People think startup means laptop and latte. Mine is diesel generator smell, thread dust, and calling a client at 11pm to say the order will ship. Romanticise it less, respect it more.

Drove up to Valparai for two days just to switch my brain off. Tea estates, one flask of kaapi, zero network. Came back and realised half the 'urgent' WhatsApps solved themselves.

Tried three 'AI inventory' tools everyone hypes. Two couldn't handle a simple GST invoice and one crashed on Tamil text. Sometimes the Excel sheet my father used is genuinely better, no shame.

Paid my team before myself for the 11th month running. Founder salary is a rumour I tell my accountant. But the day a karigar said his daughter joined engineering college on this job — worth it.

Bootstrapped, 6 people, and payroll day gives me more anxiety than any pitch. Kovai has the looms and the talent, but every investor call starts with 'why not Bangalore?' Machi, the industry is HERE.