Pranjal Nayak- The Awesome Startup Employee from Reverie Technologies

Monday October 15, 2012 , 5 min Read

As a part of our ‘Awesome Startup Employee Series‘, we bring to you the star developer from one of the upcoming tech startups in India, Reverie. Here, we catch up with Pranjal Nayak who has been a strong ‘product’ pillar for Reverie.

Pranjal joined Reverie as a fresh graduate. Before joining Reverie he had worked for 5 months as a project trainee in CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation (CMMACS) branch of National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL). An MCA grad from Tezpur University, Assam, Pranjal heard of Reverie from his classmate who had joined the firm as an intern. He liked Reverie’s vision and the lure of being a part of a setup where he could express himself openly made him apply for the job.

At Reverie, Pranjal works as the project leader (R&D). He enjoys working on the major technical R&D areas in Reverie that are core to the firm’s products. He has also lead some of the key customer accounts of Reverie.

He also adds how, like many other people joining a startup experience, his family was a bit apprehensive about my joining a startup. Most of the times parents dream of their children working at huge organizations. All it takes for convincing them is showing them the larger picture. Pranjal convinced his parents by explaining about the work and goal of Reverie.

Motivation

“The fact that I can see a project I have led get into the market motivates me. None of my peers I know of can boast of similar experience, especially the ones working in larger companies. When I see a product of Reverie, on a phone or in a Set Top Box available in the market, it gives me the ultimate satisfaction of joining a startup and also vindicates my decision.”

Life’s Fun at a Startup

“My favorite part of a startup life has to be the fact that I can work closely with the founders and freely express my suggestions and ideas directly with them, which would never be possible in any big setup. It is a pleasure to see my ideas implemented. Also, as and when a project/product is successful, the fact that I have been an integral part it gives me immense satisfaction. For example, one of the major customer deliveries I worked on at Reverie was having Reverie’s solutions on Qualcomm’s reference designs which are now commercially available in the market through companies like Micromax and Intex. This kind of an opportunity and the mental satisfaction I derive from the results would not have been possible this early in my career in a larger company.”

“The casual nature of dressing and talking in a start-up can get ingrained into the individual without us being conscious about it. I realized this with this funny incidence. Once I had gone for a technical integration to customer site/premises of a large company. I met an employee of that company on the road and asked for directions to their office. My casual approach gave him an impression that’s far from being of a serious purpose of technical integration. He took me to their office and wanted to register my name as a candidate for some fresher interview which was going on. When I said that I have come for technical integration and gave him my card the way he apologized but had a very surprised and funny look.”

5 years from now

An employee with a vision for the firm and himself is the best thing a startup can get.

“5 years from now I would love to see myself still in Reverie, with much larger responsibilities, of course. Hopefully, by then, Reverie would have grown from a very promising start-up to among one of the brightest product companies of India that other product/tech start-ups can look to emulate.”

Challenges at a Startup

When we asked him about the challenges he faced as a startup employee, he accentuated that he is totally satisfied and used to with the work at Reverie, and hence, it is hard to point out what he doesn’t like.

“The biggest challenge I faced in the initial year and half is that I had to learn a lot of things, new platforms, new languages etc, on my own in a startup environment and that too in a constrained time limit. It can be daunting at times, but the brighter side of that is that you learn the art of self learning. Even today I face the same challenges but I am certain it has helped me more than anything else as it has given me the ability and confidence to handle uncertainties (that are so typical of a start-up environment) much better.”

Message

“I would just like to share through you to all IT students starting their careers that although working for a startup has its own problems; one can never get the joy of success in a startup in an established setup. That joy of achievement definitely outweighs all other issues. Definitely it does for me.”

We wish Pranjal great times at Reverie! For Startup Jobs you can visit YourStory Job Board.

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