Listen On
| Immigrant entrepreneur: | Doctor Ashish Mudgal |
| Company: | HeyHerbie |
| Place of birth: | India |
| Employees: | 7 |
| Age started business: | 36 |
Show notes
Doctor Ashish Mudgal came to the United States when he was 26 years old from India. Although he always wanted to become a scientist and that is exactly why he came to the States; his journey to entrepreneurship was something out of the ordinary. He came to study on a Soil, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences program to obtain his PhD.
Doctor Ashish Mudgal never imagined that he would ever be an entrepreneur but after unique experiences it lead him to opening 2 start up companies.
The start up that he has now, HeyHerbie combines the use of technology with elderly folks to invent a genius product.
This episode is packed with his powerful and insightful advice for all immigrant entrepreneurs.
Quotes by Doctor Ashish Mudgal
Be focused and have a goal that is bigger than you… the side effect will be to make money.
Once you have that goal and focus the decision making is easy.
Have a network.
If you want to become an entrepreneur surround yourself with good entrepreneurs.
When I came here, I came alone, I didn’t know anyone.
You have a problem that you want to solve, and you are not going to solve it in the first 5 tries, 10 tries, 100 tries.. You might have to try 1,000 times.
You just have to learn the basics of the problem, where the root cause of the problem is, and keep pounding on it or until you find a solution.
I didn’t have a network when I came, I relied on books, I took entrepreneurial courses, and my wife supported me a lot.
Every year I take courses on entrepreneurship/business.
When you’re stressed out because you’ve failed, you didn’t learn from it.
Retrospect from your failures and learn.
Don’t get failures to your head, rather dissect them and learn from them.
Be cautious who is advising you.
If the goal is something about just having money, or something that is very selfish you won’t have much support.
The more you give back, the more growth you’re going to see.
Build a network.
I didn’t know I had an entrepreneurial drive.
Where to find Doctor Ashish Mudgal
Mentioned in the episode
1O.1O.1O invites 1O successful serial entrepreneurs from across the United States (“prospective CEOs”) to spend 1O days together tackling 1O wicked problems.
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Alina Warrick (0s):
Welcome to the Immigrant Entrepreneurs podcast episode 22. My name is Alina Warrick and today I’m super honored to bring on Dr. Ashish Mudgal in Doctor Ashish Mudgal came from India to study on a PhD program at the university of Missouri to study on the Soil and Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences program, his career, a lead him to work on integrated of farming systems through the development of algorithms. In this episode, he tells us what it was like growing up in India. And how are they lived without power consistently for periods of time and without any central air conditioning, his company, it has nothing to do with the study of soil and farming.
Alina Warrick (51s):
And in the fact it’s combining technology with elderly folks to invent a genius product Doctor Ashish Mudgal. It gives us some absolutely astonishing a device for all Immigrant Entrepreneurs and you’re going to absolutely love it. So let’s dive right in. All right. Ashish thank you so much for coming on to the Immigrant Entrepreneur is a podcast I’m really excited to chat with you and learn all about your Immigrant Entrepreneur journey. So how are you doing today?
Ashish Mudgal (1m 27s):
Great. And I’m really honored to be on your podcast, Alina. Thanks for inviting me.
Alina Warrick (1m 33s):
So let’s talk a little bit about your Immigrant journey and tell us where you’re from. And when did you come to the States? Sure.
Ashish Mudgal (1m 41s):
So I am from India and I came in 2006. To me. It still feels like yesterday, but when I tell somebody else, like I came in 2006, they were like, Oh my God, 15 years. So to me, it’s still, it feels like yesterday. And it was an amazing opportunity for learning exposure and to start a new life.
Alina Warrick (2m 8s):
Awesome. So did you come by yourself with your family?
Ashish Mudgal (2m 12s):
And so I came alone here in 2006, four to pursue my education, a actually a PhD in agriculture, in soil science in my major was in soil physics from a university of Missouri Columbia.
Alina Warrick (2m 29s):
Wow. Okay. So did you get a scholarship to come to, to study on the PhD program?
Ashish Mudgal (2m 37s):
A good point because yeah, if you don’t want to get into American education debt, its huge, you are right. I, so then I was an India. I was working as a scientist or hydrologist in Indian Institute of the soil and water conservation. I have a couple of friends here in United States who used to be my roommates vile undergrad. So they, they were doing their PhDs or a postdoc pro program here at Iowa state university. So they kind of guided me. What’s the process, how you can come here and Allina, you, you might know a lot of Indians who are here in the States, so it should be easy to find somebody, but India is huge.
Ashish Mudgal (3m 18s):
Right? And that the part of India that I’m from is how do you know it’s not state? You don’t find a lot of people getting out of that state even so it’s unusual. Why is that? There could be a lot of reasons. I think one is it’s. One of them are very prosperous States in India very early on. Even in the 1970s and sixties, it started to progress a lot and, and it’s just, people never want it to immigrate from there. That could be one of the reasons, but again, there are cultural, cultural issues, family bonding. You don’t want to go away from your community.
Ashish Mudgal (4m 0s):
But my opinion, I think that it’s because early on they have seen lot of prosperity.
Alina Warrick (4m 6s):
Got it, got it. So how did you choose the United States versus any of the country?
