My DNA

The present is a strange thing. You only realize its weight when you stop to look at it.

 

Right now, I am living in a moment that was shaped by thousands before it. Every thought, every action, every obsession—it all traces back to something deeper. But where did it start?

 

To know who I am, we have to go back. Way back.

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THE WATCHFUL CHILD

Some kids either talk too much or stay too quiet. I was both.

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With my people, I was unstoppable—always talking, always debating, always thinking out loud. But when I wasn’t talking, I was doing something else.

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I was watching.

Not in a casual, mindless way. I was decoding.

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I remember being at restaurants, sitting with my family, and my eyes would just… wander. My mom used to nudge me. “Don’t stare at people, Rounak. It’s not polite.” But I wasn’t staring to be rude. I was Analysing.

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“People don't just speak with words. They speak in pauses, glances, hesitations. If you listen closely, silence has a voice too."

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I was breaking down expressions, movements, and words. The way someone leaned in when they were excited, the way someone’s face twitched when they were hiding something. I didn’t know why I did it. It just happened.

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Some people got screamed at, some people laughed too loudly, and some people sat in silence.

Every table was its own world, and somehow, I was a traveler between all these worlds.

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It’s funny how something so small, so unconscious, later becomes something so defining.

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CURIOSITY TURNED OBSESSION

I didn’t just think about ideas. I needed to test them.

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Many kids were engrossed in playing video games after school. I played with ideas. I wanted to see how things worked, why people reacted in certain ways, and how words could change perceptions. But here’s the thing—ideas don’t survive in isolation. They need someone to nurture them, to listen, to push you to execute.

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For me, that was my uncle, Shrikant Joshi.

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"If you think it, you can build it. If you can build it, you can make it real."

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I was in fourth grade when I wrote my first book.

Not just a few scribbles in a notebook—an actual 120-page novel.

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It was inspired by Tintin, written in a dramatic, dialogue-based format. A ridiculous number of times, I used the word "psych" like a naive kid who had just learned a cool slang. But that didn’t matter.

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What mattered was that I had an idea, and with the right support, I executed it.

And my uncle? He made sure I didn’t stop halfway.

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Every single night for a week, he came home early from work, sat beside me, and helped me type. When the book was finished, we rushed to get it printed at 11 PM—because the excitement of seeing it in my hands just couldn’t wait until morning.

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And here’s the part that still means the most to me:

Relatives, across countries, took copies home. They still remember it to this day. Not because it was a literary masterpiece, but because it was proof of something far more.

 

"If you have a thought, you can turn it into something real."

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That was the first time I saw what it felt like to create.

And I never wanted to stop.

 

SETBACKS, SHIFTING GEARS, AND ACCELERATING!

Fast forward to 9th grade. First real attempt at the digital world—Shankler.com.

A blogging website. 20-25 blogs in, it felt like I was building something. And then? Reality hit.

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• 10th-grade exams took over. Priorities shifted.

• The digital landscape was changing. Vlogging boomed and in no time Blogging wasn’t what it used to be.

 

Shankler.com shut down. Just like that. A setback, sure, but not a failure.

Because here’s what people don’t realize—every project teaches you something. You walk away knowing more than when you started.

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I walked away knowing:

• How to build a website from scratch.

• How SEO works.

• How digital platforms evolve—and why adaptation is key.

 

And that’s why I keep experimenting. Because the worst that happens? You lose a few bucks. The best that happens? You learn something that sticks with you forever.

 

MY UNBREAKABLE PILLARS 

Through all of this, three constants remained—my father, mother, and brother.

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My father Dr. Kiran Shankar U, never said no. Not to an idea, not to an experiment, not to something I wanted to try. Financial support, advice, encouragement—he was always there, backing every move I made.

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My mother, Veena Kiran Shankar, and elder brother Rithvik K Shankar? 

They made sure I didn’t just run fast—I ran smart.

 

Here’s how I see it:

A kite flies high. It soars, reaching for the sky. But the string? That string holds it steady.

Cut the string, and sure, the kite will fly faster. But it will crash even faster.

They were that string. The silent force that kept me grounded, protected, and moving forward—safely.

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My Grandfather, S. Uday Shankar isn't just a role model; he is a living testament to clarity in thought, purpose in action, and spirituality in being, setting the foundation to my value system.

 

MY FIRST STAGE 

There’s a moment in everyone’s life when they realize something about themselves for the first time.

For me, it was when I took over a club that was barely ALIVE, as President of Interact Club of Bangalore South.

