Rejected by IIMs, ISB, he emailed a Silicon Valley billionaire. And his life changed

Sometimes, a career does not go according to plan. For Arnav Ghatage, the plan was to get into a top business school, perhaps build a career in venture capital or private equity, and take the conventional route into the business world. But almost every door he knocked on remained shut.

"I was rejected from every top MBA college I applied to," he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

The IIMs did not work out. He managed just one interview. He applied to the Indian School of Business (ISB) twice but did not get an interview. Applications to the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University did not get him an interview either.

His attempts to enter venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) were unsuccessful as well. "More than one person told me I lacked technical depth, and implied I was just a smooth talker," he wrote.

But Ghatage did not agree with that assessment. "For some reason, I never believed either of those things. I knew I was more than that," Ghatage wrote.

Instead of making another application, he decided to email Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, someone who had built a company and an institution that had backed some of the world's best-known startups.

His response was in four words. (Photo: LinkedIn/Arnav Ghatage) WHEN EVERY APPLICATION ENDED IN A NO

Ghatage's academic background includes a degree from MIT World Peace University, Pune, where his LinkedIn profile lists his education between 2017 and 2021. His professional profile also lists experience at miniOrange.

Like many young professionals looking to move ahead in their careers, he explored postgraduate management programmes and opportunities in the investment industry.

However, the results were not what he had hoped for.FOUR WORDS FROM A SILICON VALLEY ENTREPRENEUR

Rather than allowing those rejections to define his next move, Ghatage approached Paul Graham with an email.

Graham's response, "Just start your own company", gave him a direction he had perhaps not considered seriously enough before.

Ghatage went on to start Fortimus, which develops workflow applications for monday.com, a work management and collaboration platform.

The company's products are designed to help businesses automate repetitive tasks, connect information across work boards and manage everyday workflows more efficiently. (Photo: LinkedIn post/Arnav Ghatage) FROM REJECTIONS TO 200 CLIENTS

What began as an alternative to the career paths that had rejected him has since become a business of its own.

Ghatage says Fortimus now serves more than 200 clients across seven countries, ranging from small businesses to large enterprises. He also says the company has grown lean and profitably, without relying on the kind of expansion-at-all-costs approach often associated with startups.

Fortimus's website lists multiple applications on the monday.com Marketplace, including tools for synchronising items across boards and integrating Google Drive. The company also highlights a five-star average marketplace rating and two Editor's Choice applications.

For Ghatage, however, the most satisfying part is not just the client count or business growth. He says he values the recommendations that existing customers make to others.

In his LinkedIn post, he described Fortimus as the MBA that no college gave him. Looking back, he said he would make the same choice again.

His final takeaway was simple: other people's opinions do not have to become your reality. Sometimes, when the doors you want remain closed, the next step is to build one yourself.

(Disclaimer: This story is based on a social media post. The details, including figures, background, and outcomes, have not been independently verified by India Today. The article is intended for informational purposes only, and readers are advised to exercise their own discretion before drawing conclusions or making decisions based on the content.)- EndsRead | Women said her EV changed their lives. Now this Mahindra CEO wants to change mobilityRead | Qualcomm layoffs hit IIT Hyderabad graduate who landed Rs 26 lakh campus placement