Ashish Mudgal (4m 11s):
Good point. So my background is agriculture engineering at it from the university agriculture university in India. And most of our textbooks, that technology that we were learning there came out of the United States. And as I told you, my first job was as a hydrologist and I was working for a project in international panel on climate change. That is part of IPC in 2005. That was a huge exposure for me and my boss. Immediate boss was so accommodating. So I already met a few people there who have been to us that their PhD’s from us and went back to India and now have a great career in scientific industry.
Ashish Mudgal (4m 57s):
So learning from them that there are a lot of value in American education. Second, I think, like I said, I had a couple of my roommates, friends from undergrad who are already here taking a GRE exam or TOEFL exam was a big guy, but this is the city where I was working. Didn’t have any Institute where I can prepare for GRE, but my boss, the immediate boss, he was so amazing. He gave me Saturdays. So in India we have six days a week. So we gave me the Saturdays off. So I used to ride six hour bus to another city, take my coaching, come back Sunday and then study on Sunday and Monday again work.
Ashish Mudgal (5m 40s):
So I think a lot of circumstances, people around me made it easy to choose. America
Alina Warrick (5m 47s):
Did you say you were on the bus for six hours to help prepare for the GRE test?
Ashish Mudgal (5m 54s):
Yeah, that was amazing. I used to enjoy, I use leave early in the morning on Saturday’s reach there around afternoon to take my class for five hours, four to five hours to used to be a Saturday. I had a friend there. I use to stay with him or a lead in our sleep and Sunday back the way it used to reach back by Sunday afternoon and then study for it because that’s the time I have to study for GRE TOEFL and then Monday what quick starts again.
Alina Warrick (6m 21s):
Wow. Wow. That’s that’s amazing. And so you came to the States all by yourself. Yeah.
Ashish Mudgal (6m 26s):
Yes. I didn’t know anybody except one of my friends, but I applied for the scholarship. Like you said, a United States department of agriculture, the project was funded by USDA. So it was easy. Means easy for me. I was getting a good scholarship stipend and you know, there are a lot of Indians in every university, almost every investment in the United States, but it’s pretty social media time. So we didn’t have Facebook pages or This so it was hard. It means you, you don’t have groups. Now you can just chat. Let’s select this apartment on the list, but it was, it was not a big struggle. I, I came here.
Ashish Mudgal (7m 6s):
I know friends, I think it was a cultural change more or less rather than any other struggle.
Alina Warrick (7m 13s):
So how old were you when you came in 2006, 2000. I was 26. That is still fairly young. And you’re leaving your entire childhood years at 26 years old. So what was it like growing up in India?
Ashish Mudgal (7m 30s):
It was amazing. I will say I had a great life. I still missed that social intimacy that we have in India. You can say that it, it might be very intrusive in the United States, but in India that’s how you live. Every neighbor knows you. They ask you a private questions that you can’t even imagine. The United States how much money you make. Oh, you are not getting married. So any neighbor, can I ask you these kinds of questions, but that’s, that’s what makes it’s incredible. I, I still missed that kind of cohesiveness.
Alina Warrick (8m 6s):
Yeah. Russia is like that too. So I totally get it.
Ashish Mudgal (8m 11s):
And, and that’s why I think we have less depression cases and I know, but it was amazing. And I think my family, my dad, he, he was now he’s retired. He was a prophet esteemed professor. He published a paper in nature and he was amazing. My mom, she was at a housewife, although, but she, she was an entrepreneurial spirit and she has a music school. She had a business at one point, she used to teach dance. She was a people person. So learned a lot from them. But I think it is growing up. It was a norm. But now when you talk about it, it seems like, Oh my God, that was a struggle.
Ashish Mudgal (8m 51s):
It was not like view. Sometimes you use to have electric cuts or is that, what do you call them? There was no electricity for a few days. So you have to finish your homework in a candlelight. Or if you are home are home is in the village. You miss one, right? Then there is no right for the whole day. So you have to walk miles. There are some of the amazing walks I had with my dad or my family. So
Alina Warrick (9m 18s):
Wait, why didn’t you guys, I’m sorry to interrupt. Why don’t you guys have like electricity for a period of time?
Ashish Mudgal (9m 22s):
So let’s say it could be a transformer. Burst out. Our infrastructure was not that stable. You are in the eighties and nineties in India. If you have even a small storm, even if, sometimes you see a good, a breeze or wind going out, you’re like, okay, the light going to go off. And sometime if you have the biggest storms, not like hurricanes or tornadoes, even smaller, much smaller than that. You will have electric gut for three days, two days, but that as a kid and it means more time to blame.
Alina Warrick (9m 60s):
So, so no school you’re, you’re sitting at home playing.
Ashish Mudgal (10m 3s):
So you have to go up to me at school is during the daytime. So you have to go to the school without electricity. And sometimes the temperature is 115, 110 feet of fed tonight. But I think you never felt told me it was fun. I enjoyed it. Totally. And, and I think that’s what, as a first generation of immigrants who come here, it doesn’t even feel like a struggle. When you are doing your groceries here and coming, walking from Walmart to your house, or you have to spend like hours working outside of the field for, for me, it was like just collecting sample data, soil samples and all those things. So I think it kind of creates a great foundation for what you’re going to be doing next in your life.
