Garrett Gee is living the idea Dream!

I wonder at times how can someone be living such a perfect life when I heard & got to know Garrett Gee!

To introduce him in short – “He is an entrepreneur who sold his Scan app to Snapchat for $54 Million and is now travelling the world with his wife & two kids”

I wanted to share his inspiring story here with these beautiful visuals that I got from his Instagram account.

Started Scan:

Garrett started Scan while he was a freshman at Brigham Young University together with his 2 other college mates. Scan is an app which is used to connect to real world with the digital universe through mobile scanning technology like QR code, bar codes, beacons & more.

He raised $8 million in funding for Scan, which had 50 million downloads worldwide.

Balancing Scan & Soccer:

He became the caption of BYU soccer team while he was chasing his dream with Scan. For him hard work doesn’t feel like hard work when you love what you do and you understand what you’re working towards.

Shark Tank:

The 20-something dropped out of BYU to develop the Scan app, after receiving funding from Google. Scan was considered so user friendly and popular that it knocked Angry Birds off the App Store top ten list.

Garrett appeared in Shark Tank, he didn’t get the funding but his presence made US believe that he will be big with his idea someday soon.

Fell in love:

Life is meaningful when you find someone with whom you can share it. Jessica was just the right girl for him. He married her and they do everything together. She makes it all worth it & enjoyable.

Sold his company:

He & his co-founders then sold Snap to Snapchat for a reported $54 Millions in 2014. $30 Million in cash and the rest in equity in Snapchat.

Decided to sell his belongings:

Garrett Gee decided to ditch the regular lifestyle and travel the world after selling Scan. So he and his wife decided to sell most of their belongings, including their cars, furniture, TV and extra clothes, and are using money they made to fund their adventures. 

Travelling the world:

Here’s the crazy & most inspiring part. The couple and their two young children, Dorsey and Manilla, call themselves "The Bucket List Family." So far, 25-year-old Garrett and 29-year-old Settie are travelling with their kids to a wide range of exotic spots, such as Turks and Caicos, Thailand, Australia, Tahiti and Hawaii.

Take Away: 

It’s so important to follow your passion & not follow the rules but go with your own instinct. If you believe in something go hard chasing for it. You will meet success & always keep inspiring people around you by being the best form of yourself.

Look what just happened. I tweeted about him & he shows his like on Twitter. Life is magical go out & live it J 

Learn more:

The Bucket List Family Youtube link

Garrett gee Instagram link

Let your fears be you’re Secret Santa

I am sure it’s the time when most of you’ll are playing Secret Santa with your family, friends & colleges. This game brings in lots of excitement & unbelievable surprises each time I play it!

My team at work decided to play this game in a slightly different style. We asked all the team members to write their name along with one of the fear which they want to overcome in the coming year of 2014.

The game goes like this: The Secret Santa will surprise his or her angle with gifts, acts and messages every day & will also assure that they will help in overcoming their fear. To my surprise this tweak in the game brought in some unusual realizations, fun, positivity, energy & bonding in the team.

This week was when the Secret Santa game was played. We all gathered at Pinxx, amazing dishes surrounded us. As we all 13 members were sited around a high dinner table…the fun evening was just about to begin.

We started off the game by letting members guess each other’s fears. Few guess were:

-       Fear of Manager

-       Fear of bad health

-       Fear of Girlfriends anger

-       Fear of going late home

-       Fear of talking about their age

-       Fear of expression

The thing that amazed me about this guessing game was as members went on guessing each others fear – for the first time not one but almost all were laughing over the fears. Generally we have seen people scared, shy, embarrassed when it comes to talking about fears..but this was something different. Could you believe that here was this table with bunch of young professional LOL on the topic of fear?

After all the laughter and tasting yummy deserts it was time to get serious & play the secret santa game. Each one had to talk about the angel for whom he/she is the santa..let the team guess the name, gift their angel, read out their angels fear-give a suggestion & assure that they will be around for the rest of the year helping overcome the fear.

The kind of fears that were read out:

-       Fear of losing the one they love

-       Fear of water

-       Fear of being extrovert & talking to people

-       Fear of Obesity

-       Fear of Drinking & Driving

-       Fear of Performing 

My Gift from Secret Santa

Fear is an emotion which is permanently embedded into the mind of a human being. If we remove this emotion from this world, then there would be total chaos in the society. It’s a protective instinct which shields us from dangers. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. My thought is becoming fearless isn't the point. It’s learning to control your fear, and how to be free from it.

Fear is already a part of you. Declare it and celebrate it. Infact, use it.

Inspiring: Entrepreneurs, the artists, the risk takers live with fears and make better use of it. They accept the fact that there is a danger and risk, and moving further ahead may result in crisis. But guess what? They absolutely love it! They accept failure as a part of life, and play with fears. They use this fear to conquer more ground. They are not afraid of this primitive emotion, but make it their closest friend.

Let your fear be your Secret Santa, let it surprise you each day, Embrace it! At the end you have a beautiful gift waiting for you.

Embrace the fear and feel lucky about it. If you fear something, then trust your mind, and be assured that you are onto something exciting. All you need to do is, divert the flow of energy. At the end, you will feel good about it. Give it a try, and see what happens!

Merry Christmas & Wish you all a Happy New Year!

