“We are taught that it’s okay to fail but to learn from our mistakes”
When I was doing my MBA, I had this idea of creating a website for door-to-door grocery delivery connecting local vendors to customers. This was one of the main reasons why I wanted to work at Ninjacart, and I’d like to think this wasn’t just a mere coincidence, but fate itself, which brought me here. I had joined Ninjacart in October 2015 and I was amongst the first 100 employees, back then we were a B2C company and we were a very small team. Today, we have over 6000 employees across the entire country.
I always wanted to work in a startup. The start-up culture and environment is something that drives me and I have always been passionate about; this is something that you will not find in bigger organizations or companies. At Ninjacart, we do have the liberty to try out new things, experiment with new ideas and we are encouraged to fail but to learn from our mistakes. I fondly remember this situation when I had made a big blunder with the payroll; scared about the consequences, I had to approach Thirukumaran Nagarajan, the CEO and Co-founder. A lesson well learned, he told me that it was okay to make mistakes and encouraged me to focus on what I can learn from my experience and do better the next time. Every employee here is taught not to be afraid to fail, which is why people are more proactive and are willing to take risks.
After working for a year, I had taken a sabbatical for personal reasons. A year later when I decided to start working again, I did not want to join any other company but Ninjacart. Ninjacart to me has become more than a place where I go to work, it has become a place just like home and I’m lucky to have a very big family.
I was drawn to this company because of its people — the passion and love for what they do; is unlike any other organization. Moreover, the dynamic culture keeps us all connected — across hierarchies, from the CEO to executives, everyone is treated as equals. The main factor that drove the company to the top can be undoubtedly owed to us, the people of Ninjacart.
The pivot from B2C to B2B was probably the most challenging part of my career. Overnight, we had to realign all of our processes. During the initial stages we had only so many employees, today we have 6000 employees across India. Overall, this journey has had many ups and downs, there has been a lot of exposure and many varied experiences — from setting up processes from scratch, travelling to different cities in a short span of time, centralizing all operations, training employees, onboarding around 100 to 150 people in a day, streamlining processes are some of the best experiences I have learned on the job.
Working with my immediate supervisor, the General Manager of Human Resources, has been an amazing learning experience. Her way of working, the way she presents herself, the way she thinks things through, and takes decisions are attributes that I would like to inculcate in myself one day. To me, she is more of a role model rather than a boss. An important lesson I have learned from her is if there’s a problem, always work towards solving it rather than dwelling on the reason for that mistake, this saves time and reduces any inconvenience that might be caused to an employee. At Ninjacart, our employees always come first. It is with utmost importance that all salaries are out at the end of the month without any delay, no matter what comes.
Currently, I centrally handle HR operations. Working here has certainly helped me to become a good manager and a better person. I would often doubt myself and I’d be afraid of things going wrong. But now, I’m willing to take the risk and the fear of making a mistake does not stop me from implementing my ideas. Ninjacart has made me into a stronger, more confident woman, and I look forward to my journey of more incredible experiences and opportunities.
Narrated by Nikitha Satish, Manager-HR Operations