Alina Warrick (10m 51s):
So I wanted to ask you, do you guys have central air conditioning?
Ashish Mudgal (10m 55s):
Oh no, no. You know, even, even now its not that common in India. India has changed a lot in last 20 years. I can’t even, I think I get a generational. What do you call it? A gap. Then I go back there. It’s it’s it’s so advanced now, but still we don’t have much of central air condition. There was no air conditioner and most of the houses and India even in the school, it was, there was one fan and sometimes there was no electricity. The temperature has 110, 115. You are sweating. But like I never felt now when I, when we are talking about it, I was like, Oh my God, how I did it.
Ashish Mudgal (11m 36s):
But at that time it never felt like a problem
Alina Warrick (11m 40s):
Because I think that we get so used to the environment. We think that the entire world doesn’t have any ACS. Right. Are the entire world has the same problems like we do. We kind of just, you know, get immersed in that culture, that society, I don’t know, just my thought, but yeah. Yeah. You’re totally right. A lot of people here have a lot different struggles.
Ashish Mudgal (12m 2s):
I agree. Yeah. Yeah. You’re totally right. I usually tell my wife, sometimes we have a discussion. It needs people that some people who are really in problem and I’m not seeing about them, but most of the times Vietnam unhappy because in what state we are, we had an unhappy because of our expectations and then the difference between our current state and, and the expectations are, if it’s huge, if you are going to be unhappy, otherwise I don’t think anybody’s unhappy. Like you said, you think everything is like, it is so you, you just have fun of it. Right?
Alina Warrick (12m 39s):
That’s so powerful. Thank you so much. So she’s, before you tell our listeners about your company, tell me a little bit about the path you took. Did you try to go into any other fields before starting your business?
Ashish Mudgal (12m 53s):
Yeah. So I remember me and Steve jobs are, you know, somebody said that when you look back the dots connect, right? And now when I was actually looking into your questions and I was looking back the dots connect, I never imagined in my life that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. But now when I look back, like my dad was in, he has an amazing quality. I would say that he can boost your confidence so much. For example, if you have never flew in an airplane, he can boost your confidence so much that after an hour you will feel like I can fly it out, a plane to get about sitting in it plus inside us, my brother and I, I love it to think right in my mom with all of the, the, the, the people, persons, I, I love those things are going out.
Ashish Mudgal (13m 50s):
And then I kept doing research. I was doing a PhD here and, and then you are doing things you felt like, Oh, this doesn’t make sense. Nothing is happening in my way. But when you look back, everything was happening for a reason. So a one of my research objective during PhD, it was God compared to, I don’t know, Lena, if you weren’t into computer games, but in 2007. So there was a game where a farming related where’d you grow things on a computer and they take time. And they say like, it’s its the most idiotic game in the world that you’re growing carrots on a computer.
Ashish Mudgal (14m 31s):
So my dad is one of my research objectives got compared to that ’cause I was simulating hundreds, years of agriculture and in fact on, on soil and water conservation. Wow. So I was like, man, I hope you can compared to this shitty game. But actually because of that times magazine and discovery news, everybody start picking it that I, because of the video game has already a big name. They would start picking dis research and I’m a researcher. I was actually amazing because it simulated at the impact for hundreds of years now, how it’s impacting water quality. So in quality, the yield and that kind of puts you on. And my advisor’s in the limelight.
Ashish Mudgal (15m 13s):
And because of that, I’ve got a position at Monsanto in St. Louis. And that was early to see how the dots get connected. Yeah. And they put me apart of a project that was a project integrated farming systems. And in three years I saw that project, the beginning of a billion dollar company, the climate corporation. So you want to be a scientist. And in three years it becomes a huge corporation actually headquartered in San Francisco and they have some body in Seattle. So that, that’s where my learning came from as a for start-ups. And I was like, Oh man, it took a scientist and research 30, 40 years to develop some equations.
Ashish Mudgal (15m 56s):
And here we have doin up the whole algorithms for predictions of farming in three years. And now it’s a billion dollar company.
Alina Warrick (16m 5s):
Is this through when you were at Monsanto, correct? Correct. You are talking about what the project itself became a $3 billion project.
Ashish Mudgal (16m 14s):
Not three multi-billion dollar company. Yes. Yes.
Alina Warrick (16m 17s):
Oh, okay. Yeah. And, and is that I’m sorry. And is that because you use the simulator to predict all of that you were findings and then within three years it was out of success.
Ashish Mudgal (16m 30s):
Yes, I have. I was part of the team that developed an algorithm, initial algorithms. So it integrated farming systems. Actually it was a product first IT-based product for Monsanto that predicts a whole subscription for a farmer. So, and we used to call it a cup of coffee, coffee prescription. What it means is a farmer comes and he tells you, okay, this is my field. Before he finishes his cup of coffee for you should predict a whole prescription for his farming season. Like how much you should go there. You should grow actually by inches, by inches, how much CDE you should put, then venue should put fertilizer when you should harvest everything.
