When I moved to Ahmedabad from a small town, I barely knew anyone.
Growing up, I used to read stories about people getting big opportunities, building careers, and starting companies. Those stories always seemed to happen to people who already knew the right people. I didn’t.
In 2013 I went to a community event at CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad. What fascinated me wasn’t the content. It was that people had shown up, on a weekend, to share what they knew with strangers. For free.
That one evening quietly shaped the next thirteen years, and more than 200 events I’ve hosted since.
From attendee to volunteer
That event led me to the Google Business Group in Ahmedabad. Through that group I found Headstart Network Foundation, one of India’s oldest grassroots startup communities, and started volunteering in 2015.
I ended up leading Headstart’s Gujarat chapter for seven years. We ran Startup Saturdays, women entrepreneur meetups, founder sessions, and investor connects. In 2018, after spending time with community builders at the Sayaji Startup Summit, we started the work of taking Headstart to Vadodara and Surat as well.
In the early days the most common question wasn’t about startups at all. It was suspicion: “How is this event free?”
My answer was always the same. The people running it believe in paying it forward. Someone helped them once, so they help the next person.
Building communities of my own
Volunteering taught me how communities work. Then I started building them.
In early 2019 we launched the Google Cloud developer community in Ahmedabad, which became GDG Cloud Ahmedabad. By the end of that first year it had grown to more than 2,400 members, with meetups, workshops, and full-day community events on cloud technology.
When I moved to Bengaluru, I didn’t know the ecosystem there either. So I did what I knew how to do. I got involved as Startup Saturday came back to the city after the pandemic, hosted an eChai Demo Day at Whatfix that drew 150+ people, and hosted a SaaS founders meetup there with more than 100 founders, investors, and community builders.
The Headstart community kept growing the whole time. At HSX 2022, its 15th-anniversary summit, we had volunteers from more than 25 cities.
Startup OG: a failed side project’s second life
Years earlier I had bought the domain entrepreneurs.cafe for a directory of remote-work-friendly cafes. That idea didn’t work out.
In December 2023, when I started a podcast, the name felt like the perfect fit. Entrepreneur’s Cafe was born. Honestly, my motivation was selfish at first. I wanted an excuse to talk to smart founders and learn from them.
Our first offline event happened almost by accident, and the community kept growing from there: SaaS founders meetups, fintech and D2C mixers in Bengaluru, a startup mixer in Dubai with eChai. A few well-wishers sponsored our meetups because they believed in what we were doing. In March 2025 we renamed it Startup OG.
People often ask about my goals for it. The answer hasn’t changed: build a meaningful community and help people. Monetization is secondary.
What paying it forward paid back
I’d be lying if I said community work was purely selfless. It gave me far more than I put in.
- My first company. After I left my job in 2016, my first consulting assignment came through a reference from my network. That gave me the confidence to start DataOne.
- Friends for life. Many of the people I volunteered with are still the first people I call.
- A national network. Headstart connected me with founders and operators across India long before I needed them.
- Recognition I never chased. The Gujarat Entrepreneurship Award at the Sayaji Startup Summit came from community work, not from any company I built.
- A front-row seat. Many volunteers I worked with used the experience to launch ventures and grow careers they might never have found otherwise.
If you’re new somewhere
If you’ve just moved to a new city, or you’re early in your career and know nobody, here’s the advice I’d give my younger self:
- Go to one free event. Then go to the next one.
- Volunteer before you feel ready. Communities always need hands, and helping is the fastest way to belong.
- Start something small. A meetup, a podcast, a WhatsApp group. Consistency matters more than scale.
- Pay it forward on purpose. Somebody’s first event might be the one you organize.
If you’re building a community and want a hand, I’m always happy to help: me@nikunjthakkar.com.