As an executive in the corporate sector, Samatha Rani Chaganti was happy with a permanent and well-paid job that got her all materialistic comforts –a beautiful home, a wonderful spouse and international holidays.
But frequent visits and a year-long stay in the US was an eye-opener. “I noticed that Americans, especially the youngsters, live life to the fullest making the best of their holidays. That set me thinking about how a large population of youth back home in India is reduced to ‘cyber coolies’, sacrificing the most precious years of life for transitory comforts. This young brigade comprises expensively educated and highly intelligent graduates who waste their talent performing exhausting, mindlessly repetitive tasks to keep the ‘glossed over’ corporate sector thriving,” she says.
Samatha did what she thought was the next best thing. She opted out of the corporate rat race and set up The Dynamo Doer (TDD), a Hyderabad-based firm that imparts advanced life coaching and mentorship to executives, professionals and start-ups/entrepreneurs.
After schooling and graduation in Guntur, she did a Masters in software engineering from BITS Pilani and landed a job in a corporate giant in campus placements. “I was good in my work but somehow I started looking for something beyond. As a product manager, I was designing products for clients in North America and Canada. The time zone difference had us working late nights sacrificing our personal lives. I would frequently travel to the US and find people enjoying life beyond their office hours.”
Samatha returned and looked carefully at her colleagues around. “People around me were very talented and were passionate about things close to their heart. Some were interested in music, some in dance and others in social causes. But we had all turned into zombies, working relentlessly to keep the offshore companies thriving.”
Fortunately, says Samatha, entrepreneurship has become the new career destination for many who want to live their dream thanks to the Government identifying the startup industry as a thrust area.
While a majority of graduates in this country are still looking at full time jobs, there is an elite minority leaving their highly-paid full-time jobs to set up their own business. “But life-changing professional choices and entrepreneurial journey as a startup is not a cake walk. One needs a navigator and a support system. While it is a great time to be alive as an entrepreneur, there is a need to have the right coaches and mentors to stay focused and achieve success. And the TDD fulfils that need,” she says.
“Coaching is not streamlined in India. We have executive coaches to train top business leaders and the well-heeled but the mainstream public has nobody to rely on for an outcome-driven training programme. I want to fill this gap,” she says.
Point to the fact that almost nine out of 10 startups are failing and she says it is mainly because of lack of a sound knowledge about the target market. “Even before validating the idea, people rush into operational activity like taking a loan and hiring an office. If you are lucky, the venture would click but one should be prepared for the flip side too.”
She says phrases like leap of faith, moment of truth and ‘Aha’ moments may inspire one to chase the big dream of entrepreneurship but there is no silver bullet that gives a winning formula to achieve success. “TDD gives clients a perspective that helps them stay focussed on the business goals and outcome, keep their calm and strive to achieve what they had set out for.
More details can be had by visiting www.thedynamodoer.com
