Robert Rajeswaran (@robertrajeswaran) is a serial entrepreneur who was born in Sri Lanka, raised in London and now based out of Singapore where he co-founded Boxaroo (@boxaroo.co). He joins Ara on this week’s episode of The Tamil Creator to discuss his intricate journey which included fleeing the civil war in Sri Lanka with his pregnant mother to get to the UK, dealing with culture shock & needing to learn English to assimilate into Wembley, moving to Singapore which lead to him co-founding Boxaroo, shedding commonly adopted Sri Lankan norms to improve his life and a lot more before jumping into another round of Creator Confessions.
Follow Robert:
- Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/robertrajeswaran/)
Timestamps
00:19 - Ara introduces this week’s guest, Robert Rajeswaran
01:40 - Fleeing the civil war with his pregnant mother to get to the UK
09:40 - Dealing with culture shock, developing confidence, and needing to learn English to assimilate into Wembley
13:02 - Baby hustles; burning CDs, setting up computers / dial-up connections, doing translation work, Airbnb, and more
17:57 - Shifting from London to Singapore for work purposes and to be closer to home
22:30 - Winning a start-up competition, co-founding Boxaroo (selling swag as a service) - the podcast gets interrupted by a bird
26:00 - The bird departs
28:12 - Boxaroo’s products and business model
32:50 - How Robert goes about closing big deals; breaking down target audiences, sorting them in ‘buckets’ and more
37:01 - Bootstrapping Boxaroo with plans to raise funding in the future
40:18 - Robert’s vision for Boxaroo in the next 2-3 years
41:38 - What Robert’s day-to-day schedule looks like
42:43 - Having a good work-life balance,
43:44 - How Singapore handled COVID; it’s impact on Robert from a personal and professional standpoint
46:57 - The future of office work; Robert forces a hybrid model
48:10 - How Robert continues lifelong learning; books and podcasts
51:18 - Shifting away from the Sri Lankan mindset of being “tough and hard” and learning to develop communication skills to improve his life
53:16 - The impact of the Tamil community in London / Singapore on Robert
55:42 - The personal legacy Robert wants to leave behind; how he wants to be remembered by friends / family
56:36 - Who Robert admires in the global Tamil community and non-Tamil community
58:27 - Advice Robert has for fellow aspiring Tamil creators
1:00:16 - Creator Confessions
1:03:09 - The Wrap Up
Intro Music
Produced And Mixed By:
- The Tamil Creator
- Yanchan
Written By:
- Aravinthan Ehamparam
- Yanchan Rajmohan