Search
+
    The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Gagan Biyani was fired as Udemy chairman. Here’s how he converted the pink slip into a success story

    Synopsis

    Biyani was the former chairman of Udemy, a unicorn startup valued at $2 billion.

    gagan 2Agencies
    Taking to LinkedIn, the former chairman of the edutech unicorn Udemy, explained why many star performers experience chronic health scares such as cardiac issues, joint and muscle pain, etc. (Source: Twitter)
    Is poor health a by-product of success? Gagan Biyani certainly thinks so.

    Taking to LinkedIn, the former chairman of the edutech unicorn Udemy, explained why many star performers experience chronic health scares such as cardiac issues, joint and muscle pain, etc. According to the Maven CEO, “it all comes down to stress.”

    Referring to the time he got fired from the $2 billion unicorn, Biyani wrote that eight years ago, he was hospitalised due to severe pain in his side and had to undergo an appendectomy. He had to take two weeks off to recover. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that I was fired from Udemy 4 months later,” wrote the entrepreneur, insinuating that the long gap led to his layoff.

    Biyani revealed that he reached peak health after his layoff. “After Udemy, I got healthy and built a fitness routine. My physical health was better than ever, and people noticed,” he wrote.

    But that phase did not last.

    The entrepreneur got busy with his second initiative, a food-delivery startup Sprig. As he tried to build the company from scratch, stress caught up with him. “ I developed TMJ, a severe jaw pain related to grinding one’s teeth. It would get so bad that at times I couldn’t even get out of bed in the morning.”

    After he shut down Sprig, Biyani came to realise that the culprit was not a specific health condition but his own penchant for giving in to stress. During his sabbatical, as he steered clear of stress, he felt more healthy and energetic. “Walking in 100° heat in Havana, I had more energy than I ever did in San Francisco. As my mental stress subsided, my physical stress did too,” he revealed.

    Biyani stated that he finally came up with a strategy to cope with stress, after 10 years of struggle:

    Work Smart, Not Hard
    “ You have more control than you realize. You choose your career, your goals, and how you work,” advises Bayani. Employees should work out the details of their job responsibilities and expectations from the get-go and draw boundaries, he suggests.

    Don’t Ignore Your Health

    Biyani reveals that he works out regularly, avoids processed foods and drinks, and goes on long walks to keep himself fit. However, he also warned his followers not to fall prey to diet fads and to focus on sustainable fitness goals. He also recommends that people build a solid support system of friends and agreeable colleagues and find a mentor who can keep them inspired and provide life advice.

    Surround Yourself With Wellwishers
    Don’t limit your social life to people in your profession, warns Biyani. Having a strong support system is important for your mental well-being, he explained. Nurture non-work relationships, he says. You cannot be networking 24X7!

    Save A Day For Monk Mode
    The entrepreneur advises his followers to save a day or two when they can get into “monk mode”. Log off for real, steer clear from social media, sugary foods, and alcohol, and focus on meditating and exercising.

    The Bottom Line
    There is no shortcut to stress management," says Biyani. Managing stress is a very personal, lifelong journey. Each individual develops their own hacks to keep stress at bay. He also added that with age, you learn to approach things dispassionately. “As you get older and have more perspective, the things that used to stress you out seem trivial,” he wrote as a parting shot.

    Biyani currently runs another edtech startup, Maven, which offers 100+ live courses on subjects such as product management, leadership, finance etc.

    ( Originally published on Mar 16, 2023 )

    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in