Rishi Khanna Explains Why Startups Are Burning Cash Faster

Never Been Promoted Podcast with Thomas Helfrich

Rishi Khanna, CEO of ISHIR, joins the podcast to explore the evolving challenges and opportunities in the world of startups and innovation. With decades of experience in helping companies accelerate their innovation journey, Rishi provides actionable insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s competitive landscape.

About Rishi Khanna:

Rishi Khanna is the CEO of ISHIR, a global innovation and digital product studio. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rishi has guided startups and enterprises through technological transformations, leveraging global talent and advanced methodologies to solve complex business challenges. His leadership philosophy centers on resilience, purpose, and impact.

In this episode, Thomas and Rishi discuss:

• Why Startups Are Running Out of Cash Faster Than Ever
  Rishi explains the common pitfalls startups face, including a lack of focus on identifying real problems and achieving product-market fit. He emphasizes the importance of validating ideas before diving into development.
• The Power of Purpose in Entrepreneurship
  Rishi shares how discovering his purpose transformed his leadership approach and enabled him to create a resilient organization. He discusses the value of living a life by design rather than default.
• Leveraging Global Talent for Innovation
  Rishi outlines his strategy for finding passionate talent worldwide and explains how diversification across markets like Latin America and Eastern Europe helps mitigate risks and drive efficiency.

Key Takeaways:

• Start with the Problem, Not the Solution
  Many startups fail because they build products without understanding their audience’s needs. Validating the problem upfront can save time and resources.
• Build Resilience in Your Organization
  Rishi highlights the importance of maintaining a core team through tough times, such as the dotcom bust, 9/11, and the 2008 financial crisis.
• Purpose-Driven Leadership Matters
  Aligning personal and organizational goals around a clear purpose fosters long-term success and fulfillment.

"Live life by design, not by default. Be intentional in what you do every day." — Rishi Khanna

CONNECT WITH RISHI KHANNA:

Website: https://www.ishir.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishir/
Email: rkhanna@ishir.com

CONNECT WITH THOMAS:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfrich/
Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
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Chapters

• 0:18 Innovation Acceleration and Startup Cash Challenges
• 10:59 Overcoming Business Setbacks and Resilience
• 16:05 Global Talent Strategy and Innovation Resilience
• 19:50 Tech Innovation vs. Customer Problem Solving
• 23:35 AI Augmentation and Business Innovation
• 29:28 Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship Impact

