Challenges Begone: A Spunky Career Advisory Platform Founder's Story
Afraid of challenges? Can a woman become a successful business leader? Mentor and business woman Suhruta Kulkarni puts all those doubts to rest. This is the story of a woman who fell in love with challenges. When the idea of a startup began growing in her head, one of her friends declared that it would never happen. What Suhruta did next defined her for the rest of her entrepreneurial career. To know more, HerMoneyTalks caught up with this savvy entrepreneur, who is also an IIM Ahmedabad alum, an investment banker, a consultant, a power sector professional, and a Harvard published case author.
The friend challenged Suhruta that in the first year that if she couldn’t earn a specific amount running into lakhs, she should go back to a corporate job. That was the turning point in Suhruta’s career. She successfully achieved her target by building her dream venture, GoCrackIt. From then on, there was no looking back.
GoCrackIt is a personalized career advisory platform with 300+ mentors across different industries and domains. Suhruta had a firm vision to help students and professionals in choosing their careers successfully. This business woman is an expert mentor, and envisions helping people in fulfilling their career goals.
Observation And Hard work – Must Haves For An Entrepreneur
“I was in the third year of my engineering college. One day, I observed the sales at a Samosa shop at Dadar in Mumbai. Right then, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” reminisces Suhruta with a smile. The observer in her calculated the profits of that shop owner as he sold at least 100 samosas in 15 minutes, which was then selling for around Rs.8.
Suhruta then got into NTPC—India’s largest power generation company—as an electrical engineer after college. Her inner voice motivated her to move on and she pursued her MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. She got placed in Ernst & Young as an investment banker.
I was in the third year of my engineering college. One day, I observed the sales at a Samosa shop at Dadar in Mumbai. Right then, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
After 3 years, she ventured into business by starting her first consultancy firm, LKP Power Advisors, and provided strategic and financial advisory for power and infra sectors.
“For a woman with children of age less than 8 years, it’s very difficult to prioritize things despite all the available support,” explains Suhruta about the challenges of women entrepreneurs.
Know Your Investments First
Suhruta raised the seed funding requirements for her firm through IIMB Innovations for expansion while she was expecting her baby. This confident mother opines that if one creates a sound business model and growth plan for their venture, everything becomes fairly doable and profitable. Meeting of working capital requirements becomes a herculean task at times. But Suhruta was equal to the task.
Financial independence is a major lever to come out of the suppressive lives that women have been experiencing since ages.
The GoCrackIt founder tries to build a sustainable and profitable business model through her organization. She also reveals that investors do not prefer growth oriented startups for funding, in a society where hyper-growth is favored. Making trade-offs on investing funds on short term vis-à-vis long term is a hectic task, feels Suhruta.
“Financial independence is a major lever to come out of the suppressive lives that women have been experiencing since ages,” adds Suhruta, emphasizing on the importance of financial well-being in her life.
Three Money Mantras Of Suhruta
(1) Understand your cash flow
(2) Negotiate well – do not leave money on the table
(3) Invest in high quality resources for growth
Suhruta ends the conversation with a secret tip to beginners: “Always stay financially independent and do not give away money to someone else for investments.”
Suhruta and her husband started with a pilot with IIM Bangalore. Thereafter, she quickly moved to IIM Calcutta, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow, ISB, and SPJIMR. So far, she has worked with 5000+ students across B-Schools in India. Suhruta remains an inspiration for thousands of women who too want to climb the peak of entrepreneurial achievement.
