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EP 20: Adi Bathla: AI Start-up, Revv, success rooted in deep cultural values
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This week’s guest on The Auto Ethnographer Podcast is Adi Bathla, CEO and Co-Founder of Revv, a company that merges car repair with artificial intelligence. Together with host John Stech they trace Adi’s origin story from humble beginnings in India to the current success of an entrepreneur recognized on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Born and raised in Northern India Adi excelled in school and harbored an intense curiosity that led him to learn at a speed outpacing other students his age. He eventually participated in an American NASA space tech competition, which he and his team ended up winning.
The NASA competition victory connected Adi to Brown University which offered him a spot in its student body. Young, straight off the plane from India with a one-way ticket, Adi plugged into the university community and beyond. He created and built software solutions for various organizations while simultaneously studying for his degree.
On graduating, Adi worked in a series of high-growth start-ups putting him in close proximity to visionary CEOs and other leaders. We one foot rooted in his humble origins and the other planted in raw ambition, Adi soaked in all the learnings he could, both from successes and failures.
But it was only when he visited his extended family’s automotive workshop business that inspiration truly struck. What he found was a business built on paper and workflows that contained a lot of walking around with that paper. The lightbulb ignited and Adi had a vision for digitizing an old-school business, bringing it up to the most modern standard. He visited many other workshops to understand the pain points and problems then set off developing the basis of what would become Revv.
Revv offers an AI product which allows independent workshops, those that often fix many different brands, to repair even the most complex new vehicles, bristling with sensors and cameras, in an effective and safe way. Revv developed a system that served up repair information, calibration settings, and manufacturer instructions for hundreds of car models. What used to take days, weeks, or even months, or was simply overlooked, was now at the fingertips of small workshops. Even the smallest shop could now repair and recalibrate the Automated Driver Assistance System (ADAS) sensors that are found on 94% of vehicles on American roads.
Throughout this journey, Adi kept his cultural heritage derived from his parental upbringing “on the passenger seat”. He never let go of the cultural guidance instilled in him and leverages the wise words his parents said to him while working with the diverse Revv team.
This episode traces that story and uncovers the culture that made Adi Bathla, how he leveraged it while pursuing his passions, and where it will continue to take him.
If you are interested in learning more about Revv and its AI products, please visit https://www.revvhq.com
To learn more about The Auto Ethnographer Podcast, please visit the homepage at https://www.auto-ethnographer.com
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Transcript
Introduction to The Auto Ethnographer
00:00:00
Speaker
The other thing I would say is surround yourself ah with people who are better than you and surround yourself with people who you aspire to be because you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with.
00:00:11
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Auto Ethnographer. I'm John Steck, your host on this journey. We travel the globe to bring you stories about culture and the global automotive industry. Fasten your seatbelt and let's get started.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the auto ethnographer. We have a great guest and maybe you can guess the city in the background, but the guest is Adi Batla and he is going to join us today for a great conversation about his technology company, as well as about his, his origin story, which plays a big role into his company.
00:00:51
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Born in Northern India, Adi emigrated to the United States for education, and he also carried a burning desire to launch a business. Adi
Adi Batla's Journey to Forbes 30 under 30
00:01:01
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is a young entrepreneur. He was recognized in the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
00:01:07
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He successfully combined his cultural upbringing with his entrepreneurial spirit in several digital and software roles. But then inspiration struck and he started his own company, Revv, that's R-E-V-V, which married the automotive repair industry with AI.
00:01:29
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Now he leads a
Revv's AI Integration in Automotive Repair
00:01:30
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multicultural team and I'll let him tell you the city. Adi, welcome to the show. Thank you, John. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so Adi Bhakla, I'm the co-founder and CEO at Revv.
00:01:43
Speaker
Rev is a technology company helping the automotive repair industry and helping the industry really navigate the shift to software-defined vehicles ah powered by government mandates and regulatory tailwinds. Today, ah your average technician that has been used to working with the ah bumper defender, the quarter panel is now expected to do work that is akin to a skilled engineer, ah fixing cameras, sensors, modules, electronics, and cars.