Transcript

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Welcome to the Never been Promoted podcast, where we're all about helping you cut the tie to all that holds you back. The excuses, the fears, the people, that sense of entitlement. Cut the ties so you can unleash your inner entrepreneur. Your host, Thomas Helfrich, is on a mission to make more entrepreneurs in the world and make them better at entrepreneurship.
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Welcome to Never been Promoted. Hi. I'm your host, Thomas Helfrich. I am joined today by, Rishi Khanna. He is the, CEO ISHIR, ISHIR. See, I'm gonna mispronounce it. I do it intentionally, so I repeat it a 100 times. So you go look it up. I share. I share. He's gonna explain which it is. But here's the deal. It's about innovation acceleration. And, you know, we were talking off camera then about the topic today about start up the why start ups are running out of cash faster than ever. And he has been in this since, well, since I've graduated college, he's been doing this. So he's got a bit more experience than I have, and he has stayed focused on innovation and helping start ups. He lives the world. He's in the world. Heavily followed on on LinkedIn. This is I mean, I'm so excited to have this conversation because, the the world has changed since the dotcom boom. There we've had other you know, we've gone through another time where where companies were taking lots of money. We're gonna talk about why they're running out of cash because it doesn't make sense. Right? Why there's so much money in the world. Why are people running out of cash still? So we're gonna talk about that. Now before we get going, I do want you to know our mission. It is to help entrepreneurs get better at entrepreneurship, specifically help them cut the tide, all that shit holding them back. That's your fears, your excuses, versions of yourself you probably need to let go, maybe people in your life you need to get away from, that's what we're here to do. And I want you to learn from our guests, about their journey, about what they're doing for the world today, and what they think about the future. And, our guest who we're gonna bring on after I do this small shameless plug, go to youtube.com, subscribe at never been promoted. Now if you're a listener, I'm gonna put the smooth voice on so you get this right. I want you to go get a 5 star review. That's right. 5 stars, not 4, 5, and a gentle review that says this place, this podcast kicks bass. Okay. Enough shameless plugs, mister Rishi. How are you? Very well. Thanks for having me. You know, that was I people are like, man, it's a 5 minute intro. Too bad. If you ever listen to Joe Rogan, I know he's way bigger. He makes 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars. He gets, like, 9, 20, 30 minutes of just ads. It's like going to a movie theater. I can go eat an entire thing of popcorn and drink a Pepsi. Now who drinks Pepsi? Dump a Pepsi on the floor and replace it with Coke. I'm in Atlanta. There's no Pepsi down here. Anyway How about poppy? What's that?
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That's a that's a new drink everyone's drinking. Oh, no. What what what have you been drinking?
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I drink water and coffee. 2 essential from the earth. Thanks for joining up. Where do you, where do you where do where do you reside as home? Where's Plano, Texas. I'm in Texas. It'd been funny if you were like, I I am from it's when I am, not where I am because you have the cassettes behind you. And so if you for those listening, he has a very cool piece of art, I'm gonna call it in the background, that are cassettes. I mean, they're like you wanna talk about, like, tell me about that. I love I love when people have creative things in the background, and and it's supposed to call for conversation, and we need an icebreaker. So it's your turn. Well, tell me about that a little bit.
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Well, you know, it's just, old cassette tapes, all, stuck together. And, one of my first few movies I watched was ET, and that's in the middle of that frame. So, you know, I just, you know, have a little little play with, old cassettes and, and put this thing together.
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I'd have I'd have so many more questions if they were beta maxed. Never mind. For those who know, they know. And those who don't, they're like, I don't get that joke. Google it. Anyway, Rishi, you've, listen. Thanks so much for for jumping on. You've been in this game for a long time. Is it Ayesha or Ishier?
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We call it Ayesha. Yeah. We pronounce it as Ayesha. It could be either, but you you're right. You said it could be either, but, we we name it as Ayesha or we call it as Ayesha.
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Do you wanna start with kind of, you know, just give me the the the 60 second pitch on what you guys do today and back up. I mean, you've been doing this a long time too. So back up to your journey, and let's let's let's learn a little bit from what you've learned along your journey.
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Sure. So, you know, as as I assure, we are a innovation digital product studio, here in Dallas. And, we have, teams that work for us not only locally in in in, DFW, but also in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and, of course, India. And so we work with, venture backed start ups. We work with mid mid market enterprise customers, helping them through, accelerated innovation, leveraging our deep technical expertise, and, leveraging global talent along the way to make sure that we help solve the most complex problems for them. You, when you you have to say it again, right,
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deep technical problems solved.
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Deep
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technical problem solved. We'll get we'll get your radio voice going on. That's whenever you say the word deep. I'm learning. I'm learning. You you you don't you wanna say deep? You didn't do that. I'm just saying you never go high on deep. If you say the word deep technical, then you're on movie trailer time. Deep technical problem solved by teams from Indeed. It's all too quick. You talk about that. How did you, you know, how did you even know to do this?
