The Pathways & Padlocks Conversation
00:37:01 · Sid Dissanayake, Sachin
[00:37:01] S1: Yeah, yeah. [00:37:01] S0: I think what I'd say to your audience is it's always going be there. Never think that uncertainty is going to be there. Through our podcast, we've talked to some people that we would all deem really successful. And trust me, they're as confused as you. No one ever has their life figured out. They pretend to know it. Like when I say I want to start a social impact VC, there's so many moments when I second guess that, right? Like, don't everyone in the, especially in the business and law world, everyone projects this sense of knowing what's going on because that's how they, you know, make that's how they sell their product or they, you know, actually But do well in the internally, everyone has this element of imposter syndrome. In university, think about where you want to go that macro that top down that approach I was talking about before. And whatever path you think you're gonna do to get there, it's not gonna be. There's gonna be so many iterations and weird wacky routes along the way. [00:37:55] S1: Yeah, I mean, for those university students out there who might be interested in social impact and social justice, and they may want to develop their interests even more. Obviously, are in that space at university. You know, I don't know much about it. So I want you know, pick your brains as much as possible. In your own experience, are there are there ways that students can get involved in social impact and social entrepreneurship at university?
00:37:55 · Sid Dissanayake, Sachin
[00:37:55] S1: Yeah, I mean, for those university students out there who might be interested in social impact and social justice, and they may want to develop their interests even more. Obviously, are in that space at university. You know, I don't know much about it. So I want you know, pick your brains as much as possible. In your own experience, are there are there ways that students can get involved in social impact and social entrepreneurship at university? [00:38:23] S0: Yeah. So 100. So there's a good society that you're from UNSW, right? Think UNSW Macquarie, all the big Unis have it, which is called Enactus, is essentially about building social enterprises. And I think that's a really good introduction into that world and into that world of how business and social impact can correlate together. How so I personally believe that actually, why don't we take a step back? Yeah, [00:38:49] S1: please.
00:38:49 · Sid Dissanayake, Sachin
[00:38:49] S1: please. [00:38:49] S0: So stereotypically, have your for profit business. Think like Westpac, think like Qantas, something like that. And then on the other end, have your charity. So think like Oxfam, World Vision, etcetera, right? The social enterprise space exists in the middle, right? It exists with the same purpose as these not for profits. But the way it's different is that these social enterprises are using their business model to scale. They're not relying on donations. They're using their own business model to scale up and continue to reinvest into reaching more people, right? And so, again, back to your question about ways to get involved in university, and NACDA is a good one. A 1A degree consulting is good because you consult for a variety of these organizations, but the space is growing in Australia and it's growing rapidly. And so there's a lot of opportunities that startups that are doing really cool stuff solving really important problems to intern at or to work out. Just a few off the top of my head, one is called ability me, which is in the disability space Where actually Mike Cannon-Brookes just supported a new climate change fund for kind of startups that are combating climate change. So we're going to see a lot of new startups in that space coming forward. So it's an exciting time to be a university student.
00:40:09 · Sid Dissanayake
[00:40:09] S1: Yeah, I mean, just to cap off, I suppose this that particular part of the conversation. You know, I think it's no secret that, you know, you're someone who really got the most out of their university experience by putting themselves out there and embracing the idea of self development and exploration. So I suppose a quite an open ended question. Based on your own experience, what advice would you give to someone out there who is still figuring out their passions and interests whilst at university? What advice would you give to that person to really maximise and get the most out of their experience?
00:40:47 · Sachin
[00:40:47] S0: So I really wish I could give a unique answer to this, but as I've kind of gotten a little bit older, I realized that most of the wisdom in life is contained in cliches. And the cliche that I'm going to use here is that try as many things as possible, right? You hear that time and time again. But just in life in general, your experience is going to be dictated by how many things you put your hand up to and how many things that you try. And so I'll break that down a bit further. I think that everyone comes to university with a very unique set of interests. Try all of them, right? I came in with an interest in finance. I did finance internships, in startups, I did startup internships. I even had kind of an interest in marketing. So I did some marketing internships, right? Any kind of interest that I've had, I've tried to follow. And a lot of my best friends that have had that same kind of experience have come to the end of their degree and really benefited from it. The second thing is we read widely, right? We have an abundance of information on the internet. And you don't necessarily need to do an internship to kind of get exposure in a certain career path. You can literally go on LinkedIn, message someone for a coffee, right? If I'm interested in management consulting, I don't have to go and do an internship. I'm sure there's a consultant that would be happy to talk to you and tell you what a day in their life is like, what kind of projects they work on. And so you can get that information really quickly, right? I think this has been the theme of our conversation that most things you can't think your way out of. You can't think your way into your purpose and you can't think your way into having a good experience, a unique experience, right? Have to put your hand up for as many things as possible. And sometimes that involves sacrificing things like marks and stuff. But I think in the long run, that's going to be a beneficial sacrifice.
00:42:30 · Sid Dissanayake, Sachin
[00:42:30] S1: Yeah, 100%. And I think, I mean, going back to what you said earlier, which I think is another important idea for university students is this idea of like people postulating and people putting on, you know, facades that they have it figured out and they have, you know, their life goals figured out or whatever the case may be. And I think an important part of these conversations is debunking that misconception because, you know, 99% of the time people are just making shit up, right? They're just figuring it out as they go along, which is something that you've touched on a few times. And it's cool to see that you're also self reflective and you admit to yourself that, hey, five, ten years down the line, your vision, your purpose might change. And I think having that flexibility is important for university students as well. [00:43:18] S0: I think the thing is that saying things, there's market incentives to say things confidently, right? When you're a lawyer or consultant and stuff, you're getting paid to say things with a self insured manner and saying things confidently. So I think that's the crux of the issue. [00:43:34] S1: Would you say there's like a limited space for vulnerability in that sense? You can't Right? Really be