👋 Hello, I'm Shashwat Eternal, and welcome to my digital home!

 

A decade ago, I made a life-altering decision to leave behind a conventional path and pursue the things I care about.

 

I had cracked an entrance exam called the IITJEE which literally a million people give and ten thousand get in. I had joined one of the best tech colleges in India and the world—only to drop out to write my first book.

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That decision marked the beginning of a remarkable journey—one filled with challenges, triumphs, and invaluable lessons.

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My Journey

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I started my journey as an ink-eyed dreamer, thinking all I had to do was get into a good college, write a good book which would make it a bestseller. I would then simply leave and live my best life of reading, writing and sharing with the world the beautiful things I'd make.

 

This should not have been difficult. After all, I began composing small poems while I was still 6 years old. 

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At 16, I already knew all I wanted to do in life was write books that would be remembered forever. Since then I've kept up a practice of writing and reading pretty much daily.

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Fast forward to my college days, I found myself on a completely different path—studying engineering at one of India's top colleges. But life had a different plan for me.

 

A pivotal moment came when I had the chance to debate at the Harvard Model United Nations in Boston. It was during this experience that what had been simmering in me came to a boil, and I decided I needed to take a leap of faith.

 

I dropped out of college and began writing my first novel.

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Writing

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After dropping out I took three years to write my first novel Timothy's Book of Stories, which I self-published on Amazon.

 

It was the hardest thing I'd ever done at that point, but I got it done.

 

As soon as I launched it, things got even harder. I realised that books don't automatically sell just because they're good, that there's a thing called marketing that I'd have to learn and do, and so I did. 

I became a growth hacker by default, and spent about 2 years trying all sorts of things: media manipulation, reddit AMAs, twitter, Quora hacking etc. I became a content-led online marketer before I knew there was such a thing, and this came in handy later on.

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Entrepreneurship

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When I reached breaking point not seeing progress on the book sales after years, I decided to pivot for a bit. I'd always had a dream of starting a business of my own, and I reflected on what the startup scene in India was missing. This resulted in my first startup.

 

I co-founded Mike's Hotdogs with my then-girlfriend-now-wife where we were building a QSR brand bringing international street food to India. 

 

COVID-19 forced us to close as an offline food business, but I took endless lessons from this time of my life and don't regret a single minute. 

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Web3

 

After closing Mike's I knew it was a tough time to raise for non-tech startups, so I decided to become the marketing guy in a tech startup instead.

 

I found web3 ideologically most aligned of the tech frontiers of blockchain, AI and biotech since it underlines libertarian capitalist values: permissionless building, ownership returning to the individual, sovereign money and so forth. 

 

I went full time in web3 roughly three years ago.

In that time I've been CMO thrice in web3 startups that have cumulatively raised $20Mn+. My most recent role was CMO at nft3.com (now called Root Network), where we raised from the largest fund in the space, Animoca Brands, and launched a product in a bear market and still got half a million users to sign up (to date).

I've been fortunate to build towards the growth of freedom in the internet of the future, and have been invited to speak at events around the globe, from Europe to Korea, Dubai to India. It has been immensely rewarding and I continue to invest, advise and work with clients within the closely knit web3 ecosystem.

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However, I've felt the need for a similar leap of faith as before, and so, I'm starting a new chapter for myself. I'm returning to the social media game recharged, with a lot more I know and a lot more to say. 

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Personal Branding Journey🧡

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Now, I'm finally taking social media seriously like I know I should, and I'm calling this my Personal Branding Journey.🧡
 

I'm writing a weekly newsletter where I'm sharing every lesson I learn along the way. It's called PBJ.🥪 

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My dream is to encourage a thousand more people like me to start their own personal brand, stick with it, and change the world and our lives.

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Join me on the journey. Sign up below and let's take our place. Together. 

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Follow me on X or drop me a message below. I would love to hear from you.

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Love,

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Shashwat Eternal