On this week’s podcast, Anshuman Sinha is conversing with Abhishek Sinha, the CEO of Vaj Group and the co-founder of Cafe Zero Point, a unique dining experience, and Prop Metaverse, a platform transforming real estate through technology.
Anshuman begins the conversation by asking Abhishek about his upbringing, exploring how his early life experiences and background have influenced his journey as an entrepreneur.
Abhishek Sinha shares that he comes from a family of government officials, where education played a vital role. However, for some reason, he experienced failure in the 12th year of his schooling. He says that after failing for the first time, he tried again for another year but was unsuccessful. The early onset of failures set within him a deep understanding that beggars cannot be choosers. This pushed him to hustle toward his goals and achieve everything that he has today.
He further shares that he began his career working at a small company that only paid 1200 INR in 1995. Due to his stellar performance in the company, he learned on the job and developed software skills. He was able to secure a software programming course from NIIT, which helped him shape his career efficiently. However, he eventually secured an MBA, which completely changed his life. He admits that after getting his MBA degree, his career changed phenomenally. He started receiving global positions and worked in the world’s 10th-largest group. This led to him becoming the vice president of a renowned organization where he worked with many people.
When asked about his career, Abhishek Sinha shares that his first business was a consulting business, which he still does occasionally. He shares that after running a consulting business in 2009, he started his own business, setting up a call center to sell vegetables to the people of India. He shares that online orders were not the norm in the country then. This led to him setting up an organization that allowed him to become India’s first vegetable business, where the vegetables were sold through a call center.
He further shares that he faced several setbacks during his time. He lost significant clients who contributed to about 60% of his business, and he also lost major clients in Russia as they were facing setbacks due to fuel. These setbacks helped him restructure his thought process and eventually start getting into startups. He says they currently have about eight different startups and are involved directly and indirectly in about a few 100 startups.
Intrigued by Abhishek’s journey, Anshuman Sinha asks about the environment at Abhishek’s home, seeking to understand how his family and upbringing shaped his entrepreneurial path.
Abhishek shares that he comes from Bihar, India. His family was always earnest about education. However, since he could not thrive academically, the situation at his home was expected to be extremely serious. However, his family has supported him throughout his journey. He shares that initially when he failed in the 12th standard, his parents supported his situation and gave him the freedom to choose his future.
After the 2nd unsuccessful attempt, while his parents were slightly worried, they continued to help him and asked him to think about what he wanted to do with his life. Having faced failure so early on, Abhishek learned from his mistakes. He knew from his friends’ experiences, who were doing reasonably well in their lives, that he needed to push himself to improve.
With the support of his friends and family, Abhishek moved ahead in life. He firmly believed in the sentiment that beggars cannot be choosers. This pushed him to the limit and enabled him to thrive.
The conversation eventually leads to the two very different segments of which Abhishek is a part. While Cafe Zero Point belongs to the hospitality sector, Prop Metaverse is from the real estate industry. Anshuman Sinha’s next question is regarding Cafe Zero Point.
Anshuman Sinha inquires about the inspiration behind Abhishek’s decision to start the cafe, seeking to understand the motivations and influences that led to this entrepreneurial venture.
Abhishek asserts that he is an extremely social individual. He loves to go out and meet new people. He says that before starting Cafe Zero Point, while he was still running his consulting business, he needed to learn about many sectors he was consulting in. This led him to look for a social space that would allow him to learn from others. He shares that after facing a setback in his consulting business, he faced several problems regarding the loss of money, tax liabilities, government issues, etc.
This led him to the idea that he should not put all his eggs in one basket. This helped him come up with the idea for Cafe Zero Point. Since he believes in socializing, the cafe’s entire premise is based on meeting people. Cafe Zero Point allows people to order food and relax with one another. He says his cafe has no TV, and no customers are given free Wi-Fi passwords.
He believes in the power of conversation. He encourages all his customers and staff members to converse with one another and discuss topics or participate by playing board games. With this structure of socializing in mind, Cafe Zero Point has been thriving in its endeavor and has become a hub where people can mingle and meet new people. Abhishek Sinha also shares that this is how he met new people, which allowed him to network and do business with them.
Anshuman Sinha’s next question delves into Prop Metaverse, as he seeks to uncover how Abhishek ventured into this emerging industry and what prompted his interest in it.
Abhishek shares that he has always been interested in property. Since he was already working on spreading his wealth, he realized that property was the only form of investment that never died. He believes, “While it can delay your returns, you cannot lose money when you invest in property.”
This led him to venture into the real estate sector. He shares that despite just being two years, his company Prop Metaverse is currently valued at 70 crores INR. He shares that they are not traditional brokers while they are in the brokering business. He believes that he is a property investor guide. He shares that he guides people to invest in properties and gets them good returns. This kind of deal helps spread all his revenues across multiple sectors and allows him to incur limited losses when facing setbacks.
