Eating bread with water taught him a life lesson that no IIT or IIM can teach: Mumbai founder says 'everyone should go broke at least once'

Degrees from institutions such as IITs and IIMs can teach people how to solve problems, build businesses and make decisions, but there are some lessons that are difficult to learn in a classroom. For Mumbai-based founder Abhishek Agarwal, one of those lessons came when he was 18 and had no money even to buy food.

Agarwal, recently shared on LinkedIn how he spent seven days eating bread and drinking water because he could not afford anything else. Years later, he believes those seven days gave him something that has stayed with him through his career: the confidence that even when things go badly, he can survive.

At 18, he had no money for food

Agarwal, who according to his LinkedIn profile studied MBA from London Business School, said he was “broke” when he was 18, but clarified that he was not referring to the usual meaning of being short of money.

“I don’t mean the kind of broke where you can’t afford the vacation you wanted, or you have to wait until next month to buy something. I mean actually broke. Broke for education, broke for food!”

For seven days, he said, he had no money for food and survived on bread and water. “For 7 days, I didn’t even have money for food. So I ate bread and drank water. That was pretty much it.”

The hunger was one part of the experience. What stayed with him more was the helplessness of having almost nothing and not knowing how to change the situation immediately.

A lesson that no classroom can easily teach

Looking back, Agarwal says the difficult period gave him a form of confidence that is hard to get from success alone.

“I found out what having almost nothing felt like. And I also found out something I couldn’t have known otherwise: I could survive it!!!”

That became important later when he began taking risks in business. Money could disappear, people could reject his ideas and things he believed in could fail, but the memory of those seven days remained.

“That knowledge has quietly followed me through every risk I’ve taken since - When something goes terribly wrong in business, when money disappears, when someone rejects me, when something I believed in completely fails.”

This is where his story goes beyond the usual lessons associated with formal education. A classroom can teach concepts around business, finance or decision-making, but Agarwal's point is about experiencing uncertainty personally and discovering that failure does not necessarily mean the end.

Why he says everyone should go broke once

Agarwal's argument is not that poverty is good or that people need suffering to become successful. In fact, he specifically rejected that idea.

“That’s why a part of me genuinely believes everyone needs their own “most broke” moment in life. Not because poverty is noble. It isn’t. Not because suffering automatically makes you stronger. It doesn’t.”

For him, the value came from discovering that he could reach what felt like rock bottom and still come out of it.

“But because there is a certain kind of courage that only comes from hitting rock bottom.”

‘I’ve been at my lowest, and I survived’

The post received several responses from people who said they had experienced similar periods of financial difficulty.

One commenter described the lesson as a “strange confidence” that comes from knowing, “I’ve been at my lowest, and I survived.” Another said the toughest moments can teach people something that success cannot — that they are capable of surviving much more than they believe.

Agarwal agreed with that idea, saying the knowledge of having survived can remain much longer than the actual hardship.

He also responded to a comment suggesting that people at rock bottom are not necessarily being courageous because, at that point, “what option do you have?” They simply have to keep going. Agarwal agreed, saying people can sometimes be too quick to label such moments as courage when, in reality, there may be no other choice.

Another response pointed to the same lesson in a different way: once someone has experienced their lowest point and come through it, future problems may not appear quite as frightening.