In the podcast, it was revealed that Asish Mohapatra, an MBA graduate from the Indian School of Business (ISB), doesn’t have an office, assistant, or driver.
OfBusiness was founded by Asish Mohapatra in 2015, and within a short span of eight years, it has achieved a valuation of 5 billion dollars (Rs 44,000 crore) with impressive profitability. The IIT Kharagpur graduate aims to make it the first startup with 100 million dollars in PAT. Despite this, he doesn’t have a corner office, assistant, or driver as he revealed in a podcast last year.
During a podcast, Asish Mohapatra, an MBA graduate from the Indian School of Business (ISB), disclosed that he has chosen to forgo a personal office, assistant, driver, and even a cabin to establish a workplace culture based on the principles of freedom, equality, and brotherhood.
He believed that the US became the richest nation due to its belief in fundamental rights. He aimed to champion these ideals when he became successful. He promoted an office culture based on equality where every employee is treated equally without fixed seating or parking spaces in his company.
Regardless of seniority, every employee travels in economy class and shares hotel rooms on business trips, as per Mohapatra’s policy for building a culture of equality in his company.
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Asish Mohapatra’s success mantra is to pursue the unimaginable and inspire others to do the same.
Based in Gurgaon, his LinkedIn profile states that his aim is to revolutionize the B2B landscape with technology. Originally from Odisha, he has made significant strides in the world of entrepreneurship.
Of Business is a B2B procurement platform for industrial goods and services, recently valued at over 5 billion dollars. Its revenue grew 400x to Rs 7269 crore in FY21-22, selling industrial goods, chemicals, and agricultural produce.
He spent four years working for venture capitalists, Matrix Partners, before starting his own startup. The company’s profit after tax in FY2022 was Rs 125.63 crore. His wife is also a co-founder of the company, and together they have built another profitable unicorn, Oxyzo.
Despite being rejected by dozens of investors, he remained true to his mantra of remaining profitable. One investor had rebuked him for wanting to make a profit per transaction, advising him to burn and grow instead. However, he stuck to his principles.
His mother, a physics professor, taught him the principles of profitability, which he applied in his startup. Despite facing rejection from 73 investors, he persevered with hope.
In the podcast, he revealed his optimistic expectation of a significant increase in his company’s profit after tax (PAT). He stated that his PAT is expected to reach approximately 80 million dollars in FY 2023.