Ashish Mudgal (17m 12s):
But that, so that was just a start. And now it’s, it’s, I’ve looked there to the 2015, but that’s the way that I learned about entrepreneurship, about start ups. And then I, I started my own. Start-ups a lot of them, a lot of failures, failure’s got a small exit in-between and then this is my second startup.
Alina Warrick (17m 36s):
So you started one other one before the one that you have now, which is HeyHerbie right? Yeah.
Ashish Mudgal (17m 42s):
Correct. And the, the previous one was more like an algorithm. Again, we develop before even we can a Company out of it. Our product got bought by some of the seas O
Alina Warrick (17m 55s):
Oh, okay. Got it. Got it. So then you ventured out and then we created this new company HeyHerbie
Ashish Mudgal (18m 1s):
Yes. And, and this has his own story, but yes. Okay. Let’s hear about that. So yeah, HeyHerbie actually S Oh my God. So much learning. And, and that’s where most of the times, as, especially as a tech node, you find a solution to something and then you try to fit a problem to it. Like you find an algorithm or something like, okay, now there, can I use this solution that is totally wrong. We need to do entrepreneurship. So in 2018, there is a start-up generator called is 10, 10, 10 based in Denver, Colorado.
Ashish Mudgal (18m 45s):
And now that I think they have to change their name, it’s X Genesis. So what they do is 10, 10, 10. They invite 10 experienced prospective. CEOs the key them in Denver for 10 days. And they offer them 10 Vicodin problems. And then they call wicked, it’s hard to solve. And they provide you the whole network of support and they take some equity out of it. So I was part of that cohort in 2018. And during that, those 10 days, there were 10 problems. One of those problems that it resonated with me was aging industry, because my parents are back in India now, and, and they’re getting older.
Ashish Mudgal (19m 28s):
So in the back of your head, you are always thinking about their safety, their health. And we just picked that problem and ran with it. And for the first nine months, The we are not even, we were just trying to understand the problem that why did, as on affordability of long-term care and the United States, why even on what is actually the underlying problem. And I didn’t knew anything about aging industry prior to 2018 now, and now I have been taught so much through my team members and, and other resources. So that’s where we come up with the solution. And, and this time, because of our prior experiences, Veeva more methodical in doing our startup.
Ashish Mudgal (20m 15s):
So before even doing anything, we hacked a video game,
Alina Warrick (20m 21s):
Which one, play video games.
Ashish Mudgal (20m 26s):
We have a video game and we put some features on it and to be in white, 50 Maddie’s. Then I say, Mary Mary is our, was our target customer. Mary is a baby boomer. She has 53 year old who has a busy life college going kids working suddenly gets a call from her parents that they need help. And now it is up to the upside down. So he got 50 of those batteries inside the room, and we put a few services on television to help their parents. And that’s where we show them, okay, these are the six features.
Ashish Mudgal (21m 7s):
What, which one you like, which one you don’t like. And they start working with us. So for first three months, we were just working with them. And once they say, okay, these three features are amazing. Then we start building our own hardware. So actually, what, what we do is as HeyHerbie V upgrade older adults television. So it becomes their smart TV and smartphone without the complexity of smartphones. Because if you’re talking to a 75 or 85 year old, it’s, it’s very different for them. I remember during one of our sessions, we give a mouse to a older lady, and you said that you can move the cursor on the screen and click on something that will open.
Ashish Mudgal (21m 54s):
And how do you move? You move it with the mouse, but they have never seen it. So she picked up the mouse and she put it on the screen, you move to the call center, right. Because they have never used it. So, right. And, and that’s kind of like, if you try to teach them, it could, there was a very fine balance of not infantilizing them. If you should not let them feel like a child out of care. Right. Because it’s only about skill. They have never seen it. So how are they going to learn it? So that user interface was a problem. And that’s where we are, who we are. Our version three is it’s as easy for an older adult as it can be without feeling like we are infantilizing them.
Alina Warrick (22m 38s):
So, okay. So tell me again, it’s a TV that can also be used as a smartphone.
Ashish Mudgal (22m 44s):
Correct? So as of now we are offering two services on it. It’s, it’s a platform and the one click, they can call their loved ones, or even their friends and family members on their smartphones. So it it’s more like Facebook portal now and they have released it. But our idea was even before that social isolation and, and that’s, that’s why we keep going back to our problem. It’s not the solution that we want to fit. You want to solve the problem. And Alina, I don’t know if you know, social isolation has similar health impact as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Ashish Mudgal (23m 27s):
So we’re going to do it on an average is a known in their house sometimes from eight to 10 hours. Oh yeah. They don’t have anybody to talk to you. You can give them a smart phones. You could give them my iPad’s, but they did not know how to use them most of the times. So you can even get your reminders on your TV. You, so this becomes your Vindo TV becomes your window to the world. And on average, you and I, as you might receive our, most of the media through phones, computers, Netflix, streaming devices, but older adults still watch 50 hours of television per week.
Ashish Mudgal (24m 9s):
And even if they’re not watching, there are so isolated, the keep, it turned on some voice in their house. So our device connects to any television and its an Android operating system. That means any service that is on the smartphone can be brought to your TV. So you can actually have your shuttles booked right through TV. Or if some shuttle is waiting for you to take you to a physician, it can, you can see that similarly you can get your fall prevention exercises done on the TV and Vietnam doing all the contents. We have these third-party collaboration’s so are bringing those services on our platform for older adults to use.
