Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, founders of Battery Smart, were included in the 40 under 40 Young Entrepreneurs list this year. The 33-year-old IIT Kanpur graduates believe entrepreneurship is a turning point in their careers. Battery Smart is a Gurugram-based battery swapping company founded in 2019 and is currently present in 28 cities with 1,000 swapping stations.

Looking back on their journey, Khurana and Sikka say stepping into entrepreneurship was a pivotal moment in their careers after quitting their first job. “I think the turning point was when we decided to start this company, and that was the moment that defined where we were going to go. We are still at the very beginning of this journey, but at least this journey started when we made this decision,” says Khurana.

Sikka echoes similar thoughts and muses that he wants to be an entrepreneur all his life. “For me, the turning point was when I decided to quit my first job to start my first business, namely in the bus pooling sector. That was in 2015. And I think back then I was very sure that entrepreneurship was something I wanted to do all my life,” says Sikka.

They say the advice to their younger selves would be to take more risks and play the long game. “The advice to my younger self is to take more risks and do it now instead of waiting for it,” says Khurana.

“I think the advice I would give to my younger self is to always play the long game. When you're young, you optimize for short-term decisions “I empowered my younger self as an entrepreneur,” says Sikka.

Khurana and Sikka in particular say that despite the challenges, they are continually solving the problem and improving it every day. “We were able to show that we can do a job that is much better than anything that has ever been done in the past,” says Khurana. Sikka notes that ensuring operational discipline is likely a challenge they solve every day,” says Sikka.