A Chat with… Varun (Member)
Varun is an entrepreneur, innovator, and creative, and one of the top digital experts in the world. He’s worked with the likes of Mastercard, Lloyds Bank, Jaguar Land Rover, eBay, StubHub, NHS, and Cambridge University to name a few, as well as tonnes of startups and scale-ups. He would describe himself as the kid of the guy people call when there’s a problem to solve and they need to get things done.
He’s a guy who is obsessed with digital innovation, brand strategy, and behavioural psychology, and is driven by solving complex problems, building things people want, and crafting stories people remember.
Tell me a bit about your role.
I’m a co-founder of a strategic advisory firm (We Are Outliers) that specialises in innovation and growth, and we work with public listed companies across North America and Europe. My core skill set has always been in digital innovation, customer experience and growth marketing. My favourite part of my role is coming up with ideas, communicating the vision in a compelling way, and getting the ‘thing’ out into the real world as fast as possible, because that’s where it actually matters, not hidden on a deck.
What inspired you to start your own company?
I was a finance analyst at the time (not a very good one) and made the conscious decision to pursue something I was passionate about: technology and design. I taught myself a lot, got lucky with a couple of my early roles, got close exposure to CEOs and exec teams, and learned what it meant to run and scale a business. Then I helped scale a Netherlands/UK-based agency from a tiny team to 300 people before it was acquired, and that experience alone gave me the confidence to start my own company.
What is the most interesting thing you have worked on lately?
A recent project we’re working on is with a company creating autonomous AI robotics that will, in the next 12–18 months, be mining the moon. They have what they call a ‘swarm’ of robots, and we’re helping them on multiple fronts. The founder is ex-NASA and an advisor to SpaceX, so the workshops and meetings are really cool and make you realise some people are genuinely trying to change the world. It instantly puts into perspective the things you were worried about that morning. The company is called OffWorld, and eventually their goal is to send robots out to Mars and into the surrounding asteroid belts around our solar system.
What is your go-to productivity hack?
My go-to productivity hack for the last few years has been speaking to my AI instead of typing. People on trains or in public either think I’m talking to an actual person or think I’ve completely lost it, although, to be honest, my AI is way more friendly than some of my friends and business acquaintances. I genuinely believe speaking taps into a different part of your brain compared to writing. It helps with clarity, efficiency, and just the general flow of ideas. For me personally, this has been the biggest game-changer.
If you weren’t doing your current role, what would you be doing?
I’m going to take this from the perspective of if I wasn’t an entrepreneur or a working professional. I’d probably be a vlogger who specialises in eating food and travelling, just creating content and exploring different cultures. I love food (especially carbs) so something like the Netflix show “Everybody Feed Phil,” but “Everybody Feed Varun,” would be awesome.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
The phrase ‘memento mori’, the idea that eventually you will die, sounds morbid, but for me it was actually freeing. It made me realise that most of the stuff we stress about on a day-to-day basis doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Losing my father young exposed me to that way of thinking early on; he never got to pursue his passions, and I didn’t want the same for myself. So, it pushes me to think bigger, worry less, and be more fearless with what I want to do.
If you could have lunch with any three people, dead or alive, who would they be and why?
One would be Sir Alex Ferguson, the ex-Manchester United manager – he’s a winner, he was unapologetically himself, and he gave me many happy memories.
The second would probably be Steve Jobs because he’s a true innovator and disruptor, and he completely changed society and business with how ahead of the curve he was. Given my background in design and innovation, that would be unreal.
And the last one is Robert Downey Jr. he just seems like an awesome person with great energy, an incredible story, and I feel like he’d be a laugh whilst also sharing a tonne of perspective.
What is the app you can’t live without?
There are so many! But the two that play the biggest role in my day are LinkedIn and ChatGPT. I love networking and sharing my thoughts, and LinkedIn is the platform where I connect with people and share my ideas and insights. But then tools like ChatGPT remove a lot of the administrative, what I call “drunk” work, so I have more time to think deeply or work on things that actually matter in a hands-on way. So yeah, I’d say those are the two apps I can’t live without.
What has been your proudest achievement so far in life?
My proudest achievement personally is my daughter, by far. She’s only three, every time I look at her, I’m in awe, thinking “Wow, I made that”, (my wife can take some credit of course). I’m so excited to be part of her life and help her grow. That’s a huge part of what keeps me wanting to grow myself.
Professionally, my proudest achievement was being credited as one of the top 0.1% remote digital experts in the world during the pandemic was massive. It opened the door to working with companies like Mastercard, Lloyds Bank, eBay, and disruptive startups and scale-ups.
What are the biggest challenges you have faced?
I think life comes at you, and I think everyone can resonate with that, life sometimes just happens. I’ve been unfortunate or fortunate, depending on how you look at it, to have dealt with a tonne of physical health issues that made me question whether I should continue doing what I do. But setbacks are part of life, and over time I’ve realised that every setback teaches you something and helps you grow. Then you hear stories of many others who faced hardship and came out the other side stronger, and it gives you perspective.
What is your favourite thing about working at Link?
I actually have so many things that I love about Link Spaces. The location is incredible, I still remember driving up the first time and thinking, “I’m definitely in the wrong location”. The space itself is amazing; I’ve used co-working spaces like WeWork and Spaces before, and the vibe and interior here are on another level. I even have an office in Winchester that I barely go to since becoming a member, and once my team came down here, they realised exactly why. And of course, the people and the Link Spaces team – shout out to Alice, Magda, and Suki.