T P Pratap: CoFounder – Qwikcilver Solutions & Woohoo

(A VC funded Tech startup that pioneered the Gift Card category)

Psychedelic Musings of a 28th Jokar

Looking back on a career spanning 30 years, it’s not possible to avoid feeling a sense of nostalgia for the journey. The year was 1991, when I had meandered into the Joka campus seeking a blessed and joyous campus sojourn.

The two years in Joka were a heady odyssey that served up ample dollops of fun, frolic, angst, agony, drama and delight alongside friendships for life across the batch. I was on campus during the times of great societal change, as India was in the midst of a dramatic economic liberalization phase.

Even the tectonic (in hindsight) December 6th, 1992 was a big societal occurrence while I was on campus – though we intelligent Jokars were blissfully caught up in the happenings of NBSM instead.

Those campus days were interlaced with moments of lapses of reason as we were intellectually inspired by the sublime lyrics of Metallica, LedZep and Pink Floyd that kept us motivated through the days and late nights : “There is no pain, you are receding. A distant ship smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves …”

On campus, I believe that I worked hard enough to wade through the travails of the mentally mutilating courses of Prof Ramu & Prof SKB, even if they did leave some indelible marks and scars for life!

After a decade of corporate life, the bug did bite hard enough to explore the entrepreneurial life of glorious uncertainty in co-founding Qwikcilver Solutions from the basement of an old building in Koramangala.

A Product platform company was born in India at a time when it was not deemed a sane thing to do.

Establishing our Qwikcilver venture was aided by the leveraging of my IIM-C stint and business experience that did help to make a difference in the way we went about pioneering a new gifting category in India and beyond. We did face various unforeseen challenges along the way, but our passionate team never stopped believing in our aspirations to make a difference to the Indian way of enterprise business and consumer gifting.

With investments raised from savvy marquee VC funds and driving our business frugally and responsibly, Qwikcilver gained traction over the next decade and scaled across 25 countries and built strong 90% market share of the Prepaid & Semi Closed loop ecosystem in India by powering the prepaid portfolio of India.

Looking back on my post Joka career, I am filled with a sense of gratitude for the opportunities that I have had and the lessons that I have learned. With each new challenge over the last decade, we have kept our eyes fixed on the horizon, always pushing forward and striving to reach our avowed goals.

As I reflect on the past 30 years, I am reminded of a quote from The Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just find you get what you need.”

My Closing Thoughts

My career has been a long and winding road, but it has been a journey that I have enjoyed every step of the way. I have learned a great deal, met many wonderful people, and strived to make a small but real difference in the lives of people around. I am grateful for all of the opportunities that I have been given, and I am excited to see what the future holds.

I am sure the NexGen Jokars are far more enterprising and will inspire others to follow their dreams.