Maanasa Gopal

👋 Hi! I'm Maanasa. I spend my 20s on interesting projects & I document my journey here. Here's what I've been up to:
🚀 I bootstrapped + run SitesGo (website agency for academia; clients incl. MIT, Stanford, NTU, NUS), NinjaReach.io (brand campaigns incl. GoPro, Insta360, foodpanda, Meet The Drapers, Good Time Show) and deardreams.co (functional + cute stationery)
🌏 Solo-backpacked across all 7 continents, flew on the 1^st exploratory winter aircraft to Antarctica, minted the first NFT in Antarctica, and made the world’s longest food delivery.
🔬 Prior to that, I worked as a Researcher at NTU Singapore, WSU Australia, UN East Africa and IIT India.
🌴 I work remote & spend time on interesting projects :)

Maanasa's experiment

• I think of my 20s as an experiment where I just do everything I dream about and learn new things instead of boxing myself into a career. I actively try to escape 'finding a niche'. Society has limits, our brains don't. Why underestimate ourselves to do only 1 thing forever when we can do everything we want?
• I consider everything I spend my time on as a project, and every project has only 2 objectives - I need to try my best and I need to learn something from it. I publicly document my project progress & failures under /Progress. I write my experiences under /Blog and compile resources from things I learned under /Notes.
• I also post at @nomadonbudget on Instagram and @maanasagopal on Twitter.

Quick villain origin story

I often get different versions of "so, what's your story?", here it is:
(TL;DR: I adamantly pursued one simple quest & that ended up having a butterfly effect on my life.)

‍➡ At 19, I wanted to travel outside India (but had no $ + weak passport) -> got internships abroad -> led to full-time job in Singapore -> worked ~3 years (researcher) -> declined direct PhD & quit my job -> got Singapore's Entrepass & started my company -> did interesting projects (some of which blew up) -> finished journey across all 7 continents -> more cool projects 19 y/o me couldn't have believed.

➡ During this journey, I got to experience hitchhiking across Iran, busking in South Africa, living in the Sumatran jungle, crossing African borders by foot, visiting the North Korean border, setting up world's southernmost ETH node in Argentina, flying an aircraft to Antarctica to name a few.

➡ Pulling this off as a random nobody with no family money, network, or guidance broke the simulation for me and changed how I view the world. It’s not travel, it’s the art of doing whatever you put your mind to - I would’ve had the same shift in perspective had I decided to become the best carpenter in the world within 5 years.

🗞️ Recent Press

1. Times of India, Chennai youngsters battle COVID and winter to go on an expedition to Antarctica
2. A Magazine, Inside Maanasa Gopal's perilous journey for the world's first NFT in Antarctica
3. Indiatimes, Indian woman makes the world's longest delivery
4. SWS Techstars, Maanasa Gopal and team take $377k worth grand prize at SWS hackathon
5. AsiaOne, Singapore-based entrepreneur talks about climate change and sustainability
6. Untam3d, why Web3 matters to GenZ
6. The Hindu, ANI News, SRM alumna completes expedition to Antarctica
7. Hindustan Times, today's buzzing news (video segment)
8. NewIndianExpress, indulge in incredible India
9. 8World News, Shin Min Daily, Shiheng, taisounds - Chinese newspaper segments
10. Business Today, viral news today
Other: NDTV, TimesNow, TheBetterIndia, BehindWoods, AajTak, Dinamalar, Republic World, Sun TV, Vikatan, Indian Express, News18, FirstPost, Femina, Gulf News, ScoopWhoop, etc.‍‍

🎙️ Interviews, Podcasts, Radio

1. Live Wide Awake Podcast, Anything is possible if you don't give up with Maanasa Gopal
2. Taboo with Mimi, Maanasa Gopal on growing up in India, depression, and dreams
3. CNA938 Radio, Maanasa Gopal's early life and career
4. NFT Radio, NFTs and the environment
5. Sun TV, Interview episode in Tamil
6. Singapore Oli 96.8, Radio segment in Tamil
7. Smart Local, AMA: world's longest food delivery
8. Live Radio: City 1016 Dubai Radio, Suryan FM, RedFM Radio

🎤 Talks

1. UNTAMED, Singapore - Why Web3 matters to GenZ with Maanasa Gopal
2. SRM University, India - Getting Opportunities Abroad after Undergrad in India
3. UNTAMED, New York - Impact of Web3 on humanity
4. National Institute of Education, Singapore - Creativity in STEM
5. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore - Academia to Entrepreneurship

Contact

1. For collaborations/press/talk enquiries, email me.
2. For a quick chat, DM me on instagram or twitter.

Juice

I love websites that reward curiosity; if you've made it this far, here is more juice for you.

🕗 Last update: 10/04/2023