Maytree School of Entrepreneurship: Interview with inspiring CEO

I have with me Rohit Kashyap – Founder and CEO of Maytree School of entrepreneurship –  a small-town boy from Patna, Bihar who is also one of the Youngest Digital Entrepreneurs of India 2019, a startup advisor, a Karamveer Chakra Awardee, a social media strategist and whatnot… 

I welcome Rohit Kashyap on The Improvement Terminal where we interview millennials who add value to people’s lives and who we think will definitely make a dent in the universe.

This interview series is all about people who think they have a purpose to inspire others and want to bring change to society.

This interview will be a little long but trust me this interview will provide you with a lot of insights about startups and entrepreneurship.

I have known Rohit Kashyap from Quora and I am a great fan of his writings, the way he writes and inspires others is just amazing. For all the people who are on Quora are very well aware of this thing.

Rohit Kashyap is a digital entrepreneur and to be precise one of the youngest digital entrepreneur in India currently.

Rohit Kashyap age is just 18 years, but what he is doing is beyond imagination for the age that he is.

I know that Rohit was very well aware of the power of social media and that is why he choose the path of digital entrepreneurship.

In today’s date, every digital entrepreneur has very well understood the power of social media and how they can grow their businesses online leveraging the power of social media.

The idea and the way he established Maytree School of Entrepreneurship is what made me his fan. I didn’t know in my craziest dreams that one-day an 18-year boy would come and inspire me like this.

I am very sure Rohit Kashyap will the next big thing when we will see the list of entrepreneurs because of the hard work and value he provides.

He has been in contact with people of great calibre like Kunal Shah – Founder of Freecharge, Ritesh Agarwal – Founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, Ravi Shankar Prasad – Union Minister and many more.

I have been in contact with some Quorans, interviewed 4 till now and Rohit is one of them.

Interview with Dipanshu Rawal and  Rohit Kashyap has taught me something, that each individual has something in them to offer to the world and they all have done that.

Interview with Rohit Kashyap

Arjun: Rohit, tell us something about you other than what the titles tell about you? Something which not many people know of?

Rohit Kashyap: I am a sensitive type of person and that is one thing people are not aware of. I don’t show my sensitivity in office and that is why people are not aware of it.

I have improved a lot now but earlier I used to be very sensitive and if in my school if some teacher used to shout at me, I used to get tears in my eyes.

Also, I get connected to people very easily like if you do something for me I would be very much grateful to you for helping me. Those are the things people don’t know about me.

Questions about Maytree School of Entrepreneurship

How did the Maytree School start?

Arjun:  Rohit, it sounds good that you are improving continuously. I always wondered about the name “Maytree”, is there any origin behind such a name, please share with the readers.

Rohit: The name Maytree School of Entrepreneurship came from a part known as Maytree Solutions which my father formed 5-6 years ago, it was a telecom based company and also it did a few other projects as well.

The actual spelling is “Maitree” and not “Maytree” which means friendship. I kept this name because in this world we have to be friends with everyone so that we can help others and get help from others as well.

We all are dependent on somebody, that’s why I named it Maytree so that we all can get help and help others as a friend.

There is also a fun fact behind Maytree that we help students as friends. There are mentors at Maytree but the mentors actually help the students as friends.

Arjun: That’s a great initiative that you are trying to help people as friends. I am curious that why didn’t you kept the spelling same as “Maitree”

Rohit: The name “Maitree” is very common and we thought about why we don’t create something that can be turned into a brand. Therefore, we came up with Maytree, that’s all.

All about Maytree School of Entrepreneurship

Arjun: Okay Rohit, tell us Why you choose entrepreneurship, something about Maytree School of Entrepreneurship, how it works and what made you start such a school of entrepreneurship or from where did the idea strike you? I know that is a hell lot of questions, upfront.

Rohit: The great idea of Maytree School of Entrepreneurship clicked me last year. After I gave my 12^th Boards exam last year, I realized that other students might be tensed regarding this.

Also, I use to write on Quora and people used to message me why don’t you help youngsters. So I started an initiative of “Call pe charcha with Rohit Kashyap” and in 30-40 days nearly 200-300 people connected with me and I used to share with them advice related to startups.

I then realized that I have good knowledge about startups, I have run a startup and worked with great minds so why don’t I help youngsters.

See, youngsters have ideas and they have passion as well, what they actually lack is handholding support.

It’s not like that there are no courses available, there are but at Maytree what we provide them is handholding support and curate startups from 0 to 1.

I know such startups that are currently doing great and know for sure that they will do better in the future as well. That’s what we provide at Maytree.

