Success stories begin with a moment of confidence. This one begins with failure. In Classes 1 through 6, I consistently failed subjects. Growing up in a small town in Kerala, expectations around me were low and honestly, I gave people plenty of reasons to keep them that way. Every report card seemed to say the same thing. For a child, repeated failure can become more than an academic problem. It can slowly become an identity. I remember walking home one afternoon with my report card folded inside my bag. I was no longer afraid of being scolded. After a while, I became numb to disappointment.

Still, the journey has taken me through Wipro, to becoming a Microsoft MVP, into boardrooms across five countries, and eventually toward building Elixr Labs, the healthtech company.

Failure Was Not the End of the Story

For years, academic struggles defined how others saw me. And, at times, how I saw myself. But failure has an unusual way of teaching lessons that success sometimes cannot. When things come easily, confidence comes from the outside world, from good grades, praise and awards. But when those things are absent, something different has to develop. You either accept the story others have written about you, or you begin writing your own.

History is filled with people who did not fit neatly into the expectations placed upon them. Richard Branson struggled with dyslexia and had difficulties in school before going on to build the Virgin brand. Steve Jobs was known for challenging conventional thinking and did not follow a traditional academic or professional path, but he helped transform the way people interact with technology. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam came from a humble background and went on to make extraordinary contributions to India's space and defence programmes. Their stories and circumstances are different. And no two journeys can truly be compared. But there is a shared lesson that early judgment is not the same thing as final potential.

Building an Internal Compass

There is something psychologically significant about growing up without constant external validation. When people expect you to succeed, encouragement is available everywhere. But what happens when nobody expects much? You are forced to search for motivation somewhere else, inside yourself. That is where an internal compass begins to develop. You learn that other people's expectations are not always accurate measurements of your future. It also does not mean that hardship is something we should romanticise. Every child deserves encouragement and every student deserves the opportunity to discover what they are good at. But when encouragement is absent, some people develop an unusual kind of independence. They become less dependent on permission, approval, and more willing to pursue an idea simply because they believe it is worth pursuing.

Elixr Labs was not born from desperation. It was born from possibility. After years of working across technology, engaging with organisations, understanding challenges, and seeing how rapidly the world of AI was evolving, entrepreneurship became a natural next chapter. It had built the willingness to try. Elixr Labs represents a belief that technology should not exist simply because it is the latest trend. It should help people and organisations make better decisions, solve meaningful problems and create new possibilities.

In many ways, the child who repeatedly failed subjects and the entrepreneur building an AI-focused company are connected by the same thing of restlessness, a refusal to remain defined by the current version of yourself.

When Quiet Minds Create Loud Visions

There is a tendency to notice confidence when it is loud. We notice the student who always has an answer and the employee who speaks first. But potential is not always loud. Sometimes, it sits quietly by observing, learning and waiting for the right environment to emerge. That is why we need to be careful about the labels we place on people, especially children.

The titles like “average” or “weak student” can become invisible walls. And sometimes, people spend years trying to climb over walls that someone else built around them. We need more teachers, parents, leaders and organisations who understand that people are not finished products. They are evolving. The person struggling today may be developing skills that will become valuable tomorrow. The employee who seems quiet may be thinking about problems differently. Potential is not always absent. It simply has not found the right environment yet.

If I could speak to that child walking home with a report card folded inside a school bag, I would not tell him that everything would become easy. There would still be failures, moments of doubt and people who underestimated him. But I would tell him that he is allowed to grow, discover new strengths, and fail at something and still become exceptional at something else. My journey was not about suddenly becoming a different person. It was about gradually becoming more of the person I was capable of becoming.