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[bindujangra]

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[bindujangra]

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[bindujangra]

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[bindujangra]

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[lovefancyweddingdresses-blog]

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[lovefancyweddingdresses-blog]

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[lifethinkt-blog]

Surround yourself with right the people.

During the course of my entrepreneurial design class projects, I passively interacted with over 125 people (which includes my Kickstarter backers and STFT community members) whom I'd have never known or shared my work with had it not been part for this class. To add it, I have had the great fortune of getting to know and meet ~ 40 people in-person (during STFT events, coffee meetings, product reviews) or through email exchanges and e-intros. Again, wouldn't have mustered courage to initiate any of this if we weren’t pushed into these projects during the course taught by Gary, Christina and Leland.

My biggest success coming out of this class has been the network that I’ve built during these months. I would continue to build it as I progress my grad school and advance into the industry. It fills in the void that I (and many other international students) faced in the beginning of the class i.e. lack of people whom I could reach out to share my work with or spread a word about it, in a new country. It’s important to have a network to bounce of your ideas, hear comments, feedback, criticism and appreciation before you get it out to the public. As much as I love drowning in my artworks sitting quietly at my desk working online into the wee hours of the night, I also understand the value of 'getting out there' and facing the work you've been putting your heart and soul into. The lack of it was definitely affecting me (considering I was actively involved in startup communities back in India). Every time, Gary spoke about “reaching out to your network” I experienced momentary blackouts. I’d tell myself, which network? I have absolutely no people I know outside of the SVA IxD community. My twitter follower stats stand at 50 or so. And if this wasn’t enough, my introvert self (or whatever you want to call it!) restricted FB network to under 200. It’s a bit more than that now, of course.

Coming back to learning and networks, my biggest learning from these past few months is to lean heavily on your personal connections, your friends and of course, your family. To start out on an endeavor of your own, you need people around you who will stick with you no matter what’s going with your idea/product in the real world. These people are the outlets, sounding boards, ideation partners, and product re-haul partners and may be potential co-founders. And, you simply can’t go without them. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have a solid network together, a network you trust, before embarking on the journey of getting out there (the jump, that possibly takes a leap of faith) and putting yourself in public. You need it. It makes you feel stronger. It helps jump. It helps you grow. And once you jump. Stay cool. Stay humble.

But still, Be crazy. Be Bold. Be you.