Who is Shantanu Naidu, Tata's 27-year-old assistant, who started startup-talk to help entrepreneurs

New Delhi, July 08: Shantanu Naidu, the 27-year-old assistant of the chairman emeritus of Tata group of companies, Ratan Tata, has started 'On Your Sparks', an online talk amid COVID-19 lockdown, to help aspiring entrepreneurs.

Naidu, an MBA holder from Cornell University, who has been assisting Ratan Tata for two years, started the online talk based on his life's lessons that he converts into entrepreneurial lessons.

About 'On Your Sparks'

The move comes after the huge response to Ratan Tata's startup pitch deck template that he shared with his Instagram followers last winter.

In the Instagram poll that received an enormous 97 per cent vote from his one million followers, Tata Trusts had asked whether they would like him to put together a basic startup pitch deck template.

It has been seven months passed away but Tata's office continues to receive thousands of queries and calls for help from young entrepreneurs on how to navigate the entrepreneurial path.

Shantanu Naidu, helping Ratan Tata address all the queries, decided to address these queries.

Naidu comes live with 'On Your Sparks' on every Sunday on his Instagram handle and Shantanu takes care to have a minimum number of 30 attendees. He has attended seven sessions till now.

Naidu charges Rs 500 per person for 'On Your Sparks' webinar and the proceeds go towards Motopaws, that designs and manufactures dog collars that glow in the dark to save their lives from being run over. Motopaws has today grown to over 20 cities and four countries.

How Shantanu Naidu ends up getting job with TATA

The youngster's dream came true when Ratan Tata invited him for a meeting after his Facebook post where he wrote he had made collars with reflectors for stray dogs so that drivers can spot them on the roads of Mumbai.

"Word spread and our work got featured in the Tata newsletter," Naidu wrote.
He then left India to pursue his education, but upon returning, Tata called him again and offered him a job at his office.