Back in the early 2000s, after the dot-com bust, Anupam returned to India with:
❌ No money
❌ No plan
❌ No safety net
And almost everyone told him to play it safe.
The “logical” path?
➡ Get a job
➡ Rebuild slowly
➡ Avoid risk
Instead, he did the opposite.
He launched an internet company in India — when India barely had internet.
No D2C playbooks.
No dating app culture.
No startup buzz.
But he didn’t wait for demand.
He created it.
Breaking the Rulebook, Not the Law
Anupam points out one powerful insight:
“The biggest wins usually come from breaking the rules — not illegally, just unapologetically.”
That meant launching Shaadi.com before “matrimony tech” was even a thing.
And over the years, the same pattern repeated across the startup world:
🚀 Creators who posted when no one was watching
💡 Founders who launched before the market was ready
🛍️ Brands that didn’t follow trends, but set them.
The Takeaway for Founders
Rules help you start.
But breakthroughs come when you stop following and start creating.
So whether you’re building content, startups, or your personal brand —
First learn the rules. Then rewrite them.
Because history doesn’t remember the safest bets.
It remembers the boldest ones.
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