Nihal Mehta is an noted expert in mobile tech, proven through his successful startups, (Local Response) and his venture fund, Eniac Ventures, where he invests in promising mobile technologies. He even launched his very own conference series in NYC, M1 Summit, that’s focused on discussing the future of mobile. Nihal is smart, savvy and a complete BOSS!
But this isn’t want I want to talk about. We all know that about him.
I remember reading this TheNextWeb article about Nihal, and I knew he is someone I not only looked up to but needed to meet. I made it happen at a startup ping-pong tournament a couple years back, and he became not only a great contact in the NYC startup world but a friend in this lonely world we all call entrepreneurship.
Here are the top 3 things I’ve learned from Nihal:
- Never ever ever ever ever ever give up
His first company, Cities 2Night, ended up under more than $400,000 in debt due to the dot.com crash in 2001. This forced him to file for bankruptcy and caused scuffles with his co-founder. But even through this, he didn’t give up. He moved to SF founded and grew Ipsh! until it was acquired by Omnicom Publicis. He then founded Buzz’d to provide real-time updates for clubs and bars, which later pivoted into the super successful Local Response.
Nihal made a point when he came to speak with our crew, that the worst part of failure doesn’t only come from your business and partners but from your family. Coming from the same Indian-American culture, the worst thing you could do is fail. When you fail, you become labeled as the ‘so-and-so’s son/daughter who failed’ in the Indian community. You have to be strong to get out of that hole.
My parents still don’t know how to explain to others what I do and why I left my job earlier this year.
- Reward Persistence with Helpfulness
Since I met Nihal, he has been nothing but helpful. It was almost effortless on his part to help me out–and it meant a lot to me. Remember that every entrepreneur has been in the same spot before and they had to be persistent in order to get what they wanted to get their shit done. Reward those who are persistent with your time and see how you can leverage your network to help them out.
- Always look to the future
Nihal found his passion early, mobile advertising. He told us that he owns every single smartphone created. Yup, even the Treo. Whoa. His mind is always consumed with idea of how to change the future of mobile tech to improve brands influence on consumers. He’s a disruptor, no doubt.
Because of his passion, I nerded out about mobile have taught myself all about app development. I even got my hands dirty working on some interesting freelance projects. I want to create the future and understanding mobile app architecture is one way I will enable myself. I’m excited with what the future will bring.
Nihal Mehta will be speaking at The Phat Startup’s 1st annual Tech808 Conference, co-hosted with The Clive Davis Institute at NYU this November! Tech808 will explore the world of entrepreneurship through the lens of people actually in the trenches making it happen. Not a billionaire that has others building their dreams. Each talk will leave you inspired but also ready to take your entrepreneurship game to the next level with executable actionable advice!
The article is written by Jesal Trivedi, Founding Partner and the Director of Creative Development at The Phat Startup, and is reprinted by permission.
Image Credit: CC by PaleyMC
