Ankur Warikoo is an Indian entrepreneur, angel investor, public speaker, and mentor. He is the founder of the e-commerce platform nearbuy.com.
Wiki/Biography
Ankur Warikoo was born on Monday, 25 August 1980 (age 41 years; as of 2021) in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. His zodiac sign is Virgo.
Ankur Warikoo’s childhood picture
He was brought up in New Delhi. He did his schooling at Don Bosco School, New Delhi, from 1986 to 1998. He pursued BSc in Physics from Hindu College, Delhi, from 1998 to 2001. Ankur did MS in astronomy and astrophysics from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, from 2002 to 2004, and dropped out of the PhD program from the university. In 2005, he pursued MBA in Finance from the Indian School of Business and Finance, New Delhi, from 2005 to 2006.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5’8″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father, Ashok Warikoo, used to work at a medical firm. His mother’s name is Neerja Warikoo. He has a younger sister who is six years younger than him.
Wife & Children
At the age of 19, Ankur met Ruchi Budhiraja for the first time on a bus on the way to her college. Soon, they became friends and fell in love with each other. In 2007, after dating for a long time, the couple got married.
Ankur Warikoo’s wedding picture
They have a son named Vidur Warikoo, and a daughter named Uzma Warikoo.
Ankur Warikoo with his wife and son
Ankur Warikoo’s children
Signature
Ankur Warikoo’s signature
Career
In 2004, he started working as a consultant at a corporate training consultancy NIS Sparta, New Delhi and worked there for one year. In May 2006, he joined a management consulting firm Kearney in Chicago. After working there for more than three years, he joined an internet firm Accentium Web, Gurgaon as one of the co-founders. In December 2010, he started working as a venture partner at Rocket Internet headquartered in Berlin. He worked there for more than a year, and in March 2011, he started the real-time e-commerce platform Groupon where he worked as a Head, Groupon APAC Emerging Markets (India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines). In July 2014, he was appointed as one of the board members at the Indian School of Business, New Delhi, from 2014 to 2017. During his tenure, he was part of the ISB’s Next Generation Leaders Board (NGLB). In July 2014, he started working as an individual angel investor at various internet and technology companies. He started an e-commerce platform company nearbuy.com in Gurgaon, Haryana in August 2015. He worked as the CEO there, from 2015 to 2019. As of January 2022, he is one of the board members of the company. He is also a digital educator and has been working as an educator and content creator since 2019. He has conducted various courses on entrepreneurship, career management, and personal growth. Ankur is an author too, and in 2021, he released his first book “Do Epic Shit” which is considered one of the top-selling books in India in 2021.
Ankur Warikoo holding copies of his books Do Epic Shit
He is also a public speaker and social media influencer. He has around 1.28 million subscribers on his self-titled YouTube channel on which he uploads videos to tips and tricks to finance. During an interview, he talked about his blogging journey. He said,
I’ve had multiple social media debuts. My blog, which was my first social media debut, was in 2005 and I’ve been blogging now for 16+ years. My first video came out in 2016 on LinkedIn, not YouTube. My YouTube debut happened in August 2017 and Instagram in 2018. A large part of what you see seems like overnight success. But it’s actually been in the works for several years. This year we completed 50 million plus views on YouTube and 49 million of that happened in the last one year, though we’ve been running that YouTube channel for four and a half years. That is the power of consistency. Eventually the curve will take over and the next thing you know, that’s history.”
Awards & Achievements
- He was awarded Young Leader Award by the Indian School of Business (class of 2006).
- He was listed in Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40 India in 2014.
- India’s most promising Entrepreneur Award presenting TEDx NIT Srinagar (2018)
- For the three consecutive years i.e., 2018, 2019, and 2020, he was listed in LinkedIn India’s Top Voices.
Favourites
- Holiday Destination: New York
Facts/Trivia
- In one of his tweets, he shared that his birth name was Ashneer. He tweeted,
My parents wanted their firstborn son ASHNEER (holy fuck!). One day I came back from school (1st grade) and said “I want my name to be Ankur” Rest is history!”
- In his blog, he shared that while he was in school he made his career plan. He wrote,
I was one of those rare kids in school that always knew what I wanted to do in life. And it was a 3-step plan, Go to the US for my PhD, Join NASA as a space scientist, and Become the first man on Mars.”
- During his childhood, he faced various financial difficulties. In his blog, while talking about the same, he wrote,
I came from extremely humble beginnings. We never had enough. Hand to mouth existence. Always out of money. My parents, irrespective of our financial situation, always ensured that my sister and I got a good education. Their dreams were pegged on us. We were the ones to change our family’s orbit. I worked hard towards that and made it to a top US university for a PhD. program in Physics, on a full scholarship (the only way we could have afforded it). I recall my dad taking a loan of Rs. 55,000 to pay for the one-way ticket to the US.”
- While giving an interview, he talked about facing rejections in his career. He said,
My CV was a Failure Résumé, it wasn’t a smooth ride. I tried JEE twice. Didn’t clear it, and I even tried IIT for MSc (master’s degree in the field of science) but didn’t clear.”
- In of his tweets, he talked about his financial hardships after marriage. He tweeted,
I had to keep my parent’s house as collateral to raise money for my sister’s wedding. To gift Vidur a bicycle on his birthday, something he had been asking for a year, we had to sell Ruchi’s gold bangles. We surprised him when he came from school. He broke down. So did we. “
- In 2020, in his tweet, he talked about his weight loss. He tweeted,
From 89kgs and 26% body fat, I went to 69 kgs and body fat of 8% in 5 months. 80% of the reason was food.”
- In an interview, he was asked who all has influenced him in his journey. He replied,
I love Naval Ravikant for his views on work, the mind, and how to live life. I love Gary Vaynerchuk for his persistence, audacity, and consistency. I love Jay Shetty for the simplicity with which he approaches things. I’m quite inspired by the thoughts of the Buddha, even though I’m an atheist. I also look up to Ryan Holiday for his ideas on stoicism.”
- He drinks alcohol at parties and events.
- Ankur actively participates in various marathons.
Ankur Warikoo during a marathon
- During an interview, he talked about the challenges he faced while he started working as a content creator in his 40s. He said,
Answering the question, ‘What the hell are you doing creating content in your 40s?!’ Why do you think someone needs a grey-haired individual telling them how they should be living life? I have stopped answering this question; I just let the quality of my work take over. But that has been the hardest thing to answer.”
- Ankur was featured on the cover of the magazine HT Brunch in the January 2022 edition.
An article about Ankur Warikoo in HT Brunch