A leap into the unknown

Filmmaker, author, entrepreneur, and now inspirational TED speaker, Varun Agarwal is one India’s sought after youth icons.  The Bengaluru boy always wanted to be a filmmaker, but  instead, took up engineering. He hated it, and turned his eyes towards more meaningful things close to his heart. Before long, he’d founded his first company, Last Minute Films (LMF), and went on to direct the likes of A.R. Rahman and Preity Zinta in music videos, at the age of 21.

“I knew right from my school days at Bishop Cotton that I wanted to make movies. After launching LMF and succeeding at it, my friend Rohn Malhotra (who co-founded Alma Mater with Varun) and I were talking about what we’d do next, when we realised that there was no option to buy customised merchandise for students in India,” Varun recalls.

So what is Alma Mater all about? “We offer students and alumni a chance to custom-design everything from blazers and ties to mugs and memorabilia.  Now, Alma Mater has spread to corporate offices, small business, biker groups, kitty parties, even the Army, Navy and Air Force,” he says.

Apart from LMF and Alma Mater, Varun also set up Reticular, a social media marketing company. And then? He wrote a book on his experiences. “My book was titled, How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company!” Varun reveals, adding that writing the manuscript took him a little over a week.

“Anu Aunty is a friend of my mother’s who often poked her nose in almost all my decisions, but also inspired most of my life choices."

So what does it take to be a successful entrepreneur after all? “Don’t think, just do. Entrepreneurship is about solving a problem; not making money. Once you get an idea, take the leap immediately. All the thinking can come later,” he says.