Abhinav Prateek | From Engineering Dropout to CEO

Abhinav Prateek aka Abby Viral is an inspiration to all the budding entrepreneurs out there. He is the Co-founder of Gyaanistan, an interest infused blog that showcases stories and amazing articles relating to Music, Entertainment, Fun and Inspiration from India and beyond. He is an Entrepreneur, Hustler and a Motivator

Startuptalky interviewed Abhinav Prateek to get insights on his learnings and Journey.

Tell us about Yourself, Abhinav!

Hello everyone, I am Abhinav Prateek, a 26 years old engineering dropout. After completing 12th, I was involved in so many things that made me a better person and helped me in achieving success in my life. 5 Years back I never ever had a thought that I can be the CEO of any company, even not sure if i'll get a good job or not. So, Let me share my learnings that will be useful for you too.

As Aamir Khan said in 3 Idiots “Gyaan har jagah batt raha hai, jaha se mile lapet lo”(Knowledge is everywhere, grab it from wherever it is reachable).

Abhinav's 3 Big Learnings:

#1 Knowledge

“Baadam khane se akal nahi aati, Dhakke khane se aati hai”(Eating Almonds dosen’t gives you wisdom, struggle does!).

So,  after I completed 12th class I struggled a lot, From a street magician, Network marketing to Selling Momos, Event management, Plants and nursery business, Digital marketing, Graphic designing and BPO. I worked at so many places to learn skills and earn money for survival. It is so much difficult for someone who is studying in a college and hadn’t seen the outside world to suddenly start a business. Firstly you need to understand the market and its need(But yes, exceptions are always there).

#2 Upgrading

This happens that when we get a new app update for WhatsApp, after updating we get some new features in it so, similarly "When you upgrade yourself with new set of skills you level up".

This thing is very important for personal growth. But the trick is that you have to identify which set of skills you want to learn or which information/news you should store in your brain. Suppose if you want to be a web designer and you have very less time to prove yourself and at the same time you are also upgrading yourself as a guitarist, you are doing it wrong! I learnt photoshop when I needed a graphic designer in my company as I didn’t had financial backup to hire one.

#3 Networking

If you are surrounded with wise people, The positivity, knowledge, thoughts, ideas will flow and you will also get lots of opportunity to grow. After I dropped engineering, I created a network with many people who are doing great in their life, Have dreams, Don’t believe in wasting time and have some targets to achieve. They inspired me to work harder and also taught me many things that I found really helpful for me.

So, Now you know what were my 3 Big learnings from past 5 years let me tell you about me in brief, After completing 12th class I joined.