An engineer from KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Sidharth Das’ entrepreneurial journey epitomises the typical learning curve that an entrepreneur has to undergo to reach the pinnacle of success: rejection, self-doubt and finally, victory. Here’s how the 22-year-old’s journey has been so far.
He started his entrepreneurial journey along with his friend Kishan Mishraby , putting together a non-profit organisation, www.makefame.org, to promote Indian talent. But the venture faced hiccups and had to be shut down prematurely. Later, Das founded Brogels, a dotcom guide to social media and start-ups. A bootstrapped venture, he plans to monetise it via advertisements and conducting start-up events.
Das recalls a time when he thought his life was going nowhere: with backlogs in engineering and dwindling support from peers and family, he had even thought of quitting Brogels and taking up a job. In life, sometimes, all you need is a little nudge. He got that when Brogels was adjudged the third best startup at the Webit Expo in Istanbul, Turkey. Brogels is a five-member team now.
Das has since been invited by IIT-Kharagpur and other institutes to deliver lectures on entrepreneurship. He will add one more feather to his cap when his biography is featured in a book titled Miracle Minds slated for a March release.
Das holds a vision to transform social media in the country and believes that value building is what matters most. There is a lot of pent-up energy in entrepreneurs, they are always teeming with ideas and cannot be satisfied with doing just one thing. For someone who is of similar mould, it is not surprising that he has given birth to one more start-up, Bookkida.com.
“Bookkida is India’s first online classified portal exclusively for buying and selling books. Bookkida is a funky name which actually means bookworm. We have revived the concept of book stores with Bookkida. You can buy and sell books of any genre at Bookkida by posting your ads for free,” he says. Currently operating only in Bhubaneswar, administration of Bookkida is handled by the Brogels team. “It’s free and always will be”, says Das, quoting one of Facebook’s famous claims.
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