Figure out that perfect balance

A serial entrepreneur, Virendra Mishra has over a decade’s experience across various startups. Currently, he is the CMO & Co-Founder at Veda Labs, which utilises AI and machine learning to empower business owners to extract deep insights from any form of video data in real-time. In an exclusive conversation with Corporate Citizen, he highlights his working philosophy, his stress busters and more

"Working hard or smart alone is not enough. If you put in 100 hours a week for a year straight, you will get things done in a quarter what others will get done in a year"

Virendra Mishra holds a Degree in Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electronics and Electronic Engineering. Veer aims to create a strong brand recall by delivering the right set of campaigns to reach the relevant audiences at Veda Labs. With deep knowledge in building and scaling AI products in the past, he works closely with the product development team as well as the sales team. Through the role at Veda Labs, Veer heads strategic partnerships and has been focusing a lot on exploring international exposure and partnerships.

When not at work, you will find Veer indulging in hosting TV shows (a unique podcast talking about all the crazy aspects of startups which feature industry leaders), designing graphics and at times even ideating about space technologies. Veer has also had the experience of being a TedX speaker at XIE, Mumbai in March 2019. The topic highlighted was raising the capital to build the best in tech and AI for a startup.

He started his professional journey as a filmmaker with his venture Oasis Production. Heading the operations for his venture, my Window, under Veer’s leadership the gross sales grew from $0 to $150K in just four months. He also began Neuron, an Artificial Intelligence platform, which uses Machine Learning as a core tech wherein, he was responsible for leading the entire design team and business development. At Project Guerrilla, he helped portfolio startups with strategies in digital growth. Suggesting technology hacks and helping them understand the user psychology.

Corporate Citizen: How do you set out your priorities to keep your work and personal life balanced?

Virendra Mishra: I think one of the key aspects about my life is I somehow have figured out that perfect balance. In every situation at work or in personal life, I evaluate it with the time it’s going to take in my life and I consider my time as the only important asset I have. And treating time as a currency, it allows me to segregate my energies on things that matter the most to me.

CC: What helps you the most in maintaining calm and peace despite an overload of work?

Meditation helps me to stay calm. Meditation can be anything that allows you to be one with yourself. You don’t have to follow what the world says is meditation, figure out your own way to meditate to be one with yourself, every now and then.

CC: What keeps you fit and healthy?

The kind of lifestyle which includes our work and sleep cycle is so over the roof, as an entrepreneur, it is crucially important to have some workout regime in place. For me, it is the following four times a week: 100 push-ups a day, 100 squats and yoga.

CC: Your stress busters? How do you like to rejuvenate and recharge and de-stress?

I am an avid reader, I try and read a lot of books when it comes to consuming knowledge. One of my current favourites is ‘Ikigai’ & ‘Crushing It’. IKIGAI is a Japanese concept for living a long and fulfilling life and it has concepts that allows one to live the life happily.

CC: Please give tips that work the best for you to maintain work-life balance.

Fail fast: One of the key things that I’ve learned in my life is that entrepreneurs are very romantic about their ideas and products and it refrains them from accepting what the market is saying. The best way I see is that the entrepreneur should be open to understand the criticism and take it constructively to accept if the product failed and build something that the market really wants.

Show up first: As a startup founder, you will face a lot of problems. But showing up always at the work and facing the problems standing in front will not only create an environment where the team trusts you more but also will allow you to tackle any problems at hand together with your team. Just Show Up First.

Own your failures: Your problems and your failures are yours. Be the first one to accept it and move on. Don’t dwell on the past and get stuck there.

Execute: As the word itself says, execute everything. Be the leader your team wants you to be and your destiny needs you to be. Take charge to be the one who executes all the things for your business.

Be self-aware: Lastly, be self-aware. Know what are your capabilities are and what are not. Use this understanding of your own self at your advantage.

CC: What can others learn from your learnings?

One of the best advises or things that I learned was one of my own quotes, which says, “Not always, the hardest things are the most rewarding” and this kind of changed my perception about success. As many times we think and believe that the most rewarding things are hard, and it’s really now true if you truly can understand what makes you happy.

CC: Do you play any game which helps you in your work? What are the lessons the game teaches for life?

Usually after all the work, one weekend I do engage in sports like badminton or cricket and football at times. Football, being one of the world’s most viewed sports, it teaches you a lot of things on strategy and team game when you look at it. It allows you to think and interpret the actions of your opponent and execute accordingly.

CC: What is the secret of your success?

I am absolutely okay and comfortable if I am wrong and I am always happy to accept my failures. I think owning to the failures and mistakes make you more self-aware and thus prepares you for what people call successes or wins in life.

CC: What is your philosophy of work?

Working hard or smart alone is not enough. If you put in 100 hours a week for a year straight, you will get things done in a quarter what people/your competitors will get done in a year. Smart, consistent hard working hours are the only way you can excel in your job.

CC: What message would you like to give to youngsters, on management?

As a young mind, you will learn everything that is needed to be a good manager or founder in college or online, but one thing that I believe you will have to learn and discover for yourself will be your ability to lead. Understand your own self and see if you are the one who can lead and be the Number One in your team. Also, accept that not everyone is supposed to be on top of the ladder, a lot of us are good at Number Two or Three and those people are more important for a team than the Number One.