‘I am either relentless or restless’ is what Raj Shamani thinks best describes him. Raj Shamani was our prestigious guest at the Global Startup Summit
Season 3, where he had a fireside chat with our moderators, Rachit Poddar and Prateek Tosniwal.
Raj Shamani shared his journey of building a multi-hyphenate career around influencer marketing and Podcast hosting/podcasting. He shares insights from his journey to help startup founders grow and succeed. Look at Raj Shamani’s journey and the lessons every entrepreneur should remember!
Who is Raj Shamani?
Raj Shamani is a man of multiple talents. He is an entrepreneur, content creator, and speaker known for his insights on startups and business growth. As the founder of House of X, he helps creators build successful brands. With millions of followers, his content on entrepreneurship and financial independence resonates widely. He has spoken at TEDx and the Global Startup Summit, inspiring young founders. His Podcast, “Figuring Out,” features industry leaders sharing success strategies. From a young entrepreneur to a top business influencer, Raj continues to guide aspiring founders on their startup journey.
Raj Shamani’s journey of building a multi-hyphenate career
Entrepreneurship has been Raj’s constant companion since his teenage years. As soon as he turned 16, he had one goal in mind: to earn money! And so, he experimented with many things. While his parents supported his choices, his father was skeptical, asking him to follow a single path and not switch from one thing after the other each month.
Like any entrepreneur’s journey, Raj also faced a downward trajectory. He fought with his father and decided to part ways to create his path to success.
The first few months were anything but easy. While being hell-bent on not asking for help from Raj’s parents, Raj Shamani started his content creation journey. That’s how the Raj Shamani podcast was born. His career as a podcaster led him to become an influencer, investor, and successful content creator who got invited to Cannes 2024. His success helped him build a strong bond with his father.
The Raj Shamani podcast revolves around three broader topics on leading a good life: health, wealth, and relationships. The roots of Raj Shamani’s journey lie in the goal of improvising his life in these parts of our lives and helping others to do the same. Therefore, he gets national and global experts on his Podcast to understand the phenomena and the concepts to help lead a better life.
While working in the content creation industry, Raj Shamani understood the importance of attention to the target audience. Therefore, Raj Shamani and Neeraj Kumawat launched House Of X, a platform that helps you connect with people or influencers who have the attention of your target audience for D2C marketing. Many reliable angel investors have backed their initiative!
The secret to his success is understanding the needs and queries of his audience. He explained in the fireside chat that his team spends at least one
hour a day going through the comments of his podcast videos for feedback and reviews to understand their strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities to identify new perspectives to ask questions.
For Raj Shamani, understanding people goes beyond words. When moderator CA Prateek Tosniwal asked about his journey in overcoming public speaking fears, Raj recalled his first college presentation. Its success inspired him to engage in meaningful conversations daily, helping him refine his content and connect with people more effectively.
Lessons from Raj Shamani at 21BY72
Throughout the fireside chat with Raj Shamani, he shared lessons he learned in his entrepreneurship journey. Here are a few things that you can learn from him.
-
Power of teamwork
As the fireside chat with Raj Shamani began at Season 3 of the Global Startup Summit, our moderator, Rachit Poddar, asked how he had been able to manage being an influencer, entrepreneur, and podcaster and to be an ace in all the field. Raj Shamani credits his team for handling 99% of his work while he handles 1% of the decision-making. So, the power of teamwork is what will help you grow as a business or a startup.
-
Start with a niche and grow later!
Raj Shamani realized the power of mastering a niche for long-term success. Instead of diving straight into entrepreneurship, he focused on guiding 20-year-olds in launching startups. This strategic entry allowed him to grow gradually, expand his topics, and ultimately achieve his dream of building a thriving entrepreneurship podcast. So, in the words of Raj Shamani, “become a large shark in a small pond rather than a small fish in a large ocean.”
-
And What?
Every entrepreneur goes through their dark phases where everything is falling apart, and the light of hope is nowhere to be seen. One of our attendees asked Raj how the entrepreneur overcame this phase. Raj Shamani firmly believes in irrational optimism and asking yourself, ‘And What?’. It helps you expand your thought process and find ways to deal with the situation. When plan A fails, you ask yourself, ‘And What?’ What’s the other way? What more should I do? Because you’ll find the answers in yourself.
-
Create Content!
The simple formula to achieving a successful startup is to publish content that resonates with your audience. Creating content is necessary for startups to reach their audience and convert them into clients. Focus on creating savable and shareable content to maximize your reach and build a reliable brand image. Create content that helps your clients feel smarter and rely on you for better service.
Why does Raj Shamani think events like the Global Startup Summit are crucial for the startup ecosystem?
Raj Shamani considers startup events like the Global Startup Summit crucial to his successful entrepreneurial journey. Here’s why he concierge them essential:
-
Helps you dream big
He shares that attending startup events like these motivates him. Watching speakers and other entrepreneurs dream and achieve big. Raj Shamani built a positive attitude that if someone who sat in the same audience 5-6 years ago could reach the stage, he could do it as well, which has been his driving force ever since.
-
Be part of a like-minded community.
Startup events like the Global Startup Summit help you network with like-minded people. You can find potential business partners, investors, client, mentors, and more. You will find someone with the most innovative thinking and get inspired to do better.
-
The ripple effect of the inferiority complex
Events like these do motivate you, Raj Shamani points out, but the ripple effect of meeting innovative and successful people is the inferiority complex. He shares how he often feels insecure when he meets people from diverse fields with equally diverse ideas. However, these insecurities push him to be better and learn new things. Similarly, startup founders can learn many new things when they witness something out of the box for them.
Watch the fireside chat with Raj Shamani at the Global Startup Summit Season 3 here.
The Global Startup Summit by 21BY72 is an initiative to help entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts connect and share valuable insights. In Season 3, we hosted notable guests like Raj Shamani, Ghazal Alagh, Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, and Parul Gulati. You can find insights into their fireside chat on our YouTube channel and website.
In 2025, we are returning for the startups to exhibit and secure funding and business opportunities. Furthermore, we will invite more successful entrepreneurs and industry leaders to share insights and help understand industry trends. Attend the Global Startup Summit to build your network and learn from experts directly! Please explore our website and book seats for the Global Startup Summit Season 4; early birds get special offers!