00:02:14
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And
Early Life and Inspiration from India
00:02:15
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that's where Rev really comes in. As you said, i was born in North India and at the age of 18, I came to the United States.
00:02:26
Speaker
And since then, um I've spent my time um really helping offline users, offline industries, ah builds ah building technology products, global technology products for them.
00:02:41
Speaker
And that led me to the path to service the automotive industry. Now we have a team of more than 70 people, majority people based out of New York, and we're very proudly servicing the industry for years to come.
00:02:56
Speaker
But let's let's turn back the clock first. but Let's talk a little bit about growing up in India, in Northern India, and your Indian culture and the the background and the family.
00:03:10
Speaker
Like myself, born outside of the United States and emigrated to the US, it shaped me. but Let's hear a little bit about your background and and how that shaped you and what made some of the impressions that guide you today.
00:03:24
Speaker
Very fascinating question. The first memory that comes to my mind is getting my hands on my first computer.
00:03:36
Speaker
So my ah my family, i was I was born in a very humble family and at that time getting me a computer was a pretty big deal. um And um i yeah I faded memories of this because that's how long ago it was.
00:03:51
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i was a little child.
NASA Program and Space Tech Interest
00:03:53
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And i remember playing computer games and my mother sharing this sentence which stuck with me.
00:04:06
Speaker
And it was, be a creator, not a consumer. And those were some of these values that ah knowingly, unknowingly affecting me as I was growing up.
00:04:23
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And that led to things like India being a very academically oriented culture. I remember being in eighth grade and having already learned things that were taught up until the 12th grade. So I ah found myself really lost ah in middle school, in high school, and i was really looking for a purpose because i wasn't really getting much out of school anymore.
00:04:56
Speaker
That led me to to tweet modeling and really space tech and led me to ah find out that NASA has this program for young entrepreneurs where ah you you build a space tech prototype, a concept of space tech prototype.
00:05:18
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and And
Purpose and Move to the US
00:05:19
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I started spending eight months out the year really um ah working on that, ah designing that, ah building the concept, going deeper in, then eventually leading a team, eventually winning an international award and coming to the United States for it. um And that planted this entrepreneurial bug in me where when I found myself lost, I found this purpose.
00:05:51
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And that purpose showed me that anybody can be any and do anything and create anything. The
Choosing Brown University and College Experiences
00:06:01
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sky's the limit and the limit you put put on yourself is more ah artificial, if that makes sense.
00:06:10
Speaker
And I found out that the States was the place where I could actually make that happen. That led me to Brown where I started my college education. I got a full right at that point. I could only afford a one-way ticket, so I took a one-way ticket. I started my journey there.
00:06:29
Speaker
um I'll pause here for a second. Those were my my origins and kind of my upbringing up until the college life and ah fascinating turns after that as well that shaped who I am today, but we'll leave it up to your thoughts.
00:06:47
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No, I think first
Building Real-World Tech Solutions
00:06:48
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of all, your mother said something incredibly wise to be a creator, not a consumer. And she could have, it sounds like it even said to you, to the moon, literally with NASA.
00:07:00
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ah she She could have ah used either expression with you, but you you certainly took that seriously. um how How did it come about then? You said, so you went to Brown in the US.
00:07:12
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How did that connection end up being made to to land at Brown um following this this this winning on the NASA project or competition?
00:07:23
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And how did you find Brown? This must have been a ah huge difference to the educational background that you had. And not to mention that I think you were pretty young when you when you arrived, um younger, I suppose, than most of the other students in your in your classes.
00:07:40
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it's ah I've spent all of my adult life um in the States, in post-college post-college life in the States, I'd say four million years for sure.
00:07:52
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um How did i i find Brown was really the exposure that I got from um folks that I met at the NASA program. And um everybody aspired to really ah fulfill their goals and it was very closely tied to um education and the type of education that they aspired to get, where they aspired to get that education.