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Well, you know, interestingly, I've been building software as a, you know, as a developer since I was in 3rd grade. I got exposed to developing software when I was in high in in school and, really had a a passion for doing this for longest time. And then I helped my dad with building his website in, in 1994, 1995 to help his business. And I realized that I, this is something I really enjoy doing. I wanna do more of it.
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So Well, I mean, I it's amazing. So, tell me about your story. So tell me about the journey of building the company, how you named it, you know, may and maybe just pick a moment that you were like, my like, your biggest teaching moment of being an entrepreneur.
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Well, you know, growing up, my both my parents are entrepreneurs. They both have their own individual businesses. And, so, it seems that it was in the DNA. And then when I, my sister is older than me, she also got into a business for herself. And so it seems that it was it was in the DNA of the of the family. But, when I went when I came to the US, when I came to UT Austin to study go for undergrad, I actually thought I'll take a different path. I'll I'll I'll go and, get into consulting and work for Deloitte, which I did for the 1st 16 months. And then I realized, you know what? No. I needed to I I I needed to go and build something. I needed to, have a I need to control my, you know, my destiny. And so I I decided to start the company doing something I really enjoy doing, which was building software and helping solve business problems. And, having done that for my dad and a few others some some of his friends early, I felt that was something that I needed to do. So that's what got me started, in 99.
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What does what does I Share stand for?
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Well, I Share was, I could come up with a name for the company back when, and then so what I, someone came up to me and said, hey. You know what? Oprah can call our company Harpo. Why don't you why don't you, figure out a name? And then I said, well, if I really truly put my name backwards, it won't really make any sense. So I took the r, from the front of my name and put it on the back, and it became my shirt. And I didn't know it meant anything when I first named the company. But, very, very soon found out that a company the name had had a meaning. It mean it meant sun god or the rising sun. So it has something to do with the sun.
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So yeah. I I'm in I was I was I was, baiting the hook with the fish already on it. Right? I mean, I I was like, come on. It's it's it's your name backwards. But but when we had talked off camera, you had talked about this, like, you know, it's it's got adjacent is what I'm what I took from it. So it's it's it's not truly a god company like, but it's got adjacent. So basic basically, you're talking to Rishi. You're talking to a a god adjacent human in the acceleration. So just be careful the words you use and what you wish for because it might happen. You never know. Is that too strong? Maybe not.
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You know, interesting industry fun fact, my name is Rishi, which means I'm a saint. So that's something to do with god anyway. Yeah. Alright. You're a saint. Didn't go backwards. Spiritual.
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Sun god. Okay. Sun avatar. You're a sun avatar. Yeah. When you're building your company, you know, tell me about getting your first client. How did how did you do that?
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Well, interestingly, my first clients I started my business in the dotcom, era, if you wanna call it in. There was a lot of business, to be had and just not enough companies to service them. So I my first few customers came through, you know, friends or family and, my personal network in in Dallas, and they there were some of these people starting their .com, so so to speak. And so, yeah, it would the first few customers pretty it came pretty easy. You know? It was just through, the net personal network. There's no struggle there. No one wants to hear about an easy story. Man. I know. I know. It wasn't. Oh, but you know what? The struggle came the struggle came soon after. I can tell you more about that. We're gonna dive into it, but I think the the point I always try to find is, like, little reflective moments.
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You, you got into something that you already had a network established and you leveraged assets around you. So, you know, have having I think when people get, like, into entrepreneurship, it's okay to start where you know something or know someone because getting that first customer for many is the biggest tie they can't get over. That's a cut. That's the thing that holds them back. Like, how am I gonna get a customer? Like, well, if you don't know that, then, yeah, you should you might wanna take a pause because you need that customer to validate, and they gotta be a friendly because they they gotta be like, hey. You suck at this. You're good at that. I love this. Did you think of this? And if you don't have that, your your chance of success it's a grind. It's even worse. Speaking from experience, I was the one, like, how am I gonna get a customer? And somehow we fell into it, but truly felt like I tripped in. Oh, I have a customer. Tell me about what got hard though. So you so you set up well and then what?
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So set up well, got a few customers going, but then, you know, we got hit by dotcom bust. Right? So a lot of the, funding that some of these dotcom companies had, got pulled out. And so, here I was in a, you know, got a quick start, but then almost went out of business, the 1st couple of months in the business in the in the company. So so dotcom bust happened soon after. Financial, you know, financial pull pull back.
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So you had to pull back. And you did you pull back just yourself at that point, or were you did you have to hold on to a few people?
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No. I realized, that I needed to have a core team. And so, no, I didn't I didn't pull back as much on the team. I I pulled back on the business, and I realized that I needed to be without paycheck. I needed to make sure I keep funding what I'm doing, and I was passionate about it. I just got it started. Didn't wanna give up so soon. And so, I kept I kept, our people closer.
