HYDERABAD: As Hyderabad’s 22-year-old Kanthi Dutt completes 10 years of his entrepreneurial journey, he opens to CE about life thus far, facing ups and downs with a brave smile and standing back up, taller
Ten years ago today, a 13-year-old boy started his own venture called Spartans Media, an event management company in Hyderabad. Today, at 22, Kanthi Dutt, the co-founder of Sustainkart and many other clean and green startups, looks back on his entrepreneurial journey which included discontinuing his studies post matriculation as a stepping stone to his success. He now rubs shoulders with the who’s who of the business and Tollywood industry including Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Keerthy Suresh and Shilpa Reddy.
Asked how the very idea of being an entrepreneur cropped up at the tender age of 13, Kanthi says, “My journey started when I was in seventh grade. Taking inspiration from the cultural activities at school, I started my media management company Spartans Media, which helped me carve a niche. I was bullied by my classmates for talking about business and making money. It was the time when everyone was talking about girls and bikes. Neither of these two fascinated me, but thoughts about business did.”
Kanthi’s journey was not a bed of roses, until his tenth grade, he managed work alongside his studies.
“My teachers hated it but I was clear. I felt schools were built for workers, not entrepreneurs. I dropped out of school after my tenth and chose to take up business full time. But my parents suggested that I finish college. Of course, only I know the kind of pressure they went through, because of family and friends, who suggested that I should be counselled to give up business. But, I was clear and so could convince my parents about my plans. I can’t thank them enough for putting up with all the rants from people around and upholding me in my journey,” he says adding, “However it has been an incredible journey with a lot of experiential learning. I thank everyone around me for believing in me, inspiring me, mentoring me, supporting me and even rejecting me.”
Kanthi counts every time he fell and gathered the strength and courage to stand back again, to be the most precious moments in his journey. “I remember a mother writing to me asking me to counsel her daughter about entrepreneurship and how to go about it. When people look up to me, for my body of work, I feel nice about it,” he shares.
In the age of social media, one tends to fall prey to those voices that actually shouldn’t matter.
Looking back on his entrepreneurial journey, asked what are some perspectives that have changed today, he says, “Over the time, I have learnt to not let the unknown voices matter. This gives me immense strength to be able to drive towards my goals and not succumb to deviations.”
Kanthi believes India is very entrepreneurship-ready today and encourages students to look beyond the three/four professions that they’re forced to look at, for an ‘attractive’ future. He says, “When compared to the past, today we have many incubators, accelerators and B schools. India is attracting investments from the venture capital market like never before. Entrepreneurship is all about living a few years like most people won’t, to be able to live the future like most people can’t. There is a different high in being able to build ventures and our own teams, which is not possible in other professions.”
The co-founder of SustainKart, the country’s first e-commerce marketplace for sustainable living, has made a conscious choice to only invest, partner and launch ventures that cause less damage to the planet. He adds, “I’m focusing on major goals like climate change and environmental safety. I have plans to launch a few D2C consumer brands in the next few months. However, my main focus will be SustainKart.
The futuristic goal is to build an institute that will help young minds nurture themselves in only one subject and like how regular schooling demands them to pursue five to six subjects. I believe this kind of education model will help streamline the energies and focus of the young minds towards their only interest!”
Kanthi says he was an overnight success, but the night was ten years long! “From then to now, I never had to look back. There were several ups and downs, which is only usual, whatever your career choice is. Good judgment comes from experiences and experiences come from bad judgments. No regrets, only lessons learned,” he signs off.