Alina Warrick (24m 55s):
Okay. So I have so many things to say and to ask that, first of all, a genius idea, and the reason why from my experience is ’cause my husband’s grandmother is 88 years old and I was trying to help her out to get her zoom set up for her church sessions and her friends. And let me tell you, it took me maybe about three months to finally get her on her own to get zoom set up. So I love, I love, love what you’re doing. So it is that TV have zoom capabilities.
Ashish Mudgal (25m 29s):
Actually we have all of it on zoom, so, okay. So as soon as they clicked and that’s why I’m saying one click. So with one click there going to see the big name there. So your grandmother, for example, going to see in the name, Alina are always going to look in a green color or one color red color and she clicks OK. And it will give a, send a call to your smartphone and she can add even your husband and even anybody, any other family member to the call, that one clicks, I’m not surprised when you say three months for zoom. So the, that it via running, This our product in to retirement communities right now, one in Hartford, healthcare and another is a priority life care.
Ashish Mudgal (26m 10s):
Right? And out of all of the residents, there are only two or three resident who has a smartphone. So other than that, somebody’s actually from the stuff from the community, a retirement facility staff has to take zoom computer and make it a zoom call or once a week for the older adult, especially in COVID times. It’s so hard. And, and sometimes when you make it, you know, you tell them, Hey, you’re daughter is here to talk to them and they kept looking somewhere else. They don’t understand what’s happening. So it’s it’s yeah. How can really make it easy for them? Yeah. That’s the whole,
Alina Warrick (26m 47s):
Yes. I love it. I love it. Okay. So my next thought was you, so you had a really big experience with Soil algorithms and farming. This has nothing to do with Soil. So tell me again, how did you transition? And I know you said you did that cohort program. So was that after Monsanto or did you quit Monsanto under the current? Did or did that happen in simultaneously or after your first startup? Tell it, tell me a little bit more about that.
Ashish Mudgal (27m 21s):
Yeah, sure. So I quit Monsanto in 2015 and of 2015 or 16. Yeah. But that’s the point? My learning was mostly on the algorithm sites, whether it be a writing, how the, the nutrients are pesticides are flowing inside the soil, getting on the water and, and me getting in the lakes, but it’s computer programming, right. Simulation and AI. And then I get into machine learning. So it was all of that aspect, but it got me so excited that how fast you can make the impact in somebody’s life.
Ashish Mudgal (28m 1s):
In three to four years, it was not the next three to four years. I was not learning mostly or not using my technical knowledge of soils per se, but I was using mostly the computer. And, and then the start up experience that I gained during those years in Monsanto. So I got married in 2014 and my wife, she’s now a professor associate professor at university of Cincinnati. So she moved, she moved from Saint Louis to Cincinnati and I thought, okay, this is an opportunity there. I can get out of my comfort zone and I quit Monsanto.
Ashish Mudgal (28m 42s):
And I was like, okay, I need to learn more about startups. And I moved with my life to Cincinnati and I joined here the university of Cincinnati research Institute, but actually it’s not the research institutes. What they do is they give consulting to the professors who come up, it comes up with cool ideas to have their own startups or to get more grants or to collaborate with the giant companies like Proctor and gamble. GE we as a consultant helps them to create a story around their idea startup solution and sell it. That was an amazing learning experience for me to get into this, how you can create the story, how you actually, the solution can be sold.
Ashish Mudgal (29m 27s):
So that, that learning experience. So ultimately I think by 2018 and all those learnings, it was not about technical things. It was more about how you can actually use the resources that you get from your surroundings in a way. So you can create your startup or has an entrepreneurial journey that that’s, I think was the main learning rather than relying on my technical expertise. But I have a story I used to volunteer two elderly homes in Cincinnati, just to learn more about this business, right?
Ashish Mudgal (30m 7s):
You, you volunteered Where so I’ve volunteered in senior care homes. Got it, got it. And, and sometimes they just want to talk all the details where they are. So there are so socially isolated. So I use to just go there and listen to their problems. And that was a volunteer ombudsman. Ombudsman has actually who, who listened to their problems and can raise those issues to state government. Hm that’s awesome. Most of the times when I used to go, there are some older adults have bots, flowering parts in their rooms and I talk to them about Soil and I had to tell them that I’m a Soil scientist and they get so excited They they used to call it our voluntary kids in the agency.
Ashish Mudgal (30m 52s):
Hey, can we talk to Ashish? I have some Soil questions. So it, so you never know how that can help you. Where right. It was amazing. So how old were you when you started your first startup? I was like 36 and in two years we’ve got the humble exit and this one, I was 38. Got it, got it. So did you quit your corporate career? You move to another city and you had no plans. You just went full force. Yeah. You can say, you know, plans. Yeah. And, and that’s, that’s the thing. I, I wanted to start our conversation with, with the note that I missed.
Ashish Mudgal (31m 33s):
Yeah. If somebody who is that you, our listeners can get anything out of my story, on my journey. There are two things that I learned so late in my career and realizing now, but I was lucky enough that it kept happening to me. The one was for me, if you can get anything out of this journey is one of the focus and have cool in your life a goal. But that goal has to be bigger than you. And what I mean bigger than you is, it’s not about like, I should have a million dollars and I’m 30, or I should have a car so bigger than, you know, like you are doing a great example. You are trying to help others, right?