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Yeah. You you, different different scale maybe in in a different time. I a 100% agree. Like, you know, when you're I have a core team I've had the entire time, like, since they've been added on, we have not in the last 4 years. We've I've kept them in. We've had times where we're like, hey, guys. I need you to take a pay cut for a few months. And it it be as, like, I I I you know, I'm not getting paid at all. Like and, like anyway, so we've been there and done that. And to me, it's protecting that team that's really core by all costs necessarily because you are gonna bounce back, especially if you have something that people need. Innovation didn't stop just because there was a dotcom bust. It just changed who was able to do it. Right? Like, the big company still had money. The and did you have to pivot over to more corporate type accounts versus start ups for a while? I did. I did. I had to pivot to establish businesses,
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you know. I mean, at that point, it was more like a struggle to work with anyone who was willing to, leverage and use our services. And, so you made a pivot.
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Well and and one half thing that happens when people I mean, don't realize that when you have downturn in market, someone's always making money in any market. And if you've, what happens, especially in that one, you have all these companies that were serving the start up community that all of a sudden were basically out of jobs. So now your competitive levels to the bigger companies, holy cow. Like, the competition gets crazy. And you you've weathered it. You survived it. But now as things come and go, you, I would think, have channels multichannels to help anyone with innovation because you've you've you've suffered through both and made relationships and and endured. Fair statement? Fair statement. Yeah. Gone through a lot of those in in 24 years of business. Yeah. Do you have a, like, a, like, a flagship moment when you're like, I'm gonna be okay. I'm no matter what's gonna I mean, if you survive .com, fall out, by the way. I just got better golf for a year. That's what I did. I took a year off and just played golf. I didn't wasn't thinking like you to build a company. I should have been. Anyway, did you have a, like, a, like, a moment where you were like, I'm gonna be able to survive anything?
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Yeah. So so, you know, when I did pivot into, finding customers in a different sort of marketplace, other than start startups or, you know, you know, in this case, .coms, I got hit by another thing. It was called 911. Right? And, and that brought in a lot of, taboo against, you know, working with teams which are remote and out of the country. And that that was another, pivotal moment where I felt that I hey. Here here I am again, almost going out of business. And and then there was then then there was that realization, after surviving 911 was that, hey. Nothing can stop me now. I need needed to keep, building and growing. And and, and we then we fought through, the financial crisis in 2008, on and then the pandemic hit a few years ago, and then we were able to fight that. So I think the company became very resilient. You know, teams became resilient. And I take pride in having had a lot of the team members that were with me early on in the game 25 years ago are still in the company. And so we got a chance to, you know, have that, the fighting spirit to go Yeah. To to go black back there and fight it. It's funny, like, every about 9 years, there's there's a there's an issue. Yeah. Roll go cycle.
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About 3 years, we're due for another one. So Yeah. I don't know what the next bubble is gonna be because I don't know where any of the money is right now. Can't be crypto. Okay. That's too but the point is you're weathering it and you're getting through it. And I think some key pieces there, you said. So so, one, you're an innovative company, which I hope you can innovate your way through the problem of whatever faces you. But you're doing some key things. You're using technology, which I which I know from another conversation with you, but you're leveraging technology in your business. You're also using labor arbitrage or outsourcing. And you're not just limiting it to one country. Correct? You're you're looking at different markets for different skill sets. But, also, for example, if you had been using people in Ukraine, you would have a problem because that got disrupted for a good 18 months till people have resettled and moved and back on it. So so maybe talk about your strategy a little behind, I guess, how you've helped derisk, increase profits, but still not drop the ball on delivery.
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Yeah. So, you know, initially, our business was primarily targeting, you know, working with talent locally in DFW and and India, because I I was very early in leveraging, offshore resources in in India. But, but then we soon realized that there was talent, you know, everywhere, but the opportunities weren't. And so, our goal, was 7, 8 years ago was to start finding talent, and very skilled talent in other parts of the world. And then we started expanding beyond Indian borders or US borders. And then that's where we stumbled upon talent in Latin America and Eastern Europe. And then and then we've, we've, you know, worked on, finding very passionate people, you know, working for us in those markets. And then and and that's with that has that has allowed us to derisk against any of the the world, talent challenges, which we may have had during the the pandemic, but also, derisk against, any of these, you know, things that we have no control over, whether it's a Ukraine war or, you know,
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what's happening in Israel and those kind of things. Right. Yeah. And and and good for you for doing it because now you have a global organization. It's just now only global stuff that's, you know, when the late when the when the playing field's kinda leveled, meaning, like, COVID hit everyone. Financial crisis kinda hit everyone. Like, it you when you're in a better position as a company, you're gonna survive it financially, culture, whatever have you. You know, good for you for not being the one that had, like, you know, a bad cocaine problem or something, and you're like, I really need all that money or maybe you had it. I don't know. The disappointing is you you clearly didn't or you wouldn't have survived it. You see how I did that? Like, this guy doesn't do these things, but but that's the fun of it. People are like, really? I'm like, no. He didn't. Just having fun people. Remember, slow voice. He he solves deep. Let me try it again. Deep. Very good. Deep technology. Deep. Are Technology problems. Today. So talk about innovation a bit. And specifically, let's go to, innovative companies are which were startups. So startups are companies with solutions looking for problems all the times. Tell me why they're running out of cash faster.
