From Coding Late Nights to Running Three Companies: The Mayank Pande Birthday Story

The Core of the Man

The thing that makes him such a nice human being is completely internal. It’s the person with softness in his voice, in his thoughts, in his words. Very poised and extremely full of life, a man of focus, that’s just how he was born. These qualities that you see aren't something you learn over time; it's something you are born with. He was born to fly.

I always used to wonder how he is so frisky all the time, and yet, so incredibly strategic. But then I realized: he’s been a state-level Badminton player, and a Chess Champion at the same time. What a combination!

The Kid with a Futuristic Mind

He loves video games like anything. When he was in 10th standard, he started with Age of Mythology in 2002, and then came Impossible Creatures 2 in 2003. And then it was impossible for him to stop.

When most people were hanging around, trying to figure out what they wanted to do in life, he was learning the concepts behind making a game. And guess what? He planned a game when he was in 11th standard, around 2004. It was then a single-player game concept, which has now taken a completely new shape, but the core concept is still the same one that kid thought about, a genre that wasn't even there at that point!

Your mind plays tricks on you every single day, yet when talking about Mayank Pande's mind, it’s so focused and futuristic that it just blows our minds how he does it all. And that dream project will be with you all soon. I can't wait to put my hands on it, and trust me, you won't be able to stop yourself either.

The Diamond: Unbreakable Faith

There is something about him which makes me call him a people magnet. He just attracts all sorts of people, and no matter who it is, you will always see him open his hands wide and welcoming each and every one. Even though so many of them left without a trace, betrayed him, spoke foul about him, once a Diamond is always a Diamond. He still welcomed them back with an open heart and a big smile.

While talking about friendship, he is truly blessed with some of the most unique people that have become pillars whenever he needed them. His birthdays have always been special, like on one birthday when a friend came to him, took money from him, and then bought flowers for him for his birthday! These memories still give me laughter when he rethinks about them.

The Family Guy

He’s always been The Family Guy, always keeping family on top. Like his father says: "हमारा बेटा तो राम है।" And his mother says: "कुछ भी कहो, कुछ भी कराओ, हमारी बात कभी नहीं टालता है, ये हमारा श्रवण कुमार है।"

Then comes The strongest pillar of Mayank Pande, his wife, who says and believes: “ये सिर्फ एक लीडर नहीं योद्धा है, इनके जैसा पति सच में एक तौफा है।” And then comes the first-born, Mau, who loves her father like anything and believes that he will move mountains if needed to make her smile every day, every second of her life. Last but not the least, Yuvi says: "मैं तो आपकी परछाई हूँ।"

The Sudden Leap

To become big and successful in life, it sometimes seems fine to have somebody with the same precision to add criticism in everything that you do. Like people say, when you have a great opposition in front of you, the fight to become something and the story to live that part becomes even better.

Right after completing his studies, he decided to work. Can you imagine? Mayank Sir also started with a job like us all, but he started as a content writer for a marketing firm. But, like I told you about his friskiness and strategic management skills, he was directly promoted four levels ahead and became Social Media Manager. Even people in the same office were stunned seeing this.

With this new post and promotion, when everybody was cheering for him, an Idea sparked in his mind. When everybody was clapping for him, he was somewhere else, looking at the vision of making something different, or bringing something different.

While sitting in a garden with a friend, he suggested starting a movement that would be their own. With the skills and a sharp strategic mind to change things, they decided to create something and started working tirelessly on it. Peace and a free mind give you a chance to think differently and do things differently. While sitting in a garden with a friend, Mayank Sir thought of working for themselves and creating a better future. At first, it was just a thought, but deep down, he planned what he was going to do from now on. And then the movement was named, and then came into existence CTS, or Carina Tech Services.

Conquering the Impossible

A leap into the Service Industry, where the traffic was pretty less at that point. Fewer businesses were dealing in a service industry. But, then an issue came up: Funding. Money always plays an important role in creating things. Their dreams were big, and pockets were empty. Like Sir Edmund Hillary once said: "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

And the company started from the same garden where the thought came. The tireless days and nights started to pour. And then they got their first project of SEO, and the client MELOVEMONEY came into their life, gave them a project which was successfully conquered, and then they kept on getting projects from the same client, which helped them take their first step.

But this new step came with such beautiful words:

पुराने तजुर्बे ने एक ही बात सिखाई है, नया दर्द ही पुराने दर्द की दवाई है।

And there came their first office in a house in Indore, a 10x10 sqft flat, and a decision of getting into the technical field. And the decision of family planning and adding a person to the company: a Dot Net Developer. And then started the beginning of the history that still is moving with Mayank Sir.

