Shreyans Chopra: On the path to build an industry-defining company

Shreyans Chopra first became a music entrepreneur, then a CA, then a consultant at BCG, but now, with Mstack, he has finally arrived at a path that works for him

By Rajiv Singh Forbes India Staff

Published: Feb 16, 2024 12:10:31 PM IST

Updated: Feb 16, 2024 12:27:01 PM IST

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Shreyans Chopra, Founder and CEO, Mstack Image: Mexy Xavier; Directed By: Kapil Kashyap Outfit: House Of Khaddar; Jewellery: Drip Project, Inox Jewellery; Shoes: Comet Universe; Styled By: Zainab Shakir; Assistant Stylists: Mannat Bhalla, Samridh Gupta

Shreyans Chopra | 29

Founder and CEO, Mstack

Chemical ChangeThe furious clanking of keyboard was a sign of acute desperation by a failed musician from Ahmedabad. “I am not a CA final ranker,” was the subject line of Shreyans Chopra’s message which was mailed to the India head of BCG and McKinsey. Born into a family of businessmen—his father used to trade in aluminium, and his extended family and relatives dabbled in small-scale manufacturing—Chopra went on to become a chartered accountant. Since there were two IITians in the house—his elder brother and sister—Chopra’s father wanted his youngest son to be a CA. “That’s how typical Marwadi families take decisions on education,” quips Chopra, who interned with Deloitte and CA firm GK Choksi, but strummed a different chord by deciding to be a music entrepreneur.

The origin of the high notes could be traced to his undergrad years. Chopra was the captain of a band in college, led the group for three years, and after graduation, the rookie guitarist rolled out Funkaar Gigs with his friends in 2016. The startup brought all promising musicians in Ahmedabad on one platform, made their profiles accessible to cafes, wedding planners, event organisers, and made live music booking easy and hassle free. “We had close to 300 musicians on our platform,” recalls Chopra, who ran the venture for over a year, and then came to terms with a grim reality. “The business still looked like a college project, and was not scalable,” he rues. Funkaar Gigs had its last show in 2017. Six months after it shuttered, the failed entrepreneur was clueless about his future.

Realising the need to plug the gaps and add more heft to his entrepreneurial bid in the future, Chopra decided to tap into the world of consultancy. But there was a huge hurdle. The big firms usually hired either from IIMs, IITs or top management institutes. The CAs had a slim chance as only 50 rankers of CA are normally called for interviews. Chopra’s chances were less than slim. He didn’t get a rank in CA final. He wrote a mail—I am not a CA final ranker—and miraculously got a call from BCG.

After two years at BCG, Chopra had a stint as a venture capitalist, and then went back to entrepreneurship and started Mstack, a cross-border custom manufacturing platform specialising in specialty chemicals, in July 2022.

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Backed by Lightspeed, Mstack has scaled up furiously over the last 18 months. “His vision of establishing a cross-border B2B-managed marketplace dedicated to specialty chemicals is bold and timely,” reckons Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed, one of the backers of Mstack. “We are confident that Shreyans is on the path to build an industry-defining company.”