He gave up on IIM dream 3 years ago. Now, he’s there as a guest speaker

Sharan Hegde at IIMB (Image: @financewsharan/Twitter)

Three years ago, Sharan Hegde gave up on his IIM dream. Despite scoring 98 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT), he could not get into the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore. Disappointed, he went on to study in the United States before eventually dropping out to dabble in content creation – a career path that spelled success for him.

Today, Hegde is one of the country’s most popular influencers in the financial category, with more than 2 million to his name on Instagram alone. And a few days ago, he was finally able to get into IIM-Bangalore – not as a student, but as a guest speaker.

In social media posts shared Friday, Hegde opened up about his incredible journey -- from not getting into the college of his dreams to returning there as a guest speaker.

98 percentile CAT = No entry
3.3 Mn followers = Guest speaker pic.twitter.com/f0P74qUJLQ

— Sharan Hegde (@financewsharan) November 19, 2022

“3.3 Mn followers. Guest speaker to 100+ women entrepreneurs at IIMB,” he added.

Hegde, who today has 2 million followers on Twitter and 1.3 million YouTube subscribers, opened up about his “tough journey.”

He said that three years ago, he gave up on IIM. Despite studying hard, juggling an internship and living on Rs 5,000 a month, he could not score enough to get into his first three choices – IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Ahmedabad or IIM-Calcutta.

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A post shared by Sharan Hegde | Investing (@financewithsharan)

“My misplaced ego was such that [it was] either IIM A,B,C or nothing. I now realise that was stupid- since later on a huge part of my professional journey was shaped by incredible colleagues from other IIMs,” he wrote.

“I then shifted my focus to US MBA colleges. I eventually got into Columbia but guess what? I dropped out of that as well and eventually ended up giving a goddamn talk at the place where I wanted to go in the first place- IIMB,” Hedge said, noting that his life had come a full circle.

According to Forbes, Sharan Hegde is a former management consultant who ventured into content creation during the pandemic. On his social media channels, he talks about personal finance and effective money management.