Who is Ankur Warikoo? The Ultimate Guide to His Life and Best Books

Who is Ankur Warikoo? The Complete Journey From Corporate Drop-Out to India’s Favorite Digital Mentor

If you have spent any time on Indian YouTube, LinkedIn, or Instagram over the last few years, you have undoubtedly seen Ankur Warikoo. With his signature casual t-shirts, calm demeanor, and trademark “Epic” branding, Warikoo has transformed from a stressed corporate CEO into a digital creator with a community of over 17 million followers.

But Warikoo is not just a motivational speaker. He is an entrepreneur, an active angel investor, and a six-time bestselling author who built his brand on a foundation of brutal vulnerability—openly sharing his failures, rejection letters, and financial mistakes. Here is the complete story of who Ankur Warikoo is and the top books he has written to help others navigate their lives, careers, and finances.

The Early Years: Escaping the Black Hole of Academia
Born in New Delhi, Warikoo’s early path was heavily academic. He earned a B.Sc. in Physics from Hindu College and subsequently secured a full scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in Astrophysics at Michigan State University in the United States.

On paper, he was living the dream. In reality, he realized he didn’t want to spend his life in an observatory. Making a massive pivot, he dropped out after completing his Master’s degree and returned to India. To reset his career trajectory, he enrolled in the Indian School of Business (ISB), earning an MBA that opened the door to the corporate consulting world.

The Entrepreneurial Grind: Groupon to Nearbuy
After a stint as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney and co-founding Accentium Web, Warikoo hit his stride in the startup ecosystem. In 2011, he became the founding CEO of Groupon India, scaling the business in a highly competitive market.

In 2015, he orchestrated a management buyout, separating from Groupon to form nearbuy.com. Under his leadership as CEO, Nearbuy became a massive player in the local discovery and e-commerce space. However, startup life took a massive toll on his time and health. By 2019, realizing his passion had shifted toward teaching, mentoring, and content creation, he stepped down as CEO.

The Pivot to Digital Creator and Angel Investor
Leaving Nearbuy allowed him to focus entirely on “Brand Warikoo.” He launched WebVeda, an ed-tech platform offering highly affordable courses on time management, communication, and entrepreneurship. Concurrently, he leveraged his startup expertise to become one of India’s most active angel investors, backing over 30 early-stage companies. Today, his content focuses heavily on personal finance, habit-building, and career growth, using data, spreadsheets, and psychological insights to guide his audience.

Top Books by Ankur Warikoo: The “Epic” Series Warikoo’s transition into publishing disrupted the Indian non-fiction market. His books are known for their distinct formatting—short paragraphs, bold pull quotes, and a conversational tone designed for the modern, low-attention-span reader.

• Do Epic Shit (2021): The book that started it all. This debut is a compilation of Warikoo’s most valuable life lessons. It does not preach; rather, it reflects on his own failures in relationships, money, and career to help readers build self-awareness and better habits.
  
• Get Epic Shit Done (2022): If the first book was about changing how you think, this one is about changing how you act. Structured uniquely as a teacher-student dialogue, it answers 36 of the most common and difficult life questions, offering actionable frameworks for productivity and goal-setting.
  
• Make Epic Money: Financial literacy is rarely taught in schools, and Warikoo wrote this book to fill that gap. It is a straightforward, jargon-free guide to personal finance, covering everything from managing early salaries to investing in mutual funds, buying insurance, and understanding the psychology of money.
  
• Build an Epic Career: Moving away from the traditional “grind-until-you-burn-out” corporate advice, this book provides a step-by-step framework for building a career that actually aligns with your personal life goals and values.
  
• Beyond the Syllabus: Aimed squarely at teenagers and young adults, this book acts as a survival guide for the confusion of youth. It tackles academic pressure, the fear of failure, and the realization that board exam marks do not dictate your life’s trajectory.
  
• Winning People Without Losing Yourself: His most recent deep dive into human behavior. This book explores how to set boundaries, handle toxic environments, and navigate both personal and professional relationships with clarity and empathy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is Ankur Warikoo’s educational background?
Warikoo holds a B.Sc. in Physics from Hindu College, Delhi University. He pursued a Ph.D. in Astrophysics at Michigan State University but dropped out with his Master’s degree. He later earned an MBA from the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB).

2. Which Ankur Warikoo book should I read first?
If you are looking for general motivation and a shift in mindset, start with Do Epic Shit. If you are struggling with execution and need strict time-management frameworks, Get Epic Shit Done is the best starting point.

3. Is Ankur Warikoo still running a startup?
He stepped down as the CEO of nearbuy.com in 2019. Currently, he runs his content brand as a full-fledged media business and operates WebVeda, an online education initiative.

4. How does Ankur Warikoo make money now?
His income streams are highly diversified. They include brand sponsorships on his content channels, course sales through WebVeda, book royalties, speaking engagements, and returns on his angel investments.

5. Are Ankur Warikoo’s books available in languages other than English?
Yes, due to their massive popularity across India, his books have been translated into Hindi and several other regional languages to reach a wider audience.