Four years back, set up on two tables near the basketball court, two boys stood with sweatshirts and t-shirts spread out all around them in the Bishop Cotton Girls’ School campus. They looked around awkwardly, answered questions and watched a giggling, eyelashes battering bunch of girls add to their profits!
Of course, in an all girls school, the mere presence of boys is enough to stir a flurry but to add to it, two good-looking, sweatshirt-wielding boys is a matter best left to the imagination.
Today, one glance is enough to recognize the signature Alma Mater products and to immediately connect them to that one name - Varun Agarwal!
Varun’s million dollar journey began with an idea that was simply a ‘cool idea’ as he puts it, without any thoughts of business or accounts or the heavy-handed yet almost fad like term ‘entrepreneurship’.
They began modestly with their Alma Mater- Bishop Cotton Boys’ School and now hold in their hands 2500 school and colleges and over 3,00,000 consumers; extraordinary numbers for young men who began with no clear destination, but simply an idea and a thirst to see it through.
After the initial grand success at Cottons, he thought it would pan out like a fairy tale. In a month’s time, every college and school would possess an Alma Mater produced sweatshirt and their job would be done. But as Varun says he was quite naïve to the humongous task ahead of them. From accounts to finance, to operations and processing, and to hiring people and handling a meticulous organization, the word ‘easy’ had no space in this brainwave! Of course, he does say that the task would have been slightly easier if he knew how to use Microsoft Excel, his greatest nemesis! The only task, he says that was harder than explaining the concept of Alma Mater to people, was learning how to use excel! I wonder if he did conquer that enemy after all…
Moving beyond Alma Mater, Varun also founded and currently runs 2 more companies; Last Minute Films and Reticular.
The entrepreneurial bug bit him very early in the fourth standard when he sold his mother’s homemade brownies for the impressive sum of 25 rupees and definitely hasn’t left him since!
While Last Minute Films is the direct extension of his passion for film making and his desire to provide a platform for young film makers who he feels need to be encouraged and more importantly, provided a financial backing to pursue their dreams, Reticular is a social media management firm that works on brand building using innovative technology.
Both vastly different areas yet united by the creative excellence that Varun possesses.
Varun Agarwal holds to his credit many facets –an entrepreneur, a filmmaker, the author of bestseller ‘How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company’, an engineer, the list is endless. But to move beyond his achievements and find the simple guy who loves to sleep and read is quite remarkable. He has an incredible passion for Indian history. He says if he could have a day off with absolutely nothing to do he would simply sleep and read an entire book on history in a day. The British and the East India Company never cease to amaze him. With their business sense, their infrastructural accomplishments, and most importantly, their technological innovations, they have produced marvels, he believes. He even has a list ready with all the places, old English buildings and sites with technological revolutions he wants to visit when he gets the time! Their innovations are all around us as he says and their futuristic thinking and modernity from so many years back is inconceivable!
Despite his strong dislike for engineering through the 4 years, he is quite the technology enthusiast!
Varun’s schedule however, doesn’t give him much time for a vacation or a day off. Being an entrepreneur comes with the pre-requisite of being on the job 24/7 and problems appear every hour. When asked how he deals with so many things at once? He said that it has simply become a part of his lifestyle and he just handles it as it comes! Occasionally frustrating, sometimes not, it’s all a part of his regular day now.
Varun has grown to become an inspiration to many. He says he feels like he has done something substantial when people come up to him and say that they started their own company after reading his book! However, Varun’s inspiration comes from people like Mr. Narayanan Krishnan, the founder of Akshaya foundation in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. When he heard him talk about the work that he has done with the poor, aged and homeless people in Madurai, - from feeding them to personally cutting their hair and nails; he says he realized how much more he could do for the people. He wishes to find that responsibility and selflessness in himself which for him would be a greater achievement.
Before I finished talking to him I asked him how it feels to now be recognized on the streets! He says that in the beginning he thought it would be great! But when it actually happened it wasn’t as exciting as he thought it would be. However, he says it does inspire him to achieve more and reach greater height where he can be worthy of that recognition.
Varun in all his forms, be it an author, entrepreneur or filmmaker is proving to be a force to reckon with. Constantly sprouting new ideas and showcasing creative brilliance, every step of the way, his achievements have been an inspiration beyond measure.
I sure do hope Anu aunty calls him soon asking for help to start up her own business!
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