"If you want it badly, you’ll find a way to get it,” believes 20-year-old Hyderabad based CEO Arshdeep Bhardwaj. While most of us are still figuring out what career path to choose in life at 20, Arshdeep is already a CEO and founder of an online social marketplace. This Manikonda resident was featured as one of the youngest and most successful entrepreneurs of India by the Huffington Post and Everipedia.
“My parents bought me a computer when I was 11 years old and I had been hooked to it ever since. I developed a keen interest in web development and entrepreneurship at 13. After doing an online programme on computer science by Harvard and Stanford, I started connecting with professionals and advisors from across the world on Facebook to broaden my knowledge and perspective. After a lot of self-learning and learning from mentors, I started out my first company called Stannals in 2016,” says the alumnus of Loyola Academy, Alwal.
Stannals is a global online community that was designed to connect, inspire and educate entrepreneurs with relevant material and shared experience. A Bengaluru-based company acquired it in 2017. “After Stannals, I went on to start a consulting agency under my own name and worked on it for a while before starting Crivly officially in 2020. The name Crivly is a short form of Creatively, he explains.
After taking the bold decision to discontinue education after school, Arshdeep turned his focus entirely to his business. “After school, I decided to build my business rather than continuing education. This idea was not received well by my parents and friends at that time but after seeing me work so hard and succeed, they changed their views.” He also points out how the word ‘entrepreneurship’ is being portrayed as a fancy and fast way to make money. You cry every night until you make it, but the key lies in not giving up. Only driving passion can bring you success in this field.
I’ve worked 18 hours a day when I was in school to build my business and self-taught myself about the aspects of business,” says the football lover. He stresses the importance of networking for any business. “When I started using Facebook, I used to research for professionals in my field and try connecting with them through Facebook. “After developing an online website for months, my partner had embezzled the idea and registered under his name. Overnight my bank account went to nil and all my work had vanished. However, the incident taught me a great deal about handling business,” says the youth. In 2020, he wants to build a world where anyone can empower and educate themselves from anywhere.