00:08:18
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which led me to discover not just Brown, but other places that I applied to. I was gravitated to Brown because if it's a malleable approach to discovering yourself, essentially.
00:08:35
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ah At that time, I aspired to be... ah
00:08:42
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an astronaut or work in the field of space for obvious reasons. But i also knew that i was young enough to not have ah been able to pinpoint exactly um the path that I should be taking and I wanted in more exposure really across the board.
00:09:02
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So Brown was the perfect fit ah for that. And during college, that's exactly what happened. During my education, I met other entrepreneurs and ah that influenced my ah thinking and decision
High-Growth Startup Experiences
00:09:21
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making around ah where can I make the most impact.
00:09:25
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So back to the values, ah growing up with values like um bring technology to industries that grow on pen and paper, that's where they need it the most. And things like don't chase money, ah bring value to society and everything else follows.
00:09:42
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I found out that software is really eating the world. And why it's eating the world is because it's very, ah very tangible. You can bring this to life with, ah in today's world, low to no ah barrier to entry and start making an impact right away.
00:10:03
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So I found software engineering and I found computer science as this this this magical thing that I can utilize to bring it all together.
00:10:14
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um it all started with, again, helping people. So I was building VR products to help athletes kind of firm diagnose their injuries.
00:10:26
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i was building marketplaces to connect the ah the and ah two sides of the equation that that otherwise would have taken ah ah much longer ah to actually access inventory like books, ah like ah ah clothes, for example.
00:10:49
Speaker
This is during the university years or this was already after? This is during the university years. During the university years. Okay, that's incredibly impressive. i was i was I was shipping these products so ah to to really solve um a pain point or the pain points that I was seeing, but I was also failing and every failure was a learning point.
00:11:15
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And also was fueling the fire really making the impact. Every failure led me to want to do it even better the next time, want to do it more than I wanted yesterday.
00:11:30
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And it eventually ah led to me throwing myself in high growth startups to really learn what it takes to build a company and be able to make a massive impact to society.
00:11:47
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During these high growth startups, i again was building for an offline user. These users included warehouse workers or anybody that's involved in the global supply chain, all the way up to the consumer, back to creating access and some of the things that I experimented with in college, for example.
00:12:13
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um And i also was very closely working with some of the successful founders and CEOs and really learning from them firsthand what it takes to build a multi-billion dollar company, which translates to and massive impact in society, and mission-driven companies, really.
00:12:39
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which Which goes,
Automotive Industry Tech Discoveries
00:12:40
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if I may say, that that goes right back to also to what you' what your parents instilled in you, which is not to chase money, yeah but rather to have ah an impact on society.
00:12:51
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I love that. Absolutely. Absolutely. ah the The companies like Misfits, for example, which is tackling um the mission of um um ah preventing food waste and creating access to food for underprivileged families who otherwise can't afford groceries.
00:13:13
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ah That is That is fuel that is strong enough for you to ah really break barriers and um ah make an impact.
00:13:25
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So that influenced my thought process and what I found was I found a beautiful industry, which is the auto industry. um And I started getting a glimpse of it really back in 2019 when I started visiting my family, my extended family based out of Houston, Texas ah for Christmas. And I was a kid in a candy store looking at how much there is to build.
00:13:51
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ah the Operations of the national parts distribution business, the operations of the repair facility and different types of repair facilities, parts distributors was all pen and paper.
00:14:08
Speaker
So so let's let's take a step back. And you've you've told me this separately before, but but what did you see? your Your family, as I understand, owns an automotive repair workshop and and they've been operating it for how long?
00:14:23
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They've been operating it for now more than a decade. And the primary business started as a national auto parts distribution business. um It evolved to become a repair facility as well.
00:14:36
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They work with dealerships too. um And what I found was the operations were being ran on pen and paper. ah The communication was happening from one but department to another, really somebody physically walking over with a piece of paper and handing over ah list of inventories, invoices, um and really communicating everything on the phone, on the fly.
