In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Harsha Atluri, a Babson College student who has built a resale business from a young age. Harsha shares a formative story of buying a bike for $5 and reselling it for $140, which convinced his skeptical father of the profit potential in resale. He explains that resale is a universal model present in everyday transactions—from gasoline to supermarket goods—countering the stigma that resellers add no value. Harsha offers practical business advice, emphasizing that entrepreneurs don’t need large capital; they should start with whatever resources they have and act immediately. He stresses the importance of proactive networking rather than waiting for opportunities. Regarding personal fulfillment, he defines happiness as contentment, humor, and staying busy, noting that boredom often leads to depression. He prefers learning through hands‑on experience over reading books, and shares two personal mottos: keep grinding and trust that everything happens for a reason. The episode concludes with his online contact points: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and his realtor website harsha.kw.com.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Harsha Atluri with us. He is a Babson College student specializing in resale. So welcome to the show, Harsha.
Thank you for having me, Tyler.
Of course. We'll kick it off. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
French. So I got into reselling as a younger kid, and when I was 11 or 12, I'd tell my father, "Hey, I'm gonna go sell this stuff on eBay," or, "Hey, I'm gonna go sell this on Craigslist," or whatever. He always kind of chuckled around, you know, normal conservative Indian father who went to school, he's an electrical engineer, always believed in working a job. So he thought I was kind of just, you know, an ambitious kid, kind of chuckled me off. And then he went on a company trip, and when he came back, I had $140 in cash. Waiting for him. And it was from selling a bike that we had purchased together for $5, and I sold that for $140. And I remember his face was just like, wow, you know, so much shock. And I think he realized then that there's actually something there, and that I actually was able to resell at such a young age, and that if you put your mind to it, you can easily turn a profit.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
A lot of people tend to downplay reselling or resale in general and think that, oh, you know, they're just the scum of the earth, they're not adding any value to anything. But in reality, resale is in every, uh, any and every single industry out there. Um, you know, either reselling your time for, for, for value or, or whatever it may be. When you go to pump up gas, you're, you're buying from someone who's reselling gas to you at a higher price. And anywhere you go, a supermarket or wherever, um, the, the company is going to be reselling something at a higher price to you and you're getting your value For a supermarket, for example, you're going and the value is the convenience of buying your milk there, but of course the company's making a profit and making it very, very cheap and selling it to you at a higher price. In reality, everyone resells, people just don't think of it that way.
What's your best piece of overall business advice, not necessarily industry-specific?
A lot of entrepreneurs come to me and they go, "Hey, I'm thinking of this idea, but you know—" I've never really thought of pursuing it because I don't think I have the time or the resources or the effort or whatever. And I've heard a lot of people say that all the time. And my biggest thing is you don't need to have a million dollars to go start an idea. Just go out there and do it. A lot of people will say, oh, after I graduate, you know, after 10 years of working a corporate job, I'll go, you know, start my own company. And 9 out of 10 times, people get too comfortable in whatever industry they are. In or whatever corporate job they're in and they never do it. So when you have an idea, just go out there and start it with whatever you have.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
That would be to network more and approach people more. I had this weird thing as a kid or even as a younger teen and younger adult where I always expected people to come to me for certain things or come talk to me at an event or whatever. Yeah, I don't know why I thought that, you know, I wasn't a hotshot. I shouldn't have thought that. And now I'm starting to open up more. I go find the people that I want to talk to, that I want to connect with, and I wish I had that skill far earlier.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
In my opinion, the key to happiness is being content with whatever you have and finding something to laugh about, and also just staying busy. Generally, a lot of the time when we're over bored out of our minds, we get the most depressed. But if we're busy and we're able to have a good time and, you know, find things to laugh about just in general everyday life, I think we can be happy. One piece of advice that I have actually is I always post a lot of stuff on my Snapchat, and usually it's stuff that in everyday life makes me chuckle, whether it be a weird sign or someone doing something weird. It makes me chuckle and it keeps the day young.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Interesting question. I actually don't necessarily read much. Otherwise, you know, if it's for school, I read, but otherwise, I really don't read much. The way I tend to gain my knowledge is just getting involved with certain things. So, unfortunately, I don't have a great answer to that question.
No, no, it's good. I always say, you know, a book is just kind of like the seed. So I think reading— obviously, reading is not a bad thing to do, but experience is where you're going to learn the most. So I'm with you. And the next question is, what's your favorite quote and why?
I have two quotes and they're very small and I don't really know who said them, but one is to always keep on chugging, and I don't mean drinking, I mean as in like just keep on grinding, keep on doing whatever you're doing. And another quote that I have is everything happens for a reason, and I've had many blessings in disguise occur to me. It's always fun to think back and be like, wow, four years ago this happened to me. And you know, when it happened, you're like, why did that happen? But then 4 years later, you're like, wow, look at where I am now. Look at what that event in life, you know, look at where it took me.
Absolutely, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question we have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, you can find me on Facebook, just my name, Harsha at Lurie. Instagram as well. You can even do Snapchat. And then I'm also a realtor, so I have a website if you want to ever find me. It's harsha.kw.com.
Awesome. Thanks again for coming on, man. We appreciate it.
Thank you. Bye. The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor. If you want to make your own, download the Android or iOS app completely free from anchor.fm/podcast. That's anchor.fm/podcast.
