Interview with Akshay Dipali | Founder and CEO at Nasch

As part of our relentless pursuit to identify and share with our community some of the unique and compelling startup stories from the ecosystem, this weekend we spoke to another passionate entrepreneur Akshay Dipali to understand more about his journey, his vision and the way forward. He is the Founder and CEO of Nasch. His startup helps businesses engage their employees, analyze the culture & help grow the organization. Let’s learn more about his incredible journey so far!

Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Akshay:

We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;

I always had the brain of an engineer and a heart of an entrepreneur. I just didn’t know how to get into it.

A few years ago, when I worked at the corporate, I was a victim of bad culture. That really got me thinking about how to solve this problem so that people don’t go through the same things that I did.”

But I didn’t know anything about culture, the management or any other employee functionality for that matter. All I knew was that I wanted to solve that pain point.

So naturally, I spent time talking to a lot of CXOs and HRs and tried to understand what kind of problems they face and how they solve it. And clearly, there were a few products in the market solving this problem, but yet the problem still persisted.

There was a huge gap in the product and the benefit. I soon realized that the gap came from the lack of understanding of how people and their minds work. That’s where I decided to marry psychology and technology with culture. Since then, things have been working really good for Nasch.”

What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?

There’s no 1 reason really. It’s a culmination of many things that attracted me to this. I worked in corporate for a year and hated it. Most of the organisations are designed to attract cogs in their machines. I never wanted to be that.

I was always a problem solver. So being through that rather short corporate rut was enough for me to pursue entrepreneurship.

‘Nasch’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup?

Nasch is the fusion of last names of John Nash (the pioneer behind game theory) and Solomon Asch (famous psychologist whose studies focused on choice-making, conformity, etc – just like our nudges)

During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?

Being in the employee engagement space, covid actually accelerated our business.

The product was timely. Since we were helping organizations build happy workplaces, many CXOs were receptive to what we had to provide.”

How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?

Couple of years ago, I mapped different aspects of my life. I know where I want to be, what I want to be doing, what I want to be driving, where I want to be living, etc 5, 10, 15 years in the future.

Then I broke down the goals into many steps. This highly motivates me because I’ve gained some clarity this way. But don’t get me wrong, I hate planning. I haven’t planned my life, I’ve just mapped it. I know of the bigger picture that I want to achieve, but not the process and the path to get there.

This keeps me alive for all the challenges and flexible enough to manoeuvre as and when required.

What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?

(i) Taking breaks and small vacations are necessary to keep your sanity.

(ii) People matter more than ideas.

(iii) Know where you want to go, but keep the plans to get there fluid.

In your opinion, what is more necessary: Ideas or a good team for a successful startup?

I think a fusion of both. Ideas are dime a dozen, but if you don’t have the right team to execute them then even those ideas are worthless.”

But it should be in stages – entrepreneurs know that once you think up an idea, you can’t just start executing without knowing the market.

So the homework that follows the conception of the idea Is really important. Once the idea is validated then the power shifts from the idea to the team because now it’s all about execution.

Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?

No matter how rapidly the world changes, the leadership traits should be the constant among the chaos in my opinion. The most important trait would be discipline, followed by allegiance to the team and the company.

As long as leaders show consistency here, they can weather any storm.

Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?

One of the things that worked really well for me that people discount is the power of serendipity. During the pandemic, I signed up for many serendipity platforms and started meeting new and interesting people every week.

This really allowed me to make some great friends, even some of these led to business conversions.

I think people should definitely give it a try!

We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?

1) Know what makes you tick and follow that intuition into a passion.

2) Life is about balance. Don’t overdo anything, including work. Spend time reading, going out with friends, hanging out with family, working a little, helping others, taking a vacation every now and then, and watching a good show/movie. It’s all about the balance.

3) Have a confidante with whom you can share everything. It could be a mentor, spouse or best friend. Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. You need to get someone by your side.

Please don’t forget to read – Interview with Ojus Sharma | Co-Founder and CEO at Applify

BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.

Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.

Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Akshay:

We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;

I always had the brain of an engineer and a heart of an entrepreneur. I just didn’t know how to get into it.

A few years ago, when I worked at the corporate, I was a victim of bad culture. That really got me thinking about how to solve this problem so that people don’t go through the same things that I did.”

But I didn’t know anything about culture, the management or any other employee functionality for that matter. All I knew was that I wanted to solve that pain point.

So naturally, I spent time talking to a lot of CXOs and HRs and tried to understand what kind of problems they face and how they solve it. And clearly, there were a few products in the market solving this problem, but yet the problem still persisted.

There was a huge gap in the product and the benefit. I soon realized that the gap came from the lack of understanding of how people and their minds work. That’s where I decided to marry psychology and technology with culture. Since then, things have been working really good for Nasch.”

What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?

There’s no 1 reason really. It’s a culmination of many things that attracted me to this. I worked in corporate for a year and hated it. Most of the organisations are designed to attract cogs in their machines. I never wanted to be that.

I was always a problem solver. So being through that rather short corporate rut was enough for me to pursue entrepreneurship.

‘Nasch’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup?

Nasch is the fusion of last names of John Nash (the pioneer behind game theory) and Solomon Asch (famous psychologist whose studies focused on choice-making, conformity, etc – just like our nudges)

During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?

Being in the employee engagement space, covid actually accelerated our business.

The product was timely. Since we were helping organizations build happy workplaces, many CXOs were receptive to what we had to provide.”

How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?

Couple of years ago, I mapped different aspects of my life. I know where I want to be, what I want to be doing, what I want to be driving, where I want to be living, etc 5, 10, 15 years in the future.

This keeps me alive for all the challenges and flexible enough to manoeuvre as and when required.

What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?

(i) Taking breaks and small vacations are necessary to keep your sanity.

(ii) People matter more than ideas.

(iii) Know where you want to go, but keep the plans to get there fluid.

In your opinion, what is more necessary: Ideas or a good team for a successful startup?

I think a fusion of both. Ideas are dime a dozen, but if you don’t have the right team to execute them then even those ideas are worthless.”

But it should be in stages – entrepreneurs know that once you think up an idea, you can’t just start executing without knowing the market.

So the homework that follows the conception of the idea Is really important. Once the idea is validated then the power shifts from the idea to the team because now it’s all about execution.

Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?

No matter how rapidly the world changes, the leadership traits should be the constant among the chaos in my opinion. The most important trait would be discipline, followed by allegiance to the team and the company.

As long as leaders show consistency here, they can weather any storm.

Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?

One of the things that worked really well for me that people discount is the power of serendipity. During the pandemic, I signed up for many serendipity platforms and started meeting new and interesting people every week.

This really allowed me to make some great friends, even some of these led to business conversions.

I think people should definitely give it a try!

We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?

1) Know what makes you tick and follow that intuition into a passion.

2) Life is about balance. Don’t overdo anything, including work. Spend time reading, going out with friends, hanging out with family, working a little, helping others, taking a vacation every now and then, and watching a good show/movie. It’s all about the balance.

3) Have a confidante with whom you can share everything. It could be a mentor, spouse or best friend. Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. You need to get someone by your side.

Please don’t forget to read – Interview with Ojus Sharma | Co-Founder and CEO at Applify

BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.

Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.

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