Sidhant Gupta is a fifth-generation engineer who grew up in the foreground of Bangalore’s tech industry. At 16, he was inspired to build his first machine and he broke the country’s national record after engineering India’s smallest-ever bipedal robot. This entrepreneurial spirit still shines bright in Sidhant today, seven years later, who—along with his teammates from the University of Hong Kong—won first prize at JUMPSTARTER IdeaPOP! 2020, a student startup competition. Sidhant and his team won over the judges with ClearBot, a system of AI-enabled robots that autonomously clean the ocean. Sidhant spoke with Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund to share tips with young people now on their journeys towards entrepreneurship.
1. Embrace uncertainties and follow the flow
Aspiring and first-time founders often struggle to take the first step towards entrepreneurship. Generally, this happens because their business ideas aren’t yet crystal clear or they feel that they don’t have every answer. Sidhant, however, says that you don’t need to have it all figured out to be successful. ClearBot, for example, wasn’t originally intended. Rather, Sidhant and his teammates came up with the idea while they were working on a previous business of theirs overseas, using an ocean camera to map coral reefs. They were stunned by the amount of trash that they saw.
“It made us think that we need to do something about this,” said Sidhant. “It’s pretty straight forward to build a robot and collect trash, but I started to see that we could build a financially sustainable business model—cleaning water is expensive for industries and this obvious answer will solve a valuable problem.”
Just go out there and do it. There's no time better than now to start a company.
2. Travel more now if you want to go places in the future
Sidhant said that it’s largely because of his experiences traveling abroad that he can solve problems and innovate. Starting out, he traveled widely across Asia and worked to solve the problems of different local communities—including IOT-based farming systems in Myanmar and a brail-reading system in Japan.
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“I genuinely believe that in order to be creative, we need to have diverse experiences. Creativity is looking at things from a different perspective—if we think that creativity is thinking outside of the box, we are simply thinking from the inside of another box,” he said. “I love traveling because it expands my horizons. When we are in a new environment with different people and a new culture, by nature, we will come up with different ideas.”
3. Building your network will become easier over time
When Sidhant started his first project in university, he wasn’t yet familiar with anyone else who was interested in entrepreneurship—but it didn’t stop him from finding a team to work with. Sidhant put up posters around his university’s campus and posted on Facebook groups to find potential teammates. His efforts paid off as his network grew from there.
“After working on different projects for two years, I managed to establish more connections with the people in my local startup ecosystem,” said Sidhant. “I had a better idea of each individual’s strengths as well as how they worked together as a team. Over time, we have built a stronger relationship with each other and we have begun to appreciate working together on different projects.”
4. Failure is ephemeral
Nothing is permanent in life, failures included.
“One of the things I have discovered from my entrepreneurial journey is that everything will eventually pass. If you are at the bottom right now, things will eventually get better. I learned that when setbacks happen, we should just keep it together,” said Sidhant. “When things go wrong in my companies and I am stressed, I usually give myself a break. I go for a walk or a swim. When I come back to work after that, I immediately know what I need to do.”
If you are at the bottom right now, things will eventually get better.
5. There is no ideal age to be an entrepreneur
Unlike other careers, there is no particular age best suited to entrepreneurship. While a study published by MIT Sloan School of Management revealed that 45 is the average age of a successful startup founder, rapid technological advancements and easier access to knowledge have both lowered the barriers to becoming an entrepreneur. Sidhant has found himself that there are advantages to being a young entrepreneur.
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“One of the problems I faced when I first started my companies was being told that I would never succeed as an entrepreneur because I was too young. But student entrepreneurs often have fewer risks to face, so we can take on more risks. We can also move and adapt much faster,” Sidhant said. “Just go out there and do it. There's no time better than now to start a company.”
Bonus: For parents who want to cultivate a strong entrepreneurial spirit in their children, Sidhant advises them to “just trust their kids.”
“The most important thing my parents did to encourage my dreams of entrepreneurship was supporting me blindly,” Sidhant said. “After graduating from university, most of my peers went on to work at investment banks such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, which offer very lucrative salaries. One of the toughest decisions I have had to make in my life is not taking one of these jobs, too.”
He added, “I wanted to take a risk and start my own companies because my parents told me that they would support me no matter what happened. Knowing that my parents would still love me and be there for me even if I failed, I felt encouraged to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams. I would advise parents to trust their children and give them the freedom to try out different things.”
