At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring to our community some of the meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our community. This week we invited Urvisha Koradia – Founder & CEO of PitchBooks, for an interview with us to understand more about her journey so far. She is a passionate entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience in the financial sector. She has worked with global companies in different fields with top level management as well as boutique investment banks and venture capitals. Urvisha is highly ambitious and enjoys learning about new technologies and innovative startups. Her startup PitchBooks has recently been awarded by FiNext Dubai 2020 for Excellence in Finance. Let’s read about her inspiring journey!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Urvisha:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I started my career as an analyst at JPMorgan Chase after graduation. After quitting in 2010 I started working as a freelancer to work independently with companies in India and Globally through freelance platforms. Having worked with many clients and built a portfolio I started Pitch Books as an entrepreneur and slowly had a team and partner associates to help scale and provide quality services to startups, boutique investment banks, corporates, and many others.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Entrepreneurship is all about passion and having the inner drive to work beyond the framework and specifications of a job profile. There are no limitations and restrictions to let your ideas, thoughts, and capabilities be implemented.
If you want to think BIG you have to be able to go that path to completely free your mind. I wanted to work for myself to unleash my potential for creative thinking.”
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
When I started Pitch Books 5 years back there were very few players in this industry to help startups and even boutique investment banks who have limited resources for creating documents. However, as people realized there is a spurt in the startup ecosystem globally, many players got into the offerings that we provide. Our competitive edge, however, is that we provide high-quality work and have experience across sectors.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Luckily the field that we are in is very interesting as we come across various innovative startups with great potential. The motivating factor is how we can help such companies bring their products and services to the ever-evolving markets. To be a part of such a disruptive age of technology keeps your mind active and receptive to many new things. Also, I am currently in the process of developing something niche based on AI to help make life easier for many users who need to raise funds from investors.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
The biggest challenges we faced are associated with hiring members with the right skillset. Quality is extremely important in our business which differentiates us from the rest and we need people who are able to work without much guidance. However, we have managed to work with a few dedicated resources who are capable of handling projects and we aim to tackle this issue in the future by working towards more technology-based solutions.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Emotions in business to a certain level have helped me greatly in customer acquisition and hence I believe has played a major role in PitchBooks growth. Having understood the concerns of many startups and aligning their needs with our offerings has given comfort to many of them. This connection helps them choose us over other players. Money is obviously the priority but I believe if the value creation process is right for others, the money will automatically come as an outcome of it.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Being the sole proprietor it can get overwhelming to deal with many things simultaneously like handling client meetings and dealing with their expectations, assigning and delegating work to different team members, coordinating various other activities, and much more. Over a period of time, I have learned that there are some things that I have control over while others I don’t. Mindfulness about this and acceptance helps in seeing things from a different perspective. Yoga, meditation, and spiritual practices from outside my work life help in dealing with stress in a better manner.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
Emily Dickinson once said,
“If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. Over a period of time”
this strategy has been fruitful in growing as a person as well as the company.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Keep Learning, No substitute for hard work, Mindfulness as to which actions generate productivity and which are wasting your time, Be self-driven, Take risks and challenges.
What advice would you give to someone starting out particularly women entrepreneurs?
I have always believed that women entrepreneurs have a deep sense of responsibility and are extremely self-driven to achieve their dreams. From my personal experience of being a woman, I would advise whoever is starting out new to have no inhibitions and let your own confidence move you steadily upward. The energy you put in overtime will definitely show and prove its own results.
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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.