Arjun: How does this thing work?

Rohit: So people who are interested in Entrepreneurship apply to our website and if we like the idea then nearly 10-15% get shortlisted for the interview round.

We have received nearly 10000 applications to date and 500-550 startups have been a part of Maytree School of Entrepreneurship.

More Questions about Maytree School of Entrepreneurship

Arjun: As you said, you want to help youngsters. Is there any age limit on who can apply?

Rohit: First we started with the age limit from 12 to 50. Then we came to know that there are students who are directors of Schools, assistant managers and managers somewhere and we see that some people are really passionate about this stuff. So it is now open for all. There is no age to be an entrepreneur.

Arjun: So do you teach the students about Start-up or you also help them grow as well? What is the scenario at Maytree School, please tell something about it.

Rohit: See, it is nothing like that we only teach them about a startup. We help them connect to investors. We will be soon starting Maytree Capital Fund which will be able to give funding of Rs. 2 Lac- 1 Crore.

See we cannot give the money to every startup, but out of 500 startups, at least 2 startups could be there, which might grow to a scale of Facebook or Google. No one knows what can happen.

Financials of Maytree School of Entrepreneurship

Arjun: Rohit, Maytree Capital Fund seems to be something very interesting we should be definitely checking out in the near future. So do you have that amount of money to fund the startups?

Rohit: No, I don’t have that amount of Capital. Currently, at Maytree we are bootstrapping. We can get external funds and investors but I think until we can bootstrap it’s fine.

In Maytree, there are types of people who come who have money but don’t know how to run a startup. Like we recently met with cricketer R.P.Singh who has funded huge companies and so we asked why don’t you come to Maytree and now he is very much interested in Maytree.

There are people like Shashank Kumar whose company is valued over 250-300 Crores, that type of people who have money are involved with us. They are looking for startups to invest their money.

See, there are 2 types of people. First, those who have the idea but don’t have money and 2^nd those who money but can’t run a startup.

So what Maytree does is people who are starting we will curate them and when they scale as a startup model then, Maytree will fund them.

 Details of Maytree School of Entrepreneurship

Arjun: Is Maytree School of Entrepreneurship generating profitable revenue?

Rohit: Yes, Maytree is 100% profitable. We charge a minimal fee of 4000 Rs for people who want to join us. But, if they can’t afford that we also give them a scholarship.

We run a 30-day program where we teach how to do market research, how to do sales and a lot of things.

Arjun: With the title of the best young entrepreneur 2019, you are aware that you are making a change to society and working for a greater cause. How does it feel like to bring that change?

Rohit: I am just learning. There is no such feeling. I have met people who are 20-22 years and doing inspirational things, I learn from them.

Earlier, I was a bit immature but now I meet people who are worth 100 crores, 250 crores or 1000 crores and I try to learn from them that how calm they are.

Kunal Shah who sold his company for 450 million$ I earlier thought that he would not be willing to help me but still he wanted to help me. I think how that they are worth so much but still their thinking is so down to earth.

See, money doesn’t strike me nor does name and fame but how down to earth you can be when you have all the things in the world surely does strike me.

Something personal with Rohit Kashyap 

Arjun: Well Rohit, that is very appreciable. I really admire how you think and how mature you have got. What according to you is one core value or personality trait in your life which is very crucial and that brought you where you are today?

Rohit: The one thing in my personality that I am very proud of is that I am not afraid to make mistakes. When you see my course you will find small mistakes.

I am not like such a person that I am very big and I will not make mistakes, on the contrary, I believe how well and quickly I can learn from my mistakes.

Secondly, I believe if somebody helps me I have to do something for them. I am always willing to help people. I want to spend my life in public service.

Who inspires the young guy

Arjun: How huge impact do you think Maytree School has created? There might be some cases you must share with readers to inspire them

Rohit: Okay, so one of them is Bhavesh Pharmaceuticals who are doing great in Maharashtra with ayurvedic medications. We have supported them technically and also with marketing in Bihar and Jharkhand.

They are just great, they are working on certain cancer medicine dosages which are working fine and I am sharing this with my experience as I suggested them to my close relations who had some problems and they are fine now.

A few lessons learned during Maytree School of Entrepreneurship

Arjun: What were some of the biggest lessons that have impacted the way that you work? What was the lesson, and what was it like before and after?

Rohit: I want to say that, in life, there may be chances that your father will leave, your mother, your wife or your girlfriend.

The things which will never leave me is my work and my country, therefore, I am very passionate about working for my country.