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I think I think you you said it, you know, as well in that. So a lot of companies really jump into building software products, without really truly, understanding, the problem they're trying to solve for. And that's one of the reasons where they do not sort of achieve product market fit and, and sort of run out of cash because they don't have enough money to pivot that solution. And, you know, I tend to use, the terminology that it's almost like a hammer looking for a nail. You know, all of these some of these software, you know, products are have they don't know who their ICP is, who their, you know, ideal customer profile is, and so they really aren't able to survive. And that's what's happening right now in the in the start up world is that, you know, the the the fundamentals are being, emphasized on by the investors is that, hey. Let's let's let's go down to the basics. Do we have a product? Do does it solve a problem? Who is the customer, and is the customer willing to pay for it? Yeah. The,
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well, right. Because the I think more and more, at least my understanding is, you know you know, my opinion is, you know, obviously, 99% of the companies in the world will never raise a single dollar from from institution venture capital. They're just they don't qualify. They never will, but they've been sold and to the lie of, Shark Tank and other stuff. And truthfully, like, most companies just go what I the post was go, you know, start raising hell, you know, stop raising funds kind of thing. Just go ring the cash register. Go go solve a problem. Solve it with manual processes that look automated in the back or whatever you gotta do. Just go make money. Mhmm. Because if you do, then you have the problem market fit found, and then you can apply technology and build tech around it. And I and and and in a lot of these companies, or maybe you I've seen this when I talk to people. Maybe you've seen this because you're in the weeds with it. A lot of the stuff they're building can be solved with a small bastardized version of go high level or or some other technology I can go rent for $30 or a $100 a month. Are you seeing that sometimes where they haven't even done the research of, hey, how can I solve that problem with existing technology in a way that would be acceptable or that wouldn't cost, you know Yeah? $1,000,000.
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I think that the main thing is the first thought is that do we know the problem? Do we know who has a problem? And do we know is the problem real? And is it does that problem can be solved with tools which are already out there. Right? And and so because we don't really take the pain to validate the problem upfront, and and we don't even take the pain to talk to the the users that have the issue, we we tend to build something that nobody wants. It's almost like, you know, because people have this thing that build it and they will come and really nobody comes.
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Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. You tell me if I don't make the most killer app ever, peep people aren't gonna just show up and buy it? What? That's right. Crazy. Do you have a really good representative example of where you saw a company, where you're and, actually, this is kind of like I don't call it shameless plug, but where they they had a really good they they were a hammer trying to hit stuff, and they're like, hey. Listen. You filled the best claw, which is the other side of the hammer. You just don't even realize it. Have you seen one of those flips where the innovation is actually you you have awesome tech solving the wrong absolutely wrong problem?
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I mean, I would just say there was I wouldn't even talk talk about tech. I would just say that we had a a scenario where a customer had, was a big content, producer, you know, and, and they wanted to build an app, to really publish the, the content that they were producing in in video content. And we realized after running through innovation acceleration that, hey, you know what? There's another way to channel that content. It doesn't have to be in YouTube. It doesn't have to be in a mobile app in that format. But it it it it has a benefit. It has a value, and it needs to be a benefit that needs to be sold to a, you know, a corporation as a health benefit. And and that's what totally transformed the business. So it was the same sort of content. It's just how we packaged it into a solution that led to a, you know, a j curve, so to speak, and then they finally got bought, by a a large health care company.
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Do, do you think the word innovation might be or is there another word more overused than innovation
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leading to Right now, I mean, right now, innovation is is, is overused.
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I think it's I mean, it has been for years where I and I have a I I I think it's funny. A funny, like, POV video where I'm like, let's innovate. I'm like, alright. Anyway, like, some companies that I've worked for say, hey. We're gonna be very innovative. We're gonna go do this. And then you get in the weeds of being disruptive, and all you hear are noes. Do you do you help companies solve that problem? And if so, how do you get the the the lagger no saying company who says they're gonna innovate just because it's on the CEO's list to actually break through? Because I personally have not really ever seen it in my own corporate world. Now I've also, by just never been promoted, been asked to leave plenty of times, so I'm probably not the right person. But it it outside of these giant ones like Apple or some, you know, HP or somebody coming up with something cool like Nvidia, I where is it? Like, when how do you do it? How how does a company break through?
