Ever since the age of 15, Pranav Yadav was no ordinary child. His parents may have called him opinionated, but we know Pranav as the charming and funny CEO of Neuro-Insight in the United States, the winner of ARF Great Mind Award and part of Forbes Top 30 Under 30 class for Marketing.

So what is neuromarketing you might wonder? Neuro-Insight is a neuromarketing firm that launched in 2005 in Australia. The company developed a patented brain mapping technology to investigate the quality of TV commercials, platforms and programming. Their clients include Google, Facebook, Samsung, Twitter amongst the many. They received the David Ogilvy award last year and have helped multiple brands win an Effie. In simple words, they test ads’ impact in terms of reach and frequency by measuring the speed of electric activity within the brain. Yes, focus group participants tend to look like Doc Brown from Back to the Future by the end, and no it is not harmful.

Back to the Childhood

Pranav’s path towards becoming a CEO was not a usual one. Born outside Delhi, India, Pranav grew up in a family of doctors, yet he wanted to become an actor. “I was the black sheep of my family. My parents had done very well academically and were very organized with their work. I was weird in the way that anything that was monotonous didn't interest me. The constant feedback from school was that your kid is so good at solving hard problems, but doesn't do his homework.” Fun fact: at the age of 15 he was one of the 30 kids in India to receive a scholarship to attend a high school in Singapore.

“Knowing where you stand is one of the most important things to know in life.”

From one scholarship to the next, Pranav made his way to Carleton College (on a full scholarship) where he majored in Physics, Economics, and Math. “It is important to assess your market value so that you can ask others for help on things you don’t know and double down on what you do well.” It was during his junior year that he actually heard about Goldman Sachs for the first time. After realizing the capability to live a lavish lifestyle, Pranav applied for an internship at Goldman and ended up being offered a full-time job. After two years, he quit and decided he wanted to get involved in branding and marketing. “No one would hire me due to my lack of experience. I had never studied it so I didn't know what went into it, but I had an inherent belief that I understood it as well as anyone else did. This goes back to my acting days and how if I was given a character to play I had to convince everyone that I was that character. Understanding the nuances of how this character thinks, behaves and acts is essentially how marketing works. Somehow, I felt that this would become my thing.”

“You know what I like about you PY? If I dropped you butt naked in the middle of an African Jungle, you would come back wearing an Armani suit.” - VP at Goldman Sachs.

As an international employee bound by the rules of the H1-B visa, Pranav would have to leave the country after he left Goldman, unless he found another job. He got himself a 90 day notice period and took the leap – every day that passed without a new offer was a day closer to him having to move back to India. “I reached out to everyone I knew, looking for a job. On the 89th day of the 90 period, I got an offer from a Danish strategy consulting firm who were opening up an office in New York and stayed with them for a year before applying to Wharton for my MBA.”

“The only reason I wanted to get my MBA was so that people would give me a stamp of approval to run a company because I didn’t have the capital back then.”

After being waitlisted at Wharton, Pranav marched to the Dean’s office to try and understand why. This was a major turning point because it was here that Pranav would be exposed to his future position and the opportunity to run a company at the age of 25 back in 2010. “I remember when I went for an interview at the age of 15, they asked me where do I see myself in 10 years. I said, I see myself doing something interesting, probably running a company at the age of 25. Probably doing something with mind and technology. And I didn’t think about that statement until I was offered to be the CEO of Neuro-Insight, serendipitously 10 years later.” Looks like dreams really do come true.

When he isn’t working, you can find Pranav writing poetry, recording vocal records, making a kick-ass coffee, designing his own tailored suits or doing yoga (what doesn't the man do?). Interested in attending a focus group session for Neuro-Insight? Contact us and we will put you in touch.

Photo courtesy of Pranav Yadav.