From starting a blog back in 2010 and quitting a full time job to building world's largest internship platform, it has been all about learning some thing new every day. Ever since I started up, I have learned a lot and today, I want to talk about three of my biggest learnings that I have had so far-

People > Profit: People build business and they lead you to profit. We have kept our internship platform free for everyone and continued to serve them in the best way we could without knowing how it would play out eventually. But three years later, when we launched a fee based online training platform, students were happy to pay because they trusted the platform.

For a startup to be successful, you should not just focus on resolving the issues of your customers but also listen to your team which builds your product. As a startup, your team is your only asset. Invest in building a great team and give them freedom. For example, we have a policy of no fixed number of holidays in a year (you can take as many as you want)- every one appreciates this and things get done on time without anyone having to follow up.

In fact, not just your employees and clients but even total strangers can help you move a step closer to your mission. When I started Internshala, I knew nothing about setting up a web portal, had done no press and media, knew none of the 40K organisations that have used the

platform till date, and the only student that I knew looking for an internship was my own cousin. But over the years, all this changed and whenever I saw myself stuck in a tight spot, I never hesitated to reach out to people in my network seeking their help.

From hiring the right candidate to making difficult business decisions, culture serves as the guiding torch for the founder and the entire team

Discipline > Passion: Starting up can be tough. You might be passionate about your startup idea but discipline is what would make it or break it for you. I have had my fair share of moments of self doubt, desperation, dejection and frustration. It is during these times, discipline helped me go through the routine, complete projects, get things done, and keep moving forward.

Discipline is not just about time, it is also about managing your finances. If you are already in a job (like I was) before you decide to startup, plan your personal finances with the same rigor as you would plan for your startup. I have always been a frugal spender; still, the past seven years taught me how to differentiate between a necessity and a luxury and question every penny that I spend. If you want to build a great business, then you need the discipline to take you an extra mile forward.

Culture > Strategy: Strategies are definitely important for the success of a startup but before you get down to strategizing your business model or sales funnel, focus on building a great culture. During the initial months of starting up, I was not sure when was the right time for a startup to worry about the work culture. Culture is one of the founding and guiding principles of your startup. From hiring the right candidate to making difficult business decisions, culture serves as the guiding torch for the founder and the entire team. Start involving your team in coming up with a great work culture by spending time thinking and debating over it. To give you an instance, at Internshala, we have made culture, the way of life. For example, once 'Make it Happen' became our culture, we never had to worry about ownership. Similarly, having 'Customer at the Heart' meant we would serve the customers in the best possible way in everything we do.

In a nutshell, products and strategies would come and go, but the culture would stay forever. So invest in it!