Ashish Mudgal (32m 14s):
Immigrant Entrepreneurs from stories. And so it has to be bigger than you. And then the side effect is you will learn money. You will. Get that’s the, the, the, the side things. But I have a goal. Once you have that goal and focus, all of the decision-making becomes very easy. You just have to align like, OK, is this a decision that aligns with my goal? Yes, no, yes. Do it. No, leave it. So life becomes very easy and I, I’m realizing it and started realizing it in the last few years. And I have a few goals and second is, well, my God have a network. Surround yourself with the people who, who means a, a, a good Company.
Ashish Mudgal (32m 59s):
If you want to be an entrepreneur, surround yourself with entrepreneurs. If you want to be a good journalist, surround yourself with good journalists, I was just lucky enough that I was always surrounded by good people. So I think these two things are amazing, especially for Immigrants like when I came in and I came here alone, I didn’t know anybody. And that was a huge, not set back, but put kind of a deficiency in my entrepreneurial career. I didn’t have network even still I face sometimes. Then I see other people who are, who grew up here to have a network. It’s so easy for them to raise money, especially the first round family, friends, family down when we call before VCs come in.
Ashish Mudgal (33m 43s):
Right. So I think surround yourself with good network is always, always great.
Alina Warrick (33m 51s):
Awesome. That’s so powerful. And so getting it all in, thank you so much for saying that. Ashish. That’s awesome. And so where do you think you got your entrepreneurial drive where you’re a parent’s Entrepreneurs I know you mentioned through Monsanto that experienced, is that where you think that spark of entrepreneurial drive came from?
Ashish Mudgal (34m 14s):
I don’t even know I have, I have that entrepreneurial drive, but what would the time I had become a good learner? I think that’s, that was most important. Then now I’m a very pernicious reader. I read a lot, but when you see, they try to find traits for Entrepreneur the right personality traits, or they try to find a personality trait for president, any, any, any profession. Right. And you will see that the personality traits are everywhere. Like an entrepreneur. I have seen entrepreneurs who are introvert. I’ve seen entrepreneurs who are so aggressive. I have seen Entrepreneurs who are humble and authentic.
Ashish Mudgal (34m 56s):
So there are every year, right? But one thing that I found common is again, the focus hard work and grit. And, and that’s what I learned over time. And that, I think that’s what Entrepreneur chip is. You have a problem that you want to solve and you are not going to solve it. And first one to five to 10 tries a hundred tries. You might have to try a thousand time. You could keep doing it, you have the grit. Right? And, and I think even saying somebody who is intelligent is, is it wrong? I think it’s just, you have done it so many times that the probability of you being increases and it’s not like you’re a smarter intelligence.
Ashish Mudgal (35m 40s):
It’s just, you are trying too much and that’s good. That’s what we need. And I think that’s what I learned over the time from my mentors, from my surroundings, from my dad, that you just have to learn the basics of the problem. You are, the root cause of the problem is and keep bounding on it. Or until you find a solution.
Alina Warrick (35m 60s):
So amazing. So powerful. Thank you. Can I ask you, what kind of books do you read? Are they business books, entrepreneurial books or something else,
Ashish Mudgal (36m 9s):
But mostly business books, entrepreneurial books. And recently I started reading a lot to spiritual books and If, I’m becoming to philosophy kind of just stopped me. No, no, no, you’re fine. You’re fine. For the past two years, especially I’m loving it. It means life becomes so simple. If you have a bigger goals. And when I say bigger, it doesn’t mean you want to have a company like Amazon. No, no, no. Then I say bigger means long-lasting like, I just want to have a good family and we’re going to have a peaceful life. So it, it, everybody, everything becomes so easy. The decision-making process becomes an easy, so yeah.
Ashish Mudgal (36m 50s):
Mostly business books. And now you can see after hearing me a lot of spiritual books too. Got it.
Alina Warrick (36m 56s):
Yeah. Got it. So I know you mentioned raising capital. Did you raise capital for your first startup? And if yes. Did you raise capital for your second startup?
Ashish Mudgal (37m 7s):
Yes. And yes. Okay. For the first one, it was kind of a Where bootstrapping and they got this offer. So I was happy and my wife was pregnant here. So I was happy to get out of it. The second one, the have raised almost close to half a million dollar already, and we will be opening up our next round in February to raise our seed round are you can call it a seed easy.
Alina Warrick (37m 35s):
Got it. So I know you mentioned network and mentors. Did you have any mentors when you first started your business, your first startup or your second one?
Ashish Mudgal (37m 47s):
And know, and that’s why I said, if somebody can take this, some something out of this kind of a thing, you know, having is surround yourself with those people. I was surrounded by scientists, right. And that was not aligned to an entrepreneurial because scientist means perfection. Right? You use your data has to be a hundred percent, right? It means at least 99%, right. That there is that as entrepreneurship is like, perfection is actually equal in to fail failure. So, no, I didn’t, but that’s why I, I relied on books. I took some courses, Entrepreneur calls the courses.
