An Interview with ASHISH

What is Round One? How would you pitch it to the students at XL?

Round One is a job referral platform that provides job seekers access to a network of top employees who can refer them internally in the companies of their choice. At the heart of it, it is an online networking portal.

Round One is a company that is taking networking to a different level by actually allowing people to have a conversation with individuals who have the power and willingness to help them in their career growth. It is redefining the way people apply for jobs and also the way recruiters screen candidates.

 

 

HUL vs. Citibank vs. Round One? Why did you go for Round One?

Unilever was a dream internship and at that time I wished it had converted to an offer for me. Citibank was never my company of choice-it just happened. Not getting the job I wanted was disappointing but I think it did a lot of good because for the first time it made me think of what I really wanted to do after XL and the answer was entrepreneurship and specifically in the online space. Round One provided a great platform to me to learn both these things as I had no clue of how to setup a business or what the online sector was all about. I also realized from my experience at Citi, that I did not want to work in a corporate environment.

 

 

How hard was quitting Citibank to join Round One? Did you face any family/peer pressure?

It was quite easy actually since everyone around me supported me and knew that I won’t be happy until I entered the online space professionally. There were of course apprehensions and second thoughts but it was the perfect time for me to take the risk as I had no obligations and after XLRI, knew there was a fairly decent safety net to fall back on. I think most people do face family pressure as a barrier to entrepreneurship but one should probably take the plunge for a year or two and decide if it is for them or not. In the long run, a year or two doesn’t matter at all.

 

 

What was your biggest challenge at Round One and how did XL mould you for it? Some key learnings that you would like to share with us.

I think the challenge with any start-up is that you fail a lot. Most things you try don’t work and it is frustrating. I think a B-school is the same and probably makes you a bit thick-skinned and also arrogantly optimistic that you will emerge victorious. I think that’s necessary because it makes you persistent. Secondly, my experience at XLRI taught me that there is no one way to achieve a goal-sometimes even the smartest crowd runs in the wrong direction and you should choose the approach that makes you happiest.

 

 

Who do you think are your major competitors? Have some other companies started working on a similar concept?

I think all the job sites are major competitors although no company has an exactly similar concept as us. There are similar concepts but they have different processes. For example, Shine has acquired MyParichay which shows where your Facebook friends work and hence you can connect with them for job referrals.

 

 

What are your future goals for Round One? How do you plan to diversify your offerings?

As of now, the focus is to expand the concept in India and garner more market share and get more people to use our product. In the near future we plan to expand geographically and market the concept in the US.

 

 

With over 8,00,000 members and 2,000 companies on board, how does it all feel?

It definitely is a good feeling to have a large user base in such a short time but it is also important to remember that a large user base only lasts as long as we continue to deliver value for them.

 

 

What are your fondest memories from the ‘XL culture’? What was your biggest takeaway?

I think for me XL was a lot about sports. My biggest takeaway, and I think most people would say the same, are the friends I made and the good times we had in classes, at Bishu Da, etc.

 

 

Some advice and words of inspiration for all the budding entrepreneurs here

My advice would be that you have a lot of free time in the 2 years at XLRI especially after SIP-if you want to start something on your own, please make use of the time to think of the top 5 ideas you would like to try and really think hard about them and whether they will add value to the world. Once you are sure of a couple of ideas that can add value, show them to professors, mentors and your friends and get a basic idea on how to try these out. Also, XL is a great place to find a co-founder; it’s much harder in the world outside. A lot of people wrongly worry about funding and the opportunity cost of jobs-good ideas get funded easily and entrepreneurs are the most sought after talent because they acquire the most knowledge. Entrepreneurship allows you to dream big, give employment to others and help the world become a better place, a job pays you to do the hard-work for someone else’s dream.