Women in Tech - Girl Geek Dinner 2012

It was again this year the time for Yahoo! Women in Tech for a fun filled “Girl Geek Dinner” event to socialize with other women in the technology industry. Totally appreciate Yahoo! for this initiative which is focused on providing inspiration and support to technical women.

The evening was special as we got to listen to amazing woman entrepreneur panel and got to know other women in technology over dinner. Shouvick VP - Yahoo! gave the keynote & like him we all too had a question as to why is the head of Yahoo still a male. Why few women in leadership roles?  In my company to be very frank I am never comfortable sitting across the round table along with only male leaders…but with time I have realized the problem is in me. I let the thought of being a female cross me each time & that what makes me uncomfortable.

Bala the director at Yahoo! who was intimated to see only girls around him came over to moderate the panel discussion on “Starting & Succeeding as a woman entrepreneur”. 
The panellists comprised eminent names from the Industry:

-               * Apala Lahiri Chavan - Chief Oracle and Innovator, Human Factors International

-              * Jaya Jha Founder, Pothi.com

-              * Valerie Rozycki Wagoner  Founder & CEO, ZipDial

-              *  Jessie Paul CEO, Paul Writer.

Few highlight & my take away from the panel discussion:

-         There is a difference in knowing that you always wanted to be an entrepreneur & being one

-         It’s not always gonna happen that you will find answers to all question, but it’s always better to take calculated risk before getting into any business

-         Behind every successful entrepreneur there is a salaried spouse

           Have the conviction to do it & let it never be ruled over by emotions

-         Learn to milk your way, take advantage of being a pretty, cute & sensate women that you are

-         Round the business table let the thought of you being a women never cross your mind…does it matter…may it never

-         Have clarity in your confusion, it’s always better to be sorted out

-          Good to have big companies name in your resume

-          Life is too short to be in a wrong job

-         You don’t need a great idea, finance or atmosphere but you need right ppl around to kick off the start-up

-          A strong financial backup for a year as you might see a down fall in income as u get started

-          Specially in India being an Entrepreneur is  not a highly looked upon career option, so do it for ourselves & not for other

-          Passion + Perfection + Profit in a bit is always need in a start-up

-         Don’t fear failures or downfalls, it is needed to know if you are doing it right

-         Network well, build a brand of yourself & few assets before getting’ into a venture

-         Many around would say don’t do it, but be with people who will tell, “you are totally worthit”

    

      Many thoughts & inspiring discussions happened. Want I have to say is… why just talk about it, go ahead into the field and do it. In all it was a total fun event. I got to interact with many other tech ladies and it was nice to get some compliments & admiration for a change this time from the ladies which I totally adore.

Cheers to the girl power & will be nice to hear some inspiring stories & start-ups created by… 

What it is like being an Entrepreneur?

Well my admiration for Entrepreneurs is an open secret then how could I miss recording my meeting with the wonderful friend Sushrut Bidwai. A tall young gentleman, an entrepreneur from last 6 year by choice. For me he is a guide book for entrepreneurship.

If I have to rewind the video of our meeting, I would look like interviewing Sushrut. So here's the report of the interview:

Being an Entrepreneur gives you opportunity to:

- create products

- do things in your way

- create jobs

- take up many opportunities

- meet smart people

It needs guts to step out of your comfortable zone and face all the risk/challenges you as an entrepreneur would face each day

India’s social elements mainly corruption makes existence of start-ups more difficult

Explore small towns of India to kick off a startup not necessarily always Bangalore or pune

Meet and interact as many people as you can, there is so much knowledge around

Its not an idea but the passion & an intent is what keeps the Entrepreneur going

Glamorous part of being an Entrepreneur:

- Being titled as Entrepreneur

- Freedom to bring in change

- Knowing your limitations

- Inspiration to many

Non-Glamorous part of being an Entrepreneur:

- Risk & challenge in every corner

- Less of social & carefree life

What it needs to be an entrepreneur:

- Passion

- Extrovert

- Just do it attitude

And there is where our drinks got over. We departed and I was back with a thought & smile to stay for ever.

SIMC presents National Cyber Media Conclave

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune (SIMC) presents National Cyber Media Conclave, 09. Explore the cyber medium through a day long seminar by interacting with industry experts, and meeting like minded entrepreneurs on the 28th March, 2008 at the Symbiosis Knowledge Village, Lavale, Pune.

Contest- Web Wunderkind.

It's an initiative to encourage budding talent in the vast cyber media environs. A one-off chance to present your cranium-tickling business ideas before a comprehensive panel of cyber media professionals and venture capitalists, critically evaluating your business model! Certainly, an experience that every budding entrepreneur is looking for!

The economic slowdown need not necessarily be a time to hold back. It is more than a reason to go out and explore something different. Something big! And there couldn’t be a better time!

Those interested in the above contest can leave ur email id as a comment, where I can send the soft copy of the contest form. The contest would be held in two phases. All the entries received in the first phase would be screened and 5 out of those would be selected for the second phase by a comprehensive panel of judges, who would also be the speakers for our event. Cash prizes worth Rs. 15,000 to be won!

The last date to sending the entries is 25th March, 2009

Lets be a part in rediscovering the ever-dynamic cyber-space…