Ashish Mudgal (38m 29s):
I was lucky enough to have a good family supporting family. My wife, she supported me. She still supports me a lot. And that’s why I was able to have a couple of courses here and there. And I still do that every year. It’s it’s like, I have to take a few courses. I just finished my course and mastering sales because I never know the experience in sales. And then of course from Kellog and just finished his last month before that I did a course from MIT in business before that on entrepreneurship from Harvard. So every year I do some course are a lot of reading, but after 2018, I am lucky enough now to be in that network, there are people around me are, are Entrepreneurs the guide.
Ashish Mudgal (39m 14s):
There are guiding me, advising me. So I’m, I’m really lucky enough.
Alina Warrick (39m 19s):
Did you join any organizations to get those mentors like Entrepreneurs organization or what? Or some other ones?
Ashish Mudgal (39m 28s):
Yeah, I think that I did still a member of TIE a The Indus Entrepreneurs ship association. When is it called a TIE T I S E The Indus Entrepreneurs Indus Entrepreneurs. And one of the biggest entrepreneurial association Indus means in this Valley. So from India and a lot of people from California and around the world are our part of this. And they have almost, every state has a chapter and a lot of accelerators again, surround yourself with people.
Alina Warrick (40m 6s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it. So I see. And I’m really interested to know, how do you look at failures and how do you overcome them?
Ashish Mudgal (40m 13s):
If you are not failing, then you are not doing something new, right? It means there are so many sayings about it. But one thing that I’ve found is, and I have been stressed out in my life a lot of times. And that’s part of the game than you are stressed out because you failed. You didn’t learn from it. Most of the times, you retrospect, right? And that I failed because of this and that retrospection is very, very necessary to learn from your failures. Otherwise, it’s just going to take you deeper into the rabbit hole and you will be depressed and then you will quit.
Ashish Mudgal (40m 55s):
So I think I learned over the time that I have to even analyze or dissect my failures. If you just leave them failures and, and start feeling, sorry about you. I think you lose the opportunities, but if you are perfectly dissect the failures, they become the opportunities. For example, my dad. So one thing is I realized now I’m 40. Every decade you realize four or five things that you have to parents were right about. Right? So those things that are getting more, and my dad used to tell us when I was a kid study, you have to study to be this, to do that.
Ashish Mudgal (41m 41s):
I think telling my undergrad, I was not studying, but after my master’s I started the study. And then I retrospect, I saw the failures, why I was not good at why I was average or above average at school, but not excellent. I learned that, implement that and by God’s grace and PhD I have for my photo GPA. Wow. But only because you learn from failures and that’s how I think I have been in entrepreneurship. It’s just learning from your failures. Put your ego aside. If you are going to be an entrepreneurship and so many people going to crush, you don’t take it personally. There are so many opportunities.
Ashish Mudgal (42m 21s):
If you are losing one to 10, don’t worry. The next one is coming from you. Yeah. I think just don’t Get failure to your failures to your head and rather dissect them and learn from it.
Alina Warrick (42m 35s):
Yeah. Yeah. And you don’t seem like a person that will ever stress out. You seem very mellow and calm and you got your stuff together.
Ashish Mudgal (42m 44s):
So that’s, that’s the one factor of 300 for a hundred days. I have not missed more than five days of meditation. Wow. I enjoy it. So, but that’s good. Yeah. If you can feel it just from the voice. That’s good. Yeah. It is working.
Alina Warrick (43m 5s):
Yes, it is. It is. I gotta, I gotta do more of that. So let’s switch gears and talk about successes. Are there any successes that you would like to outline from your Immigrant Entrepreneur journey?
Ashish Mudgal (43m 20s):
I think the best success I I got from the last three years, especially, is to define success for me. It’s it’s so amazing. Then I, when I changed this perspective of success for me, I, I become this calm Alina. I really, I mean, I didn’t touch with it. I don’t get so much stressed out anymore because most of the times before I was defining my success, that I have to be like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, or a lot of money or a lot, a big house on a company that I will be doing this. I think the biggest success is I, I, you know how to define success for me.
Ashish Mudgal (44m 1s):
I don’t have to define my success because of somebody else has defined his success in that way. And I have met so many entrepreneurs in the usual way who have, who are successful. Like one has seven exits out of those three Where IPO’s and he got to a divorced to divorce is, is that, I don’t know, I have met Entrepreneurs whose kids have attempted suicide because they were so busy making their companies. Is that substance? I don’t know. So for me, I think that my biggest success is I have a four-year-old. I love him. I left to play with him. I have a wife, she supports me a lot.
Ashish Mudgal (44m 42s):
She’s a professor. We have a great life in Cincinnati. That’s the biggest success. Apart from that. If I think having a PhD from here Academy, really learning so much, I think. Yeah. That’s that those are my biggest successes. And if I can get Herbie, if he can even help a few older adults too, be happy at their age, I think that that’ll be an amazing success. That’s so awesome.
Alina Warrick (45m 12s):
I’m really interested to know is giving back either volunteering your time or giving back to the community is something that is apart of your business values.
