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Be Experimental and Don't Focus, Hyperloop Co-founder Advises Entrepreneurs Bibop Gresta, chairman and co-founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), was seven years old when he first started using the computer

By Sneha Banerjee

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Hyperloop

Bibop Gresta, chairman and co-founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), was seven years old when he first started using the computer. Even though his father asked him to stay away from the computer, Gresta's sole motive back then was to get his hands on that system.

Gresta, who has been touring India for over a year, is here to solve India's urban transportation situation by providing a technology, which was originally founded by Tesla's Elon Musk.

The Hyperloop mode of passenger and freight transportation that propels a pod-like vehicle through a near-vacuum tube at airline speeds. The pods accelerate to cruising speed gradually using a linear electric motor and glide above their track using passive magnetic levitation or air bearings.

"I always said that be strange. At the beginning, it was clear to me that I didn't want to focus! And I would suggest to all the young people out there who are living in this age, is that everybody today has the tendency to repeat the same things. There is a tendency to remain focussed," Gresta said.

Don't focus, start experimenting!

However, Gresta advised the young entrepreneur to NOT FOCUS! "To the young entrepreneurs I would say to actually embrace and open up to different ways, to different things. Before deciding where to go, try to experiment with different things," he said.

"We are living in a society where we have actually passed the stage of searching for information in my age, to select information – which is the millennial generation. The young people today are bombarded with information. Hence focussing will restrict your visibility, whereas opening up allow you to innovate," Bibop said.

Never tried to be safe!

Gresta believes that people who are innovating things don't think linear, they tend to think out of the box. Dressed in an Indian, ethnic attire Gresta said that he believes in going local while he is exploring a new territory. "People treat you in a different way and they embrace you into their community once you embrace a particular culture. Before changing something, first become something. Then you can invent something there. One must enter into a system before you try and make changes in it," he said.

Gresta believes this opened up his mind and helped him learn new things. "I never waited for people to tell me I was good, I didn't care. I always pursued my objective and if it was good I could see the effect. I did not need someone to tell me that," he said.

Don't wait for people, if you have an idea just make it and the effect would be the judge," he adds.

Gresta started working when he was barely 12 years old. He was offered a job post a certification course by an MNC when he was 13 years old. He was programmer and was also passionate about music back then.

Elon Musk's influence

Elon Musk has been an active promoter of the concept of Hyperloop. Gresta believes that the biggest lesson learn from Musk was the art of tenacity – never give up. He always inspires us to dream big and solve big problems around us, Gresta said.

Gresta and his team believe that India as a country has gradually started opening up to newer ideas. While India awaits the implementation of Hyperloop's technology, Indian entrepreneurs have a lot to learn from Gresta's journey till date!

Sneha Banerjee

Entrepreneur Staff

Former Staff, Entrepreneur India

She used to write for Entrepreneur India from Bangalore and other cities in South India. 

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