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Well, I think, it really boils down to, are you getting excited about the technology and the tech stack that, that that's getting you like, for example, AI right now. Right? Everyone every every conversation, everyone talks about AI. But AI is a cool cool, you know, tool. But is that really solving the problem? You know, and so people getting excited about it. Everyone's sort of, you know I don't think any conference goes without and any conversation goes without talking about AI. But the reality is that it could be cool, but it doesn't really solve the problem. Is it is it, you know, are the leaders in an organization just pushing people to, you know, go ahead and build something with AI? Or is it about, hey. Let's try to find the true pain that we're trying to solve with it is validate the pain and and and see if AI can resolve it. Do we have a data to support that, solution? So those are kind of things that people are pretty questioning. And that's just why people also realizing is that after they've maybe invested a year, year and a half into the, initiative that they're really not getting the ROI, and so there's a delayed ROI in the process. Yeah.
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When AI kinda first hit. Right? It was, was it websites got, like, a 30% SEO boost if they put the word or something, like, they got something like a stock that's what it was. Their their shares went up, but they had the word with an AI initiative. It was something ridiculous like that. Another favorite thing is, you know, I'd love to hear your take on is is helping people understand that AI is not automation, and I'd love to hear your take on should AI and automation be together at this
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point? I think people tend to use them interchangeably, thinking that AI is automation. But, no, AI is augmenting the intelligence of the, of the people that may be using it. But you're not you're not automating intelligence. You're not sort of you know, you're leveraging the data to help you make better decisions at this point. That's that's a step one. So, no, you're not like, even if you look at it from a standpoint of Tesla and, you know, FSD, people think, hey. FSD is gonna solve my driving problem. But what they're saying is, hey. We're augmenting the the driver to help make better decisions. They'll be, you know, help drive the car, but they still have to hold the steering wheel. Right? It's augmenting.
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You so I I'm with you on this one. I don't think, you should automate anything with AI right now that's not transactional, meaning, like, define clear binary answer. But that's not even why you would use AI anyway. You don't need AI for that. You need a script. Yeah. Where there's contextual data, the AI should, I think, be automated to provide insight and perspective. So a human can still make the decision of which the AI can learn from. That could be automated Right. Learning. But but I think when people look at, like, more simpler things, let's say for somebody like, should I, you know, automate my outreach on LinkedIn or the content creation or commenting? The answer to that is a 100% no because you're, know, you think about innovative products that are misused. Those are some that are going on with, I use LinkedIn as an example because it's just become so noisy. And and other, you know, Instagram, there's so many bots, and these are all causes of people using things incorrectly. Have and let me talk about, like go over to yours now. So some of your customers, do you have any stories where you you see someone innovating and you just see them going down a path of, like, this is like destruction for your company? And and and and I mean that because I think people sometimes innovate themselves and and out. Like like, they become so niche or did you have an example of that where, you know, in in maybe a buyer beware or a tale of, a lesson to be learned by by doing that?
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Are you trying to say an example of how Blackberry sort of,
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got out of business or one one one of those something like that. Right? Were you were you were you seeing some of a very innovative company do it do it so poorly because they were so into the innovation and less around the business problem?
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I mean, that is that is true. I mean, when you are so, in in, you know, immersed in the tech, but the tech doesn't really solve any problem, you really have no business to solve. Right? And you are gonna run out of cash at some point. So there are companies that are so involved in tech and they pivot, pivot, pivot just to sort of go out of business. So we've seen I won't say we've seen it to our customers, but I've seen that in the industry, observing that some of these bright ideas that started off with, that weren't very clear about the pain, they they would sort of been out of business.
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Yeah. It's, oops. Sorry. Miss clicking in the background there trying to bring my face back to the screen. Tell me what you think about the future. So so where where is innovation going? What are you concerned about, or what are you excited about?
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I think, I think people, innately, you know, as entrepreneurs, we wanna innovate. We wanna solve problems. But I think we have to solve solve the problems that we are very passionate about. And, and and and we need to find problems that we wanna we wanna commit ourselves to. I see I see a lot of, you know, going to a bunch of these start up events. We see a lot of people who are sort of every 6 months or every year. I see them with a new problem and new start up they wanna start, and and they're very proudly say I'm on my 5th start up. I mean, why why are you on your 5th start up? Why could you be on your first one at this point if you only been a year? Right? But the I think the issue is that people need to, need to stop getting enamored by, the next big trend or next big thing. I mean, they need to be enamored by the problem that they feel most passionate about and then help solve that. And and I think that's what the the thing is about. So I think innovation, needs to be, I think people need to be be true to themselves and true to, the purpose of their their their aim for, and then and that that will help them find the right thing to resolve, over time.
