My name is Ananthan Vaikundam Mahadeva Iyer, Founder and Director of First Step Pediatric Wellness (FSPW Pvt. Ltd.).
I was born in a small town in Kerala, Cherthala, where life teaches you early that safety matters. When I moved to Bangalore for my education, my dream was simple. Build a secure life. Do what the world considers “right.” Make my family proud.
As a child, I grew up at my aunt’s home in Bangalore. She took care of me, guided me, and gave me a roof over my head. Yet inside classrooms, I often felt invisible. I was not loud or outgoing. I was a builder, someone who liked to quietly create, understand, and imagine. School was difficult. I struggled more than people knew. Many times, I needed help but didn’t know how to ask for it.
I followed the path that promises success. An engineering degree, an MBA, and then the corporate world. I worked with global Fortune 500 companies across industries like oil and gas, healthcare, energy, industrial, retail, banking, education, and pharmaceuticals. I became a Project Manager, earned a strong paycheck, and reached a place many dream of.
From the outside, I had everything.
Inside, something was missing.
I was helping large companies grow profits, but a deeper truth began to surface. I knew I could make a real difference in this world. I could not spend my entire life helping million-dollar companies increase their revenue while forgetting that there were people struggling, hurting, and unseen. I felt my life was meant for more than the rat race. I could not move forward knowing I had the ability to help and chose not to.
One truth slowly became clear.
If you want to change the world, you must change the future.
And children are the future.
That belief pulled me toward research at MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, where work was being done to truly understand a child’s physical health, mental health, and emotional well-being. I supported that research for years, helping build tools that could see children fully, not in parts.
But research alone could not protect a child.
So I made the hardest decision of my life.
I left corporate safety.
The world did not celebrate that choice.
There were financial struggles, uncertainty, sleepless nights, and weekends spent with a laptop. Society judged. People questioned my sanity.
And then came the moment that almost ended everything.
One day, without knowing I could hear, I overheard my own aunt, the woman who raised me, say that I had thrown away my life by leaving my job to follow my passion.
I broke down.
That pain cut deeper than any failure. Because it came from love. Because it came from fear. Because it came from someone who wanted me safe, not struggling.
That night, I broke down like the child I once was.
But when the tears stopped, something else remained.
A fire inside me.
I realised I had not left corporate life for comfort.
I had not done this for money or status.
I had left because I could no longer ignore my purpose.
So I stood up again.
I took the research, the technology, the operations, and every lesson from failure, and built a scalable ecosystem that addressed every aspect of a child’s health and well-being in one place. Physical. Mental. Emotional. Together.
That work became First Step Pediatric Wellness, the world’s first EdHealth platform, officially registered as FSPW Pvt. Ltd., now alive at www.fspw.org.
As a child, I remember crying for help.
As an adult, I chose to become the help I once needed.
This journey was never about an easy life.
It was about a meaningful one.
If you are walking a path no one understands, remember this.
Safety builds comfort.
Purpose builds legacy.
And underdogs?
Underdogs don’t disappear.
They rise.
They endure.
They change the world.
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