Sensational Interview with Jeet Banerjee : 22 years old Serial entreprenuer

We are kicking off our first interview series. The aim is to share the success stories of various individuals. We would see the inspirations and struggle behind their dreams and learn from them.

Today, We have got someone phenomenal. His name is jeet Banerjee, a serial entrepreneur, tech expert, consultant, author, and blogger. There is indeed a lot about him. He has successfully help start many business.

He is currently working on various new start-up companies. Jeet Banerjee is also into business  consulting and speaks at different conferences. Let get started with this already.


Q: Who is Jeet Banerjee? Tell us about your family background, education and hobbies. You could also tell us something you have not mentioned in any interview.

Ans: Jeet Banerjee is a 22 year old serial entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, digital marketing consultant, and best-selling author. Growing up, Jeet was raised by his family constantly reminded of the value of a dollar. I attended college for a few years, but I ended up dropping out when I was learning more from my start-ups than I was in the classroom. In terms of hobbies, I’m a huge fan of sports and spend a lot of time with friends/family.

Q: Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey. How did you take off?

Ans: I started my entrepreneurial journey as a senior in high school when I was 17 years old. I was sick of minimum wage jobs that restricted my freedom and creative ability so I launched my own multimedia agency. I grew this company to 20+ employees within 2 years and we were building websites, mobile applications and videos for companies all over the world. I ended up selling this company after 2 years and that was the first signs of success I saw as an entrepreneur.

Q: Tell us about those rough/tough moments when you started your first business.

Ans: Starting off, the toughest thing I had to deal with was my age. I was 17 years old and I looked like I was 14. I had rough times when I went to make pitches with clients and they mistook me for someone’s kid. These moments brought me to the edge where I almost quit and decided to put my entrepreneurial dreams on hold until I was older and more mature.

Q: As a student entrepreneur, how do you manage to balance your business, social life and family?

Ans: While I was in college and pursuing entrepreneurship, it was very difficult to balance everything. What ended up happening was that I spent most of my time on my business and the rest of my time had been divided between my family and my social life. Nowadays, I have a pretty good schedule that ensures I am not overworking myself. I still work a lot and business is what I’m doing most of all, but I usually leave my weekends and evenings open for my social life and family.

Q: I watched your TEDx video and it was inspiring. You mentioned how you started your first business even without having the financial resources (Capital). Could you shed more light to this?

Ans: Yeah absolutely. When I started my entrepreneurial journey, I didn’t even have a bank account and I couldn’t even properly set up a Paypal account because I wasn’t 18 years old. I was selling websites without having my own website, business entity or bank account. I think it’s all about hustling harder than everyone else in order to be successful. If you don’t have the luxury of experience or capital, you don’t wait. Instead, find another way to get it done.

(Here is that TEDx talk by the way)

Q: What is your definition of success?

Ans: My definition of success is being able to do what I want when I want.

Q: Run us through quick steps you use to execute your ideas.

Ans: When you come up with a new idea, it’s very easy to fall in love with your idea. Many people fail with their ideas because they are too infatuated with their own ideas and aren’t willing to make necessary changes to it. When I get an idea, the first thing I am doing is figuring out who the possible target markets can be and getting feedback from them on my ideas. Is that idea a viable option? How do your potential customers feel about it? These are all important questions to answer.

Q: What are your major challenges as a young entrepreneur?

Ans: I think the biggest challenge as a young entrepreneur is getting credibility to really push your ideas forward. Whether you need investors, clients or something else, it’s always going to be a challenge when you’re a young entrepreneur.

Q: How did you overcome those challenges?

Ans: If you’re going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. Back up everything that you say and go the extra mile to make things happen.

Q: What sacrifices did you make in order to achieve your dreams?

Ans: I started entrepreneurship when I was extremely young. While my friends were out playing video games, going to the movies or hanging out with each other, I was at home grinding away at my businesses. I had to sacrifice a social life early on and a lot of sleep in order to achieve my dreams.

Q: Who are your competitors and how do you manage the competition?

