IITian who quit Flipkart to launch startup reveals harsh reality after 10 years of struggle
An IIT-grad and Bengaluru-based co-founder shared how life turned out for him after he left his job at Flipkart to start his startup.
Bengaluru-based CEO Harsh Pokharna took to social media to share his journey of establishing his company, which he says still has a “long way to go.” In his post, he looked back at the time when he quit his job at Flipkart to start his own company. He expressed how he initially faced startup failures before starting his present venture.
“I quit Flipkart to build a startup because I wanted to make a lot of money very quickly. Founders were raising millions of dollars in funding all around me. It seemed easy,” Pokharna wrote.
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He added that he tried three different ideas for the first two years after quitting but failed. This led to him spending his savings and resorting to freelancing to survive.
Then, he co-founded OkCredit and has been building it for the last eight years. He shared that his experiences taught him a valuable lesson: Startups don't equate to instant success.
“It’s a long-term game, not a get rich quick scheme. Play it only if you truly want to solve a problem, or you’ll end up disappointed,” he added.
Take a look at the post here:
An individual wrote, “Our situation is kinda similar but the idea we are working on is unique and I believe a small help from people like you can help us faster to overcome, but the problem is whenever we go for help or mentorship nothing is free of cost & there we back off. Hope you try to understand.” Another added, “our story and perseverance always pushed me to never give up. I want to share my ideas and want your review.”
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A third expressed, “Thank you for sharing these real insights and learnings.” A fourth said, “Failure is part of the game.Resilience matters.Your journey and experiences shared are remarkable.Thanks for sharing.”
As per his LinkedIn bio, Harsh Pokharna worked as a graduate trainer for Flipkart for eight months. He co-founded OkCredit in 2017, where he also holds the CEO position.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