They got plenty of projects, worked tirelessly on each and every one. Sometimes they stayed in the office for 6-7 days continuously, living on Usal Poha and Paratha, and a small speaker which kept repeating one single track: "वो चली वो चली देखो प्यार की गली।" The song that still gives him smiles on his face. So guys, if you ever see Mayank Sir being angry on you, just play this song on your phone and witness him melting slowly.

As the time passed, things somehow always used to work out. Not by faith, but by hard work. They kept on shifting to new offices, adding furniture and computer systems to their assets. Each project they completed, they bought a new asset for the company. You won’t believe it, but all those assets still exist in the current office. Assets for him are like family that has made him what he is today, so keeping them close to himself is more important than anything else.

As days passed, things somehow always used to work out. In 2019, they decided to work on their dream that he saw when he was just a kid and came in Techu Mau Game Studios, marking a new Era of gaming. And with this, CTS was then converted into Carina Softlabs Inc. And then it became impossible to stop Mayank Sir; he has now captured not just India, but International markets as well. With the Strategic Knowledge and working of his and the whole team, Carina Softlabs Inc. is now a known company worldwide.

The Unseen Battle

What a successful story! Is this what you are thinking?

ज़िन्दगी भी कितनी अजीब है.. मुस्कुराओ तो लोग जलते हैं, तन्हा रहो तो सवाल करते हैं...!!

Success doesn't come overnight. It's a complete process of ups and downs. Like every successful Entrepreneur, this wasn't easy for him either. From intense critics to zero funding to failures to problems to government to natural disasters, each and everything played their role perfectly in putting him in distress and discomfort and dropping everything.

No one knows about this one yet, but he never took a single salary from the company till 2021. Whatever used to come first was for salaries, then development, and then, last, savings. He never gave himself the priority he deserved.

To save money for salaries, office expenses, and savings, he walked roads for kilometers on his foot just so that saving ₹20 would help someplace. Just to save money, sometimes he didn't even eat days in a row, but people who were close always made sure he at least ate something.

Do you remember the 2017 demonetization? That was the toughest time of his life. Clients stopped payment, not just for that period but for months. Due to which they had to drop a lot of projects, and eventually, a lot of employees also left the organization. But no matter what happens, his old tactic of saving that ₹20 bus fare somehow was helping him to at least pay off the salaries.

I got to know one of the things about him: Cleanliness is the most important thing for him. Clean office means clean mind, clean thoughts, and clean results, everything is linked. But he never backed down even from cleaning the offices if needed. And he took a job for himself for each Sunday: to store water in the office washroom where there was no option of water supply. Without any vehicle, getting water from 1km away, whether it was hot, humid, rainy, or cold days, he used to do it every Sunday. And it's not just one round; multiple rounds in a day, that kind of struggle is also there.

And then came another shock: Corona. Everything stopped. Clients, income, expenses, and salaries all around them. He took care of everything, no matter what came in his way.

The King’s Legacy

Life has taught him plenty of lessons. 30 years of him looking at things differently have showed him all the emotions and compassion, and yet we see him singing, dancing. Life has even made him a chef as well. If you don’t believe me, once just try the Dal Chawal he makes or the Dal Dhokli he cooks; it has absolutely no comparison.

One thing hasn’t changed even today. It’s not his will to do anything, neither being the best leader and a mentor. It’s the same child who loved playing games for hours. And playing a game for him is not about thinking innovative, taking a rest for a while, or meditation. It’s the same feeling that has made him what he is today. If he is playing a game, then he is in that dimension. Even if he sees fire in front of him, he will not flinch even once and keep continuing the game.

Employees love him not because he is the boss; they and everybody else love him for the adorable person he is, always treating everybody equally, never holding grudges against anyone even when they did wrong with him. Always welcoming people with open hands and an open heart. If you have worked here once, you can’t work anywhere else, because the way he fills people with his mentorship to let the best out of every human being is just something that can’t be replayed.

That’s what Mayank Sir is all about. A Son | A Husband | A Father | A Friend | A Boss, but most importantly, always a Brother.

Here’s to your journey, your courage, and the chapters yet to come. Happy Birthday Sir, may your story shine brighter than ever.

Wait, where are you going? It's not over yet. This story has just started. There are plenty of stories that are backed up with plenty of connected stories.

But like always, if you're looking for a happy ending for this story, whether Mayank Sir will win or not... Trust me, people's stories are not always about Winning or Losing. Sometimes they are just about whether they are lived like a King or not.

And here, I can proudly say: So far, Mayank Sir has lived it like a King.