Today we’d like to introduce you to Sanjeev Juneja.
Hi Sanjeev, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Growing up as a youth and constantly struggling with the frigid winters in Ottawa, Canada, I recall telling my friends at the ripe age of eight years old that, “one day, I won’t be living here, I hate the cold, I’m going to be in California!” This epiphany was all created before the word “manifestation” became an overused part of this self-help-society today. After obtaining a degree in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa and working as a Consultant for two years on the East Coast of the US (i.e., CT, VT, and VA), 9/11 hit, and I found myself back in Canada-this time in Toronto and working as a Sales Exec for an IT Security startup. I had somehow convinced the CEO of this startup to hire me without any experience in Sales. But, how you might ask? What was the catch? I told him that he didn’t have to pay me for six months; but, if I would hit my quota, then he would have to “retroactively pay me for the past six months, let me hire a team of 2 sales execs to manage…and allow me to manage our strategic partnerships.” The CEO laughed and exclaimed, “Deal!” – needless to say, six months later, and after recently turning 27 years old, I had 2 Sales Execs twice my age reporting to me, and I forged strategic partnerships with several IT companies in CALIFORNIA. One of the partnerships eventually landed me a job at the opposite end of the North American Map-in sunny San Diego. I made it!
Fast forward years later, then a seasoned Sales Exec, I had bought my first condo overlooking the Bay Bridge in the outskirts of San Francisco. It was my first taste of the entrepreneurial life. Everyone in the Valley had a “day job” and 2-3 “side hustles or startups” that they were building. My first company that I started was with a couple of friends, dabbling in Men/Women/Babywear, called “Teen & Sanj” – we were close to launching, had a dope philanthropic concept, had samples of our clothing line, but the initial investment was too high, and the timing wasn’t right as my business partners ended up married and living in China; and, after eight years in California, I was being promoted within my “day job” and moved out to Philadelphia! After two years of eating Philly Steaks, I found myself back on the beaches in San Diego, then transferred to a newly acquired startup that our company acquired…based in Boston! WTF was I thinking??? …this could be colder than Ottawa! As luck would have it, and less than two years in Boston, I was introduced to Tom Lounibos. This man took two companies IPO, built up another blazing hot startup called SOASTA. SOASTA provided high volume load and web performance management solutions for the biggest web entities in the game – think Netflix, Walmart, and the London Olympics. I remember Tom saying to me during my interview, “why do you want to pay hundreds of thousands to get your Executive MBA, I’ll teach you more in 3 months” – it seemed farfetched at the time, but it really wasn’t. I got hitched, moved back out to San Jose, had a baby boy, and directly reported into Tom, as SOASTA’s CEO. Talk about a jolt to the system.
After another couple of years in California, we left to be near family in Atlanta. I remember saying, “I’ll give this place three years, and if I don’t like it, it’s back to Cali we go.” Who would have thought that I would have another child (this time a daughter) and willingly call ATL my home for over ten years! In my eyes, Atlanta is a huge and blank canvas…the last big city in the US undergoing a newly creative movement. You can be who you are and dream as big as you’d like to in ATL. I suppose that I had the “Canadian-American dream” – a family, a house, landed myself a gig managing North American Sales at SAP, a 50,000 employee German Company, invested in home in Virginia Highland, started up a Childcare App startup with nine extremely talented individuals (called “HappyNest”); and, throughout all of this, somehow made time to start up an Entertainment/Music Label called Spincycled Entertainment Group. The Music Industry you might ask…but, how? Well, I co-produced an EDM music track that was fused with Punjabi beats and Dancehall Reggae Vocals. I teamed up with a highly talented San-Franciscan based producer, named Arpan Bhattacherjee, and an incredible vocalist and writer, being Shi Wisdom out of Toronto, Canada.
Shi Wisdom’s impressive body of work had spanned from collaborating with DMX to co-writing a track with Drake. This eclectic music track that we created, titled “Start Up Yet” eventually won a prestigious $30k grant from MuchFact (Parent Company MuchMusic – Canada’s version of MTV) to produce the music video via the #1 film production company, Revolver Films, and one of the most highly sought after Video Producers, Kristof Brandl (a producer that created videos for Drake, Skrillex, Zedd, Charlotte Cardin, etc.). This honor and project guided me to halt my work with HappyNest, take a year hiatus from the tech industry, and immerse myself into Spincycled. Almost a year into my musical exploration, I had the opportunity to meet with MTV Execs and convince them to Globally Premiere our Video. They called me up one day and stated, “we’ve never done this before, but you will be the first independent artists on the planet to ever be premiered on MTV Billboards in NYC Times Square – this has been exclusively for the biggest talents on the planet. By the way, your video beat out Kanye West for the video of the week!” Once we had this in the bag, Diddy’s Media Channel, Revolt TV, had us as their “Video of the week”, as did Okayplayer (Site ran by Dan Petruzzi and QuestLove from the Roots), and NestHQ (Skrillex’s video site), amongst other music sites globally. The Video premiered on June 16th, 2016 – I’ll never forget this date.