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And, you know, that go ahead. No. No. Finish. The well, no, I see, like, going back to kind of the the idea of the theme of, you know, why companies run out start ups run out of money. Part of it is just cash flow management. Right? And so, you know, in the nineties, you saw companies burn through money with glamorous, like, office space and trips and employ like, they burnt the money for culture, but it was, like, just party money. Like, you saw that tons, just waste of of just capital that wasn't business focused. It was other focused, fun focused. When you see, like, companies today, though, and they look at differently, maybe for more on a P and L standpoint, labor arbitrage or outsourcing and using technology is so fundamental for running a more lean company nowadays. You know, lean startup, great book. You know, get out there, try it, do it fast, go do it again. Right? Specifically around the labor arbitrage, because you seem like you've been you you have a lot of global I'd love to hear your take on, like, markets you'd like. You know, how does someone go around picking the right, you know, one either by culture personality? Like, just kinda take take a few moments on how you're picking partners to to work with globally.
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Well, we work with, we we don't pick partners. We actually work with talent. Right? We find the most, we we try to find most passionate, talent around the globe. They're they are passionate about, you know, their the skills that they're trying to build. They could be passionate about design. They could be passionate about, DevOps or whatever. The reality is that we're looking for people who are very passionate about what they do, and, and they're repurposing about doing that. They're not chasing, you know, money, wealth, what have you. They're already, they they they wanna invest in themselves and become better every day. And that's the kind of people we try to partner with. And then there are skills which are available in certain markets and not only others. You know, for example, we we go to Spain and Portugal for user experience talent. We go to, you know, Eastern Europe for talent that is more embedded technology. So there's different skill sets available in different markets that we tend to, tend to, you know, tap into.
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You, do you have any markets you just don't go to?
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Well, I don't think we have said no to any markets. I think we we are we've sort of focused on the the people and the passion. You know, so no. We haven't, I mean, even today, I mean, if you talk about Ukraine and and, you know, there are a lot of people in Ukraine looking for jobs and they're they're some people have been displaced to other markets close close to Ukraine just to, keep things alive. So, no. We we we don't really say no to, people or talent or or any markets.
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I I was baiting you to see if you take a polarizing angle on that, and I was gonna Oh. Stop. When you're a well, I I I said people, if you know, if you have a country that's, needing help, the the best way to help them is is is hire them. And and so if you can do that, that helps people work, helps people stay focused, helps people grow businesses, which really do help communities and things like that. You know, outside of your take of any wars or any perspective, that helps people to work. That helps people to get paid for things they do. You know, if there's a question I probably should've asked you today, though, and I didn't, what would that question be?
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Well, I think, I think it'll be what am I, what is my purpose and and why am I doing what I do? Would that be a good question? Asked you what is your purpose and why is it you do what you you do? See how that came to me? It's crazy. So, you know, I early on, I did not know, my purpose, and then it it but when I did discover what my real true purpose, was, it it it turned out that it was about making an impact. And, you know, I think the the business is my opportunity to make an impact not only on the people that we, you know, work with globally to help solve customers' problems, but also the impact that we make, through them in the communities. And so, you know you know, at being purposeful, and have having other people, in the organization find their purpose and what their life plan is and what they're intending to and and how they become intentional about where they're going with their life really, keeps me awake and and keeps me really engaged in doing what I do every day. So that's what it that's what it's all about. Helping people basically live life by design rather by default and, being purposeful and more intentional about what they do every day.
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I have to drink. If I drink alcohol still, I'd have to drink for talking on mute. I I tend to do that when I'm sneezing in the background. I I think leaving a life by design is a very smart idea. I'd but for the you mean the younger viewer out there, I would say that doesn't mean you don't work. That doesn't mean you expect everything given to you. It just means you try to do things that are more purposefully driven. So working for companies aligned is something you believe in, at least in that moment. That may change every 5, 10 years for you, like, you know, what you truly believe in or what you like. But the idea is I think that brings more happiness. And I think if you have companies that are founded, start up, or whatever that are around a central purpose, say, hey. This should help do our impact for fill in the blank. I think you get more people that are aligned to that, and I and I think that creates better places. So I I think, you know, no one can judge you for for not no one should judge you, in my opinion, for not knowing what it is and why you do things. Only know that you have a you've been you've been called to some direction and you're gonna go do it. It sounds like that's what happened. Do you do anything with the give back with entrepreneurs or any, community stuff that you do to kinda help enable? You know, and if so, I hope the answer is yes because I'm leading, but I think you do. So tell tell me about that a little bit.
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Yeah. I mean, I think, I think, for us, first of all, help helping people find their own, passion and purpose in life is one of the give backs that we do, and we do that by, by by having, life planning exercises and giving them life coaches and life coaching. That that's that is the impact that we do within the organization. But that sort of also, you know, helps people who achieve and receive those to help do that for others. But apart from this, you know, we have a, you know, we have a a social, you know, you know, cause that we solve every month. So depending on the month it is, if it's if it is, let's say, it's February, it's, you know, you know, sort of a month of love, and, we actually pass on chocolates, and we raise, we we have a matching, scenario where we go to schools and and, and underprivileged kids or even, we we have give chocolates away. And so things like that nature allows us to spread some love and passion. If it is a, it's a July a month of July, then we, people are starting off, schools in different parts of the world. So we, we we, create backpacks and, we, you know, load it up with the the right, you know, colors and, you know, books and and those kind of things, and we we give those away as as their, you know, new school year kits. And we do do that for the underprivileged kids and, and, and and people.