00:15:04
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The supply chain delays and the the variety of folks and stakeholders really that they had to work with um was massive. But everything was done with text and phone call.
00:15:19
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And it's an industry that has really ah expanded by word of mouth. no
Addressing Repair Shop Challenges with Tech
00:15:27
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And it's been hit by this brick wall, really, with software-defined recalls overnight.
00:15:33
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ah So there became this massive mismatch of how fast ah the portion of the industry that is actually catching up to pace versus the rest of the industry is moving to react to it is what I started seeing. But I didn't see that outrightly.
00:15:51
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the The way I saw this and what I firmly believe is that you don't really go looking for an idea, number one. You really go looking for solving a pain point.
00:16:04
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And the way you find a hair on fire problem and a true pain point to solve for is by putting yourself a way thinking in your customers' shoes and immersing yourself with the customers, really.
00:16:20
Speaker
So putting yourself in a place where it's almost like the problem finds you. The way that happened with me was I started with my family ah businesses and really solving for their pain point, but I was also talking to used car dealers, I was talking to ah mechanical shop owners, I was talking to body shop owners and giving everybody my phone number, offering to help.
00:16:48
Speaker
ah If you have a problem, just give me a call. And ah started getting these calls and I started diagnosing the problems up until I reached the problem of ah a repair shop owner who was who had serviced a car, the lane change malfunctioned, the driver got into an accident, brought the car back and he was worried he was going to get sued.
00:17:12
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That led to a series of discovery items, which is me hopping from shop to shop to shop, really finding this repeatability that everybody has the same problem. It used to be one in four cars, now it's three in four cars.
00:17:25
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ah And then looking at the government tailwinds, the functional tailwinds, and that new technology that could actually solve this problem, it all came together. So going from papers and and running papers around in a workshop to you know ah automated driver assistance systems, the the newest technology in the market now,
00:17:50
Speaker
this is a huge jump. How did you even take that first step with the workshop owner to tell them that their paper system is antiquated? And people who own something, they know it, they love it, they use it, they developed it, it's like a child.
00:18:07
Speaker
How did you have or find the tact to explain that and then to guide them towards offering a solution?
00:18:16
Speaker
I'd say the biggest learning really talking to the industry was that you never want to take the approach of telling the industry to change how they work.
00:18:29
Speaker
You want to meet them where they are in their workflow and what they have been used to doing for decades and almost amalgamate into their way of working.
00:18:45
Speaker
And The approach I took was i didn't even have the product or I didn't even build the product yet. All I had was ah prototype, an experience that I could demonstrate ah that showcased the value.
00:19:02
Speaker
And the point of it was to really have the ah value, such as compressing the research time into seconds and giving you actionable insights.
00:19:14
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um And I demonstrated that to the shops to really get their feedback at a rapid pace. And when it came to extracting that feedback, ah the biggest piece of it was we wanted to we wish we had to really integrate in their existing systems. So the hardware that they use, ah they scan the car every single time it comes to the shop. And how can we utilize that existing infrastructure to really have the solution run in the background for them and give them insights soon as they do what they have been doing since a very long time.
00:19:58
Speaker
So really meeting them where they are in their workflow was the way to really convince the industry that this is a solution for you. Combine that with the hair on fire problem that
Evolving Revv to Meet Market Demand
00:20:09
Speaker
they're going through, that becomes magical.
00:20:12
Speaker
Okay. No, that that makes a lot of sense. That that approach certainly to to guide them through and not necessarily to upset the apple cart, just to enhance the apple cart.
00:20:23
Speaker
So now this this was, if if i understand correctly, and an earlier iteration of what would become Rev. How did that develop um and and and end up becoming Rev?
00:20:36
Speaker
So how did how did that evolve? Because to go from organizing, for example, workshop flow and and guiding it in ah in a digital manner to ah what what you're specializing in.
