Thinking about 2020 resolutions? Take ideas from these famous young entrepreneurs

It's that time of the year again when we bid goodbye to 2019. And before we start celebrating the onset of the new year, resolutions is all we can think of.

Be it joining a gym or quitting some habits or many such promises that we have made to ourselves this new year.

As we welcome 2020 with new dreams, agendas in our minds, young entrepreneurs also have their own set of resolutions. YSWeekender spoke to entrepreneurs on what they want to change, implement, and are resolute to do in 2020.

Here’s what they have to say.

Being grateful

The Co-founder and CEO of UrbanClap, Abhiraj Singh Bhal’s resolutions include being grateful for what he has and does, but also being hungry and relentless for more. 

He wants to spend more time with his wife and newborn baby girl as well. Abhiraj also wishes to continue working out at his Crossfit gym at least four days a week and concentrate on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

UrbanClap reported a 150 percent jump in operating revenue to Rs 116 crore in FY19. In 2020, Abhiraj expects UrbanClap to grow 3X while focussing on creating delightful experiences for customers and partners.

Grandfather, health, and wealth 

For 30-year-old Ritesh Malik, taking the road less travelled seems to have made all the difference. A doctor by profession, Ritesh has donned many hats over the years – both as an investor and as an entrepreneur.

His last venture, Innov8 became a part of the hospitality unicorn Oyothis year.

In 2020, Ritesh has a clear plan to focus on health, startups, and his grandfather. Since being an entrepreneur can be a lonely journey, Ritesh wants to spend more time on his mental and physical wellbeing, create his health records, and digitise them.

He is also resolute to invest in twice the number of startups that he did last year, and spend more time with his grandfather.

Having a boring day

IIT Delhi alumni and Co-Founder and CEO of NanoClean, Prateek Sharma, who gives us clean air at Rs 10, yearns for a boring day, quality time with his mother, and mindfulness.

Being an entrepreneur, Prateek says his life has always been an evolving cycle of ups and downs, adding that the journey so far has been full of excitements with a tremendous opportunity to learn.

His new year resolves to have one boring day each month for the whole year. 

“This day would have a morning to walk down a long road all by myself, not thinking about what tomorrow holds for me. A five-hour sleep in the afternoon and waking up without any regrets. An evening, where I take my mother shopping. And finally, a night where I can just sit with her, scrolling through the photos that were taken that day to laugh about it and post it on social media,” Prateek adds.

Stop saying “I don’t’ have time”

Twenty-two-year-old Simar Malhotra, a Stanford graduate and author of two books, just want to stop saying, “I don’t’ have time”.

Simar, who is looking at ‘rebranding and reasserting’ the value of Indian arts, literature, and culture through her initiative InkPot has the following plans for 2020.

“I want this year to be a year of improvement and incremental change. This year is that zero-period that allows you to make up for all the unfinished promises, the half-done resolutions,” Simar says.

“For years, my resolutions have been result-oriented – go to the gym every day or socialise more. But this year, I want to focus on the one thing that’s prevented me from following through, time. In 2020, I resolve to manage my time better, work more efficiently, and make time for the things I wanted to do. Be it working longer on pitch-decks or meeting with friends and family. I want to stop using the paucity of time as an excuse for an incompletion. I want to stop saying, ‘I don’t have time’ and make some instead,” she adds. 

Some of her do’s are, waking up one hour early, reading for 30 minutes before going to bed, making a list of things that have been accomplished in the day, joining a singing class over the weekend, and going to the gym. (For real this time!)

While she has promising resolutions to keep, she also does not want to binge-watch, spend much time on Instagram, and procrastinate after in 2020.

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Learning outside of work

Another millennial founder, Smriti Tomar wants to explore new things in 2020.

Through her company InvestoAsia, Smriti has been helping retail investors to invest in international markets, especially in China and South Korea.

Since entrepreneurs get extremely engrossed in their product and business and lose out on exploring new things, in 2020, Smriti wants to learn new things beyond finance and technology for fresh perspectives and knowledge.

Smriti also wants to make efforts to meet people she looks up to – women leaders, businessmen, successful stock investors – and adopt and follow a good quality from each. She also wishes to travel more, both for business and visiting family.

“Travel decreases the learning curve exponentially, I believe the kind of experience and exposure travel brings, no number of books and courses can. Also, in the end, all the efforts are to see my parents proud, so why not go down there to see it more often?” Smriti adds.

She also wants to learn how to delegate work for a healthy work-life balance and setting more realistic goals for better business direction. Further, Smriti says she wants to let go of the ‘make do’ attitude, whether it’s an old laptop hindering the team’s productivity or hiring a new employee.

“Drop what’s not working and move on. If something is taking too much time and effort and is yet not getting realised (partnerships, products, etc.), get over with it. Do not spend too much time with yourself. Instead, spend it with people that you look up to. The more time you give them, the more you start acting like them. And lastly, don’t be rigid on predesigned track. What we plan and what is the outcome may be different and could also be better!” Smriti says.

One resolution every day

We know him as the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)’s protector, or the person guarding airports in Delhi and Mumbai with his cybersecurity weapons. He has assessed cyber walls of companies like WhatsApp, Google Pay, BookMyShow, MiPay, etc., but Lucideus Technologies’ CEO and Co-founder, Saket Modi (29) is more than just a computer science graduate, an entrepreneur, and an ethical hacker.

He says an entrepreneur needs to take one resolution every day.

“Our resolutions are made every day and keeps evolving, more like a daily resolution rather than a yearly one! One calendar year = one startup day,” he says.

(Edited by Suman Singh)

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