One of the earliest founders I met as I embarked on the Svagat experiment earlier this year was Suryansh Chandra. Suryansh has taken a very non-traditional route into entrepreneurship – he’s an artist and one of the most amiable individuals in the UK startup ecosystem. Initially trained as an architect, Suryansh spent six years at Zaha Hadid Architects, a top architectural firm in London. However, his passion for technology led him to co-found Automata, a robotics startup that now serves the pharmaceutical industry and has raised close to $100M in venture capital. In 2020, he moved on from Automata, which continued to grow, to start The Mind Distillery – a startup aimed at helping companies utilize feedback more effectively to understand the individuals in their teams. This is a field I've delved into myself, having co-founded Belong, an HR tech platform.
From the outset, we found great chemistry.
There are two topics I love discussing with Suryansh: startups, and the pervasive influence of technology in our lives. However, the latter topic is often nuanced because, although software is "eating the world," not everyone has equal access to its benefits.
So, when I decided to invite him to brainstorm for the Svagat podcast – a platform that delves into topics with the Indian diaspora in Europe regarding technology and startups – we knew our discussion had to be meaningful.
During our hour-long conversation, we explored why the organizations structure and landscape in insular fields like architecture can frustrate young ambitious people. We also delved into the role of managers – the foundational units of organizational structures – and the associated challenges of nurturing them.
Below are the timestamps of the show of the major discussion topics:
0:00 Introduction
1:48 Studying Architecture
3:45 Joining Zaha Hadid
5:36 Architecture studios missing ethos of scale
9:15 Not getting paid, but don't know why
14:14 Cultural diff b/w architectural studio and tech
16:54 Suryansh's journey into building "feedback at scale"
21:49 Immigration status and management style?
23:18 What makes for good and horrible managers?
27:23 Being secure
29:12 Don't be a douchebag
31:22 Confusing Performance and Feedback*
35:29 How can young managers get good?*
41:25 Be somebody or do something
44:59 Can we be secure in the workplace today?
49:31 Employers perspective
52:11 Hard decisions owing to feedback
57:10 Advice for young managers
I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to email me with feedback and suggestions for future guests.
Horrible bosses and the problem with creative fields