00:20:49
Speaker
and And I think here you probably want to talk a little bit about what what it is that REV does ah since most of the audience is in the automotive industry. um how How did that evolve and and how did it become the technology that it is today?
00:21:03
Speaker
So I'll start by sharing briefly what Rev does today and the problem that it solves for. So today, more than 94% of the vehicles on the road have systems like automatic emergency braking, link heap,
00:21:21
Speaker
And these are powered by sensors, cameras, modules, electronics. And it's a monumental research task for the shop to really understand what needs to be done to the car when it comes to these repairs, repairing these specialized from components.
00:21:37
Speaker
and and Time equals revenue for the shop. They don't get paid for this research, which can take up to weeks. And as a result, majority of the industry doesn't do this, which is a road safety hazard on a macro level.
00:21:52
Speaker
So that's where Rev comes in and rev compresses this research time into seconds, gives shops actionable insights around systems equipped it equipment components impacted, procedures to be performed, step-by-step instructions, and manufacturer-ready documentation for insurance reimbursement purposes.
00:22:12
Speaker
So when you talk about the services and so on to be performed, um you're you're talking about what, like ah if you're replacing a windshield or replacing some of the cameras or sensors, are you talking about just the service on the physical part are you talking also calibrations or or can you explain that a little bit more?
00:22:34
Speaker
If you replace a bumper or a windshield,
00:22:39
Speaker
it's most likely the case that there are sensors and cameras equipped behind those components which need to be recalibrated to act for these, for systems like automatic emergency braking and adaptive boost control to actually um
00:22:58
Speaker
function again. And as I was mentioning before, it's a it's a tectonic shift in the way ah the industry has to repair the cars because they've been used to repairing the bumper, the fender, the quarter panel. But these procedures that are vertical align, static calibration, dynamic calibration, these require set ah the mats and targets and lasers. The work is more akin to a skilled engineer.
00:23:33
Speaker
So it's a tectonic shift in the way you repair cars. An example here would be ah this tailwind is so massive and so recent that ah we're onboarding now more than 100 businesses every single month onto the platform. And majority of the businesses that we're onboarding are starting to perform these procedures which are mandated for the first time.
00:23:58
Speaker
And the business is your your primary target customer. These are independent repair workshops? Yes, independent repair workshops and our ICPs have grown to be diverse over time.
00:24:13
Speaker
What's happening is every single type of business that touches the car after it's been sold is being affected ah by these tailwinds. So what started off as an organically and rightfully so, ah the body shops, the collision shops and the calibration shops ah being the most dominant ICPs on our platform.
00:24:37
Speaker
and And can you, ah if you don't mind, just to say what is an ICP? um Ideal customer profile. Thank you for for those on the audience that don't know. Thank you. And that has evolved to now glass shops and mechanical shops.
00:24:54
Speaker
ah The example of mechanical shop would be if you are inspecting an engine, you have to go to the body of the car. And if you have to go to the body of the car, that is impacting any sensors or cameras that are equipped behind those components.
00:25:08
Speaker
So this ripple effect is really happening across the industry at of massive scale. No, that's it's a ah huge shift. As you said, it's, it's, um, uh, you said it was 94% of the the vehicles now, uh, certainly being sold and, and even the vehicles that have been on the road for some time and and are going to the independent repairs, um, that, that the volume is only going to grow. The percentage is only going to, to grow.
00:25:33
Speaker
I see a lot of opportunity for this for sure. Absolutely. And,
Cultural and Entrepreneurial Leadership at Revv
00:25:37
Speaker
and a lot opportunity help, to help the industry, um, guide the industry and, uh, give them the tools that they need so they can focus on the car and the customer rather than focus on running a shop or doing research.
00:25:51
Speaker
So now that we understand... what the technology is and what your company does and and who the customer is and how you help them. um But let's go back a little bit and let's open up the door on how did your your cultural upbringing now influence influence you to bring you to this point on leading the company? right Because two years ago, the company was extremely small.
