Why am I building MazaClass - truthfully...

I have been trying to answer this question for myself for a long time. Why a startup? Why not just get a job? Is it ego? Maybe its just running away from the boring life that I see waiting for myself if I don't do something different.

TL;DR I'm building MazaClass, because it's the most direct way to become the person I want to become. Someone who knows how to build something and sell it, the complete loop. Doesn't really matter what it is that I build or sell. No job or freelance project will give me this.

Here is the journey that got me to the point above.

11th Grade

New city, new school, I fit into the perfect stereotype of the perfect prefect boy, policing kids around, the same thing I have done for the last 4 years and ending up as headboy in the last school. This is so boring....ughhhh. I need something new. Now the kid is at the start of his bad boy arc.

Rebellious, doesn't want to go to college. Wants to be an entrepreneur, make a gazillion dollars. I read the entire self help section of the library trying to figure what I want my life to be. Idk if that helped. There was a lot of Robin Sharma in there. The 1 hour bus commute with switching buses both ways is soul crushing and tiring.

I had spent the entire season of class 10th exam prep learning web dev (10th board exam is a pretty big deal here in India). I had completed a couple of courses. I had asked a 100 people for a job, felt like it. No one willing to hire a 17 year old. Then finally I found someone who was willing to pay me in ✨Exposure✨.

I started to make a website for them. But its not working, I should be able to code, I just completed a web dev course. But its all a blank slate, when I code the UI it looks so boring. I am just not good yet.

12th Grade and first year of COVID: The Great Winter

I switch schools, again! Attend the new one for 4 days. See this really cute girl, let's talk to her tomorrow, don't have the guts yet. Nope the world is shutting down. God I wish I could fix this. (P.S. I eventually do, or maybe god does, I'm not sure yet...). I guess this is when I made my rule to minimize regrets, not let this happen again. Girls or otherwise, I don't need regrets of missed things in my life. No postponing things, life goes by quick.

It feels like the world is ending I am planning my mask budget. But nothing apocalyptic happens, except being locked in for the next 1.5 years. We are locked for a week and then everyone is clanging their steel plates in their balconies. Yup thats India. We move to the city center once the lockdown relaxes.

I get my first internship YAY! Was promised 10k. Then lowered it to 5k just like that. I found a job and quit that shit right there. The job didn't pay much but it was a BIG BIG step. Finally I had some proof that I could make money with this, that too from home and the family career pressure eased off so so much, now I don't need to do UPSC prep, ha ha. I could finally breathe.

Joining college and putting it on the Back Burner

Now that I was earning, I wanted to make more, keep doing it. But there was my father wanting me to get a degree, any degree. I didn't go for JEE. Its this huge entrance exam in India. I hadn't prepared at all and I got cold feet at the last moment, and done, no engineering.

So I join a B.Sc. Cyber and Digital Science course. Its a new course and they didn't even have course books. Just taught from ppts. It was so so boring, I didn't attend most of the days.

I volunteered for some software project if the college had any. I dated a girl in this masters senior project group and that was pretty much the highlight of whatever I did in college. Nothing else mattered. Apart from maybe spending more than 150000 INR building drones, trying to win a few races. That was cool.

So this is where I tell you linkedin style what I learned. I got guts to date and the stupidity to spend hard earned cash on something that wasn't fully thought out.

Years 2 and 3 of college

College just ended 1 year ago. The company I was working for shut down. So I was back to freelancing. Made a few thousand on upwork. Until a guy cancelled a project on me and dropped my rating. That was the end of the upwork for me. At this point I knew what a salary did to me. It lulled me into a sense of false security. I didn't have any significant savings. I didn't need any, my father covered the rent and I lived with the family, and glad that I still do. IDK how long this can last, but god I don't want it to end. I know its so fragile. Appreciate your family time boys.

So this was when I started interviewing. But I didn't really want an Indian low paying job, I had already experienced that, I don't want to do that again. I don't want to repeat things. I wanted the remote 100k dev job, was I delusional?, maybe.

After college

So after July 2024, I freelanced for a year and did quite a bit of trekking. and then quit to start MazaClass. Now that I think about it not much time has passed since college, I am still young, I have time, maybe I should try to get better at what I do. That's when it clicked, building something of my own was the fastest way for me to get better. Ha here we are! Finally!

That makes sense

Doesn't it? Building a startup to get better at your craft. Plus learning things like branding, marketing and sales.

Why build it alone?

Why not just outsource it or bring someone in for it? No you can't outsource something as critical as marketing and sales. And unless its something I can't physically do, I'd at least try it once.

I don't think I can do everything myself, but I don't know my limits, and unless I try I will never figure those out.

Plus -

• I don't know anyone with a successful startup who will partner with me.
• I can't pay them if they are willing to work with me.
• Marketing and sales is not as easy to quantify as dev skills.

Why particularly MazaClass?

India has a really really broken govt. school system. If I could do anything to fix that, that would be great. Education is one of the highest leverage points you can use to fix the problems you see around you. MazaClass doesn't do anything about it yet, but it will soon. MazaClass sits at the intersection of what I already know (software), what I respect (education) and what will force me to grow fastest (marketing and sales). So this is Ikigai.

Conclusion

I don't know if MazaClass will succeed, its tough right now and I might even have to pivot if the market asks for it. I need to ask out that metaphorical girl, make those calls, take those meetings. I don't want to shy out of this one, take a job and regret not starting a startup later. This is me choosing uncertainty rather than drifting into it. No regrets.