Unravel the dark, untold side of entrepreneurship with Kunal Shah, only at TechSparks 2020

Behind the recent, hilarious, and much-beloved CRED ads that feature various Bollywood bigwigs lampooning themselves (along with Bappi da’s very earworm-ey ‘download CRED baby’ jingle) is a man who rarely backs down from calling it like he sees it - second-time entrepreneur, CEO and founder of CRED, Kunal Shah.

Scroll down his Twitter timeline, read any interview he has given the press, or watch him in a freewheeling conversation, and it’ll be abundantly evident that he doesn’t sugar-coat his opinions, nor does he shy away from living in a startup world that is not all sunshine and rainbows - he has accepted the trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur, and he doesn’t romanticise the struggle.

Building a business is a lonely journey, often paved with more failures and pitfalls than successes. Founders often regale people with colourful stories about how they landed their first funding or hit those many important milestones - but very few talk about the mental anguish they undergo, their estrangement from friends and family, the years of anxiety they experience because of being put through the wringer, and the many times they almost give up.

At Kunal’s TechSparks 2020 session this year, we want to pull the curtain back on the dark, untold side of entrepreneurship.

At his session, we want to have an honest and open discussion about why there’s this almost toxic positivity in the startup world that wants to give the impression that breaking into success is one amazing decision after the other, or that staying up late at night, barely showering or eating and being excessively stressed out is a sign of someone who’s definitely going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg.

Fatal optimists might want to believe that “finding your tribe” of startup founders who are all walking very similar paths is the way to cope with the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, but more often than not there’s an imperceptible, ugly undercurrent of jealousy and competition. Whether that’s good for fostering a more innovative, cut-throat ecosystem where only the strongest survive, or something that makes the expedition that much harder is a matter of personal opinion - but is there a way to not do it so desolately or without having mental breakdowns every six months? We’re hoping Kunal has the answers.

Catch this rare conversation between Kunal Shah and YourStory Media Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma only at TechSparks 2020, India’s largest startup-tech conference, coming to your homes in an all-virtual experience on 26-30 Oct 2020.

For this and other such events, check out our TechSparks 2020 website.

You can also book your place for this all-virtual conference via Paytm Insider or BookMyShow or TownScript.