Jayadevan P K (or JPK) took a leap of faith! A writer, founder, and multi-media content creator — JPK pursued engineering, and later decided to take up journalism. He started as a reporter at The New Indian Express and worked at ET Tech before doing what he’s doing now..which is awesome.

In this edition of Morning Rush, we’re sharing our conversation with JPK, which offers a slice of his journey and more. 💥

But First, Who’s JPK?

• Writer & Columnist
• Author of Xiaomi: How a Startup Disrupted the Market
• Senior Director of Communications & Content at CoinSwitch Kuber
• Co-founder of FactorDaily
• Podcaster & content course creator

Now, let’s unfold the conversation! 📃

Thousand Faces Club: What made you take up journalism despite graduating as an engineer?

JPK: Inspired by books and movies on journalists, I found the profession noble. I used to read Tom Wolfe, who was considered one of the fathers of long-form journalism, and got more into long-form writing to perfect the craft. Luckily, I was able to work in the newsroom quite early on in my career and I did some city reporting and worked in the crime beat for six months before fully moving to business to cover technology and startups.

Thousand Faces Club: Interesting! How did you start FactorDaily, then?

JPK: At ET Tech, I met Pankaj (my co-founder at FactorDaily), and we worked together for years before floating FactorDaily. We were motivated to find out how technology impacted people and wanted to see if people made sense of it. Although we covered news initially, we figured it was a low-leverage activity and were enthusiastic about analysis and features. We experimented with multiple formats to produce multimedia content like podcasts, videos, long-form writing, and Instagram-style stories. It offered a lot of exposure that a typical journalist in conventional media couldn't exercise, which also boosted my career as a marketer and evangelist.

Thousand Faces Club: You've built FactorDaily so well! ****What made you move on from it?

JPK: Several reasons! I was burned out and wanted to focus on my health. Besides, I was keen on spending more time with my son, and a job that takes up 18 hours didn't seem appealing. After quitting, I started consulting with various tech startups and focussed on fitness to improve my physical and mental health. Right now, I'm in a great space in terms of not just productivity — but also getting my shit together.

Also read: A Practical Guide to Get Fit by JPK

Thousand Faces Club: So, what led to podcasting?

JPK: I got to experiment with multimedia content at FactorDaily, where Pankaj and I built Outliers. I enjoyed making that podcast and wanted to create an exclusive podcast for the Indian startup audience. That's how I started Usecase and made about 50 episodes.

Thousand Faces Club: One piece of advice on content performance?👇🏼

So, that was our conversation with JPK. For now, he intends to write more books, create more cohort-based courses, and create more opportunities for those around him.

Want to know more about JPK’s journey? Read our creator journey where we deep-dived into the conversation.

Published Author & Co-founder Turned Content Creator