Some people create ripples wherever they go. What’s interesting is that having a conversation with such people often debunks the myths we build around them. One such conversation we’ve had was with Ankur Warikoo! 🤌
In this Morning Rush edition, we’re sharing our conversation with Ankur and what pushes him to do what he does.
Ankur Warikoo In A Nutshell
Now, let’s unfold the conversation! 👇
Thousand Faces Club: Are there instances from your childhood that inspired your journey?
Ankur: I remember when World Wrestling Entertainment was famous and people were buying its merch. One day, a friend showed up with a 10-sticker strip at school. No clue what took over me, but I bought them for 10 bucks, and on reaching home, I began to show off those stickers, and when a friend asked their price, I said five bucks. He pulled out a 50-rupee note and bought all the 10. He assumed each was five bucks, and I found it awesome. The next day, I didn't stop with that. I could see myself becoming a unicorn back then. Soon, I got caught and knew that the arbitrage was over, but I've made my money. It was one of those instances where I identified a loophole and filled it in whatever way I could. It wasn't about the money; it was about doing something for joy.
Thousand Faces Club: That's quite interesting! What's the story behind 'Do Epic Shit', though?
Ankur: When I was at Groupon, my friends gifted me a poster with 'Do Epic Shit' scribbled on it. The poster was on my desk, and there was no way I could miss it. I used to look at it constantly. The more I looked at it, the more I realised it's what I do. It's only three words, but each lend a meaning to my life. The first is Do, which emphasises action against thought; no thought matters if an action doesn't follow it. So action is the ultimate test and truth of your thoughts. Epic translates to doing something larger than you and thinking bigger. And these three words, which is doing something big while having fun, are essentially the cornerstone of my life.
Thousand Faces Club: Do you remember your first viral content?
Ankur: It was my failure resume! I stumbled upon an essay by an NYU professor Johannes Hashuffer on his academic tenure, and how he has been applying to various universities. He mentions how people assume he is successful but rarely know his failures or the number of rejected papers. Then, he came up with a failure resume, categorising his failures under academic failures, research failures, etc. Fascinated by it, I also created one — I had a list of failures; from not making it to the IIT to investors rejecting us. I wrote them down and published the resume, fully assuming people would say haha, we knew it. What happened was the exact opposite — people wrote in saying it planted hope to see I've experienced failures.
Thousand Faces Club: How do you measure growth?
Ankur: I'm guilty of measuring success based on outcomes, but later understood it didn't sit well with me because most goals or targets were desires. There is no cause for you to possess a particular net worth by 25 or 30, own a car by this age, or make a certain sales target or money. And what happens when we hit that number? We falsely congratulate ourselves, and if we don't, we criticise ourselves. And both these emotions are unwarranted because there is no foundation to set that goal in the first place. For me, success has now changed dramatically. It's all about input. As a part of the journey, what you do is what eventually matters.
Curious to read more Ankur’s journey? Check out the creator journey we’ve written.
An entrepreneur turned a full-time educator on YouTube
