Has your business become busy without really moving?

In S3E274 of the Champion Mindset Collective, Anthony Dahya speaks with Ankur Shrivastava, founder of StratMate, startup mentor, Senior Business Analyst at ASB and host of Let’s Talk Strategy.

After redundancy in 2024, Ankur chose to create rather than simply wait for the next opportunity. That decision led to entrepreneurship, startup mentoring, community building and StratMate.

At the heart of the conversation is Ankur’s Soda Fizz Theory. A business can begin with energy, excitement and momentum, but over time that fizz can disappear into admin, process and too many competing priorities. You can feel productive while the business itself stops moving.

Ankur’s practical reset is simple:

REINVENT.

RECONNECT.

REFOCUS.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why too many priorities can kill momentum

• The difference between being busy and actually growing

• How redundancy changed Ankur’s definition of success

• Why saying no can protect your direction

• Why customer conversations matter as you grow

• Why you do not have to quit your job to start something of your own

• How to keep the fizz alive through different phases of business and life

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Busy is not the same as growing.

• Ten or twelve priorities are not really priorities.

• Reinvent through small useful improvements.

• Reconnect with customers and their real frustrations.

• Refocus on the few things that genuinely move the business forward.

• Redundancy can become redirection.

• You can start building something of your own without immediately leaving your job.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Why Good Businesses Lose Momentum

1:06 Ankur’s Journey From India to New Zealand

2:03 Redundancy in 2024 and the Decision to Build

3:03 Discovering the Startup Strategy Gap

4:28 Creating Let’s Talk Strategy

4:48 Building the AI Nexus Community

6:25 How Redundancy Changed Ankur’s Definition of Success

8:01 Learning to Say No in Business

9:22 Balancing Career, Business and Community

10:22 The Soda Fizz Theory

11:08 Why 12 Priorities Means No Real Priorities

12:37 Reinvent, Reconnect and Refocus

13:41 Entrepreneurship, Risk and Fear

14:46 How to Connect With Ankur

15:29 Quickfire: Success, Inspiration and Entrepreneurship

16:18 Why You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job to Start

17:06 Keep the Fizz Alive

17:31 What a Champion Mindset Means

CONNECT WITH ANKUR

StratMate:

https://stratmate.co.nz/

LinkedIn:

https://nz.linkedin.com/in/ankur-shrivastava-622a4a28

Let’s Talk Strategy on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@stratmatenz

Let’s Talk Strategy on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5pRB8VcoGOZky8FqP46foL

EPISODE RESOURCES

Episode Page:

https://championmindsetcollective.com/episode/ankur-shrivastava-S3E274

Article - Busy Isn’t Growth:

https://championmindsetcollective.com/blog/busy-isnt-growth-why-good-businesses-lose-momentum-and-how-to-get-it-back

CHAMPION MINDSET COLLECTIVE

Website:

https://championmindsetcollective.com/

Champion Academy:

https://championmindsetcollective.com/academy

Be a Guest:

https://championmindsetcollective.com/be-a-guest

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