Mr APJ Abdul Kalam has always worked for the country and he has been my biggest inspiration. The second inspiration is Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Both these guys have dedicated their lives to the betterment of the country. Kalam Ji for DRDO and Atal Ji for BJP so I also want to do something for my country.

Rohit Kashyap ideology on how to get a loyal customer base

Arjun: People have great ideas, but they don’t know how to monetize it or automate their idea.

Krishna Rathi was able to monetize his idea but the budding startup people are trapped spending long days in their startup. They struggle on how to monetize their idea.

How do you teach people at Maytree School of  Entrepreneurship on how to monetize their ideas or build their business model. Some tips you would like to give them to monetize and automate their ideas.

Rohit: The people who are currently with us in Maytree most of them are not full-time entrepreneurs, they are part-time. They are hustling to get things right.

See one thing you have to make sure is that you have to give good customer satisfaction so that the customers become loyal.

A loyal relationship is formed when a customer is fully satisfied. When a customer is fully satisfied, they will work for you, come to you to get things.

Initially, it will take a lot of hard work to build such a relationship but when you build a loyal customer base things will itself get automated.

If the satisfaction of your customer is fulfilled, they will automatically come to you. And one point I also want to add is to never make fake promises to your customers or employees.

It’s because of them you are where you are, and if they wouldn’t be there you wouldn’t be here.

an idea we both liked, and we want to share with the readers here

Favourite book of Rohit Kashyap

Arjun: Rohit, that’s great to see how you believe in bonding with your customers and to provide them with great satisfaction. The next question is every great CEO reads lots of books. I am sure you must also be reading lots of books? Please let us know some of them and what did you like about that particular book?

Rohit: I always keep on reading something or the other, whether it is an article or a book. I always want to re-read things, I always want to re-learn things.

I am always curious guy from childhood. A child who always use to ask questions. I find meeting with people and learning from them a better idea.

In particular, I like the book Zero to One by Peter Thiel. Peter is like a mentor and inspiration to me. What I like in that book is the idea that Peter shares are next Bill Gates will not Windows, next Mark Zuckerberg will not make Facebook.

They will not copy something, they will do something great in their own terms.

Questions for Advise to other people

Arjun: What are your suggestions for people who are trapped in jobs but wish to be an entrepreneur but they get into a comfort zone and they feel it is difficult for them to get out of it. What is your advice to them?

Rohit: See, there always should be hunger in you to keep on learning, upgrading, learning a new skill and keep on growing. This hunger inside you should never die to make yourself aware that who are you.

I will not advise directly to quit the job rather start something as a side hustle and if at a certain level you feel it is giving you results and it has the potential than you can quit. See you have to take a little bit of risk and with that, you also need to have confidence. So start working on something side by side.

Like for eg: If you want to start a restaurant and don’t have a budget then start a café. And if not café then something smaller maybe a stall.

What Rohit Kashyap does in free time

Arjun: Great advice Rohit. Can you tell us things that you do in your free time?

Rohit: Lord Krishna is the only thing I am addicted to. You will find me listening to his song all the time. The second is Bhagavad Gita, which is present on my bed 24*7.

My parents shout at me to not keep Bhagavad Gita on my bed, I still do because I want it to be present near me.

Something from Rohit Kashyap for the current teenagers

Arjun: You are a teen yourself and still very mature. One advice that you want to give to current teen generation to do what they are passionate about?

Rohit: Distraction is one thing we all have in common. I previously mentioned is that one thing which stays with you is your work. Maybe we don’t have big cars or home but we are still alive, still walking.

Our bodies are completely fine so be grateful for your life.  All the close people around you are showering good blessings for you.

In any situation, we have 2 choices either to take the situation positively or to take a situation negatively. So just take it positively.

Arjun: Well, thank you Rohit for taking out time and interviewing with us. It was a great pleasure to listen to your words and how you think. I really admire your thoughts and once again thank you for your time with us.

Link to Maytree School of Entrepreneurship 

Link to Interview with Dipanshu Rawal

Maytree School FAQ

Something Arjun wants to tell about Rohit Kashyap

Rohit Kashyap is active on all social media handles maybe it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram he is there. Spreading positivity has also become a job for Rohit Kashyap.

I don’t mean to exaggerate but I haven’t seen someone doing things that big.

People of Rohit Kashyap age are truly an inspiration for the generations to come with Maytree School of Entrepreneurship in his hand.

I fully hope that future budding entrepreneurs got a lot of inspiration from this interview with Rohit Kashyap and will be a lot more focused and dedicated to providing a better space to live.

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