The long version

Seventeen years.
One long road.

Five industries. I walked into every one of them knowing nothing. Here's how the road actually went, detours included.

BEFORE 2009

Before the résumé.

Started working at ten.

None of this is on a CV. All of it counted.

A tea stall
A PCO booth
Promoter at BTL activations
SIM cards, door to door
Plenty more odd jobs

2009 TO 2015 · CALL CENTERS

The Customer.

Customer support at Sutherland, Serco/Intelenet, Tech Mahindra.

Six months in, I was moved to the escalation team. Company policy said three years before anyone could become a team leader. So I waited. The day I hit three years, I applied, and got it.

Team leader. The day the rule allowed it.

Sid with colleagues on the support floor, wearing Santa hats — The support floor years. Santa hats included.

2015 TO 2016 · EVENTS

The Moving Parts.

EventBaba. Joined as the executive calling manpower for events.

Within a year I was running all of operations: taking the client's requirement, shortlisting the manpower, and making sure the event actually worked.

The founders called me a one man army.

2017 TO 2018 · TRAVEL

The Detour.

Co-founded Madcamps, later renamed Nomadicss.

Affordable trips to places people hadn't explored yet. My first real attempt at building something of my own instead of running someone else's.

It closed. I changed cities.

2018 TO 2020 · RESTAURANTS · BENGALURU

The Table.

Started at my brother's restaurant. Then opened Arabian Adda.

I learned the restaurant business in six months helping my brother, then opened my own. People, customers, quality, costs, every single day.

Then COVID.

Arabian Adda restaurant in Bengaluru, lit up at night

2021 TO NOW · DESIGN

The Whole System.

The EventBaba founders were building a design agency. They called.

I joined Draftss to take sales calls, knowing nothing about design. Within months I was heading operations: the whole operation, hiring, and the client side. On January 1, 2023, I became CEO.

Not the founder. I grew into it.