Founder says getting fired from ₹60 LPA job was a blessing: ‘I was a slave to corporate’

A Delhi-based entrepreneur has said that getting fired from his high-paying job turned out to be his greatest blessing. Gaurav Kawatra was earning ₹5 lakh a month as the director of a Chinese multinational back in 2018. In a LinkedIn post, he reflected on the day he was fired and how it pushed him towards entrepreneurship.Gaurav Kawatra was fired from a job that paid him ₹5 lakh per monthHe shared a copy of his termination letter on LinkedIn, saying he was 37 when he was fired and had a ₹2 crore home loan to pay off.The termination letterAccording to the termination letter dated September 12, 2018, the company informed Kawatra that his services were being terminated “with immediate effect” due to performance concerns. The Chinese company also told him that he had been served a three-day notice period as per the terms of his appointment.“We regret to share that the management after watching your performance has decided to ask you to leave. The fact has already been conveyed to you a couple however you have refused to put in your papers,” the letter said.“3 days notice. You’re terminated,” Kawatra wrote, describing the moment that changed his life. “I walked out NAKED. Zero package. TERMINATION stamp.”He claimed that as the director of a Chinese MNC, he was earning ₹5 lakh per month, or ₹60 lakh per annum. At the same time, he had a home loan of ₹2 crore. Losing his job came as a shock.‘108 cold calls. 108 rejections’Kawatra said the months that followed were among the hardest of his life. He described making “108 cold calls” and facing rejection after rejection while battling anxiety and financial pressure.“108 cold calls. 108 rejections. 3 AM panic attacks,” he wrote. The Delhi-based founder also spoke about the emotional toll unemployment took on him and his family.“Neighbours watched me sit at home. My daughter asked a question I couldn’t answer,” he said.The entrepreneur said the experience taught him painful but valuable lessons about shame, rejection and dependency on corporate jobs.Some lessonsIn his post, Kawatra shared three lessons for people facing layoffs. The first, he said, was not to let shame destroy one’s health.“I let shame attack my body before I attacked the problem,” he wrote, adding that he smoked “12 to 15 cigarettes a night” during that period — a habit that took him eight years to quit. He also suffered from sleeplessness during that period.“Money can be recovered. Your body cannot,” he said.Kawatra also advised job seekers not to take rejection personally.(Also read: Indian-origin CEO announces layoffs at $3.4 billion US startup: ‘Difficult day’)“I took every rejection personally, until I made it brutal math. Track every call. 70 will ignore you. 30 will sympathize, but offer zero help. 5 will open a door. 1 will define your next decade. Once you see it as a game, it stops breaking your heart,” he explained.Don’t stagnateFinally, Kawatra learned how important it is to not let your career stagnate and to keep learning.“I built a 12-year career on a degree that stopped earning year 8. I was a complete slave to a corporate logo,” he said, claiming that the termination allowed him to build things that actually matter.Today, Kawatra says he has rebuilt his career through entrepreneurship. In his post, he claimed to have advised ₹6,500 crore worth of projects and worked with 65 corporates across 19 states. He said the experience completely changed the way he viewed careers, money and security. What once felt like the worst moment of his life eventually became the foundation for his entrepreneurial journey.“Termination was not my end. It was my forced rebirth,” he wrote. “Degrees expire. Skills compound forever.”