Avid traveller Shail Vinayak has a special affinity towards Amritsar Kulcha Chole

Shail Vinayak used to be a night owl, who's slowly trying to become a morning person. Growing up in Punjab, he had a simple life. "Like every other kid in the 90s, my life revolved around playing games, tuition and food and not electronics. The only exposure we had outside of Punjab was through my father who was brought up in Bombay."

His father is his role model, and inspired him to become an entrepreneur. The best advice he's received from his father is 'Start small, start quick'. Shail runs a small business called Nano Tech Chemical Brothers. His definition of success is being able to add value to society at large. "When someone who doesn't know you says they felt good about your product, that is success." His vision for his company drives him to wake up each morning and his favourite part of the job is R&D and Sales.

Shail says his life is an open book, "When I’m funny, I can be very funny, and sometimes end up making jokes that almost cross the line," he says. He adds that the movie 'Rush' describes his life right now and although he's not old enough to give advice, he's got two words for future entrepreneurs - 'Keep Hustling'. Xcelerator Ludhiana, for him, is an interesting programme that provides a lot of exposure, learning and networking.

In 2019, he travelled for almost 200 days and in 2021 he hopes to make up travel opportunities he lost out on during the pandemic, with Scandinavian countries on his bucket list. Someday he dreams to have a dinner party with Sadhguru, members of the Rothschild family and Elon Musk, with good conversation and some of his favourite Amritsari Kulcha Chole on the table.

He chooses tea over coffee, his favourite day of the week is Saturday and his favourite music genre Deep House. If he had to teach a subject in school, it would be Civic Sense with an emphasis on the need for children to learn good manners. In his free time, he likes to read, listen to music and work out. He is currently reading Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson.