The Great Ganesha

For the first time ever, and in an exclusive for this blog, I interview Nikhil Roychowdhury, Founder-CEO and President of The Simple Leaf, a newly formed, up-and-coming start-up which sells excellent (I speak from experience) loose-leaf tea. He buys his tea from India (amongst other countries) and sells it to tea-drinkers throughout the US. His approach is fresh because it involves making heavy use of several Web 2.0 concepts like del.icio.us, Squidoo and Fanpop. Of course, he also has his own tea-specific blog.

From his website:

We don’t think enjoying tea should be complicated. In fact, we’re all about making really good tea just a little bit more accesible. And upretentious. That’s why we started Pekoe Tips and The Simple Leaf™ brand. We have tea experts that live and breathe tea. [link]

A college-buddy of mine and an anthropology-economics double major, he spent most of his twenties as a a successful consultant, hobnobbing with CFOs and advising them on how to run their business. But then, like most desis, he realized there was something lacking in his life. He wanted more. And certainly not more of the same. He wanted his own life, he wanted something which tied him to India and he wanted his freedom. So he chucked it all away and decided to start his own company. Selling tea.

From anthropologist-wannabe to consultant to a web 2.0-savvy chaiwallah. How the hell did that happen? Well, I was wondering the same myself. Read on, to learn more.

First of all, let’s start at the beginning. What did you do as a consultant?
I was a seasoned, and I mean seasoned, road-warrior. As horrific as it may sound, my record is 145,723 miles in one calendar year! And those are flown miles, not bonus miles.

When I wasn’t stuck in an airplane 37,000 feet above the ground, I spent the remainder of my time as a management consultant for a company called Headstrong (formerly james martin + co). I started my career there after I graduated from college in 1998. I was lucky enough to get involved with tons of fun projects, from helping to launch a broadband internet service startup, to developing technology strategies for large corporations. I spent the last few years there advising other companies on how to successfully run an IT organization. It’s called IT Program Management, in consulting-speak.

You didn’t like that life?
Did I mention that I flew 145, 723 miles in one year?

Actually, I enjoyed consulting immensely, despite the hectic travel. Of course, it had it’s bad days – but every job has those. There wasn’t one thing that I can put my finger on and say – “I hated that. That’s why I’m leaving”. What I relished the most was making a case for a particular solution (technical or otherwise) and then getting executives to slowly rally behind it as a team. It’s old fashioned politicking and ego-brandishing like you wouldn’t believe. Bob in Marketing often had a personal vendetta against Jim in Finance, and I was often the poor sap caught right in the middle of it. There were plenty of occasions when I didn’t care for this and asked myself what the heck I was doing lecturing a CFO on how to run his business. But in the end, if the outcome was successful, I’d done my job. I like to think I was more successful than not.

So is that why you quit? The politicking got to you?
I decided to quit because the life of a penniless entrepreneur was calling my name! I guess the fear of regret is something that I didn’t feel like I could live with. As clichéd as it sounds, I wanted to live a more balanced life, enjoy my family and friends, and not feel like I was owned, so to speak, by a corporation. It’s hard to put into words, but I just had to do it. I didn’t want to be on my death bed saying “I wish I had spent more time at the office”.

Basically, you wanted to be your own boss and have the freedom that comes with it?
Yes, to some extent. Although “freedom” is relative! Yes, I can make my own hours now, but I seem to work more now than I ever did when I worked for someone else. Being your own boss might seem glamorous from the outside, but it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

What’s much more important to me is that I’m creating something from scratch. And that I own the whole process. Whether it’s ultimately a success or not, time will tell. But I’ll be able to say that I was responsible for it. That’s comforting to me, in a strange way.

Another pleasant side effect from starting a tea business is a ready-made excuse to deepen my roots in India. Having lived in the US for over 12 years, I sometimes feel like a bit of an outsider in my own country (umm…probably because I am!). I think I’ve found a good way to immerse myself both personally and professionally in the two cities that I consider home – Calcutta and Chicago.

When did the idea of starting your own business come to you?
As tempting as it is to say that I had a “eureka” moment, I didn’t. The idea evolved around three years ago. At the time, it was just one of those things that I had filed away in the back of my brain along with many others (starting a national dog-walking / pet-sitting franchise was one such brilliant idea!).

Ok, so I’ve been itching to ask you this: Why tea?
It goes without saying that I love the stuff. And I practically grew up surrounded by it, in Calcutta and Darjeeling. I remembered how fascinated I was during my first trip to Darjeeling and my first tour of a tea estate. I spent every summer as a child in Darjeeling, and endless hours wandering around tea gardens, watching colorfully dressed tea workers pluck the “two leaves and a bud” of the tea plant.

So the idea of a business involving tea slowly started emerging. Finally last year, after many discussions with friends and family, latency (or perhaps laziness?) finally turned to action, and I took the plunge. We started off by getting just a few samples of some excellent tea from my dad which we used to host a “tea tasting” session. We did this at a farmer’s market in Urbana, Illinois. The response I got from people was so overwhelming, I knew there was more to be done and I had to build a business around it.

And what were people’s reactions when you told them you were quitting a high-paying consulting job to sell tea?
When I first told people I wanted to start a tea company, I got my fair share of incredulous stares. You know – the ones where the listener’s mouth is slightly open and their eyes feign interest and excitement? And while they’re thinking “Boy, what an idiot this guy is – quitting a nice consulting gig and opening a tea shop”, somehow they manage to mutter: “Hmm….sounds interesting”?

Yeah, I got a lot of that. And still do.

Continues in Part 2.

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