00:26:20
Speaker
And now you mentioned you have 70 employees. employees How do you do this? How did you merge your um your you cultural upbringing and some of the incredibly wise words you heard from your from your parents?
00:26:36
Speaker
um And how do you merge that with what you've learned since being on the ground in the United States, especially in this entrepreneurial environment, to leading this company? The values that were part of my upbringing and how they evolved to when I reached the States and in in now majority of my, all of my adult life really.
00:27:01
Speaker
ah They truly shaped who I am. And i think one thing that I learned was ah culture. Culture is very, very important. It shapes who you are and, um,
00:27:16
Speaker
Hopping from one culture to another that had stark differences um really throws you at the deep end and ah really puts you in a sink or swim mentality.
00:27:30
Speaker
ah So you get to understand the psychology of somebody going through that level of change. That is the pace of change that mimics, somewhat mimics what high growth startup goes through.
00:27:46
Speaker
Not every human being can go through a lot of change in a very short amount of time. Personally, i love learning. I love learning at a really fast pace. And what i got to understand was that power is in conscious change and If you're growing personally, if you're growing professionally um ah that rapid of a pace, you almost need to expect that your role and ah your impact at the company, at a high growth startup is going to evolve.
00:28:22
Speaker
and If you are going through that unconsciously, it might lead to you to a place where ah you are no longer really ah sponge that is absorbing, but really being pushed around forcefully.
00:28:39
Speaker
But what I... make a habit of is really echoing the fact that we're all growing personally, professionally at a certain pace. um And if you're conscious about this change,
00:28:52
Speaker
ah what we are going to experience is decades of change in a very short amount of time. It's a lot of growth. And if you look at the number of businesses that were built in the and the States at the very least, there were five five million businesses, I believe, um that were started 2023 and the globe,
00:29:14
Speaker
and across the globe just a little over 10 businesses that actually became a unicorn. And the experience that people get in those businesses, those high growth businesses, is very different from businesses across the board.
00:29:31
Speaker
um So again, going back to that rapid change, ah it's something that if people embrace really gives them exponential push um in their careers, in their professional life, in their personal gu growth.
00:29:47
Speaker
And that's what I aim to instill with the people at the company. Like you said, you you grew the company from just a handful of employees not not that long ago to 70 people now.
00:30:00
Speaker
And i've I've seen some photos of on your LinkedIn and you've got a wonderfully diverse team. um how How does that work? You've you've clearly have your your your heritage, you've spent your adult years, your formative adult years in the United States, going through a variety of different startups and entrepreneurial entrepreneurial positions.
00:30:25
Speaker
How do you find working with such a diverse team and and employing your leadership skills to them? um I
Hiring and Fostering Diverse Perspectives
00:30:33
Speaker
definitely have always looked and continue to be mesmerized by it ah this perspective of learning really and aligning the goals of the people at the company with the goals of the business. So both are mutually growing in an upwards trajectory.
00:30:53
Speaker
and The other piece that I found out was as the company scales from ah two people to now 70 plus people 24 months,
00:31:06
Speaker
ah the shift happened where you are rolling up your sleeves and doing everything with your hands and suddenly now you have to work through people. You have no choice but to work through people.
00:31:18
Speaker
So the trick is to hire people that are smarter than you in those specific domains. um And once you've done that, and really consciously ah hide every single person because every single person is a percentage addition to the culture at this stage and even beyond this stage.
00:31:40
Speaker
And that's where if you peel back the onion, the diversity in the team comes in as well because ah the diversity in opinions, diversity in backgrounds actually brings in this rich ah perspective.
00:31:55
Speaker
And ah perspective what I like to think of perspective as is you want to go broad and then you want to go deep.
00:32:07
Speaker
So if you don't go broad enough, then you're not considering all possibilities and what it can be. Once you have the knowledge of how big it can be, then you're better informed um to go deeper where you need to go.
00:32:26
Speaker
That's how we make decision making at the company as well. ah So we bring all ideas to the table. ah For example, and Rev, we see this massive white space in the industry. There's a ton of opportunity.
