eChai Ventures social conversations are super fun and insightful theme was great "From Zero to Millions".

Thanks everyone for joining in Bhavesh Patel | Leena Parikh | Valay Parikh | Jatin Chaudhary | Bhavik Makwana | Nikita Lalwani | Pankaj Bhimani | Chirag Panchal  | Yug Dave

eChai Socials are delightful and fun conversations with founders. 

Lot of learning and fun exchanges.

“Valay, we got our first cheque”

I remember saying these words, full of excitement & somewhat emotional.

It was 31st Dec, New Year's Eve, almost a decade back. That evening was like stepping into a new life for us.  (Me & my younger brother and Co-Founder Valay)

Entigrity wasn't just a dream anymore; it became a reality.

But before getting this first check, I went on to meet 300+ CPAs/accountants door to door and well nobody wanted to trust us.(Offshoring back then was like rocket science). Also we were new, I probably didn’t know how to present myself.

Each meeting was a story in itself, filled with hope and often met with a polite, yet firm 'no.' With each ‘no’ you feel like giving up. But someone within was not ready to quit, maybe that someone was immensely scared of being tagged as failure in life, (That fear of failure probably kept me going).

Jack Owens, CPA out of Orlando, FL after the 2nd meeting told me that “Shawn, I like you buddy let’s get started” And that’s how he wrote us our first check. A 68 year old CPA trusted us and became our first client.

I will always remain deeply grateful to Jack for that trust and belief that he kept on us. Thank you would never be enough to express my gratitude to him. Jack and his team still continue to work with us.

Never forget people who have put early faith in you when you were nobody. Those people might hold no significance to your size of work and stature today but, I always believed that “Don't forget those who supported you when you were nothing”.

This is where the journey of Entigrity started for me in the US and for my brother & Co-founder Valay in India.

I learned that sometimes being naive is an asset. It allows you to see possibilities where others see dead ends.
When everyone around me said, especially some of my relatives in the US, "It's the holiday season, nobody's going to sign up now, people don’t work ” I chose to listen to the voice that mattered most - my own.

It’s with Immense pride I would say that Entigrity's first cheque wasn't signed by a venture capitalist or an angel investor, but by a CPA and that too on the eve of New Year.

Looking back, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. Grateful to every CPA & Accountant 

- Who partnered with Entigrity and reposed their trust on us.
- Even those who started but couldn’t continue to work with us.
And lastly who said ‘No’ to us,
- Looking back I would say we got lucky in more ways than we could have ever Imagined.

One such luck was getting your First Cheque from a CPA and not from VC/Angel Investor. 

(In fact, in early days of Entigrity whenever we went to raise some money, we never got it. With the benefit of hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise. Today at this stage fortunately a lot of people are ready to invest in us. Life is strange when you needed them the most nobody gave you and now when you don't really need everyone is ready to write a check).