After all of this notoriety, I decided to go back to Tech, but continued my work in video production with the incredibly talented CEO and Exec Producer, Matt Zolly of SnowBeach (an LA-based Production house), assisting in videos for rap artists (Nav, MetroBoomin’, Lil Yachty & the Migos) and filming then up & coming local talents (i.e. Cam Kirk and Gunna). While continuing to a Career in Tech (Managing Global Partnerships at Appian Corporation), creative projects for Spincycled continue to come to the forefront, as I’m now working with: Bem Joiner, Founder of the Atlanta Influences Everything movement, Radha Agarwal (former CEO of Thinx) founder of Daybreaker, helping to build a daytime, wellness & dance community in Atlanta for the (BTW: daybreak is in ATL at the Illuminarium on Feb 26th), cultivating a Documentary charting the trajectory within the NFT space alongside Erik Minter (A NJ Based multidisciplinary artist that has had his work showcased in several prominent galleries worldwide and the WSJ), and lastly working with Cam Kirk (www.thecamkirk.com) to bring a Tech Bootcamp targeting underprivileged youth in Atlanta. One more dope thing – I’ve fallen in love with my work/home loft in Cabbagetown at the historic Stacks Lofts (a melting pot of eclectic owners, creatives and people that come from all walks of life.). I feel blessed to have my two children (Ishaan & Siya) and Dog (Ziggy) live with me in such a historic neighborhood!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I grew up in a lower to middle-class upbringing, but with a very tight-knit family in Canada. My Brother (Raj) and Father (Sikander) still live in Ottawa and Toronto, respectively. Unfortunately, when I was 19, my Mother and Father were on their way to my Uncle’s Funeral in Punjab, India. Upon arriving in India and driving to the village for the funeral, their car was struck by a Truck Driver and my Mother, Swaran (my best friend) suddenly passed away. My father was severely injured and couldn’t work for years, we struggled financially while living off my Brother’s minimal salary as a Teller at a Bank. This was definitely unexpected and was very tough on everyone within our family, but it only made our drive stronger – we needed to make our dreams a reality now that my Mother was no longer watching over us in the physical sence. Raj is a very successful VP within the Tech Industry and has built quite a portfolio of Real Estate ventures since the late 90s, and I feel like I kinda did alright also.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Life is all about fostering one’s creativity. I’m an entrepreneur, a creative, and mentor. As mentioned earlier, I am focused on managing large Global Strategic Partnerships within the Tech Industry during the day and pushing the envelope with my creative talents at all other times – fusing industries and connecting people from all parts of the world is my forte. I’m most proud of my two kids. Imagine having two best friends as your children! Both of my kids are humble, generous, creative and intelligent kids that have traveled the world – their inner learnings have come from meeting people while traversing through the jungles of Sri Lanka, lodging within the Rice fields of Bali, climbing up volcanos of Guatemala, and witnessing the Pyramids of Giza (note: this is only a small subset of their journeys). I grew up wanting to see the world, and I feel truly blessed that I’m able to see everything now through their eyes…Oh, and it helps that they are both old hip hop heads – my Son’s favorites include Rakim and the Wu Tang Clan and my daughter’s favorite artist is the Notorious B.I.G. – you can’t get doper than that!
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My Mother – taught me empathy, how to use my voice to speak my mind, and showed how to truly live a “pure” and satiated lifestyle.
My Father – “the hustle” – a Man that came to Canada in his early 20’s, couldn’t speak a word of English and worked every job imaginable to make things happen. Our families’ success is his success – he sometimes doesn’t realize this…and that’s what makes him special.
My Brother – my eclectic range of musical appreciation. When I first started listening to rap/hip hop, he was listening to Heavy Metal, when I was listening to R&B, he was listening to grunge music. It always had me thinking that music shouldn’t my categorized in a specific genre. It can all live and make sense together.
My Kids – they challenge my thinking every single day. Ishaan is an empath and an “old soul” that challenges me to look at life in the most simplistic form. He translates the complex daily obstacles into simple tasks. Siya is a free-spirited “hippy” – she never stops smiling and has taught me to push generosity over everything, as it is the forefront of our very existence.
Tom Lounibos – My Career Mentor (Former CEO of Tech Startups, now GM of Accenture Ventures). One of the smartest and most talented businessman that I have ever witnessed. His teachings while I was reporting to him at SOASTA was my key enabler to believe in myself…he pushed me to meld my acumen as tech executive into the music industry. His presence in the boardroom and strategic thinking, in my opinion, are unparalleled. He commanded excellence amongst his team, and he didn’t allow you to think that we weren’t going to win.
Contact Info:
Email: sanj.juneja@gmail.com
Instagram: @djbrowncow
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sanj.juneja/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkMgEqjVsyvvokZQx_i3ihg
