Shaadi.com CEO Anupam Mittal currently shared on social media how the 2008 global financial crisis devastated his company.
Just before the company was about to close a $25 million investment, the venture capital firm pulled out, compelling Mittal to lay off employees he considered family.
Anupam Mittal’s life-shattering experience
This shattered him completely on an emotional level. Reflecting on the entire incident he questioned himself, “Where did I screw up?” “What if I had gone with another VC?” “Could I have planned better?”
He felt hopeless and in deep frustration that he turned to meditation and spirituality. Although, skeptical at first he realized he needed help.
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A new journey
As he embarked on an inward journey, he understood the pressure and anxiety he felt was not only about his company but about himself.
“I wasn’t just chasing success—I was running from the fear of not being enough,” the Shark Tank judge confessed in the LinkedIn post.
Mittal admits spirituality did not magically fix every bit of his life but in some way, it helped him to change the way he responded to things. He admitted having a constant pressure of ‘needing to win’ to realign his ambition with a deeper purpose.
The entrepreneur stressed the importance of internal preparation in a world filled with external chaos in his post.
“We live in a world of relentless noise—reels, emails, meetings—and it’s only getting louder.” Mittal wrote.
“Silencing the world ain’t possible—so our only option is to prepare ourselves internally to deal with the external world.” He added.
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Search that anchor
Mittal concluded with a beautiful philosophy - “Whether it is religion, spirituality or therapy that calms you, a life partner or family that understands you, or a purpose & knowledge that frees you- we all need anchors to keep us grounded and wings to give us flight.”
He urged others to find that anchor.