Interview: Prakhar Gupta – YouTuber & Co-Author, Don’t Shut Up

Prakhar Gupta - YouTuber - Co-Author, Don't Shut Up

Interview with Prakhar Gupta – YouTuber & Co-Author, Don’t Shut Up

Prakhar Gupta is A communications expert, youtuber, podcaster and author, Prakhar is a graduate from Columbia University. Blending philosophy, psychology, spirituality and self-help, Prakhar through his various content formats has helped 200,000 students and industry professionals.

Prakhar started a PG Radio podcast, which grew from 200 to 1M listeners in the 2 years between 2019 and 2021. PG Radio is a top 50 podcast in the education and self-improvement category in over 5 countries.

The themes in Prakhar’s podcast conversations range from political, social and cultural commentary to art and science.

Prakhar also co-hosted ‘Raw & Real’ season 1, which was India’s #1 live podcast in India over the course of its 24 episodes.

In less than a year, Prakhar rose to become one of India’s most popular public speakers. He has given 10+ keynotes at India’s top institutions, including IITs, NLUs and top colleges in Delhi and Mumbai University.

Prakhar has also been featured on several Ted talks. Prakhar is also passionate about helping students figure their careers and does regular lives/ AMAs/ etc on his social channels.

With regards to his new book – Don’t Shut Up – Two communication geniuses – one who’s videos we have all loved and one who makes communication a cake- walk have come together to tell us stories that will make us laugh, reflect and teach us the simple art of communication through their latest book ‘Don’t Shut Up’ Magnifying some of the most relatable life situations, Prakhar Gupta & Mudit Yadav through their book, dive into 27 odd life scenarios that show the simple yet effective art of communication.

As the authors say, this book is an encyclopedia for communication – you will find yourself coming back to it not only to prepare for a presentation on a Tuesday morning but also for that date you want to impress on a Friday!

In an exclusive interview with Prakhar Gupta – YouTuber & Co-Author, Don’t Shut Up explains How he start his entrepreneurial journey.

What did you want to do when you grew up

Prakhar Gupta: I wanted to be a chess player. In my childhood, my dad once got me a chessboard and beat me at the game. My young ego decided to learn chess and beat my dad at it.

As I entered teenage, I became better and better; but far less good than the top people my age, so I dropped it and decided to pursue other endeavours.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Prakhar Gupta: Ever since middle school, writing has been something that came naturally to me. Be it poems for my crush or a fan fiction of Gangs of Wasseypur, I have always expressed through words; being an author was just a natural progression of it.

Where did you get the idea for your first book?

Prakhar Gupta: Over the years, I have had the need to always sharpen my conversational skills; first because I used to argue with my dad a lot and he is a lawyer, so I needed to match him.

After that, I came to Columbia where ideas are traded as currency and started a free speech club to host debates and discussions.

All of this eventually led me to understanding the structure of conversations. A consequence of that was my course and after 3 years and 3 editions of it.

I was convinced that there are people to read if I elaborate on everything with all my knowledge. By that time, I had also met my co-author and I pitched him the idea, that’s how we got started.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

Prakhar Gupta: I like to write in bursts. As opposed to my coauthor, I used to write once a week, just before our catchup on Zoom.

As I would sit down to write, I used to play some music, pour one drink of any alcohol that I had at home.

My target was to write as much as I could before the drink finished. I had a rough structure in my mind of what I wanted to write, and then I just speed ran through it.

How long does it take you to write a book?

Prakhar Gupta: Considering a lot of my research was prerequisite, it took about 4 months to write the entire thing, along with Mudit, my co-author. Another 2 months of editing and we had a final manuscript.

What advice would you give a new writer?

Prakhar Gupta: One thing that would be really useful for new writers would be to write like they speak. An engaging piece of writing is generally something that has a rhythm, something that keeps you intrigued.

Writing like you speak would give you an edge when it comes to ease of reading and establishing a connection.

Also, don’t use hard words please, most of them should not even make it past your school notebooks. Simple is appealing, simple is obvious and will help you reach a much larger audience.

Where can readers purchase your books?

Prakhar Gupta: You can get my book on Amazon, we have hardcover and the ebook and Kindle edition available as well.  

Are you an Entrepreneur or Startup?
Do you have a Success Story to Share?
SugerMint would like to share your success story.
We cover entrepreneur Stories, Startup News, Women entrepreneur stories, and Startup stories

Read more interviews of Indian entrepreneurs & startups at SugerMint. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn