From his humble beginnings in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Delhi, Sandeep Nailwal has emerged as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the blockchain industry. Born in 1987 in a small farming village without electricity, Nailwal’s parents moved to Delhi when he was just four years old in search of a better life. However, they ended up settling in the impoverished settlements on the east bank of the Yamuna river, an area often compared to the Bronx in New York.
Growing up in this challenging environment, Nailwal witnessed cows roaming the streets and illegal weapons being used. He didn’t attend school until the age of five, as his parents were unaware of the importance of education. Eventually, a neighbor who ran a small school in the area convinced Nailwal’s parents to send him to school. Despite the cramped conditions of the classroom, Nailwal embraced his education.
However, Nailwal’s home life was far from ideal. His father became an alcoholic and got involved in gambling, often losing all of the family’s income. This resulted in Nailwal frequently struggling to pay his school fees and being humiliated by being made to stand outside the school. These experiences shaped his determination to succeed and become a better father to his own child.
As a teenager, Nailwal began his entrepreneurial journey by selling pens at a markup in school and tutoring other students. After graduating, he aspired to join one of India’s prestigious engineering institutes but couldn’t afford the extra tuition. Instead, he enrolled in a tier-two college and took out a loan to pursue a computer science and engineering degree. Inspired by the success of Facebook, Nailwal chose to focus on building his own internet business.
During his university years, Nailwal’s talent in data analysis led to a job with a regional political party. After completing his degree and working for Deloitte and Welspun textiles, Nailwal continued to pursue his own projects outside of his full-time employment. However, cultural pressure and the responsibility of supporting his family prevented him from fully committing to his startup dreams.
It wasn’t until Nailwal’s wife, Harshita, encouraged him to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions that he took the leap. With a borrowed $15,000, Nailwal launched a B2B services marketplace but soon realized it wouldn’t scale as he had hoped. This led him to explore deep tech and discover the potential of blockchain technology.
Convinced that blockchain would revolutionize various industries, Nailwal invested his wedding loan into Bitcoin and started a blockchain services startup called Scope Weaver. However, it was his encounter with programmer Jaynti “JD” Kanan that led to their collaboration on fixing Ethereum’s scalability issues using the layer-2 Plasma technology.
Together, they founded the Polygon blockchain, which has seen tremendous success and is now valued at $6 billion. Nailwal’s rags-to-riches tale serves as an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs, proving that with determination and resilience, anyone can overcome adversity and achieve greatness.
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