Ans: I have many competitors from many different businesses that I run. In terms of managing competition, I love competition. I embrace it because it does a couple things:

- Competition validates what you’re doing.
- Keeps you on your toes and constantly motivates you to stay on top of your game.

Q: What impact has your business made so far?

Ans: I’ve had one business that has helped over 250,000 students get into college. I’ve had another business where my apps have received millions of download in the past few years. Most importantly, all of my businesses are created to create value instead of just making money.

Q: What is the core-secret of your growing business?

Ans: Scale. First you nail it, then you scale it. I think too many people are focused on growing too early when they don’t know if they have a business that is successful or not. I first focus on creating a business and a model that is viable. Once I have that, it’s all about scaling it out and multiplying it so you can grow rapidly.

Q: Do you currently have investors?

Ans: No I do not.

Q: What are the sources of income available to you?

Ans: I have multiple companies that generate me income, a couple of eBooks and paperback books, courses that I have published, stocks, and some startup investments that I make from time to time.

Q: Can you give us a figure of your online revenue monthly? 4, 5 or 6 figures?

Ans: I don’t really like to share the exact figures of my monthly revenue, but I am living more than happily.

Q: Have you ever had any regrets?

Ans: No. When you start your own business, you can’t have regrets. As long as you make every decision because it was the best thing to do at that time, you shouldn’t have any regrets.

Q: Do you think in anyway your environment helped contribute to the success of your enterprise(s)?

Ans: I think so. I think the ideas that you come up with are always a result of your environment. If you experience something daily and you know something, then those are the ideas that become a viable option. I think that contributed heavily to my success.

Q: How do you think young people out there can make a difference like you?

Ans: Put your wildest dreams on the table and go after it. Just do it. If you want to do something, go out there and do it. Don’t wait and don’t make excuses, there is no better time than now.

Q: Do you think there are limits to which youths can excel?

Ans: Absolutely not. Age is just a number, nothing else.

Q: As an entrepreneur, what would you refer to as your biggest achievement so far?

Ans: I would say my biggest achievement to date was selling my first company and watching it grow as big as 20+ employees.

Q: One of your recent projects is Statfuse.com. Tell us the inspiration behind it.

Ans: It was an idea that came out by a friend and I. We both struggled immensely when trying to apply to college to figure out what colleges were viable options for us. We saw that the marketplace was really missing a good solution so we decided to create a solution for future students.

Q: Do you have any plans for Statfuse.com you would like to share?

Ans: In terms of StatFuse, we are just extremely focused on scaling and growing out the company even further. We want to be able to get this product in the hands of as many students as we possibly can and we are excited to see what the future brings for us.

Q: What are some achievements so far for statfuse.com?

Ans: We have been featured in numerous media outlets and even have over 250,000+ students that have signed up and used our portal.

Q: What is your advice for young people who might intend launching their own start-ups?

Ans: Don’t be scared of making mistakes or failure. It’s all part of the journey and mistakes/failure are a good thing. Be happy about it and embrace it. The sooner you make mistakes, the closer you are to succeeding.

Q: What is that one thing you wished you could change about your past?

Ans: I wish that I was more open to listening to people when I first started. When I started, I was cocky and arrogant thinking I knew it all. I wasn’t open to advice from others, but I quickly realized that you need to hear everyone out. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt and enjoy it.

Q: Tell us the best decision you think you have made in your life.

Ans: Deciding to become an entrepreneurship instead of taking the traditional college route.

Q: What do you think would be the next phase of innovation in the entrepreneurial world?

Ans: I’ve been involved in tech for the greater 5 years of my entrepreneurial career. I really want to move into non-technical sectors such as real estate, charities and other areas where I feel that I can make a big impact.

Q: Send out a word of inspiration to my readers.

Ans: There is no better time to pursue your dreams than right NOW!

Thank you Jeet for this inspiring time. You have been amazing!

USE THe LINKS BELOW TO CONNECT WITH JEET:
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google + | Website

Over to you
Jeet has shared his phenomenal story with you, now it is time for me to hear from you. What did you learn from this entrepreneur?

Would you like to ask any question from Jeet Banerjee that I skipped ? You can ask him further questions below in the comment section.