00:32:39
Speaker
And focus is very important because most companies die of indigestion rather than starvation. So what we recently did was we did a crazy ideas exercise.
00:32:51
Speaker
So really from every single person at the company, we collected all sorts of ideas and all sorts of problems and pain points really that they see with our customers, put them on the whiteboard and really narrowed them down to what we're going to be accomplishing next quarter.
00:33:09
Speaker
So everybody has a say. Everybody is ah motivated to think like an owner. And if everybody brings in those diverse perspectives and thoughts, that is a winning recipe.
00:33:25
Speaker
it's It's great because
Family, Cultural Roots, and Motivation
00:33:26
Speaker
from from what I see, there's ah there's a red thread that that runs from what you described as as a humble origin, humble beginnings.
00:33:35
Speaker
But you've clearly kept that humility when you say that you hire people who are smarter than you, and understanding that you can't know everything, you can't do everything.
00:33:46
Speaker
but you then bring in people that you have to trust um because they are subject matter experts on something that perhaps is not necessarily your strength. I love that that connection and that consistency.
00:33:59
Speaker
not sted That's the way to win and I firmly believe that. I've seen some magic happen at the company because of exactly that.
00:34:12
Speaker
So have ah a kind of a funny question. So you've really evolved i growing up really in your adult life in in the US. So your your family, your your parents and and rest of the family are still in India.
00:34:28
Speaker
um Do they recognize you anymore? Are you overly Americanized? Because I know that I have Americanized quite significantly in the last years. That's a great question.
00:34:41
Speaker
they they my parents are absolutely absolutely they're back in india and i'm still very much um ah tied to the hip with them in a way ah because um i speak with them on a regular basis and they've really seen the growth in me as well and in a way we're tied in a way that uh they've seen the evolution to a point that they can they can pinpoint what those uh defining moments in my career in my all of my adult life in the states have been ah from their perspective because uh back to change a lot of the times uh you are
00:35:25
Speaker
consciously, unconsciously changing. And what I found is your parents are able to remind you and pinpoint those those fundamental moments where that change happened better than you.
00:35:40
Speaker
ah So it's almost as if they are ah on the passenger seat with me and ah and keeping me abreast of all this change that is happening in a very positive way. And yeah, absolutely there's cultural differences.
00:35:58
Speaker
ah They recently visited me as well. It was strange... ah stranger um ah dynamic where there was a war going on and they live close to the border of India. So I got a phone call ah recently and they weren't feeling safe. So I flew them out within 24 hours. They were with me. So we spent a couple of months together as well. They got to see the company. They got to see everybody.
00:36:27
Speaker
i Everybody I have at the company as well. ah with me. ah So that was a moment where I got in touch with those roots and those values and that upbringing again. And sometimes those reminders just give you um rejuvenated ah sense of motivation and passion ah that you take back at the company and and then further supercharge it.
00:36:56
Speaker
Well, first of all, I just want to say that I'm i'm glad that your parents are safe, given the situation that was going on some some time back. um that That's great that you you did that for them and brought them to the US for a short period of time.
00:37:10
Speaker
um I also think it's great how how you described it with having them, for example, sitting in the passenger seat with you the whole way. I mean, it really shows how you've really kept yourself ah connected to your to the routes and what guides you, as well as driving forward on a continuous basis as you learn and develop.
00:37:33
Speaker
Absolutely. i think that has been um ah massive driving force and it continues to be. ah So this, a lot of the success I've attributed to not just my upbringing, but really them being on the passenger seat and actually helping me navigate through the thick and thin.
00:37:54
Speaker
So
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
00:37:55
Speaker
now that you've gotten to this point. you've You've really developed, you've, as I said in the beginning, you you were featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
00:38:05
Speaker
What advice do you have for other ambitious students or entrepreneurs, people who are either in the US or outside? What would you tell them who want to follow in your footsteps?
