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 Seasoned Entrepreneur – Sanjeet Kuhad, for an exclusive interview with us. Sanjeet is a Passionate Entrepreneur, Mentor, Tech-leader and Founder & CEO At Schleife Automation and SIAA (Schleife Institute Of Advanced Automation). Let’s learn more about his exciting journey as an entrepreneur, his background and his advice for our growing community:
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Tell us a bit about your background, your journey as an entrepreneur and about your startups, please;
I am a serial Entrepreneur and Technocrat. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the technology and at that time only I decided to be an engineer. During my graduation, I read intensively about good entrepreneurs like Michael Dell, Ratan Tata, Narayana Murthy, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and many others. That’s how my interest shifted towards entrepreneurship and later became an obsession. After my graduation in engineering, I studied different technologies through numerous opportunities for training and internships.
I started giving lectures and seminars on multiple technologies at IITs and other institutions pan India. In between, I started my freelance and elite talent acquisition platform-Leaflancer which didn’t turn out well and eventually I had to close that. It was a big failure and setback for me but on the other side, it was a great learning. Later on, I got engaged with many start-ups in product development. I have also served the All India Council for Robotics & Automation as CTO which was quite challenging.”
In 2019 I was honoured with the prestigious REX Karmaveer Global Fellowship, global civilian coveted Karmaveer Chakra Award organized by iCONGO in partnership with United Nations.
Currently, I am working passionately on my two start-ups: Schleife Automation and SIAA (Schleife Institute of Advanced Automation)
Schleife Automation – is an Automation solution company which develops technology solutions in LoRa WAN, AI, RPA and ROS for multiple industries like Healthcare, Agriculture, Infrastructure & Manufacturing. Basically, it is a B2B company.
SIAA – We are committed to technology and skill up-gradation in the same. SIAA provides research assistance and skill up-gradation solutions to corporates, professionals and academia in advanced technologies. SIAA has been nominated in top ten most promising IoT training companies of India in 2019.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Since the beginning, I am very clear about entrepreneurship and chose it as a career. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It’s something which comes from within and a commitment to bring a change in society through innovation and impact life. You need to be ready for challenges and failures. Developing technology solutions and products gave me that opportunity that anybody cannot do in a 9-5 job culture.
How do you find the niche that you’re in?
I am an engineering graduate and always fascinated about latest technologies. Since the very beginning of my career, I am working on advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Robotics which are taking over the world. These technologies play a huge role in social equality and the development of the nation. Our IoT solutions in healthcare are directly impacting the lives and give immense satisfaction. Our priority to quality over quantity makes us unique in this segment. Schleife Automation works in collaboration with global technology partners for the development of high-quality products with global standards.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Well, now I don’t bother about pressure and stress but In the beginning, it was quite difficult to convince people for the idea. But a repetitive failure makes you less prone to mistakes and use to of the pressure and stress. Competition is huge in our domain, especially with international players. But we are determined and self-motivated enough to handle all this. Things are turning out good now and we are getting success in creating high-quality products.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
Particularly, one strategy is not enough to handle a start-up. We follow an agile strategy in development and execution. We have to change according to the changing dynamics. I mostly believe in one strategy and that is ‘don’t let your focus deter from your failure, be confident enough to handle setbacks and move again in the search of the path of success’.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There are few that you can learn it on your way up towards success. According to me, the keys to success are commitment, hard work and persistence.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
What I have learned through my start-up journey is you must be mentally strong and ready for all kinds of setbacks. If you are in your twenties or early thirties and planning for a start-up, you must be strong enough to handle economic, physical and mental pain. But if you are committed enough to your vision then at the end, the outcome would be sweeter than your pain.
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.
