Avnish Anand — Co-Founder

I grew up in a small town which nobody knew about till MS Dhoni became its most famous son. I was raised in a regular Indian middle class family where it was drilled into me from childhood that happiness comes from getting into the Civil Services or from getting a great education ( read big name colleges ) and a job in a big name MNC. A combination of luck and some hard work got me into this promised land. But I soon realised that this happiness was not for me. I was looking for something more interesting and exciting and luckily for me, I met Mithun and Gopal who were starting an online jewellery startup called CaratLane in 2007. It was long before startups became cool and a huge career risk for someone from my background but I took the plunge to join them. It was the best bet of my life and it changed me completely in many different ways. It’s given me more than what I had ever asked for in life. I was made a cofounder and eventually I ended up becoming the MD and CEO. In 2011 I went away from CaratLane and worked with the Times Group for 4 years. I built and ran new internet based businesses in the recruitment and skill assessment domains at Times. There I started Code Gladiators in 2014. It has been recognised as biggest coding competition in the world by the Guiness book of records. I think of myself as a very curious person and I read a lot of books ( physical ones preferred ) to whet the interest I have in multiple areas. I also like to meet interesting people from different backgrounds. I also love to write as well. You can find some of my writings at https://avnishanand-49235.medium.com. My favourite interest areas are sports, startups, consumer businesses, human behaviour and Indian history. I have learnt a lot in my CaratLane journey and I am keen to share that with as many founders as possible. I am motivated by the desire to help other founders build their own CaratLanes. I consider myself a very patriotic Indian. However, it is a matter of great regret and concern for me that I haven’t done anything for my country. I am still looking for ways to make a meaningful contribution. Please don’t send me random messages. I will reply only if I find it interesting and relevant.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a B2C startup founder with expertise in e-commerce and digital marketing.

Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Experience: 21 yrs 8 mos