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That that's I love that. When you can achieve some level of success, I think that that's a calling, because I already know I have it. I don't have enough success really to do it outside of time and some some advice and a podcast, I guess, right now. When you're when you're, you know, looking at how you help people, you have a personal brand called the stoic leader, and I think I think having a personal brand is super important to to your growth. For 1, 1, it kinda it helps you center around something that's important to your life. Right? And and I think that's why I think people don't realize the power of a personal brand because it becomes if it's true and it's real, it's tied to your personality. It's tied to your purpose, and it's not something you can discover. And so so when you develop yours, tell me about why you picked the stoic leader because I because I I love what you have there. I just I want people to kinda hear that piece of it.
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Well, you know, I I, I started reading, a lot of about stoicism, and and I got really fascinated by it. And I felt that the, the biggest challenge that we're trying to solve is our own and and and and our own internal internal struggles. And, and and and and then I as I read about it, I felt that those are that's the kind of, change I wanna bring in myself because I feel when there's a problem, I have to first look in inwards before I look outwards. Yeah. And, and and that that this allows me to, have deep, thoughts and deep thinking about with myself and allow me to become a better better person, a better leader every day. And, so that's the more like internalization and, you know, of thoughts that allows me to, become more, I would say, externally more intentional.
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Yeah. That's that idea is actually something I communicated to my son this morning, taking him to school. I said he said I don't know what we're talking about, but oftentimes, the next words out are, it's not my fault. And I said, if you could remove those words from your vocabulary and own whatever part you are accountable for. It's not always fault. Sometimes it's wins too. Right? Your internal reflection of what you'll do in the world will so multiply because you'll be looking for ways to solve whatever the challenge is versus blaming others for why you can't do or be. And and I I I hear I see this a lot in kids in general, and I see this a lot in young adults and in some 40 year olds, 50. But I think what you're describing there is someone who is inner reflective yourself that's that's looking to solve a problem saying, what is my part of it, and what can I do that I can truly control versus how do I blame everyone else for all the things that can't happen or hasn't happened or whatnot? And and that's a that that is a lifestyle, by the way, change a decision because then you apply that to other things of, and I'm not saying I do this perfect, but, you know, you walk around your house and you see a piece of plastic on the floor, do you pick it up? Or do you look to blame or put it there and look for them to pick it up? And it's kinda like, you know anyway, I think those little things that it transcends, and I got a lot of growth to do in that if that's the example that I just gave because I do walk by that piece of plastic probably for 15 times before I'm like, I'll just pick it up. Anyway, I love it. Thank you for sharing that. Listen, shameless plug time for you. Who should get no. If you're listening, don't you dare hang up. This is this is the this is the moment. This is the climax of when you get to learn and how and who should get ahold of Rishi. How who should get ahold of you and how do they do that?
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Oh, you know, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. The best way to connect with me will be on LinkedIn and connect me or find me on LinkedIn, under my name, Rishi Khanna. But also, you know, if you wanna connect with me through email, I can give you my email address. It's rkhanna@isher.com, ishir.com. I know it's a a whole lot of things to remember, but but I'm sure you'll have it in the comments.
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Well, I I hope so. But I just don't type that fast, and then I would stop talking for a minute while I fixed all my typos. And then it just would be like, what's what's going on in the background? He just stopped talking. He never does that. That's why. So I hope so. Rishi, thanks for coming on today. I appreciate your time and Thank you for having me. Yeah. I mean, listen. I I your time and and insight, and and I absolutely love your story of how, you've built your company and and where you're going with it. It only sounds like it's gonna get better and better and better. I am gonna put you in the, periwinkle room. That's the color I think that comes out through this. There's no snacks in there. Just digital. Enjoy the time. I'll see you in a couple minutes. Everybody who made it this point in the show, thank you so much for listening and listening to story. You should reach out to him. You can get a hold of him at LinkedIn at, Rishi, r I s h I, Khanna, k h. Don't forget p h, k h a n n a. Find him on LinkedIn. Pretty easy to get to, and iisher.com, which is also on the, 6 screen here. But, oh, listen. The guys get out there. Go cut ties. Don't let anything hold you back. If it's way something you believe, something that you think is is, is in your way, go go solve it. You know? If it's if you keep hitting a wall, go around the wall, go over it. Sometimes you can't go through it. Sometimes you gotta do things. And and that's how you get better at life. That's how you get better at entrepreneurship, and that's what we're here to help you go do. So until we meet again, get out there. Go unleash your entrepreneur. Thank you so much for listening.
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Thank you for listening to the Never Been Promoted podcast. If you liked today's show, subscribe at youtube.comforward/at never been promoted. Until next time. Get out there and go unleash your inner entrepreneur.