Name: Deepanker Dua | Designation: Product Marketing Specialist | Company: SAP | Place: Berlin
(June 10, 2023) As a young lad growing up in the Delhi of the early 90s, Deepanker Dua found himself drawn to fitting square blocks in round holes. Today, in many ways, he finds himself doing much the same as he pursues a career as a product marketing specialist, co-founder of a sales company, co-founder of a popular parenting podcast, and as an Indian, finding his space in Germany.
Born in Cyprus, Deepanker moved to Delhi when he was quite young. Here he studied at The Air Force School where his mother was a teacher. It was during these years that his mother took him and his brother to a post office (as part of their Delhi Darshan tour) where they met a British woman, who spoke Hindi and was travelling the subcontinent. Another time, as he rode the bus to school, he spotted a white man zipping through the streets of Delhi on a motorbike. Deepanker had one question: ‘How did this foreigner, who barely knew the language, know his way around Delhi?’
“I guess that’s how I was bitten by the bug to explore the world,” he smiles. So, at 15, Deepanker made his way to Singapore for his higher studies. “Life in Singapore was a culture shock,” he, says, “In India our parents are very protective of us. And here I was, waking up in a hostel bed, owning my life at the age of 15. My years as a student in Singapore gave me the confidence that I can do what I set my mind on. There were no limits, I had to set my own.”
Deepanker Dua
After completing his engineering from the National University of Singapore, Deepanker came back home to India on a break. “Around that time, the call centre culture was on the rise. I decided to take up a job in a call centre during my break and began selling credit cards and phone lines to Americans,” says Deepanker, adding, “That got me hooked to selling.” When he made his way back to Singapore, Deepanker took up a job in sales with a startup, which paid him rather poorly. To earn the extra cash, he also began bartending. “The bar was paying me more than my job. As an added bonus, I met many people and made many new friends.”
Starting a career with Salesforce
That was how he landed his next job with Salesforce, which changed the course of his career. “The job was offered to me by someone I met at the bar. In all of this, my learning of life is that it is important to connect with people at the right place and right time. Incidentally, I’ve never gotten a job by applying for it or through LinkedIn,” he says. He adds that it’s important to be open to doing anything, which often people aren’t and end up denying opportunities.
He joined Salesforce as a sales rep and soon worked his way up as the corporate sales manager, even setting up their India office. “I didn’t like working in India though. The work culture was something that I didn’t much appreciate. Besides, I still had to see the world. So, after four years with Salesforce, I had saved a decent sum and decided to take a leap of faith and do something different.” That’s how he ended up moving to Thailand to learn Muay Thai and kickboxing at a club that belonged to a customer he had sold Salesforce to.
After five months of building his fitness levels, he went to South America. “The plan was to spend a couple of weeks in Brazil. Once there, I got myself a bike and a tent, met some great people and ended up spending six months in the country. I fell in love with the country and even lived in a small village,” he says, adding, “Back then backpacking was not very common and I ended up documenting my journey through my documentary series I Am Journey.”
Deepanker Dua
From Brazil, Deepanker headed to Bolivia, where he met his now wife, a German. “I fell in love and my journey changed again,” he smiles. After working a long-distance relationship for a while, Deepanker decided to move to Germany in 2014 and floated his own company, Sales Chakra. “Floating a company increased my chances of obtaining a longer visa. It was difficult to land the initial few customers, but eventually it all worked out.” Working sales in Germany was also a huge learning curve for him. “I was using my tools from India, Singapore and US. But they didn’t work in the German market. I realised I was being pushy in order to get in the door. Germans don’t work like that; they’re very protective of their time and space. One has to appreciate that. I had to change my strategy to help German companies sell in Asia. That worked,” he says.
He also began working part-time with SAP as a product marketing specialist and also launched Reroutingpod, a parenting podcast. “The podcast was a result of the pandemic. As a hustler, I realised I wasn’t as present for my son. I had very little skills to keep him and myself engaged. The podcast was an attempt to understand how other parents manage their kids and their parenting journeys.”
When he isn’t working his day jobs and, on his podcast, Deepanker spends time on bike tours through the forest, experiential travel and camping by the river with his son. “As a dad, I also find the additional responsibility to keep alive our culture for my son. I want to show him our culture. My wife is into yoga and spirituality, and with my parents visiting often, he grooves to Punjabi songs.”
Takeaways:
- Find avenues to express your Indianness no matter where in the world you are.
- It’s good to make plans, but be open to other possibilities.
- Be adaptable to your surroundings and don’t close yourself off to the new.
- Talk. Network. Connect with people. You never know what it’ll lead you to.