Uttkarsh, popularly known as Uttupaaji is a Content Creator, YouTuber, community Founder and a delightful person to talk to. After building a fantastic audience for his content on Twitter with threads decoding various different startups and productivity hacks, he is now making a community called SustainersHQ with a focus on securing a sustainable future for coming generations. By the way, he also has a full-time job on the side (Isn’t that crazy? :P). Here is our conversation with him trying to decode his journey.
Hello Uttkarsh! Great to have you here. Sustainability is always a concern in our developing world. You are surely building a sustainable future with SustainersHQ. But before we talk about it, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and how was it growing up?
Sure. I had a really good childhood. Due to my father’s profession, I kept switching to different schools. I was somewhat of an introvert in the beginning and also struggled with my communication skills. However, that changed when I started participating in various competitions in high school and winning awards. That was a great confidence booster for me.
I was also in the IIT-JEE race down the lane, consistently preparing for my entrance exams. I feel most of the students who have taken the science stream face this immense pressure of 2 years in their life. But God had other plans for me 🙂
That’s a very relatable story. Now, from where did the content creation part originate?
While in college, I participated in several Hackathons, Ideathons and various competitions. That developed a lot of curiosity within me. I started researching different topics and tried figuring things out on my own whenever possible. For my final year in engineering, I took on a project based on the solar energy concept. I wanted to build something serious instead of just copy-pasting it like many others.
As I started to search for more information, I realised that Twitter is an enormous hub for it. You can find and connect with people from any field. There was a scientist named Aaswath Raman who moved to the U.S to work on Solar renewable energy and had many proven achievements for his work. Unfortunately, he didn’t have his DM (direct message) option ON. That’s when my habit of cold DM’s and cold emailing started; I gathered Raman sir’s emails and cold-emailed him and kept doing that for 2 years. Unfortunately, he did not respond to my emails, but that introduced me to the power of twitter and content creation. I decided to start posting about whatever new I learned. My focus was always to connect and learn from more people rather than chasing followers.
That probably is the right away of starting your content creation journey. Chasing something bigger than just followers. How did you stay consistent in College when everybody around you was busy partying?
To tell you a backstory, when I was about to complete my graduation, I was called for my convocation, which I didn’t even go to. I felt my passion is more important than wasting 3 days travelling from Dehradun to Bhopal. In college also, I would have loved to join a dance club but instead, I joined informative clubs like robotics which gave me many valuable insights, and I carry them with me till now. Hence, I was never too tempted by the idea of partying.
I was always also encouraged by my parents no matter what. That increased further after my first brand deal, which made them realise this could also make money :P. Many of my friends came onto Twitter for the first time because of me (laughs!).
It takes some real focus and determination to cut through the noise around you. Moving on, what’s brewing in Sustainer’s HQ?
Sustainers HQ is a community where we leverage each other for a better world cause. It’s a platform that connects founders, builders, students and other enthusiasts working on Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) to be able to help each other out. Everyone shares their thoughts with a better vision and by taking active participation.
My team personally is making our contribution by creating this platform and generating valuable content to educate others about this. Rest our members themselves are leveraging to community to solve problems in the industry.
We do not intend to make it a money-making startup. Instead, we genuinely want to add some value to society. Our motto is “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas”.
Alright! The cause you are fighting for is truly inspiring. What can you tell us more about the initial result you are seeing?
Currently, we are seeing that most people are not considering Sustainable Development as a need. There are still many who take the available resources for granted. On the other side, there are startups like ‘Phool’ who collect temple wastes from all over India and uses them to make ‘agarbattis’. The idea is simple and effective, but how many of us know about it? I personally think attention should go to such startups as well instead of only focusing on people building in buzz industries like fintech or web3.
End-of-the- day money and profits are the main key-factor to sustain any industry. So, I feel eventually when the top MNCs get into this, it will surely boom up but that is still some time away. In the time being, I am trying to play my part in this story.
Well, that is a sad reality. We are sure this can make a difference and would encourage all our readers to participate in the community. Coming back to you, how do you manage this different streams of work? Do you have more than 24 hours a day (laughs!)
Haha! Not really, but I feel when you are working on something you love, you automatically make time for it. The good part about this is you don’t even realise that you have spent these many hours; it just goes with the flow.
My inspiration comes from the people I always look at in my life. I don’t have any particular role model. I take all the good things from the people around me, new people I meet and so on. It can be my younger sister who can be my inspiration sometimes, or our Prime Minister, who can give me that push.
How do you manage your personal growth through this? How important is taking care of your health and personal goals?
Yes, I would firstly say health is more critical than hustle. I manage to take 30 mins of my day for my fitness on most days but do miss out on some. Being healthy and achieving your personal growth is as important as your professional goals, and I definitely aim to do a better job there.
Very true. We believe in the idea of ‘healthy hustling’ and not one at the cost of the other. If you could make any wish at this point, what would it be?
That’s a tricky question(laughs!). I would ask for the success of Sustainers HQ, and I wish my team working on it should get the courage to leave their respective jobs and colleges to work on Sustainers HQ full-time.
We hope this comes true very soon. Having worked on both sides, what do you feel are the differences between the corporate world compared to the startup world?
In the startup world, people are more purpose-driven and attached to their co-workers. Whereas the corporate world is less humanitarian, I feel. Usually, the people working in the corporate sector only think of the salaries they would get at the end of the month or the deadlines they were given. The corporates already have an established hierarchy , unlike in a startup, where you are free to express your thoughts to everyone. That helps you evolve better in your role. I am not saying that is the case everywhere but that has been my personal experience.