Never give up, never look back & never harbour regrets: Amith Agarwal, Co-Founder, AgriBazaar
The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one’s personality. It has its origins in a parlour game popularised by Marcel Proust, the French essayist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.
Amith Agarwal, Co - Founder & CEO, , calls himself a startup marathoner. Having started StarAgri and StarAgri Finance, currently, he onto his third Agri startup, www.agribazaar.com. His new venture is promising as Indian agriculture readies itself for its next digital disruption.
Amith has done Executive Management Program from Harvard University, USA and studied MBA (Marketing) from Chetna Institute of Management &Research
Here are his responses to our Proust questionnaire...
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being able to be at peace with one’s current self. Not worrying or overthinking things.
What is your greatest fear?
COVID19 and how it’s spread can endanger humankind and its very existence.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Often, I am soft on people and avoid taking hard decisions. At times, my business and I suffer due to this and we have to live with some level of inefficiency.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Falsehood and artificiality. It puts me off!
Which living person do you most admire?
I admire Uday Kotak as he is true nationalist who has built an Indian financial institution which is admired globally. His sense of candour and simplicity, even after such success, is something I try to practise.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Lavish vegetarian food with lots of ghee and butter! As I am dieting, it has become an extravagance.
What is your current state of mind?
Alert, yet compassionate about everything happening around us.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
An MBA degree.
On what occasion do you lie?
When I am late from office and my kids are waiting for me to take them out. I lie that have almost reached home to keep them happy. Otherwise, I don’t see a need to lie if you lead a transparent and truthful life.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My belly! I try to exercise regularly and I am working on losing weight.
Which living person do you most despise?
Nobody as such but I don’t like dictators and tyrants.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty and hard work.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Inner beauty and a caring approach towards people around her.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
‘Actually’.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My family, my kids and the 3 start-ups that I have built.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Networking ability.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Trusting people blindly and then having a bad experience. I need to trust people but I also need to do checks and balances.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
After completing my MBA degree, I started my own startup venture when start-ups were not so fashionable. I did so with three partners who are now my dear friends.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
I would like to be a PE investor as I envy their role of getting to meet young entrepreneurs with great ideas on a regular basis.
Where would you most like to live?
India. I am proud of my country and feel it is the best place in the world.
What is your most treasured possession?
My family and my friends.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Any medical disease without cure.
What is your favourite occupation?
Being a startup entrepreneur – my current profession.
What is your most marked characteristic?
My smiling face whenever I meet anyone.
What do you most value in your friends?
Trustworthiness and their genuine/unbiased advice.
Who are your favourite writers?
Gurcharan Das is a writer I like for his ability to marry business situations with Indian mythological learnings.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Mowgli for his simplicity, fun and jovial character. His love for animals and being able to be a friend of nature.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Mahatma Gandhi for his ability to bring change at a mass scale with a democratic leadership style.
Who are your heroes in real life?
The Indian farmer is the biggest hero in my life. Farmers work hard and untiringly to feed the entire world and yet have limited demands and expectations.
What is your favourite name?
Amith / Amitabh.
What is it that you most dislike?
Lies and humans who eat bats.
What is your greatest regret?
I don’t have any.
How would you like to die?
Peacefully, in my sleep.
What is your favourite journey?
Travelling to rural India and the hinterlands is something I cherish. I get to see the real India and also meet farmers whom I admire for their simplicity, warmth and frankness.
What is your motto?
Never give up, never look back and live a life with no regrets. Enjoy today and live it to your fullest.