Upon being asked about women’s empowerment, Abhishek Sinha shares that his company wholeheartedly believes in women’s empowerment. He is currently working with 1600 pregnant and post-delivery women who cannot work in different companies as they refuse to take them on. He says that the valuation of his company increases due to the dedication and contribution of his employees, who include men and women, collaboratively.
This led to a conversation regarding Abhishek’s involvement in social impact programs for schools and community healthcare.
Anshuman Sinha asks Abhishek about the long-term impacts he aims to achieve through his social initiative, exploring his vision and goals for its future success.
Abhishek shares that he works with his wife to achieve his social goals. He currently is the consultant to most of the Jesuit schools in the country. In addition to this, he also helps build online classrooms across different remote schools around the country. He further shares that all his support is focused on creating opportunities. He also supports several girls’ schools where they are given equal opportunities to attain education. He shares that his wife Jayati Sinha strongly believes that if they can teach one girl child, they are creating a generation of educated people.
Anshuman Sinha agrees with this sentiment and commends all that Abhishek Sinha is doing to help the country’s underprivileged youth.
Anshuman Sinha’s next question focuses on Abhishek’s extracurricular activities, aiming to understand how these interests and pursuits have contributed to his personal and professional growth.
Abhishek shares that he loves to be outdoors and that his childhood dream was to get a bike. However, coming from a government official family that firmly believed in the power of education, asking for a bike from his parents always led to a firm no. He shares that his son pushed him for a motorcycle, which led him to purchase bikes for both. Today, they can go on early morning rides and enjoy a cup of tea.
Sharing further, Abhishek divulges that his love for trucks led him and his group of 11 friends to go off-roading and help people during natural calamities such as floods that are common in Maharashtra, India.
The conversation moves to TiE Patna. Anshuman thanks Abhishek for all his help and support in setting up TiE Patna.
Anshuman Sinha’s next question concerns Abhishek Sinha’s opinion on the TiE Patna ecosystem, specifically how they can collectively assist the flourishing of these scattered ecosystems in small towns. Additionally, he inquires whether they can create a logical platform to aid startup founders.
Abhishek Sinha says that the most common practice in the B and C category cities is that people tend to go with the flow. If the government creates lucrative opportunities, people will only seek to take advantage without understanding the weight of their actions. Abhishek believes it is essential for the people of tier two and three cities like Patna to revisit why they are jumping into business. He believes that rather than asking for money from investors to achieve their goals, startup founders should be more inclined to discuss their problems at length and come up with innovative solutions to deal with them. This approach can lead them toward success and contribute to a highly successful career.
Anshuman Sinha agrees with this and says that every time he visits Patna, he makes it a point to connect with the youth. One common factor that he has noticed among them is that while their ideas are phenomenal and have potential, they need help to present them efficiently. This leads to failure when it comes to securing investor funding.
Anshuman Sinha follows up by inquiring if Abhishek thinks TiE Patna could contribute through its nurture program. He also seeks Abhishek’s perspective on assisting these young startup founders to ensure they thrive in their chosen careers.
Abhishek shares that he can only see one route to this problem. He believes they must bring in a private and a government sector collaboration. This will allow them to understand the basics of running a business and enable mentors like Anshuman Sinha to constantly educate these young startup founders to become somebody who can successfully thrive in their careers. Abhishek shares that TiE Patna’s nurture program will help exponentially.
However, it needs to be administered in phases. He shares that TiE Patna’s nurture program can come as the last phase where the whole training program revolves around preparing young minds to enter the industry and successfully present their pitches. This will help them develop a global vision and allow them to seek better startup opportunities.
Anshuman Sinha agrees and says that Abhishek’s approach to the private and government partnership is a highly well-structured solution. He further shares that if they could bring in international exposure by bringing in US-based investors, the ecosystem at TiE Patna would thrive exponentially. The two founders agreed to have a call on the sideline to discuss the specifics and develop a stellar program that can bring about change in the startup ecosystem scattered around small cities in India.
Conclusion
The conversation ends with both entrepreneurs agreeing that today’s world is a whole of opportunities. Starting a new business has become highly accessible and is no longer limited to the wealthy. Both agree that capital is highly accessible, which is one of the reasons why several startups cannot thrive in their sectors, as all they worry about is the money they are spending and earning. Both entrepreneurs agree that with a structured program, startup founders can develop the skill set for working efficiently within their chosen sectors.
Furthermore, with the support of other investors on a global scale, these young startup founders will be able to understand how the business landscape essentially operates. With promises to discuss this matter further, Anshuman Sinha thanked Abhishek Sinha for his time.
