“Penetration of fashion online is just 9 to 10 per cent”

RISHI VASUDEV, Co-founder and CEO, GOAT Brand Labs, in conversation with Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld and Urvi Shrivastav of BW Businessworld, speaks about his journey, his vision as a startup owner, and the need for D2C market space. Edited excerpts

When you started your career 23 years ago, did you ever think you would become an entrepreneur?

I always thought I would bring my energy to ventures that have already started. If anyone would have said even a year back that you are going to be an entrepreneur, I would have been surprised.

You grew up in north-east. What was your childhood and growing up years like and what were the key influences?

I am a Punjabi, but I come from the north-eastern part of the country. I’m from a small town called Lambde, which is close to the Nagaland border. My father was also born there. My grandfather migrated from Pakistan to that part of the country looking for work. My mother is from Delhi; she is an M.A. in Mathematics, and my father is a B.A. L.L.B. Both were keen that I didn’t just join my father’s timber business. They wanted me to study and get into the corporate side. My childhood was spent playing with the children of the locality — it was a small town upbringing. As we realised there were not good enough English speaking schools in that town, beyond class five, my parents decided to put me in a boarding school. First I studied in Shillong, then Mussorie, and then Kolkata, following which I did my engineering and MBA.

How would you describe Rishi Vasudev?

I would describe myself as someone who looks at things from a purist point of view, and would always want tomorrow to be better than today. I am always in the pursuit of making things better. If in any job or assignment, I reach a point of stagnation, I really push myself to change it. This is applicable to my running, sports, or any other aspect of life.

You went to an engineering school. How did it prepare you for the future?