Three years ago, I was fixing computers under desks. Those three years weren’t just a timeline—they were everything. They held every doubt, every cable untangled, every risk taken alone. It wasn’t just three years of work. It was three years of becoming. Running $30 ads in classifieds under a name I made up just to sound ‘trustable’.
For the first two years, I was barely surviving—building one IT contract at a time, taking calls off classified ads, untangling cables under desks. I remember crouching under one office table thinking, “This is the real MBA no one talks about.” From placing my first ad as Andy Anand, to solving problems no one else wanted to fix, I thought I was just doing what I had to do to stay afloat.
I never expected recognition.
Then the unexpected happened — The President of the Sikh Temple nominated me for the Young Entrepreneurs Award under the SICCI-DBS Singapore Indian Entrepreneur Awards 2006, issued by the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with DBS Bank.
These awards were created to recognise the achievements of outstanding Indian entrepreneurs and to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship. He had watched my early hustle, built trust, showed up for the community. He saw something in me and wanted others to see it too. That nomination alone meant the world to me.
And just like that, I was sitting across the table from S. Dhanabalan (Chairman of Temasek Trust), a Deloitte partner, and leaders from DBS and other Singapore powerhouses. I walked into that room with one thought: “What if I don’t belong here?”
Unexpected Calm I suited up. Walked in. And instead of panic, something else kicked in: I felt calm. Even energized. My heart didn’t pound. My hands didn’t shake. My mind was sharp.
I was… ready. Ironically, the adrenaline cooled me down. Because for the first time, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I just told my truth.
The Steps That Got Me in That Room Let’s break down how a no-name immigrant founder ends up across the table from the Chairman of Temasek:
Step 1: Solve, Don’t Sell Forget the pitch deck. Spend years solving small real problems. People notice.
Step 2: Show Up With Consistency Reputation doesn’t need marketing if your service is predictable, honest, and on time.
Step 3: Take the Invitation Seriously, Not Yourself You’re not owed the room. But when it opens, walk in with curiosity not performance.
Step 4: Speak Like It’s Your Last Chance Don’t overprepare the “right” answer. Say the real one.
The Day They Saw the Hustle After the interview, I didn’t care if I won.
Because something rare had happened: The panel didn’t applaud my polish. They respected my truth.
Later, one of the judges said: “You didn’t sound like someone trying to win. You sounded like someone who’s been through it.”
That line stuck with me.
I was a finalist not because I sounded like an entrepreneur. I lived like one.
Awarded Young Entrepreneur of the year 2006
What did I learn?
Let me see if I can summarize and hopes it helps someone in their journey.
- Biggest investment to indulge in – “Yourself” – The more you invest in yourself, the better the outcome. Learning Must be Continuous.
- Biggest trap to avoid – “Doing everything yourself” I – Seen tons of my peers and myself victims of it; easier said than done, but the sooner you can offload, the faster your growth.
- Biggest mistake – “Not expecting failure” – Great success is built upon failure; that’s why the Most Successful People Fail Most Often.
- Biggest hurdle –” Yourself” – We are the biggest hurdle in our success because we set our limits, and more often than not, it’s the stories we tell ourselves that prevent us from attaining what we could have otherwise achieved. “Trust Yourself.”
- Biggest takeaway – “Every adversity has an opportunity” – it’s the universe’s way of doing a course correction.
