I am grateful that during this period, everyone from my team, our portfolio founders, their family and my own are safe. So, this ticks the most important box. Personally, the lockdown has been a blessing in disguise. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve been with my parents for such a long stretch of time. I’m also getting to Facetime my niece, whom I miss spending time with.
In terms of work, there isn’t much that has changed because I've always maintained constant communication with my team and startups, ensuring that I’ve a WhatsApp group with each of them. I have been a post-it guy since school, so making a to-do list is the start of each day!
Usually, it begins with me brewing a cup of coffee each morning, working out, planning my meals beforehand, and then ensuring I am disconnected from any social media until I have eaten my dinner, so I don’t feel I am anywhere but in a work zone. The to-do list is a pseudo instructor ensuring I stay the course and don’t get distracted.
From Monday to Saturday, every evening, I speak to one or at least two new founders in the startup ecosystem, regardless of their sector or stage. This period has given us the luxury to save time that travelling on the road usually took away from us and therefore, we’re all a phone call (or Zoom call) away.
Speaking to founders for the first time during this period doesn’t feel like you’re connecting as strangers because this situation in itself is so odd, that everyone seems familiar because we’re in this together. I have learned a new hobby and that is playing golf. Every alternate evening, I am constructing new mini-golf courses in my garden and competing with my parents, who have been avid golfers for years.
I’m also experimenting a bunch of cocktails. This is typically through the support of our tonic brand Jade Forest, whose founders are phenomenal at recommending recipes with their tonic. I have got myself using the appropriate tools for it fairly well now, and am eager to get people outside trying some of these cocktails. I think by the time this opens, I might host an evening to pour my top 10 cocktails for those who are adventurous to try it!
The beauty of this time is that I can concentrate of learning new skills. For me, I have been script-writing and helping a brilliant writer friend with her script, which is ensuring I keep my mind active and broaden my creative muscles.
The pandemic has postponed tons of plans, but nothing has been cancelled. These plans are recession-free and evergreen, and the excitement to execute them is as high as ever, but at the right time. My next book with my publishing team at Penguin India was scheduled to release in the second week of May, but we are holding that off until a few more months.
Gurugram-based Sanil Sachar (27), Founding Partner at Huddle, Incubator, Co-owner, Trusox and National best-selling author, spoke to Angela Paljor