Ashish Mudgal (45m 22s):
Yeah, I think of this whole startup is about giving back to the, the society because we are, I know this word is not looked upon in a correct way. In our industry, in aging industry, a silver tsunami, they call it a silver tsunami means because a lot of people are getting old and we don’t have an infrastructure to help them. So it is kind of what we are trying to achieve here is how we can help not only to prolong the life because I have a health system, Allina has, has created ways to prolong the life, but it has to be how we can prolong the quality of life.
Ashish Mudgal (46m 7s):
And I feel really sorry to say that our health system is designed in a way there, if you are sick, that’s actually more beneficial for them. And that’s how they see us. Like how long I can keep them alive, but sick. That’s where the money is coming from. I yes. And that, that’s where I think if he can make, instead of this fundamental, we should not work with this fundamental thing. We should work with, have a great life, great quality of life and money is secondary. But yes, I, I love to volunteer.
Ashish Mudgal (46m 47s):
If I get an opportunity, I love to go. I use to Monsanto was, has a great impact on me. Monsanto used to give you a voluntary hours. FREE like every gloated in your work hours. So you used to go to nurseries in underprivileged areas, do some physical work manual work there. So it was, it was amazing. And I still love to do it. So
Alina Warrick (47m 12s):
I have to ask, because I don’t know this answer and I don’t know much about elderly equipment, but your device is, are you the only one in the market that had created something like this? Or are there other competitors
Ashish Mudgal (47m 28s):
In 2018? There were only two. Oh, wow. But then even now we have a portal Facebook portal, right. And to an extent, Alexa is also getting into this field. So, and that’s why we are not targeting direct to customers that are Alexa and the Facebook portal are, and we are going and, and retirement homes. So, you know,
Alina Warrick (47m 50s):
Yeah. You’re the only one that is, that is touching the lives of elderly homes through your device, through that smart TV and, and smart.
Ashish Mudgal (48m 1s):
Right? Correct. And, and, and there are some, some differences. I mean, everybody’s trying, and, and especially the COVID COVID has accelerated the things and that’s where we are struggling now. And I am struggling. We have, it becomes a race now nine months ago, it was like, yes, we were alone. Or nobody was chasing us. Now everybody is chasing us. So, so that’s why it becomes a race.
Alina Warrick (48m 24s):
Got it. Well, you’re on the top. So you’re already ahead of everyone else. So good, good, good stuff. Good stuff. So I wanna know what are some of the things you would advise the next aspiring Immigrant that wants to start their own business, listening to you right now,
Ashish Mudgal (48m 43s):
Be, be cautious. There is so much advice out there nowadays because Alice, who is advising you, don’t pick just all that advice and, and it happens right. Be humble and inclusive. Again, the, the, the, the goal has to be bigger than you are. If goal is just having money or something that is very selfish. You’re not going to get that much support. But if the goal is bigger, like Lena, yours has a bigger, that’s why it’s so many people love to come and talk to you because it’s bigger. And, and that’s the biggest, I think the way you can’t, you can also achieve your personal goals and there’s nothing wrong.
Ashish Mudgal (49m 26s):
I’m not saying it’s wrong to have money, or is it strong to think about house? It’s all good. It’s just how you can use or utilize the resources around you. If you want the whole community to help you reach your goals, you have to also give back. And then the more you give back, the more growth you’re going to see. I think it’s as easy as it can be just to have focused goals and set down on yourself, that good people. And there are, are so many of the sources nowadays, and, and people are eager. Those who have achieved success, most of the times that are eager to give back. So reach out to them, create a community.
Ashish Mudgal (50m 7s):
And that, that was the biggest pain as an immigrant. You come here, you don’t have that network. So build that
Alina Warrick (50m 14s):
So powerful. Amazing. I love it. So it’s a wrap up. I have super, super fast questions if you’re okay with that. Ashish yeah. Sure. Okay. What time do you normally start your day?
Ashish Mudgal (50m 25s):
So five 30. Awesome.
Alina Warrick (50m 28s):
How many employees do you have?
Ashish Mudgal (50m 31s):
A team of seven people.
Alina Warrick (50m 34s):
Awesome. How often do you watch T V in a week?
Ashish Mudgal (50m 39s):
TV watching has different definitions, but yeah, I’ve watched at least one or two hours, but mostly not the city’s documentaries on news.
Alina Warrick (50m 48s):
And how many hours of work do you normally put in say an a week on average? Yeah.
Ashish Mudgal (50m 55s):
Well, it goes 50, 40, 50 hours. Try to find it.
Alina Warrick (50m 59s):
Awesome. That’s fabulous. Well, I see ish. Thank you so, so much for coming on my podcast. I am super, super excited. And if the real, for your journey, and I really hope your company goes public one day, and I’ve learned so much from this talk. And again, I’m honored to chat with you and thank you so much for coming on to sh to my show.
Ashish Mudgal (51m 20s):
Same here, Alina. Thanks a lot. And I’m, I am honored to be on your podcast and you are doing a tremendous job. Thank you. You know, you are keeping it up.
Alina Warrick (51m 31s):
Yup. Thank you. Thank you so much. Alrighty, guys, thank you. So, so much for tuning in. I just wanted to ask if you could give me a quick shout-out wherever you are listening to this podcast, I would love to give you a shout out as well on a future episode of mine. I see you guys all next time for another exciting and impactful episode, take care.
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