In this episode we learn about tennis and how it inspires startups with Vaniya Dangwal.

She picked up tennis when she was 12. Soon she made the Top 10 rankings of Indian junior tennis, turned pro and achieved a WTA ranking of 1031. She now helps startups in India reach the next level. More about her below.

We spoke about her tennis story and how it inspires other work. Here are the broad things Vaniya shared:

Individual Challenges

• The world of sport athletes in India especially at the junior levels
• How she dealt with moments when she wanted to give up
• Carving a way despite the lack of an ecosystem and no blueprint.
• The area she worked the hardest to improve her game - the dreaded serve
• Importance of the mental aspect of the game
• Data she had access to for match preparation
  
  

Ecosystem

• The world of a budding sportsperson - daily travel, coaches, support system.
• The gaps at the junior levels of tennis around mental coaching
• Tendencies of Indian players including solo travel compared to international players who benefit from a group setup
  
  

She now uses her experience to help the Indian startup ecosystem. If you're a startup, listen in to know what's the equivalent of the serve in tennis for your world.

About Vaniya Dangwal
She started playing Tennis when 12 and soon played her first tournament. She was in the India top 10 for junior tennis and had a world ranking of 434. She's won the All India Inter university Championship for Delhi University and Inter state Women’s National championship for Delhi on 2016. Vaniya also held a WTA rank of 1031 and has travelled the world for tennis. She's an economics grad from Delhi university and MBA in Marketing from Goa institute of Management. She has worked with Citibank and Mindhouse (now Shyft), founded a F&B company by the name of Mike’s Hotdogs. Currently, Vaniya works with Headstart, helping startups build and reach the next level while also enabling the enablers of the ecosystem.

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