Starting In The Unsexy

This week, through to the weekend, 3 Indians made it to the semis/ finals of the World’s, a veritable pinnacle of their disciplines.

R Praggnanandhaa, all of 18, and the youngest ever to do so, made it to the FIDE Chess World Cup Finals, losing to probably the greatest ever at Chess, Magnus Carlsen.

Neeraj Chopra (with other 2 Indians) is into yet another World’s final, and as the World No.1 with his season’s best day 2 days back, looks all set for more glory.

HS Prannoy, after years in the shadow of Srikanth and now Lakshya Sen, ended his dream run in the BWF World Championships in the semis, losing to the Thai World #3.

All on foreign soil.
All stories that have surpassed seemingly insurmountable odds.
All in sports that are not so glamorous.

It brings me to one of our life lessons, learnt early. Sometimes, choosing the unsexy is better. It may not be the one that all opt for. It may sound the wrong thing to do, especially when you are starting off. Commercial awards, fame and recognition, especially early, will not be easy to come. Building super star teams around you may not be that easy. But as long as one believes and keeps at it, all these odds get surmounted with time.

Not very different from what we started out in B2B with OfBusiness and Oxyzo back in 2016. Consumer internet was then, and likely still is, everywhere and the place to go to. B2B had various issues – low tech penetration, based outside metros, solving for financing, products that were unintuitive, etc. It wasn’t easy to attract capital and talent, hence. But as early entrants, we saw opportunity, believed in it, and kept going. It took us years, but finally, turned our way. Just like our stars in Chess, Athletics, and Badminton.

(Taking the road not taken, might not be bad after all). Cheering for Javelin for the rest of the day.

#lifeatofbusiness
#lifeatoxyzo

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Celebrating The Bridesmaid
Building Long Term