One Year After Saying Goodbye to My Job — Part 1 (Unfiltered)
This one is personal, so it’s not going to any publication. Unfiltered content. Also, its a 3 part series. This is more like my story and some life lessons sort of a thing than design lessons.
IDK warnings: Spelling mistakes? I don’t care. Grammatical mistakes? I don’t care. Something else? I just might care. Please send a DM. But this is truly unfiltered content. Enjoy?
How am I feeling after taking a leap of faith?
I was in Pune a year back. I still remember one fine day I woke up to realise that I want to do something else. Although everything looking perfect, I felt like I was trapped in a maze with no clear exit in sight. Everything was going for me at that time. Perfect job, perfect team, I was around perfect people. I was partying with my friends, and more importantly working even harder. I was learning and growing professionally— like crazy. I was at a startup working on drones for a Silicon Valley startup, I was leading a team, I was solving problems that very few people in the world were solving. But deep down I knew something was not right. I felt stuck in life?
Wondering what happened?
Haha.
Anyway, coming back to the story that changed my life. *Sudden serious face*
The Beginning
I was on a vacation. With my parents, I took a trip to Nainital. A place famous for lakes in north India.
I was chilling with my fam. We decided to go iHeart cafe. A famous place. We entered the place, it smelled of coffee. I still remember, it was stronger than I had imagined. Anyway, we came to the outdoor seating. “Hmm” I said looking at the only table outside which wasn’t occupied. Moments before, it had rained. The dust had settled. There was a slight breeze. But the problem was the wet seat. We stood there for the waiter. He came and wiped the water off the metal bench. We sat, ordered and waited. Mom said let’s click photos. So ofc, that’s what we did. I still remember how happy she was. Oh yeah, mom loves to travel. But coming back, the order then came, we finally had out coffee. We were about to leave when one Sardarji came to meet Papa. He said “Arre aap yaha”. Uncle was so excited to meet him. Papa was also super happy. Papa introduced us and told us that uncle was also from Noida and long back papa had helped uncle setup his business and very closely knew uncle’s brother too. Uncle’s smile widened hearing this.
He looked at me and said “Mai aaj tujhe 2 cheeze batata hu”. He came closer to me. Put hand on my shoulder. “First” he said raising his hand slightly with forefinger pointing up “never work for anyone.” he then gave a pause. Putting enough emphasis on the phrase. And yes, suddenly, it did feel heavy, with meaning. As if there were a lot of thought given to this simple worded statement he had just made. He stared dead in my eyes and continued “Work on your own idea. Do your own business. Nahi to zindagi bhar ghista reh jayega aur kuch nahi kar payega.”
A lot of people have given me advises in life. Some even when not asked. But this time, whatever uncle said hit me. Big time. It could be his way of speaking and convincing. It could even be that deep down, in my heart and in my brain, I was waiting for something. And this was that something? But a more plausible meaning, that I can now think of, when I reflect back is that I think since papa had helped him long back whatever uncle had to say in that moment was precious to me. It was valuable. A life lesson of sorts?
But that day I learned something in life.
Lesson 1: You will never know when an opportunity knocks on the door. But when it does, be damn sure to answer the door and take a call.
The second thing he said? It would have blown your mind. Wait — could have? Now it won’t? Ayy hello reader? Do you even know me? If you do, you will get this next thing I am going to write. If not, welcome to getting to know me. The thing that he said was probably not that imp — because I forgot what he said. Haha.
The point is that 1 part hit me hard. Anyway. So yes, that was the beginning of everything.
The Farewell
I joined the FlytBase the next day after I gave my thesis presentation. In my time there, I learned a lot. It was one of the fastest growing phases of my life. The current one is slower and deeper. But yes, FlytBase. I learned so many things there. I can’t even count. From simple things like how you build a team to concepts like attention to detail. From writing mails to taking a lead for a product idea, setting up calls and creating the first subscription management system for the app. From creating wireframes for mobile to designing command centres to drone scenarios to talking to customers across the globe and what not. Techy techy vibe.
But yes, some things were not that great. Everything perfect? — that would have been the ideal state. I don’t think that’s possible. Here is what I used to tell people on ADPList when mentoring them. If you are working at a startup, there are some things that are so amazing you can’t even imagine. But some not so good things are still being figured out by them. Had the company already figured out this, it would have been an MNC or something. They’ll get it eventually.
The point is, I owe so much to the CEO to all directors. Had it not been under their mentorship I would not have ended up wherever I am right now in life. They have taught me things like how to be a leader to how to be so passionate about an idea. I owe so much to the friends I made there. They taught how to drink 1 full beer & not get drunk. Haha. I learned a lot about my personal life as well. Not going to get into that here. But yes. Learnings. But coming back to my colleagues, had I not seen them work so much, I never would have put in 16 hours a day. I never would have slept in the office. And mind you, this was not them saying you should do this. This was all me. Hell, Pune wouldn’t have happened had I never gotten this opportunity! But, yes, in — all, I don’t think everyone would read this, but those few of you who are, a big thank you. For everything! :)
Wait, let’s go back to the story mode? Shall we?