00:38:18
Speaker
The first thing I would tell them is the limitations and the ah barriers to entry that we ah think about when we really want to tackle something that we feel passionate about or or or more psychological than you think.
00:38:42
Speaker
I'd say if you are a passionate entrepreneur or if you are a passionate person in general looking to make an impact All you need to do is get started.
00:38:54
Speaker
All you need to do is put one foot after the other, rather than thinking about, for example, you know i how would I talk to investors? Or who do I go to ah to to to build this technology?
00:39:09
Speaker
Or um I've never sold anything in my life before. These are all um ah caps that you put on yourself which are artificial and the best way to really ah make that impact and take that leap and take that jump is ah to immerse yourself and just take it step by step um and and true belief in yourself that Anybody can be anything, can do anything.
00:39:40
Speaker
This is the best time to be building, especially in this day and age. ah Companies are growing faster than ever. There's the lowest barrier to entry. ah So any entrepreneur, I definitely encourage them to take the leap.
00:39:53
Speaker
The other thing I would say is surround yourself ah with people who are better than you and surround yourself with people who you aspire to be because you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with.
00:40:04
Speaker
So if you are ever in doubt, just um ah just look look for those people and um um and and and go go spend time with them.
00:40:18
Speaker
ah Those are great words
Mentoring and Personal Growth
00:40:19
Speaker
of wisdom. I love that ah surrounding yourself with five people because you're the the average of them. It's a fantastic way to look at it. I've not heard of that before, at least not phrased like that.
00:40:30
Speaker
I think you would make ah an an incredible mentor. and And it sounds like you really mentor your your staff anyway on a daily basis. i I love mentoring and even early stage earlier stage founders than myself, um as well as any aspiring entrepreneurs, plus of course my team.
00:40:50
Speaker
I think that is just another piece of gratification that comes with building the company. ah you're You're servicing the industry, you're servicing the customer, which are also ah partaking in personal and professional growth of ah really amazing individuals.
00:41:08
Speaker
Great. Now that's fantastic. I think we'll probably wind down the episode now, or we're running down on the time. ah Any parting words of wisdom that you wanted to share last but not least, you just shared a great one. So um I'm digging deeper here.
00:41:23
Speaker
I'd say no entrepreneurial journey is ah is a straight path. If there was a recipe, then, you know, there would be, ah it would be a very different and landscape here.
00:41:42
Speaker
ah So what recommend to anybody who ah is looking to make an impact as an entrepreneur is to really dig deeper within and ah understand what your superpowers are.
00:42:00
Speaker
and what your motivations are and channel them towards that passion, basically. I think it it all it takes is really getting to know you from inside a little bit more, what motivates you, what drives you to get to a place where you are making that impact and getting that fulfillment and achieving what you need to achieve.
00:42:24
Speaker
yeah that's That's really great. you you You inspire me actually to turn the clock back 30 years and try doing it all over again.
00:42:33
Speaker
It's fun. ah yeah Just like this conversation, I think it's a lot of reflection as well for me, taking back a lot of great thoughts ah to the office really in a few minutes ah to instill in the company.
00:42:48
Speaker
Well, Adi, thank you very much for joining this week. I'm sure there will be a lot of interest in what you have to say in the episode. You've shared a lot and and i love your your journey, as you said, from humble beginnings to really soaring now um and and doing exactly what you love to do.
00:43:07
Speaker
Thank you for joining. Thank you John. Thanks for having me as well. This was a
Conclusion and Social Media Invitation
00:43:12
Speaker
unique but an amazing experience. Great. With that, I think I'm going to wind up the episode.
00:43:18
Speaker
I'd like to thank the listeners for joining in this week and we'll be back next week. In the meantime, keep on driving.
00:43:28
Speaker
Thank you for joining us on today's journey. Please remember to like and subscribe to The Auto Ethnographer and leave us a rating or comment. For more information, visit our website at auto-ethnographer.com.
00:43:40
Speaker
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