Bootstrapping from Guwahati: Anjan Pathak, CTO and Co-Founder of Vantage Circle (Part 1)

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I am always thrilled to do stories of pioneering entrepreneurs building technology startups in remote locations. Anjan brings us into the nascent scene in Guwahati, in the North-East Indian state of Assam.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back to the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Anjan Pathak: I was born in a small town in North East India. It’s about 50 kilometers from Guwahati. I spent my childhood there. I studied in a very small school.

From there, I went to Guwahati. That is where I met my co-founder Partha Neog. I studied there for two weeks and after that, I went to the engineering school in Nagpur. I spent four years in Nagpur. I graduated and worked for a year and a half in a services company.

I then went to the UK, London. I was working for British Airways for a year and a half. After that, I  joined a company called Art Technology Group. It was a great learning experience for me to work in that company. I was working there as an express service engineer troubleshooting clients’ problems.

I was traveling mostly around Europe. That was during the hay days of e-commerce from 2001 to 2002. After that, I started working as a freelancer/contractor in the UK. I spent about 13 to 14 years in the UK.

I then decided to come back. My parents were getting a bit older. I wanted to support them in their old age, so I came back to India. When I came back, I had the privilege to work with my co-founder and he said, “Why don’t you start something here?” I came back and there was nothing. 

Sramana Mitra: What was your co-founder doing all this while when you were in the UK? What path did he follow?

Anjan Pathak: He also had a similar experience. He went to Kurukshetra and we met there. We met in the UK as well. We were in touch all the time. I actually started a company in Bangalore in 2003. That was out of my home, but that did not work. I spent about a year in Bangalore trying to get things done. When it did not work, I went back to the UK to do freelancing work again. In 2013, I decided that I needed to come back to India. I came back to my hometown which is in Guwahati. I did not have anything in mind when I came back.

By that time, my co-founder had already invested two years into the company Vantage Circle. We were in touch and I’d invested some amount of money in the company. After two years, I decided to come back.

I thought to myself, “Why don’t I start a technology company. “ The technology part was small at that time. There were only two people in Hyderabad. I came here and I hired one person. The business started growing in Guwahati.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Bootstrapping from Guwahati: Anjan Pathak, CTO and Co-Founder of Vantage Circle
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