Rahul Sharma: The Ideator

From working as an engineer in oil fields to co-founding Zetwerk, a digital manufacturing company, the journey of Rahul Sharma has been astounding. Hailing from a humble background, son of a middle-class government officer in Bhopal, he studied engineering at IIT Roorkee. He began his career as an engineer but was soon enticed by the startup ecosystem.

Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, he decided to leave his high paying job and jumped into the startup world. After donning senior managerial roles at Schlumberger and setting up logistics startup Blackbuck, he finally took a leap of faith and started his new venture: Zetwerk Manufacturing in May 2018.

Rahul founded Zetwerk as a software company and helped it pivot three times from a SaaS company to a marketplace and then to managed marketplace. “These pivots proved to be crucial points for the business. Making those bold moves and learning to adapt early on solidified Zetwerk’s position,” said Rahul Sharma, co-founder, Zetwerk.

Zetwerk partners with the world’s leading industrial and consumer enterprises to get products manufactured via a global network of small manufacturers; it helps with supplier selection, pricing and fulfillment of orders. “I believe in figuring out the right problems in big markets and creating great teams to solve them,” quipped Sharma.

For Rahul, books are the biggest mentor. “Reading about Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Reliance is the best way to learn and grow oneself.