Five Entrepreneurship Lessons I Learned While Hiking to Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas

A few years ago, I fell and broke my knee in three places. While confined to my bed at the Mount Auburn Hospital, I remember watching the joggers along the Charles River, and wondering if I would ever be able to do something like that again. The post-surgical recovery included months of physical therapy before I could return to normal activities. That’s when I developed an internal resolve to overcome the odds life put in front of me and my journey towards fitness started. I explored many options and I found what I loved the most was hiking.  It was a great stress-breaker and a perfect way to “push mind over body.”

This year, after a rigorous buildup that took eight months of training, I took on the challenge of trekking the Himalayas for twelve days to the Everest Base Camp, which is at an elevation of 17958 feet. This life-changing experience challenged my mental toughness way more than my physical limits. As I reflect on my experience, I found many parallels with my journey as a tech entrepreneur, which I want to share with you:

1. Find your clan and prepare well — “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” You must find experienced people to learn from to prepare for such an expedition, just like you need mentors and peers to get started as an entrepreneur. 

I had left a cushy job at a big company to join an MBA entrepreneurship program at MIT to find my clan. Similarly, before my attempt, I met people who had hiked in the Himalayas and had done multi-day hikes at higher altitudes. They shared many important tips regarding medications, insurance, and guide suggestions. I used their input to prepare rigorously — doing more than 60 hikes to places like Mount Monadnock and Mount Washington over eight months. This was supplemented by strength training, cardio, and CrossFit.

2. Enjoy the journey instead of worrying about the destination — As an entrepreneur, there are times when it seems overwhelming when I look at the multitude of tasks I have to complete. But when I look back, I can see how far I have come and that gives me strength. It gives me perspective and the will to persevere. Similarly, as a hiker, you might be eager to reach your destination, but when you stop to enjoy the view and reflect on the progress you have made, that massive mountain in front of you seems less daunting. 

Achieving your goals is amazing but along the way, you will meet interesting people who can inspire you, teach you, or broaden your horizons. That alone is worth the sacrifices you make, whether you reach your goal or not.

3. Break down big goals into smaller steps in order to focus better — During the hike, I learned the true meaning of ‘one step at a time’. At 15000ft, with my blood oxygen levels dropping, every step was a challenge, and every breath was a struggle. But I focused on one step at a time instead of worrying about the next leg of the journey.

As an entrepreneur, often, you have to focus on milestones without worrying too much about how to achieve the rest of your goals. You might feel like giving up many times, but you only achieve long-term goals if you keep going ‘one step at a time’ and reaching each milestone brings new energy with it.

4. Build an A+ team —As its leader, it’s critical to build an A+ team for your company. It’s even more important to build an A+ team on expeditions. I had an extremely capable guide in Deepen- he was experienced and empathic- he kept giving me extra helpings of daal and electrolyte to keep up my energy and helped me through the most perilous parts of the hike when I almost fainted. I had my good friend Shruthi Chakrapani as my mentor and coach who I could absolutely trust when times get tough. My core group comprised people with different areas of expertise from packing essentials to fitness routines and each person contributed to preparing us as a team to succeed.

5. Don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone — Although I am a fitness and hiking lover, I had not done multi-day hikes like this at such high altitudes. My blood pressure has a tendency to drop at inopportune moments. I am also naturally averse to cold- I am always turning up the thermostat in my house, or turning off the fan, things like that.  Naturally, I was nervous about this expedition for months, and I asked myself many times why I was doing this. While I prepared physically for months, I also had to prepare myself mentally too, as I knew it was going to be “mind over body” after the first few days. I learned to push aside my doubts and my second thoughts and braced myself to go on this journey by stepping outside my comfort zone, just like I did when I left my job to be a tech entrepreneur with my first company!

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Dipali Trivedi is an MIT graduate and a serial entrepreneur. She is currently working as co-founder and CTO of Everyday Life, a FinTech startup that serves middle-income families with innovative insurance products and financial planning. Prior to Everyday Life, she founded CloudFountain Inc., a consulting firm focused on big data and Salesforce CRM consulting. Dipali has 10+ years of corporate leadership experience prior to entrepreneurship. She volunteers for various non-profit organizations in the USA, India, and Africa, and serves as a board member and an advisor to many organizations. She is an influencer and activist for Women in Tech to break glass ceilings and fight gender bias. She lives in Belmont, Mass., with her husband and her kids. She loves to run, hike and travel.