How to Keep Moving Forward When You Have the Entrepreneurial Bug with Ankit Jain

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When you have the “Entrepreneurial Bug”, sometimes your career path can get a little bumpy and it can be the source of conflict with friends and family. Whether you are born with the entrepreneurial bug or whether you cultivated it by exposing yourself to the wonderful adventures of entrepreneurs you have known, the resulting wanderlust can sometimes make us difficult employees. Today’s guest managed to navigate successfully in the world of the employee and the start up founder. He’s here today to tell us his story and how to keep moving forward when you are bitten by the entrepreneurial bug!

Ankit Jain got his entrepreneurial start early on in India, by starting an unofficial business when he was only 19. He eventually landed a job at Google and a little while later he quit and started something else. Ankit had a successful run at several large corporations that are very prestigious to work for, but he never let himself get comfortable, so he always kept moving on to bigger and better things.

Ankit also shares in this episode:

• His first venture into freelancing
• How he got excited about technology
• The gaming app that was his first freelance job
• The websites he used to get freelancing work
• How he broke into freelancing, and what it took to get clients
• How he posted open code snippets out into the communities, which added value
• The logistics of converting foreign payments from freelance jobs
• His experience with MyNumo (now PlayScreen) and his work on their project
• How he used one project to build a relationship to get more projects
• Why he feels like companies outsource rather than building things in-house
• Egyptian Casino Company and how it led to one of the highest paychecks he received
• How he set his targets on Google and experienced an entirely different lifestyle
• How he got a job at Adobe through LinkedIn
• Why he left comfortable, lucrative corporate jobs to strike out on his own
• How he dealt with his doubts as he was transitioning
• Why he took a job at Homejoy
• How timing has played an important role in his career path
• How Unshackled can help certain listeners**
• RentEscape – his 2nd project, but the one he worked on the longest
• How he made the decision to shut down the project
• What his plans are for the www.sporple.com website that he co-founded

Ankit’s advice for people thinking about jumping into the entrepreneurial world:

1. Make sure your idea is economically viable
2. Know how many people would potentially use your product
3. Find a co-founder whose strengths are your weaknesses

Links and Resources:

Ankit’s website: https://www.sporple.com/

Ankit’s Email: ankit[at]sporple[dot]com

Find him on Twitter:@outnaway

**For more info on Unshackled, you can check out my interview with one of the Founding partners, NitinPachisia here.