Chaitenya Razdan

Entrepreneur

I want to change the world.

Warby Parker, Toms,

It’s easy to get frustrated at what appears to be a lack of progress. Remember to take the time to stop and appreciate everything you and your team have accomplished to-date. This gives you an additional push to work harder and continue to grow your idea into reality. Enjoy the moment and use your progress to fuel your success.

Turning a concept into a reality takes a lot of time and work, so it must be fueled by passion. It’s also much easier to dedicate 20 plus hours a day to something that you are devoted to. Each member of the Care + Wear team has a personal experience with long-term medical treatments and a desire to improve the lives of loved ones. It’s this passion that completes the long days and nights and maintains our unbridled enthusiasm to make a positive impact on patients.

Do your research and talk to everybody:
Customers are complex. Do your research to fully understand what they need, even if they don’t know they need it yet. It may be the former consultant in me, but I am always analyzing companies and products on the market to understand what they do well and where they can improve.

You can learn something relevant from everyone and you never know where a conversation may lead you. Don’t hesitate to send another email, make another call, or go to another event. Use your research to target people who may be able to help. Being an incredibly shy person, it is hard to have the courage to reach out but I have been overwhelmed at all the support and willingness to help that people have demonstrated after just one conversation. You can’t be afraid to ask. What do you have to lose when you believe in your product?

Find the right team with relevant experience:
Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely and grueling process. Find a team that complements your skillset. Always be on the lookout for those who may be willing to help. In business school, I made the mistake of creating a mobile app without having a team member with mobile development skills (a skill I lack as well). Needless to say, the company did not succeed. With Care + Wear, I’ve teamed with two amazing co-founders who have been involved in design, manufacturing, production, distribution, and sales for leading fashion companies. We’ve been fortunate to have some amazing friends help us build our marketing, social media, and PR strategies. And we’ve surrounded ourselves with unbelievable advisors who continue to give us advice on a daily basis and have been instrumental in the development of our product.

Be nimble:
It’s important to have a long-term vision in mind but be flexible in how you are going to get there. The successful entrepreneurs are those that are able to make changes on the fly and continue to build on feedback from the marketplace.

It was not about “starting my own business.” Rather, it was about finding something to work on that I was truly passionate about. The company, Care + Wear, began as just a side project, but as I worked on it, I realized it was something that I wanted to focus all of my energy on.

Chat is a proud University of Virginia alum with an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who spent time as a strategy consultant at A.T. Kearney and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Nicknamed "Smiley" in middle school basketball camp, he has tried to bring a smile wherever he goes. A die-hard Baltimore fan, he continues to cheer for the Orioles and Ravens and can often be found running up the West Side Highway in the mornings. In his spare time, he helps to plan his class reunions for UVA and Booth and serves on young alumni boards for UVA.