Being flexible is the one big thing that has stayed constant in his entrepreneurial journey. Rohan believes in being open to pivoting if necessary to deliver a product market fit. “You must keep changing, gravitating towards customers.” Rohan is now CEO of Zenius Education. He is staying flexible and has pivoted multiple times in this company too. Zenius Education started with digital videos preparing Indonesian students for the Indonesian national curriculum and college entrance exam. As the pandemic started, they launched products that they felt students needed, like live streaming. They saw amazing growth. Although finding a product market fit is a key factor to success, Rohan says the number one factor is timing. “You can have an incredible idea, but timing is the most important factor.” If you’re two years ahead of the time for the market to scale, then even with the best management team, a lot of funds raised, and a bright outlook, you cannot scale.” Rohan also knows firsthand that being realistic and thorough are incredibly important. “My first startup was a failure. It was bootstrapped (this means the founders fund the company themselves), so I and two other co-founders self-funded it for close to three years. We did a bunch of research before crafting the idea, but we made a few too many assumptions about the problems the market faced.” This meant they weren’t able to build product market fit. “We were too optimistic and didn’t have enough realism and pragmatism, and even had slight pessimism.” This experience taught Rohan that it’s essential to think and experiment deeply and very cheaply about product market fit. “It was an incredible learning experience. As I’ve gone through my career, I’ve gravitated toward building businesses with an incredible market fit.” Today, Rohan is not only a CEO he is also an active “angel investor.” This is someone who typically invests money very early into a startup company. Angels have experience in business and come in with expertise, a network, and the ability to mentor. “I love working with e n t r e p r e n e u r s and scaling their companies.” So, with all this experience what is Rohan’s advice to high school students? He says to look for a problem that’s bothering you. “As long as you have that problem you’re trying to solve it for yourself, you have at least one customer to build for. The level of passion you may have for building a start-up can be amplified if it’s a product that impacts your life. That’s the ideal circumstance.” Rohan believes that it’s exciting to be part of a startup at some point in your career. “Whether it’s in marketing, sales, operations, business, product, or human resources, having the opportunity to be part of a mission and vision for something new is great. To be part of an engaging and exciting team working towards achieving the change that everyone wants to see in the world can be an incredible experience in anyone's career.” “The people you meet, and the friends you make, are super influential in helping you grow as an individual. How you treat others is a huge influence on your opportunities and experiences. Building your network is just as important as any in-class learning.” “The opportunity to be part of a mission and vision for something new is great... an incredible experience in anyone’s career”
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