Worried a bad boss could waste the start of your career? It might do the opposite. Poornima Shenoy says hers made her an entrepreneur.In college, Poornima Shenoy's debate was whether to study French or political science. Then she went and did something totally different.After an MBA in marketing, she was drawn to advertising research, "way before data science and analytics were even thought of as subjects." She started off before the internet era, under a boss she calls the most brilliant lateral thinker she knows, and spent her rookie years arguing for data with copywriters and designers who ran on gut feel. She loved the job, but the money was not good enough. Her next move was what she thought was her dream job at India's leading market research firm, and it came with a bad boss. She says she's eternally grateful to her: "that made me an entrepreneur. I said I cannot work under bad bosses."She was based in Bangalore and didn't see herself leaving, but when she looked for a job, "all the options were in Bombay." Advertising, market research and FMCG weren't growing in Bangalore; technology was. So she started a headhunting business with a co-founder, with no recruitment experience at all ("Nothing, zero"), Wipro as the first customer and Infosys as the second. They ran it for 10 years, until a venture fund bought her partner and her out. After a six-month break to work out her priorities, she worked with NASSCOM and the Manipal Group, then became employee number one at the India Semiconductor Association: registering the company, opening the bank account. She gave herself 18 months to move semiconductors from the tech pages to the business pages, and did it in 11. "I never saw a career as a job." Later she started an online-learning company "a little too early": "you're planting seeds in a dry field." She exited in 2017–18. When COVID struck in 2020, people called wanting to buy it. Her answer: "you're like three years too late."What it actually looks like, in her words: "Everything is about selling." She'd teach sales, business planning, balance sheets and profit and loss in school and college: "If you can sell, you can do anything." On chip design, she says India's intrinsic strength lies in design, with hubs in Bangalore, Noida, Hyderabad and Pune, and "one chip designer creates jobs for 10 embedded software engineers, who in turn create jobs for 100 software engineers." On online learning versus college: "students need to be in college to learn social skills." On work and life: "There's nothing called balancing… how do you manage." And on choices: there are things she will not compromise on, and knowing them "removes the chaff from the wheat."For students stuck between two subjects, and the parents weighing the choice with them: the subject you debate at 18 is one fork, not the whole road.Part of Career Undecided: real career stories for people who don't have their next step figured out either.If you're mid-decision about your own path, this one's for you. Subscribe for more conversations that trade the highlight reel for the actual decision points.0:00 French or political science: her college debate0:36 Advertising research before data science, and data vs. gut feel2:33 A first job she loved, then a dream job with a bad boss3:11 "Taking risk is part of my DNA"3:40 Staying in Bangalore and starting up: Wipro and Infosys as first customers4:52 Headhunting with zero experience: "If you can sell, you can do anything"6:03 A six-month break, then employee No. 1 at the India Semiconductor Association8:14 One chip designer, 10 embedded engineers, 100 software engineers10:50 "I never saw a career as a job"11:14 An online-learning company, a little too early13:31 Can online learning replace college?16:19 Confidence, money, and commas vs. full stops19:29 Today's girls, and what she won't compromise on#CareerUndecided #Entrepreneurship #CareerConfusion