 

At first, I thought leadership was about talking big, making plans, giving instructions. But I learned something fast, people don’t move because you tell them to. They move when they believe in something.

We were just four people. That wasn’t a team. It was a group chat. I stopped talking and started doing.

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If I wanted a project to happen, I made the first call. If I wanted an event organized, I was there setting it up.

Soon, people started showing up. Four became ten. Ten became fifty.

The real magic? It wasn’t in the numbers. It was in the momentum.

In just one quarter, we pulled off 30+ projects.

 

And that was when I felt it for the first time. That feeling of creating something from nothing.

 

“Leadership isn’t about commands. It’s about contagious energy."

 

People follow movements, not speeches. Show them action, and they’ll believe in the words that follow.

 

THE BATTLE FOR BEST MANAGER

Understanding business was one thing. Competing in it was another.

I didn’t just want to learn—I wanted to prove that I could play the game at the highest level.

 

That’s what Best Manager was.

A 30-day brutal war. 700+ students. One title.

It wasn’t designed to be fair. It was designed to break you. No sleep, relentless pressure, high-stakes decisions. The kind of stress that forces you to either rise or crack.

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Most people cracked. I pushed harder.

Because this wasn’t about knowledge—it was about adaptability.

• Finance? I made sure my numbers weren’t just accurate but strategic.

• Marketing? I broke it down into neuromarketing principles—how do you trigger an audience’s response?

• Crisis Management? I didn’t just react—I thought and predicted two steps ahead.

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I won.

Not because I knew everything. But because I knew how to think differently.

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"The strongest competitor isn’t the one who knows the most—it’s the one who adapts the fastest."

 

A battle like this is won by a single person, but feels like it's won together with the Top 4 who stood strong as competitors since Day Zero.

 

In school, I never truly fit in.

• People talked about gaming. I wanted to talk about business models.

• Conversations were about trends. I was thinking about consumer behavior.

 

But here? Here, I found my people, in my BM team, in the ones who stood alongside, Abhishek Mandot, Dev Chhajer, Jatin Jangid, Vasit Agarwal, Anmol Bhagat, Purab Bethala, and so many more, I take these names because they stand as pillars even to this day!

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For the first time, I could ask the wildest or silliest questions—without judgment.

And instead of silence or dismissiveness, I got real discussions. I got answers. I got perspectives from people who came from business families, people who had lived through the things I wanted to learn.

 

"The greatest advantage isn’t what you know—it’s who you can learn from."

 

And that’s when I realized something.

 

For me, this competition wasn’t just about winning. It was about becoming part of a world where I finally fit in.

And now, having been on both sides—competing and hosting selections—I’ve watched my juniors; Palaash, Shruti, Krushna, and Rishit take on the challenge with a determination that speaks for itself.  Watching them step up, adapt, and push forward, I know the legacy is in good hands.

 

MENTAL FITNESS

I won’t sugarcoat it—I’ve dealt with my fair share of mental fitness. There were cycles of self-doubt, frustration, and inconsistency.

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Through thick and thin I’m truly grateful to these folks - Huda Nergis, Gagan Setty, Aryaman Drona, Rishi G, Saharsh B, Advaith A, Avinash M and my fellow mates from Rotaract - Rotary fraternity. They weren’t just friends; they were the constants who stood by me, reminding me of my worth even when I struggled to see it myself.

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Here’s the hard truth I had to accept:

• I was trying level 10 before even mastering level 2.

• I wanted to build big things but hadn’t locked in the small disciplines yet.

 

The shift came when I found my mentor (guru) Poondla Siddharth Reddy. A CFO. An investment banker. Someone who didn’t just motivate me, but challenged me to think differently.

 

He told me:

Go deep. Branding isn’t about trends. It’s about psychology.

 

And that was the moment it all clicked.

 

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Looking back, every single experience—every win, loss, experiment, and pivot—was leading to one thing:

 

Understanding how branding, business, and psychology all tie together.

• The book in 4th grade? Taught me execution.

• Best Manager? Taught me the power of resilience.

• Shankler.com? Taught me adaptation.

• Mentorship? Taught me depth over speed.

• Family? Taught me balance.

 

All of it led to this: I don’t just want to build a business. I want to build a brand that lasts.

And branding? That’s not just about content.

 

It’s about understanding:

• How people think.

• What makes them connect?

• Why they choose one brand over another?

 

Every single thing I’ve done—every failure, every experiment, every lesson—was necessary.

Because now? I finally see the full picture.