Devesh Chawla is a versatile professional with a range of skills, including strategic planning, mentoring, investing, and leadership. He is also an accomplished TEDx Speaker and an expert in planning and executing tasks quickly and efficiently. Devesh is deeply committed to adding value to the startup ecosystem in India and revolutionizing entrepreneurship in the country. His brainchild, “Chatur Ideas,” is a comprehensive solution for startups and entrepreneurs that has gained tremendous success and recognition.
Devesh has worked with numerous startups, including Catapooolt, Strike, Orbit Marketplace, Maax Market, Hubilo, Market Pulse, and many others. He also conducts entrepreneurship programs in colleges and startups, as well as joint certification courses with IIT-B Ecell, with trainers located across the country. Devesh is highly sought-after as a speaker and is known for his ability to listen well.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Devesh Chawla:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
I am an easy-going person, and love everything life has to offer, so there’s a lot that keeps me happy. My family and relationships are what give my life meaning. They make me happy and enable me to give them happiness. This makes it easy for me to be positive and happy no matter what life throws at me.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
I have been a seasoned wealth manager, managing ultra HNI clients including some of the most reputed CXO’s and wealthy family business owners in India and overseas. I was also on the mentor panel of Eureka which is Asia’s largest business model competition held at IIT. I have been felicitated with various awards and stand successfully as one of the best advisors and most efficient leaders of India. I am deeply committed to adding value to the start-up segment and revolutionizing the entrepreneurship picture in India. I’m a B.E. (Comps) & M.B.A. in finance.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
We all have our own journeys, some relentlessly stick to their plans, while others change routes for a different life. Regardless of the path we take, we’re always supported and helped by other people in our challenges, celebrations, and transitions. It was such a journey that took me from cubicles in a wealth management office to the exciting and dynamic world of start-ups. My versatile experience over the past few years has ranged from being an entrepreneur in the dynamic startup economy to being a mentor to various budding startups.
It all began in 2009 with my idea to start a taxi service based on GPS. I had created a working model and reached out to various industry experts. However, when I approached the aggregators of the taxi/cab service companies; I was discouraged from pursuing the idea. I took their words seriously and decided not to further work on the idea as it needed political connections and managing unions. Having dropped the idea, I started working in a firm as a wealth manager and was responsible for managing the money of ultra-HNWIs who invested in India and abroad across asset classes. Through this experience, I acquired a huge amount of networking and domain expertise.
Currently, Chatur Ideas has more than 1100 startups under its wings. We have also collaborated with more than 1,000 institutions and have a base of more than 1,500 investors, which is rising gradually. Not to doubt, we have a tremendous lifetime value of people associated with us. From an 18-year-old aspiring entrepreneur to a 60-plus angel investor, we are happy to cater to all.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
You know, people say, the right team can take you a long way. I believe it’s the people and my team that have made my challenges easier and my successes better. I would like to give major credit to their ‘Chatur ideas” and their optimism.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
The key to being a good leader is to be empathetic. I believe that sometimes being vulnerable and empathetic reflects humanity and develops a connection or a bond between the employee and employer.
If the employee has a positive bond with the company, he is less likely to leave the company or be disinterested in working on his projects in the future.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
As a company, we believe in nurturing creativity. People who see closed doors before an open window do not think outside the box. We firmly believe that “one should always paint a new story,’ as there is no point in following what others do. We at Chatur Ideas will always seek disruptive thinking because we understand that the only thing, that will be constant in this world is change: change in the way people live, think, hear, and understand.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
I agree, the key to being a good leader is to be empathetic. As leaders and employees, we are often taught to keep a distance and project a certain image. An image of confidence, competence, and authority. We may disclose our vulnerability to a spouse or close friend behind closed doors at night, but we would never show it elsewhere during the day, let alone at work.
However, this image is primarily the main reason why there exists a certain distance between employers and employees. I believe that sometimes being vulnerable and empathetic reflects humanity and develops a connection or bond between the employee and employer.
If the employee has a positive bond with the company, he is less likely to leave the company or be disinterested in working on his projects in the future.
What are your responsibilities as the Founder and CEO of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
Finding a pain point (and fixing it) is a critical part of a CEO’s job, so I need to be able to wear many hats. A CEO needs to be a jack of all trades.
One of my favorite parts of my daily office routine is attending team huddles, engaging with everyone who attends, and seeing the hard work my team is doing.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
Most first-time entrepreneurs first find the solution and then look for the problem. This should be the other way around; they should look for the problem first and then find the solution. Just finding the solution is not enough; the solution should be very enticing and have the potential to create money and solve problems at the same time. These are the pointers that first-time and aspiring entrepreneurs should keep in mind. So, the first tip would be to conduct an empathy study and an in-depth market survey to figure out and answer one major question: “What problem is an entrepreneur solving?”
