The Sinha & the start-up

Know him
The founder of NextBigWhat (earlier known as Pluggd.in) has got the startup industry to sit up and take notice of him. A few years ago, he began profiling technology start-up firms on his then portal Pluggd.In. As time went by, he became the driving force for these companies. So far, he has given more than 15,000 firms the push they needed to propel their business into full throttle. The best part? He didn’t spend a pie on marketing or advertising, and has built an extremely popular media platform that reaches out to millions of readers every month.

The Year That Was
“One of the important milestones we at NextBigWhat achieved was that of the founder moving away from day to day operations, without diluting the quality of our work. The processes were scaled up and people began taking ownership of their roles in the firm,”  beams Ashish and further adds, “For any startup, this is an important milestone as it gives more scope for the business to grow and develop better strategic directions.”

The Year ahead
“In 2014, we are launching a slew of platform products for the startup and technology community. We are also looking at reaching out to global communities next year apart from expanding the business,” Ashish states.

His life’s emblem
“The Royal Enfield, it roars! It gives me the adrenaline rush, I thrive on. I could never imagine my life without my bullet,” he smiles.

The High
The team at Next Big What gave the country its first live funding platform called India’s Start up Roots. “We helped the firms get the financial aid they needed right there on the spot.”

The low
“The loss of a few near and dear ones were the lowest moment of 2013 for me.”

— as told to Zoya Philip