At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited passionate entrepreneur – Piyush Patodia, for an exclusive interview with us. Piyush is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with 20+ years of experience in scaling multiple companies and consistently building great teams across verticals. He is the Founder of Firestorm. Let’s learn more about his inspirational journey and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I completed my schooling from Modern School Vasant Vihar in Delhi and further pursued an Economics Degree from Hindu College (Delhi) and further an MBA from IMI (Delhi). My aim from my school days has been to assist entrepreneurs to solve problems and thus started my journey to become a consultant. Through my qualifications, I received adequate understanding of business and economic environments – this was the base to build upon while I started my consulting career.
My first job was with Ernst & Young in their Business Advisory Division where I learnt from the best. The grooming and learning I received were phenomenal and I was able to quickly adapt to understanding various new environments and present practical solutions to my clients.
Coming from a business family, I understood the basics of being an entrepreneur and what is practical vs theoretical advice. This distinction has played a significant role in shaping me as a much sought after consultant by my clients.”
In 2015, seeing some gaps which larger professional service firms could not fulfil, I formed Firestorm – a boutique management consulting firm with a view to unlocking explosive growth in organisations.
My passion to help companies and resolve issues has helped me in garnering a roster of good clients (approx. 100) within a short span of 5 years. With a small agile and highly capable team, Firestorm delivers exceptional value to our clients and helps them grow in a much more coordinated manner.”
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
Entrepreneurship is really a mindset and I have approached my 16 years of corporate career as my own business. This perspective has given me the passion and ownership required to focus and align better with the overall company visions.
I saw a gap in professional services and in my career, I felt that the Indian market is underserviced. Entrepreneurs have good ideas and successful businesses – they even have a full plan for growth charted out. However, what they essentially lack is the team which can implement and a structure to track the milestones. Strategy consulting teaches us to give advice and stay independent – but this was not what my clients were asking. They wanted us to handhold them in the implementation and be part of their team for an extended period of time. This has now become the core offering for Firestorm, wherein we help clients not only chart their growth trajectory but also help in implementing our advice on the ground to help them achieve it.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
I am always guided by one thought – Have I delivered exceptional value to my customer?”
If the answer is yes, then money and future business sustainability is ensured. I am never guided by money to serve my customers, but on their intent of growth of their respective companies and if I can actually and practically help them.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Consulting is my passion and I don’t get stressed with challenging work – rather I thrive on such events. On balancing my mental state such that I am thinking clearly for my clients and their interests, I meditate and spend time with my family in fun-filled activities. My children are my stress busters and I love spending time with them. I read and listen to music to enrich myself and also declutter my mind.
I also believe that clear and crisp communication with my team and clients has helped in setting the right expectations and build a strong bridge to get things done collaboratively and much more effectively.
What has worked well for you so far?
For me, exceptional client delivery and quality of work with respect to the amount charged has been the game-changer. We deliver world-class consulting (which is comparable to the best in the world) while charging a fraction of what they would charge. Our clients are our biggest assets and also our biggest propagators – they help in spreading the word as well as giving us repeat business. It is with pride I can say that within a short span of 5 years, we have done work for almost 100 clients across more than 200 interventions. We have helped small and medium firms unlock their potential for growth and made a small contribution to building this great Indian nation.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I have just started on this journey and we are far from over – as Robert Frost says “There are Miles before I sleep ….”.
I have a very ambitious and passionate vision for Firestorm and when we achieve that in the next 5-10 years, I would call it a success.
One of the biggest qualities I believe is important for success is honesty and truth.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
There is no right time to start and neither a right way to start. As an entrepreneur, it needs to be an “Ah-Ha” moment and then it will drive you. Of course the basics need to be always kept in mind. Ultimately, the business model needs to be inherently “for-profit” to make sure there is long term sustainability. There is a very interesting saying I follow: “In the end, everything will be ok – if it’s not ok, then it’s not the end”.
Failure should not stop us – it should propel us further.
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.
