his own brand

He went forward and opened a startup with his childhood friend. “Grocerica” in 2015. The brand provided grocery to its customers depending on the slots they booked. It turned out pretty convenient to its customers. In the initial days the brand did quite good but was faced by many inadequacies

Following from there he opened another startup ‘Own your Experts’. The app basically was a que management system. Its customers can book slots in Salons. It was an aggregate platform where different salons were listed in cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow. The people could book the services, so they could directly go without waiting in lines. But the system had some glitches and malfunctions. The biased behavior of the salons towards its old customers, made this unsuccessful.

COVID taking over he lost his job and never really wanted to continue in the corporate field. Discovering his fields and figuring out his options. In the meantime, he came up with Flyover approaches. From being a full time contractor to creating designs to build flyovers, bridges etc. Mr. Shubham took the leap of faith and went forward to expand this.He founded the company in December 2019 and after that the business sprouted. 

Outlook of the company:

Growing at such a pace Mr. Shubham has a vision of where he wants his business to land, like having a license to become a Government registered contractor, having his own manufacturing unit and building his own infrastructure company. In the past he has also raised Rs 40 Lakhs in the seed funding round to expand his business like installing his own manufacturing unit and opening his own beer brand. He also wants to contribute and do something for the employees that work for him, building a strong community. Having seen the complications , he tries to support the people working for him to take the business to a whole new level. His Idea of success is not just benefiting himself, but to help people around who have the idea to start something on their own that he could nurture and help them by giving them a platform or even investing into their businesses/startups. 

A message for the young Entrepreneurs:

He stands by this thought that there’s always light at the end of a tunnel. Your breakthrough may just be right around the corner, but all it takes is patience and trust in your journey.  To do a business and be on the right track, build your own mastery. Businesses are not made out of books, but from your own ability to do things. Your success is not just about you but the people around you. Lastly, he urges the young generation to do something of their own and if they find themselves in any doubt, they can always reach out to him, to seek any advice.

 

 

 

 

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