Co-hosting First-Ever Founders Circle At TiE Bangalore
“To see things in the seed, that is genius.” – Lao Tzu
The past few years have seen a tremendous increase in the number of startups, and hence the number of entrepreneurs. With more and more people stepping up to solve different problem statements we face today, our co-founder- Jaideep Rao and our guide and supporter- Madan Bhai (of HeadHeldHigh) struck up a conversation one fine day about its implications in the real world.
They realised that while it’s amazing that we are getting creative with our jobs and creating new job opportunities for others, what are the values we are founding our stones on? While focusing on solving the problems we have taken up, are our businesses models missing the touch of humanity? Are we missing the bigger picture while we concentrate on revenues and deadlines?
With more such questions coming up, they decided to host a Founders Circle, which TiE Bangalore readily supported. The idea was to get some entrepreneurs in the same room and explore the journey we have all set out on and brainstorm on whether it’s possible to embed human values like compassion, love, kindness, gratitude, faith, oneness and others in our workspaces, work cultures, and working models!
First-Ever Founders Circle
So Team KYS, Madan Bhai and our lovely friend – Swara reached TiE Bangalore, and with the help of the amazing staff – Subbu, Snigdha, Lakshmi, Naveen and others, we were able to set up the room beautifully. While the tables were moved out, and all the chairs were arranged in a circle, some invisible hands worked on a beautiful flower rangoli at the centre with value boards and tea-lights.
The magic that happens when values are kept in the centre is always beautiful, whatever be the context, and we were curious to see how this event would unfold!
We were overwhelmed by the number of people who joined us. There were entrepreneurs from such different walks of life. But everybody had one thing in common; their passion for problem solving and doing it in the best way possible. Madan Bhai and Jaideep opened the circle, and set the context for the next 2 hours. We were happy to see the participants learning the importance and effectiveness of discussing in a circle. In the course of the introduction, we asked these highly motivated ladies and gentlemen to share their favorite quote (which could be their own!). We captured some beautiful gems like –
“The jewelry that stands out in a shelf is always the one which has been given enough time and efforts.” – Raghu
“Reach out and uplift someone!” – Srinivas
“The place with the richest unexplored ideas is the graveyard.” – Advaith
“You change nothing, nothing changes.” – Vinod
What Can We Do To Live Life Purposefully?
Finally, Madan Bhai shared a beautiful quote by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, which went something like – “What is the purpose of life? Life itself is the purpose!” This struck a chord with everybody in the room. With that, the discussions soon revolved around exploring other existing models where values and core vision was given first priority, and how they flourished, became successful and are today a legacy. The Aravind Eye Care model was taken as an inspiring example, and we all discussed how we can initiate the smallest change in our current workspaces!
In the closing circle, after beautiful discussions, Jaideep made some observations about how touched we were by the shift in perspectives we witnessed within a matter of 2 hours. We had not discussed numbers, we had not discussed strategies. We had just sat in a circle and allowed for the collective genius to emerge and flow through us freely and without an agenda.
We were inspired that each and every entrepreneur in the room had spent 2 hours pondering upon the seeds of change they could squeeze into their current work without tampering its flow. Having dived into the nuances of leading with inner transformation, unlocking different forms of capital, learning art of assuming value everywhere and cultivating new patterns of positive deviance that may emerge through the process, we cannot wait to see what emerges!
Many participants left beautiful heartful notes for us before they called it a day, which were the true currencies of our first-ever Founders Circle in Bangalore. We would love to share some of them with you –
“Lovely! Thanks for bringing us together. Look forward to extending this further.” – Srini
“Beautiful circle of love was created today. I was overwhelmed with all stories and experiences. Thanks!” – Ankit
“Brilliant concept! Much needed in these times. Thanks to all those who made this happen. <3” – Hemanth G
“Free flow of thought was very pleasing for a change. Surely look forward to your next session. Thank you!” – Sanjeev
“Loved the sharing, compassion and energy. Thank you!” – Anonymous
“Let us connect the hearts of all entrepreneurs.” – Anonymous
“Innovative team work in organising a great event.” – Anonymous
Team KYS is extremely grateful to Madan Bhai and TiE Bangalore for co-creating a sacred space for miraculous emergence. We look forward to getting together to host more such events and change the world… and ourselves in the process. 🙂