So, a few days remained before my D-day. I made a list. Every possible thing I could think of. By the day of the farewell, only 1 remained. Something that was stupid and fun both :P
So, yeah a couple of things from there: took most people to Effingut, cause I love craft beer. Idk man. It just tastes wonderful. Ufff. Also, interestingly, long before the last day, I was like I should get everyone who is close to me in office something. So that I leave a part of me with them. Something personal. But then, time passed, and I sort of realised that it would be more personal if I left a letter. “Yeahhh!” This is the exact expression I had in my mind when I went to buy A4 sheets and letter covers.
Fast forward to the night before I was talking with my friend Karan over a call. I saw the time. “1:00 am? What?” I had to write soooo many letters. I had not even started writing any letters. So I quickly grabbed the sheets, made a long list of people who were close to me. And started writing letters to each one of them. Even made a drawing of the people who were close to my heart. Finished by 4:30ish.
At 4:54 am I reached my office building. How do I know the time? I made a mini vlog for memories! I went up to the 7th floor, reached the door. Opened it, went to open the lights of the office. I knew how to do that cause I was the one who used to leave office last! Haha. Anyway, went desk to desk and kept the letters. At some desks I stood for more than 5 mins cause they were so close to me. By 5:15 I was done. So went back home to get some teeny-tiny sleep.
Lesson 2: Express gratitude to people who matter to you. Put in efforts. Don’t expect anything back. Do it for your own self.
Now to the last moments in the office on the farewell day.
Townhall. Next goals were being discussed. New market changes, new business strategies. For the first and the last time, I was not paying attention. I was sitting at the last seat while the presentation was going on. I opened up Slack. I began typing “My learnings so far” — I wrote 3 points that were basically my learnings for my time at FlytBase. Why 3? Cause 3 & 5 are magic numbers. I thought I should share my learnings cause I was in the leadership team of the org. Even long after I wrote it I kept reading it again and again. Just to make sure I remember for ‘my speech’. Suddenly I heard my director of product say “Toh Shreshth ka karle next”. I looked up. Without thinking I got up. Emotionless. Slightly smiling, I guess? I don’t remember. What I do remember is that there were a million things going on in my head.
I reached there. I had replayed this moment so many times in my head since the last couple of days. I definitely knew I was going to cry. What was going in my head? So many things. So many years. Yeah, like they say life flashes back. My tape re-winded back to the day I joined. The people I met. The people who left. People whom I learnt so many things from who are not here. People I had fights with. Good memories. Bad memories. Stupid memories. What will happen tomorrow morning? But no matter how many times you run things in your head, it is always going to be different. That is exactly what happened. I did not cry. Not a drop. I think I let all my emotions out on the letters the night before. When I was standing in front of everyone, I realised another lesson of being human. Emotionless is also a state of mind. Your mind can sometimes run out of emotions. In that moment I realised 1 more thing.
Lesson 3: You still don’t know everything about you. A lot is yet to be figured out.
“So, how many of you don’t know Shreshth?” asked my director of product on mike — stopping my random train of thought “Everyone knows me” I spoke out loud. The company was at a growth stage, 5 people joining every 2 weeks. But I used to go and say “Hi” and talk to each and everyone one of the new joiners. Made them feel like home? Make them relaxed? I don’t know. I just had to say Hi and exchange a word or two with them.
Anyway, everyone shared their memories one by one. Some good, some bad, some stupid. The mic went from left to back then to right side. Some could not speak. Some did not want to. Next thing I know, I am holding the mic. *I would have inserted a picture of that moment here, but there aren’t any so let me describe it* The look on my face is confused. I took a deep breath and probably exhaled longer than I inhaled, lol. And then I said “I never imagined to be on this side of the table but here we are”. Spoke about everything I possibly could. Thanked people who were there in front of me. Those who had left and so on. “So let me share some of my learnings with you” I said towards the end of my speech.
Lesson 4: Everyone has a unique life. You all have something to share. You might know something that others have never even thought of. Share.
I said “Lesson number one: Be Curious. Look around you. Where are you? You are working in a startup.” I gave a slight pause, “You need to understand this power. Most of my own knowledge about front end, back end, drones, testing, marketing, etc. came from randomly standing behind people and asking them ‘Kya bana rahe ho?’. The best part is people love to talk about their work. You get to learn so much. You could even question them and maybe even fix a thing or two.”
“Lesson number 2: Never stop growing. This is my mantra. When I grew semester by semester from the worst possible grade of 5 to the best possible grade of 10.” I said, looked around and continued “If you ever feel like you are doing the same thing again and again, you are not growing. If you don’t enter untouched waters, you are not growing. Challenge yourself, and keep asking yourself ‘Am I growing’ time to time.”
Anyway, after the speech, I cut my cake, I put my stuff in a box — like they show in movies and went out to drink with people 1 last time.
In the next part I will uncover what all I did in last year. Stay tuned. Also, let me know your thoughts about this unfiltered one?
