​I sold a company to Disney & built another one with 70 million game downloads! AMA!

Hello TIA community!

Since the age of 14, I knew I had to be a Businessman. I guess it had to do with my upbringing! My Grandfather and Father were businessmen and the community I came from was all about commerce!

From the age of 21 to 29, I worked in my father’s socks company, where we sold a LOT of socks. But then in 1998, something incredible happened to me, the arrival of the Internet. I started up as a ‘dot-com’ entrepreneur and have been doing internet/mobile/everything in between stuff ever since 🙂

Some of my career highlights:

• Amongst the first 10 ‘digital’ internet entrepreneurs from India who are still around 🙂
• Funded by Softbank and NewsCorp (via eVentures) to start one the world’s first ‘contesting’ portals
• Probably the first Indian Entrepreneur to set up a ‘digital’ startup in China – Mobile2win, which was acquired by the Walt Disney Co.
• Created the mobile voting platform for ‘Indian Idol’ (same franchise as American Idol) for Sony Television India via Mobile2win India
• Mobile2win India became so successful that I (the promoter) was dragged out (VC term) of my own company making me very helpless but also very rich!
• Started games2win as a plan to implement MMORPG games in India, which did not do too well
• Pivoted to web and mobile games and had a massive hit with “Parking Frenzy” that hit #1 as the USA iTunes top game and top free app in June 2012
• Incubated a Bollywood portal Koimoi (big hit) and a digital agency Media2win (big miss) along the way
• Since then had lots more mobile games success! Games2win has 70 million game downloads – all organic!

Now for some personal trivia!

• Been a ‘spiritual hippie’ ever since I remember and kept visiting different sages and monasteries to find what I was looking for. I finally found my calling in the Art of Living
• Love to meditate and hang out with my 2 girls and wife. Don’t like parties 🙁
• I visit a Himalayan Cave every year in search of Babaji – the deathless sage who is 2600 years old
• Above all, I founded ‘therodinhoods’ (Robin Thinker met Robinhood) a social media network to help entrepreneurs. That community has grown to 11,000 members today!

My mission in life is to make people succeed. So ask me anything!

Note from Daniel, TIA’s community manager:
The host may choose at his preference to not answer particular questions. The AMA is moderated by the community managers, so let’s keep the questions friendly. 🙂