Kaushal Sanghavi
Class of 2013


 

Tell us a little about your family background/ history. How has it influenced you?
I am the youngest of 3 siblings; my father has been a self-made businessman all his life, first in hardware goods & later in financial consulting. My mother's a homemaker whose strong value systems have been a touchstone in all decisions that I’ve made.
My father's been the strongest influence on the way I approach life (I can safely say the way all 3 of us siblings approach life) -- nothing is expected to be handed to you on a silver spoon, unafraid to take a risk, & definitely unafraid to ask a question where most would not. His mantra, "You lose nothing by asking" has been a guiding light which has reaped benefits for years.
 

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
One of my earliest major achievements was self-financing my undergraduate education at UC Berkeley. Learning to be independent was one of the reasons to study abroad, so why not financially independent too? My undergrad education costed over $130,000 which I covered via unearthing scholarships that were available, working on campus, research & loans. A year after graduating from college, I was debt-free by the age of 24 after having racked up $100,000+ in education loans.
Recently, the Economic Times featured what we're doing as one of the "top 10 offbeat" startups of 2015 (http://bit.ly/etbroom) which has helped give our fledgling project some great validation.

Tell us about your profile prior to attending ISB and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Before ISB -- undergrad at UC Berkeley in Computer Science & Ops Research, led engineering teams for Amazon for 7 years after, alongside which I had my first exposure to marketplaces -- a couple of close friends & I setup a person-to-person education microfinance non-profit. Moving back to India meant I couldn't continue that, but am excited by the impact it went on to make. Just before ISB, I was heading technology for Saffronart, an Indian collectibles' online auction house, where I helped them grow from an art & jewelry only auction house to an all collectibles auction house.
Through & just after ISB -- I sourced an ELP with Khosla Impact, studied the education landscape & then setup the India office for CK-12, an edTech non-profit founded by Vinod Khosla & his wife, Neeru Khosla.
While going through the setup of CK-12 is when I hit upon what I'm currently working on, BreathingRoom. I'd realized that there were many professional workspaces that I could've used as our office & if we can connect these workspaces with working professionals & business travelers, we may be able address an acute pain point. .

How do you think your time at ISB has contributed to your career and personal growth?
ISB was a great place to get a sense of different walks of life in one concentrated year. Personally, I grew to realize how everyone has so many layers of awesome built-in; and never to judge anyone by a first impression. In terms of career, it gave me the confidence to go on and forge my own path.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
I'm loving the journey of building something new, learning constantly and realizing that despite being an MBA, there's so much about business I don't know! :) The process of taking an idea a few months ago and making it into a real business with paying customers is really fulfilling. A lot of the positive feedback from many of the ISB alumni (from across the years) who’ve discovered us has helped us believe that we’re on the right path.

Briefly describe a typical day at work, in a way that illuminates the kind of challenges and opportunities your role involves.
As one of the co-founders, a typical day is really spread across multiple functions, from strategizing company direction & defining product, to taking a customer support call, forging partnerships & much more.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Are there any trends that you can identify?
The sharing economy is here to stay -- across all verticals. While AirBnB & Uber forged the way in the west, we're starting the see the same behavior in India & SE Asia across all underutilized assets, especially via mobile.
What we've been excited about at BreathingRoom is the trends in the growth of the knowledge economy -- India is the fastest growing knowledge economy of the world and these professionals are spending on an average 1 day a week not in their office.

What was the main highlight or most memorable aspect of your programme at the ISB?
By far, the campus life -- being surrounded with such smart, diverse, driven & interesting people was exhilarating. The academic rigour and the level of our professors is world-class and I remember many classes like ENDM & Marketing services distinctly, as if they happened yesterday.

If you could offer a word of advice to the current class at ISB, what would it be?
Networking is more than just meeting people -- Try to genuinely give more than you get. In the last many months of going through the tribulations of starting up, I've benefitted from many friends who've supported BreathingRoom many years after I'd helped them for something they needed help on.

How do you feel you can contribute to ISB?
I've been involved with mentoring students from the upcoming batches of YLP admits, and would love to help startups and entrepreneurs coming out of ISB.