[Techie Tuesdays] Tirthesh Ganatra: Chief-Disciple of PriceBaba

Over the past few months Techie Tuesdays has witnessed people who had no interest of taking up programming full time as a career. But not only did they end up taking up one, with time they ended up in strengthening the Indian Startup community. Our techie today, Tirthesh Ganatra had been quietly playing his part at PriceBaba away from the limelight. He played a key role in the success of PriceBaba.Early life and dilemma of under graduate degree

Tirthesh was brought up in Ahmedabad and he shares that whatever he has achieved today has much to do how he was taught in school. “In my school there were multiple activities that we were asked to do, and now I can relate how important they were with respect to the present context.”

Tirthesh feels from an early age he had an urge to create or do something of his own. Coming from a family who has a background in business also contributed to some extent.

On being asked what was the first time when computers pictured into his life, he narrates an interesting story. He never thought of becoming a computer programmer; in fact, he was toying with the idea of nurturing a career in civil engineering. “You know as a civil engineer you get to create big buildings and complexes also there was the money factor involved.” as he puts it.

But his mother was insisting that he get a computer science degree. When he got to take the decision, the whole admission procedure was delayed for about a month and that frustrated him. “All my friends had started their college life and I was still sitting at home.”

Eventually, he picked up the degree and got himself into a college. On entering the college he realized that his college was itself a startup and they were only the second batch to get into. “Naturally we didn’t have the luxury of all fest or fancy campus fun, even there was no placement community to help the students at the end of our four year course, We were on our own”.

College experience and love for Java

Tirthesh real interaction with computers started in college, he remarks “In my third semester some of my seniors commented that Java was a tough language to crack and were facing troubles implementing the same. I took the challenge to learn and implement Java codes and I found it intriguing.” He went on to built some cool apps and by the seventh semester he had mastered the same. Later along with his friend created TransientWay (2011), a portal for Java lovers where one can come and share and help or solve their queries.

Post college he had no job in his hands, to search for one he went to Bangalore. “I had pretty rough time in Bangalore, sat for many companies but couldn't clear any of them. The ones who I eventually got through were offering very low pay”, shares Tirthesh.

Little did he knew that the best part was reserved in the journey back to Ahmedabad.

Journey of Pricebaba

On his way back he met Ankur in a rather unprecedented series of events, he adds here “that journey was so important for my life that even today I remember the exact date and day”. It was then he was acquainted with Ankur and he in turn proposed him to work for PriceBaba, which was in nascent phase back then.

Although Tirthesh was not offered much but something inside him prompted him to opt for PriceBaba "Ankur was offering me terms that I had refused back in Bangalore but I went ahead to grab for I knew I would be working for myself rather than anyone else.”

As Tirthesh shares, back then he was the only one working full time for PriceBaba as Ankur was juggling between couple of things. He was given the responsibility of handling the Tech side from the user query for a product till he ends up in calling the store. Tirthesh structured the initial model in a span of a week at PriceBaba.

Like it goes with all startups he had to wear multiple hats which range from an office boy to the lead tech guy “In the initial days PriceBaba had to switch offices multiple times and sometimes I would be carrying the chairs on head. But all these incident coupled with others never really put me down. I always reminded myself that this is the life I have chosen for myself and a startup demands such”. PriceBaba recently got funded and have also opened an office in Bangalore.

For the young programmers who are looking to startup, “I would suggest: Keep an open mind while starting new. Experiment a lot; Don't try to build everything at once, in one go. Build something and every day grow / improve by 1% you will reach the top soon!” concludes Tirthesh.

Say Hi to Tirthesh on Twitter.